I never believed in the paranormal, but something strange was definitely happening to me. I live in a small shared apartment with two roommates. There’s a hallway with two bedrooms on the right, one on the left, and what had always been a closet at the end. After being away for two days visiting my parents, I came home and opened that closet to put away some clothes—only to find a fully functioning bathroom instead.

I stood there in complete shock. This wasn’t a renovation or a prank. We rent this place, and it’s impossible a bathroom was added in two days. Even more unsettling, all my belongings that had been stored in the closet—boxes of clothes, keepsakes, gifts—were gone. It was like they never existed. I told my roommates, hoping for some kind of explanation, but they looked at me with concern and told me it had always been a bathroom.

Feeling like I was spiraling, I locked myself in my room and started questioning my sanity. The anxiety grew as the days passed. I visited doctors, underwent tests, and searched for any clue to explain what was happening. After weeks of confusion, I finally got an answer that changed everything: I had a brain tumor. It was pressing on areas of my brain responsible for memory and perception—causing hallucinations and altering how I remembered the apartment.

The closet, the bathroom, the missing items—it had all been in my head. The scariest part? I had no idea my reality was being warped. The diagnosis was terrifying but also clarifying. It meant I wasn’t losing my mind—I was sick, and there was a way forward.