A Woman in the Room

This story happened to my brother, Oleg. He's a rational, level-headed guy, not prone to superstition. After graduating from university, he went to work at a factory in our city. He worked shifts, so when he came home in the morning, he'd sleep until evening.

It was the weekend. I was sitting in my room at the computer. My brother had returned from his shift that morning and gone to sleep in his room. It was sometime after lunch. Suddenly, Oleg started screaming. I jumped up and ran into his room. I opened the door—Oleg had huddled in the corner of the bed, staring into the corner of the room. I walked in, looked around, and there was a pillow lying in the corner of the room; my brother had thrown it there. I started asking him what had happened. When he had calmed down somewhat, he told me the following.

Oleg slept soundly and woke up suddenly, realizing he wasn't alone in the room. When he sat up in bed, he saw a woman in a long black dress with black hair in the corner, looking at him. There was nothing particularly creepy about her appearance, but he was so scared that he screamed and threw a pillow at her, after which she disappeared.

We went to the kitchen and drank some tea. My brother didn't want to go back to sleep. We stayed up until evening, playing "Heroes," laughing—like, you can see all sorts of things in your sleep. And everything would have been fine, but three days later, when Oleg came home from work again, it all happened again, only this time my mother was also home. She called a priest, who burned some herbs, recited prayers, and sprinkled water. Nothing like that happened after that.

A few months later, my brother moved out and started living separately with his girlfriend, and I moved into his room. And sometimes I get the feeling I'm not alone in the room. I know there can't be anyone around because my parents are asleep, and the apartment is empty except for them, but the feeling that someone else is in the room and looking at me doesn't go away. It's unpleasant and creepy. Every time I force myself to look into that very corner, but it's always empty. For now.