The Cat Outside my Window

I waited for it to get in through my open window because honestly it kept on walking at the roof outside my window. It has been quite like this for some time.

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The house was big, it was like a bungalow type but there's one room upstairs which was not divided. This was my room. Me alone on this huge room with no furnitures in it but just a plastic wardrobe where my clothes were kept and a table for my school things. It has five windows, two on each side, east and west while one on the north side. The two windows on the east were overlooking the ceiling of the living room below. However, its window frames were infested with termites making the windows to fall off. It was only covered with those thick and big transparent cellophanes. Its walls were of weaved bamboos, how do you call that? Outside my room was a balcony overlooking the ceiling of the kitchen. The ceilings were galvanized iron.

Downstairs, just below my room was my sister's brother-in-law's room. The living room adjacent to it. It was also spacious where most of the family pictures are hanged on frames. This was also where the front door was located. It was made of concrete, somehow. From the living room was a door that leads to an empty room which could accommodate three more rooms if it was done. The floor was not applied with concrete nor wood making it bare with soil as its floor. From this room, a door led to the dirty kitchen with a fireplace in it and the dining area, there's also a small space where one of my sister's brother-in-law is sleeping. Beside it was the comfort room/bathroom which is a very small room and dark. A poso/pump was also inside just outside the bathroom. It is where we pump water.

A nipa house just near this big house was where my sister's family were living because my sister can't stomach the attitude of one of her brother-in-law, the one sleeping at the room near the kitchen. It was where we cook and eat, we don't cook and eat at the big house. I even do my homework here than in my room except for times that I had to stay late to study my lessons.

They have this old woman, actually my brother-in-law's aunt who told me she had seen one time a silhouette of a girl at the north window which was overlooking their house. I was not at my room when she saw it and it was twilight, there's no way a shadow can be seen without the lights on. Well, I'm one brave 16 year-old who doesn't care about ghost-related stories. So I just brushed it off.

My brother-in-law were seven siblings, he was the youngest. The others were married while two of his brothers were not but there's this one girl who died at her early 20's. My room used to be her room. Their father also was died while their mother wasn't around because she's working as house helper in one of the cities of Pangasinan.

One time my sister told me that everytime she climbs the stairs to my room, there's a gush of cold air that would brush across her making the hairs on her spine stand. Sometimes she said that as if there's someone looking down at her at the top of the stairs but when she looked up, there's no one there.

As usual, I didn't care because if I do then where will I sleep if I got scared.

One late night, I was awakened by light footsteps outside, on the ceiling above the kitchen. It kept walking for sometime. I was really very sleepy that I was not able to get back to sleep in short time.

The footsteps had been awakening me the succeeding nights that's why I was keeping a block of wood at my side. Yes, the ceiling could be reach if someone would climb the fruit trees outside because there were macopa, guava, mango, guyabano, and rambotan. I thought it could be someone with a bad intention that's why I always double locked my door.

One time, I heard a thud, like someone just jumped from the kitchen ceiling to the balcony outside my door and the footstep went down the stairs. The following morning, I asked my brother-in-law's brother, the one sleeping at the room below mine if he heard it. But he just said laughing that I might be dreaming because he said he came home late and he can hear me snoring from downstairs. He's good to us and he kept teasing me how loud my snore was.. I said seriously, I snore like a pig? So when I kept bugging him about those footsteps I had been hearing for some nights he said maybe it was a cat.

There's a big cat, a tiger color it has that's roaming around the area during the day and sometimes I see it at the kitchen ceiling. I tried to observed how it walked but it made no sound at all. It made my brows met at its end and kept me thinking, was it because its late at night when everything's quite that made its silent footsteps audible? But why won't it come closer at my window so that I may be able to see it? I was a little scared, though. That's why I didn't bother to get up and look. Because who would like to when it's late at night and the world's very dark? So I just grasped the block of wood and ready myself for whatever is to come. I told my sister about it also but she said maybe it's the cat. Because if it's a human then they would make sure not to make any sound.

After some days, I learned that it was the old man's death anniversary. Oh my gosh... I got goosebumps from that. But I didn't have a choice but to sleep in that room. My brother-in-law's brother butchered one of his chicken then put some on a bowl before we ate. He put it at the side table and utter something. That night we all dined in except for their brother who was sleeping at the kitchen's bedroom.

From that night forth, I didn't notice that their was no footsteps outside my window anymore. I was able to sleep soundly until morning.

One time, my mother came for a visit. Because we missed each other that we spent a late-night telling stories. When we bade my sister and her husband goodnight, we headed to my room to sleep. However, before we slept, we heard the sound of something flying outside. Something which sounds like te-te-te-te-tet, repeatedly. She said that "petet" as we vernacularly called those blood sucking creatures were living there. I told her that I hear the sound every night especially when it's already late. But here in our place, we don't really believe in stories like those. So that when I asked her what petet actually was, she said it's just some night bird.

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I was not raised to believe such stories maybe that's why it can't fool my imagination. Well, I respect those who believe otherwise and you might like to share some of those goosebumping stories you have..

05-20-21

z_graeden