Paranormal Activity

Arriving at Spindletop that Thursday was just like every other time I’d gone to my service project. The blonde woman from the front desk greeted us, Amber and me, and I had to ask her again to open the custodial closet.

After thanking her for doing that, Amber and I dropped our things off in the lounge area, signed the volunteer sheet, and made our way to the conservation building. The building was built out of wood and seemed pretty old. The boards creaked underneath our feet as we walked towards the front door which let out a creak of its own. Once inside, I sat down at the big desk at the back and glanced at the document of required work.

“NELW?”

On the sheet was an abbreviation for another building in need of cleaning: The Nelson and White Engineers building.

“We’ve never been there before,” I continued looking up at Amber.

“Do you want to go?” she asked, lazily scrolling through Facebook on her phone.

After a moment’s pause, I replied, “sure,” with a shrug, and we left for the unknown building.

Earlier in the month, Amber and I were finishing up cobweb cleanup in the residential area when I randomly asked her if she’d ever wanted to try on any of the clothes lying around.

“No!” she nearly shouted.

“Why not?” I asked, a little confused by her reaction.

“Usually old things harbor the spirits that used to own them. So, if you put on their clothes, their spirits could possibly overtake you. Don’t you believe in ghosts?”

I’d been asked the question before, but had never really given it much thought. Ghosts seemed like a weird idea people came up with to explain away strange events that happened without an obvious cause. However, after seeing how quickly Amber rejected the idea of putting on a dead stranger’s clothes, I started to wonder.

The “NELW” building was right next-door to the building we were formerly in. With our brooms and dustpan in hand, we crossed the threshold and prepared to start another day of boredom and cleaning. I grabbed my cellphone from my back pocket and started my Pandora radio, the Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé station. As Destiny’s child played in the background, I started sweeping the right side of the room, humming along as I did so. Amber did the same on the right, and we danced and sang for a few minutes.

And then the knocking happened.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

It came out of nowhere; three light knocks on the front door. I looked up from the small, dirt pile I was making and glanced at the door. I expected to see some Spindletop spectators through the window, but no one was there. After not seeing or hearing anything for the next few seconds, I resumed working, chalking it up to a sudden gust of wind.

A moment later, the knocking returned.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I paused my music.

Tap.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Amber and I looked up at each other at the same time.

“This building looks clean enough don’t you think?” I asked, already sticking my phone in my pocket and heading for the front door.

“Yep, let’s go.”

We cleaned a few other buildings that day, but never returned to "NELW". Call me crazy, call me superstitious, but I’m not one for taking chances.