Do Young Kim/Ghost in my basement/Thursday 1-3pm

I never believed in ghosts. Ghosts and monsters were just nothing but an illusion that people came up with to sell their stories. At least that is what I believed until that one week in summer of 2011.

At the time, I was just 20 years old and I was living in the basement with 2 rooms and a living room all to myself. There were two doors leading out of the basement and one was connected directly to the garage and there was a giant refrigerator which stored all of my refreshments and the other led to the stairs leading up to the first floor of the house. And in the living room, there was a giant couch enough to seat 4 people and a long, rectangular glass table. There was also a gigantic TV with a 50 inch screen. And my bedroom was located directly behind the wall where the TV was mounted on and the other room was just used as my study as it was right next to my bedroom.

           I had a habit of drinking a can of soda every night when I come back home after work or my other daily activities as I watched something on the television. Then I left the can of soda neatly to the right side of the table forming a horizontal line stretching across the table. After a week or so of accumulating the soda cans, I finally decide to clean up and throw the cans out and repeat this all over again the next day. This was my nightly routine right before I went to bed and I have been doing it for quite sometime. But then I noticed something strange when I was on my way to work one morning.

           I always had good memory and I tend to count the objects around me to make sure that I stay sharp and not be confused about my environment. And the soda cans were included in my count at times. But one morning, I saw 3 cans of soda on my table. This raised my eyebrows because I swore that I thought I only had 2 cans of soda on my table last night when I was going to bed. I felt very weird about this situation but I had to go to work so I left without giving too much thought about it. However, when I came back that night, paranoia stuck me again when I was drinking my can of soda sitting on my couch. So I counted the number of cans on the table just to make sure. One, two, three, four. There were exactly four cans and there should be only four when I wake up tomorrow morning.

           The next morning, I panicked. There were 5 cans of soda on my table. How could this be? Who drank that extra can of soda? How could I have not known who drank it? There were so many questions flying around in my head and I was worried because no matter how many scenarios I imagine, there was no way that someone can just drink that soda and left it on the table without me noticing it because of a few simple facts. First of all, I am a very light sleeper who wakes up to a mosquito flying around in the room. If someone opened the door and came down and drank my soda, I would have heard something and woken up. Secondly, my bedroom door was always left open because I had the basement doors to the garage and the first floor closed at all times and the basement is pitch black at night without any lights being turned on. This made it impossible for anyone to navigate through my basement without any lights turned on and I would have certainly noticed if someone had the lights on or even carried a flashlight. With all these mysteries boggling my mind, I decided to install a camera at the living room where the glass table was as I drank my sixth can of soda and left it on my table.  

           The next morning I panicked even more because there were 7 cans of soda on my table. Someone has visited while I was sleeping once again without me noticing it. However, I knew that my laptop's webcam recorded everything that happened last night facing the couch and the glass table so I was relieved that I was going to get an explanation as to who is stealing my soda in my own basement. When I played the video footage, I couldn't help but to be surprised. First, there was a sign of movement in the dark without any lights on but the movement seemed to be coming from where my bedroom was. Then I saw the door to the garage open and heard someone, or something taking out a can of soda. Then I saw the mysterious creature walk to the couch and sit as it opened the can. Then I heard the television switching on as my television makes a clicking sound when it is turned on by a remote control. I was a bit scared but I knew that I could verify who this culprit was with the light from the television screen. When the television turned on, I was at a loss of words. The culprit was me. I was the one drinking that extra can of soda all this time. I also noticed that my eyes weren't blinking and my body wasn't moving one bit at all. It was like I was just a wax statue of myself in that footage. Then after an hour or so, I turned off the television after putting my can of soda in the line across the table as I always do and walked back into the bedroom.

           The bottom line was, I was sleepwalking and I didn't know about it. I knew that I was suffering from time to time because I couldn't fall asleep for days at times but I didn't know that it got to the point that I was sleepwalking. It got to me then that my mental and physical health is the most important asset I have. So I started to sleep right at early hours instead of sleeping at sunrise like before and I ate correctly as well. On top of all the life habit changes, I also went to see a doctor to get some counseling and help for my sleepwalking problems. With a swift measure to fix my sleepwalking, I no longer suffer from sleepwalking anymore. And my belief that ghosts and monsters are just nothing but an illusion stays firm until this very day.