The Haunting

I've been procrastinating lately, in terms of reading articles on read.cash. That is why, for me to keep up, I see to it that I get to read at least 3 to 4 articles every time I wake up so early in the morning, before I start my day. And then read again all through out the day when I have time. It not only helps me clean up my notifications, but it also gives me ideas for what to write. And so this afternoon, I stumbled upon @meitanteikudo's article about a dream, a nightmare, and a horror story. It is a writing prompt that he initiated. While reading his article, I was then brought back to the time when my imagination was so wild and nightmares haunted me even when I was awake.

The Haunting

I was 5 or 6 years old when I got to experience something out of this world. My father was working for a big company as a chief mechanic at that time. He was mostly sent to different places where his skills were needed, so most of the time, he went home monthly to save money for transportation. One time, the company sent him to Davao City for work, and he brought us along with him since the company would provide a house for us for free. That is one of the perks that my father had as a chief mechanic. The house was big and we weren't expecting it to be that big. It has two bedrooms on the second floor and two bedrooms on the first floor, with a huge bathroom on both floors. We were so happy when we arrived at that house because, compared to our house, which is made of bamboo, the house made us all feel rich, lol! 

This is somehow similar to the house I am talking about, without the car of course, hehe

Photo Source

Our first month in the house went so smoothly. My mother enrolled me in a kindergarten nearby. It was 2 blocks away from the house, so most of the time, we just walked there. I don't know how and when eerie things started, but one night, I was in the living area, patiently waiting for my father because of the pasalubong he promised me. I saw a woman walking past in the living area, going to the kitchen. I was a bit sleepy at that time, so I did not mind it at all, thinking it was my mother, but moments later, I saw my mother walking down the stairs, telling me to go to sleep because it was already late. So I told her why she was upstairs when I saw her moments ago going into the kitchen. She said that I was talking nonsense because she never went to the kitchen, she just woke up from her sleep because she did not see me in my bed. I was so freaked out that I ran into her and went upstairs to sleep.

That is when things get creepier and creepier every day. At night, we can smell burning rice, or we can suddenly hear dripping faucets or sometimes falling objects when no one is around. My mother talked about it to my father, but he told us that it was just our imagination playing tricks on us. So to put us at ease, my grandmother, together with my aunts and uncles, stayed with us for a couple of weeks to see if it was true or not. My grandmother believes in ghosts or beings that cannot be seen by our naked eyes.

After staying with us for a week, they also experienced creepy things like someone walking upstairs when we were all eating downstairs, falling objects, and all the eerie things that you could imagine in a haunted house. But there are two things that happened that made us leave the house immediately. We were all in the garage area, just had our dinner at that time. My Tito was left inside because he was doing the dishes when we suddenly heard him scream. We hurriedly went inside to check what happened, and he said he saw a white lady staring at him.

We thought that he was just joking around because we knew that he never believed in those things, but after a while, he suddenly passed out, and when he regained consciousness, he was not his usual self anymore. He was talking nonsense, like we should leave the house or someone would die. That we should never have been there in the first place, that the house was haunted. I remember my lola was praying hard at that time while my other titos and titas were holding him. When my father arrived that night, they decided that we should go back to our old house before worst things could happen. We were so horrified at that time. I remember hugging my two sisters while we were calling our Papa.

But another horrifying thing happened that night. While we were all busy preparing to leave, my mother forgot her bag upstairs. She went up to get it, and then we suddenly heard her scream and fall down the stairs. Oh, I forgot to tell you that she was pregnant with our brother back then. She was then brought to the hospital by my father and my Tito, while my lola took us back to our old house. Later that night, we learned that our mother had had a miscarriage and we no longer had a baby brother. It all broke our hearts because we'd been waiting to have a baby brother.

We still could not believe what happened at that time. We thought these kinds of things happened only in movies. But, to see is to believe, and you have to experience it first-hand so that you can say, "Hey, ghosts do really exist!"

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This is my entry to kudo's writing prompt. I decided to answer one question only out of the three questions that he had on the writing prompt. If you wish to hop in and join the fun, just follow his simple mechanics.

Date Published: March 10, 2022