Do Not Open The Door At Midnight

October 27, 2021

It was Saturday morning when the Chinese family informed me about the gathering they will be attending at night and I would be left alone at home. The idea of being alone at home was even great as I could play on my phone the whole night. Besides, I am used to staying alone at home every time they go out to attend some gatherings. And that gives me enough time to converge into the digital world and do some grinding.

The dusk came and the house was filled with silence after I shut the door and bid goodbye to them. The time of their return was uncertain and they might even stay in their relative's house until early morning. "Great. That's great!" My mind rejoiced as I liked the idea of being left alone at home.

But before they set off for a ride, a message from my boss was sent to me. "Don't ever open the door at midnight. We'll use the key when we arrive home. Goodnight."

I didn't mind her message as I have no plan to stay up until midnight. My eyes are already complaining once the hands of the clock hit 11 O'clock. Unless they permit me to stay up until midnight. But that would be additional dark circles around my eyes and I don't like the sight of it.

Since I was alone at home, I opted to lay on the floor near the balcony door for a while before I climbed up to my bed. The night was just so perfect and the orris-silver disc moon was glowing beautifully in the sky. I wonder where the stars go as they weren't visible in the sky that night.

I was captivated by its beauty so I took my phone out and did some shots. And the supermoon feature of my camera perfectly captured the orb lonely hanging in the sky. But looking at the photograph I captured, the effect made the moon orris-bluish, not orris-silver, lol.

The solitude in my quiet abode is just so relaxing. No irritating noise, just the tickling sounds of the clock and the cars passing on the road and some odd noises coming from somewhere else, as well as the whooshing sounds of the cold wind once it passed through the open glass door.

I turned on my Youtube channel to watch some funny movies. But I remember the go-movies site where I could watch full movies for free. With that, I opted to watch The Free Guy as I found the trailer funny, yet, full of lessons that I could make a review.

After more than an hour of watching, it seemed like the string of the night was pulling me into the dream world. My eyes were getting heavy and the cold wind blanketed my frame and sent shivers down my spine, which compelled me to look for warmth under my quilt and drift off to sleep.

I was about to hit the sack when the bell rang and played the creepy Westminster doorbell tone. I really don't understand why they chose that creepy sound. In my sleepy head, I thought it was my boss not minding the time and the fact that it was only more than an hour from the time they left the house. I wore my slippers and sleeping jacket on and channeled lazily to the door.

As I opened the door ajar to peek outside, a cold wind blew past me and slammed the door wide open but my mind was just too sleepy to mind it. Without opening the gate, I looked outside to check who pressed the bell but no one was there. I got annoyed by the thought that it might be our naughty neighbor who pressed the bell when he passed by the house. As it happened multiple times, especially at night when I'm alone at home.

I was on the brink of closing the door when a figure of an old woman emerged from the elevator. Her head was covered by an old brown scarf. She slid it down and she revealed her mummified smokey-grey hair and wrinkled face. The old woman in her scurfy clothes had sad eyes and seemed like her eyes wanted to convey something. She stayed still and muted in front of the gate.

"Hello, po⁴ po⁴ (grandmother). Did you press the doorbell?"

She stood silently and didn't utter any words, nor act in sign language to respond to my question. Perhaps, he didn't understand my English words. But I asked her again while pointing to the doorbell, but still had no response from her.

The old woman looked sad, sick, and pale, and so I asked if she's okay. And how I could help her.

"Po⁴ po⁴, are you okay? How can I help you?"

But instead of answering my questions, she just slowly walked and was swallowed by the darkness of the corridor.

"What was that? Creepy old woman." I muttered.

I headed to my room after I locked the door, slammed my body on the bed, and crawled underneath the quilt, but the figure of the old woman with a sad face lingered in my mind. When I checked my phone, it was midnight and it reminded me of the message of my boss, "don't ever open the door at midnight." But I just shrugged and continued my slumber.

The creepy thought clouded my mind and I slept intermittently. Suddenly, the key sounds of unlocking the door woke me up and I thought the Chinese family had arrived. As I hopped out of my bed and dragged my feet to the living room, it was dark and silent.

A cold wind entered the house and moon rays passed through the slightly opened door of the balcony. The wind pushed the curtains that made the slits dance in the air. I know by myself that I closed the door before I went to my room but it was ajar.

A shadow figure moved in the dark and I thought it was my boss so I turned on the corner light. But no one was in the living room. The deeper the night, the creepier it has become due to odd noises and feelings.

I called my boss multiple times but she wasn't answering and so I opted to stay on the sofa. Every tickling sound of the clock was hypnotic and it drifted me off to sleep reluctantly.

As I opened my eyes, the old woman's face appeared at sight with her bulging bloody eyes like a monster that wanted to devour my sleepy weak body.

I rose abruptly and shouted soundlessly. Her hand gripped my arm tightly and I couldn't move. I was struggling to escape from her grip but she was too strong. Then she opened her mouth and I thought she would eat it.

I shouted on top of my lungs, but no sounds came out and I couldn't move an inch like a paralyzed patient on a hospital bed.

"Hey, Jane. Why are you shouting?"

My blurry vision started to become clearer as I saw the light open and my boss and her daughter were waking me up. And later I realized that I was only having sleep paralysis.

"Why did you sleep on the sofa? I told you, I will use the key to open the door." Said Taitai.

"Huh? What time is it? Did you receive my call last night?"

My boss took out her phone and checked the call logs but my number wasn't there.

"It's 6 in the morning and you didn't call me last night."

It put me in a daze because I was sure that I called her multiple times.

While looking at her phone, the wallpaper caught my sight as I saw a familiar face on it.

"Taitai (lady boss), who is that old woman in your wallpaper?" I asked curiously.

"Oh. She's my mother and she died last 2014. Yesterday was her death anniversary, that's why we went out to celebrate at my brother's house."

My heart started to pound rapidly sending goosebumps all over my body.

"Where did she die?" I nervously asked her.

"Here. In this house, it was midnight."

I spat some profanity words in my mind but fear just took over my body.

"Taitai...but I saw her last night outside the gate," I said in a trembling voice.

"What?" The daughter screamed shockingly.

Taitai believed that her mother's ghost probably came back to visit them on her death anniversary, but it was me who opened the door at midnight. Ever since that incident, I never opened the door again, especially at night when they aren't at home and the moon shines so bright.

Hey yooh @Theblackdoll this is my entry to your Halloween Writing Contest and I opted to make one after reading @Sequoia story Blue Room. If you want to join, visit the article here.

This is only a fiction story and I don't wish to experience something like this, lol. But this was based on the story of the previous caregiver in this house. She told me that she saw the mother of my boss in the lobby area. But at that time, she wasn't aware that she was my boss' late mother until she saw her photo. I don't have a third eye unlike her, so I don't care about ghosts, lol. I wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or just scaring me. But so far, I never experienced something terrifying here when I'm alone at night. And I even saw the photo of my boss' late mother. She doesn't look scary, haha. Her story was creepy though.

#HalloweenContest2021

#SpookyNight