 My work friends and I were at our favorite pub last night. Not a really fancy place, but, you know, cheap beer and close enough to home that I don't have to drive. The night started out normally enough, the four of us crammed into a small table off in the corner, mostly talking shop and shitting on our boss. Being this was the middle of the week, there weren't too many other people around, maybe around eight or nine others in the whole place. Everybody just kind of keeping to themselves, sort of people you'd expect to see in a pub on a Wednesday. Anyway, from where I'm sitting, I have a pretty good view of the TV behind the bar. Jesse the bartender is kind of lazily flipping through channels and passes by our local news channel. There's a brief burst of orange and red on the screen, which I register as a fire happening somewhere, which then disappears as Jesse switches over to the next channel. Something about the image looks oddly familiar though. Hey Jess, can you switch that back? I call out to her. The news comes back on and suddenly I recognize the building in the frame. It's my building, and it's burning. Holy shit, I say, loudly enough that a few people follow my gaze to the television. That's my apartment. The crowd in the bar falls kind of quiet, everybody staring up at the screen now. The screen shows a wide shot of the outside of my building. The camera must be set up on the north end of the block because I recognize a lot of shops on the ground floor. Property management, dry cleaner, convenience, marred, etc. The top left corner of the building is a flame. It's not a huge fire by any means, but it looks like a few units between the top four floors or so have already been engulfed by the flames. Jesus man, what do my co-worker says? That, uh, that sucks. There's an uncomfortable murmur of agreement that passes around the table. I mean, I don't blame them, I wouldn't know what to say in this situation either. Yup, I agree, just as awkwardly. Thankfully, my apartment is only about halfway up and located on the west side of the building. I cross my fingers hoping my stuff will be okay. The camera cuts to a reporter on the scene. He's standing a little farther away, looking at the shops in the background. I can tell he's across the street on the northwest corner of the building. Firefighters are expected on the scene any moment, he's saying, and hopefully they'll be able to contain this horrible inferno before it spreads any farther. As I was saying before, it's very fortunate that everyone was able to evacuate the building before things got too bad, or who knows what tragic events may have unfolded. He's really laying it on thick, my other co-workers joked. I chuckle a bit. All things considered, at the moment, it really didn't seem all that bad. But then, a few moments later... Uh, hang on, the reporter on TV says. We're getting some updated information. It seems, hang on one moment while we readjust the camera. The previously locked down camera starts to shift, the angle focusing on an area of the building about halfway up the west side. All the lights in the building are out, except for one. I feel a weird creeping sensation as I start counting the windows from the bottom. Five up, two over. That's my place. I swore I'd turn that light out, I think at first. Then, I see it. There's a person standing in my window. The camera is zoomed out too far to make out any features, but it definitely looks like a man, and it's definitely standing in my apartment. I watch, petrified, as the camera zooms in closer. The reporter babbling on about the overlooked, ill-fated soul still trapped in the blazing such and such. As the image gets closer, I start to make out more details. The person is dancing. Or something. I don't really know how to describe it, but he's moving around a lot, and everything he's doing has this bizarre rhythmic quality to it. He starts waving his arms in the air, back and forth, back and forth, and then he's waving them up and down at his sides. Then, he's banging both fists on the glass. Then, he's waving his arms over his head again, back and forth, back and forth. Everything he's doing is to the exact same tempo. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. He starts jumping up and down, waving his arms over his head, like he's trying to get someone's attention from a long distance. But everything is to the exact same rhythm, over and over again. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. What the fuck, I say? My voice, a horse whisper. And then the camera gets a little closer, and finally we can make out the person's features. It looks almost exactly like me. It's wearing the exact same clothes that I'm wearing now, clothes I changed into moments before leaving the apartment earlier. Its face looks almost exactly like mine as well, except for its eyes. Its eyes are far too big for a normal person. It also has this almost comical look of horror on its face. I don't even know how to describe it. Imagine if someone were pretending to look scared, but as a joke. It would have almost seemed funny if the circumstances were different, but instead it was just extremely unnerving. No one in the bar is talking now. Everyone is fixed on the TV. The person is still swaying and waving around, beating its hands on the glass or jumping in circles. I almost don't hear the reporter mention the fact that firefighters have rushed into the building and are now heading for my floor. Oh God, I think. Without really understanding what was happening. Please don't go in there. I stare transfixed at the screen. From this angle you can just barely see the top of my front door through the window. Not too far behind where this creature is flailing about. Right now it's holding its face in his hands and shaking its head from side to side as if saying no. Suddenly the door behind it bursts open as presumably the firefighters have entered my apartment. The creature stops moving. For a second I see its expression change. The comical look of horror is gone, replaced by a huge smile filled with enormous pointed teeth. Then the lights go out. We all just sat there, staring at the screen as the camera slowly zoomed out from the now dark window. No one says anything as we all quietly pay our bill and leave. I went directly to my sister's place across town and asked to stay with her. I told her there was a fire in my apartment and that's it. When I tried to find footage from the news online later that night, it seemed like they had edited that last part out. I don't know if any of you on the subreddit know what that thing was, but I hope they didn't put out that fire. I hope they let the whole damn place burn to the ground.