I don't think I have the sensitivity to sense the paranormal but I'm a believer. That is why this story I'm about to tell is very particular because it happened to me. When we were in high school, me and my sister would hang out in our cousin's place in Sampaloc, Manila. My mom loved coming here because her sister is here, that and she could play tong-its (card game) to whoever would be available to play with around the neighborhood.
One day, we just learned that one of the players just died from gunshot wound, died on the spot. He is very familiar to my mom because he was one of the regulars. Lets call him Juan. And so the news broke and everyone was surprised, but at that time the body was not released in the hospital yet, under investigation I guess. Since the neighborhood was so close altogether among the residents, they decided to set up the wake in the barangay hall (hall where community officials would hold meetings).
So, again, it was back in the 90's and there were no texting yet. So one time, I was talking to my classmate over the phone when there was a call wait. Thinking it's another friend, I picked up the waiting call. It was a guy and a very jolly one. I said, "Hello?" and he answered, "Hello! Magandang hapon po!" (Hello, good afternoon) in a very jolly tone that I imitated and answered him back "magandang hapon din!" Then he said, "Pwede kay Manang Maria (not my real mom's name)?" (Can I speak with Maria?) Then I asked "Sino 'to? (Who's this?) " He answered, "Si Juan (This is Juan) " And I was shocked!
I put the phone away from my ear from fear of hearing something else and I called for my mom, asking her to hurry pick up the phone. My mom was asking who the caller was but I didn't want to say it because first, I wanted to check if he would talk to her and introduce himself; second, I'm thinking maybe the instant I mention his name, the line would be dead and my mom would think I'm talking way too much on the phone; and third, I was so scared! So my mom picked up the phone and said, "Hello?" and she was smiling. Then I heard her asked, "sino to?" and after that, her jaw dropped and she just kept saying, "Hello? Hello?" Then she put down the phone.
She just looked at me and we were just quiet for a minute. I asked if he introduced himself and she said yes. Their conversation went like this:
MOM: Hello?
Man: Manang! Tong-its na! (Sister, let's play tong-its)
Mom: sino to?
Man: si Juan
Then the line went dead.
I was about to cry because I was so scared and my mom saw how scared I looked that day. The next day we went to my cousin's neighborhood and my mom started asking questions: if someone called, who's playing pranks, but all the guys said why would they do such thing and disrespect the dead? And no one knew of our house number except my Aunt.
Juan's friend and used-to-be housemate was going back from province to their place when he saw Juan standing by Espana and smiled at him. He smiled back. Then when he was near their apartment and saw the wake, he asked who died. And they answered, "It's Juan." And he said,
It couldn't be, he just saw him a minute ago. And he went straight to the wake and saw him lying there.
The elderlies said it could've been because of the sudden death that Juan didn't know he passed. But that was it and after the burial, there were no more stories.
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Peace 😊 😊