The Family Link

I lived in Donnell Hall at the University of Dubuque my freshmen year of college. It was three floors of guys and one floor of girls so it wasn’t too unruly, except when you were trying to study. It was late, maybe 3 or 4 am. All of that coffee to keep me away at the library had settled in and I needed to make my way down the hall to the bathroom in the dorm. I opened the door to the hallway, and at this time it was not too uncommon to see security walking through the halls. I caught something, a figure of a person, out of the corner of my left eye in the stairwell. At first, I thought it was just security and didn’t take a second glance too quickly. After a few steps I turned at looked. It was a young man, possibly between the ages of 18 and 20, standing in the hallway looking out the window. I had never seen him before, and after almost two full semesters at a private university, that’s uncommon. As I looked at him for what felt like minutes, I noticed something about his appearance. He wasn’t exactly… solid. I felt like I was in a strange Sci-Fi movie. I could see the outline of the staircase behind him through his body. That’s when I knew