If you have read my other story (Never Really Gone) then you already know about the kitchen. This time I'll be sharing some odd encounters that took place in the living room and guest room. This will be a bit lengthy, because I want to avoid posting multiple stories.
Just to make things clear: In 1998, my parents bought a house in the Philippines. They only used it as a vacation house, because we were still living in California. We have a housekeeper that watches over the house whenever we're gone. It wasn't until 2010 that my parents decided to retire and live in the Philippines for good, and I went with them to attend college.
LIVING ROOM
Sometimes I like to lie on the floor on my stomach while reading a good book or surfing the net. The cold tile floor is usually my best friend during the hot weather (which is basically every day).
One night, I was on the living room floor downstairs with my laptop, and one of my little dogs curled up next to me. While I was reading an article on my laptop I felt warmness near my ear, and just like any other normal pet owner, I talk to my dogs. "Stop, that feels gross you fluffy creeper", I said without averting my eyes from the laptop. A few seconds later, I felt a warm blow in my ear that actually made strands of my hair move. So, I finally looked away from the computer, but discovered that my dog wasn't next to me anymore. I was so engrossed in the computer that I didn't realize that my dog went upstairs to my parents' bedroom (I forgot what a ninja he was). I was the only person downstairs that night, because everyone else was watching a movie upstairs.
I told our housekeeper about what happened and she was surprised. She said that the same thing happened to her while she was sitting on the stairs, and while washing dishes.
Out of all of the rooms in the house, for some reason I only get sleep paralysis when I take naps in the living room. Take note that I get it at least 5 times in a row. For example: I'm taking a nap then get sleep paralysis, I make an effort to get out of it, wake up for a few seconds, go back to sleep, and then immediately experience the same thing over again. Whenever this happens too many times in a row, I give up and move somewhere else, then it stops. Maybe this is an after-effect of sleep paralysis, but sometimes when I come out of it, I would see small person's shadow (maybe a child), or hear voices that halt the moment I wake up. This never happens in any other place or room in the house. Whenever I decide against using the air conditioner (to save electricity), the living room happens to be the coolest area in the house.
GUEST ROOM
(These events didn't happen to me, but to my goddaughter and niece)
Goddaughter's Experience (2006): Antonette
Antonette (currently 13 y.o.) was five years old at the time. She was staying with her mom (our housekeeper) and grandmother while they watched over our vacation house. We were still living in California at that time. One afternoon, her mom was outside watering the garden while she was upstairs with her grandmother. While her grandmother was doing chores in the upstairs family room, Antonette wandered off to the guest room.
The guest room has two doors: One that leads to the family room, and one that leads to the balcony. She came out from the guest room crying and screaming. Her grandmother rushed to her side and brought her downstairs to see her mom. When they asked Antonette what was wrong, she was speechless and continued to cry. Eventually, she calmed down but refused to go back upstairs with her mom. When her mom asked why she said, "I don't like the scary balcony man." When asked what the scary man looked like she said, "He has one eye closed, dirty clothes, a big hat, no shoes, and he was calling me."
They assumed that it was just her imagination, and decided not to make a big deal out of it. I found out about this event when I moved to that house in 2010.
7 YEARS LATER
Niece's experience (2013): Joy
(This happened after moving to the Philippines.) My parents went on a trip to Hong Kong, so I took the opportunity to have my cousin and her four year old daughter (Joy) over. It was too late for them to go home, so I let them sleepover and stay in the guest room.
The next morning, my cousin complained that she wasn't able to sleep properly, because Joy kept talking about the man in the window.
(There's a big window right next to the door that leads out to the balcony, so you can see the balcony through the window.) When my cousin asked about the man, she described him as: tall, dark, only one eye, a hat, and has scary face. Wide-eyed, the housekeeper and I exchanged looks. I told my cousin that my goddaughter saw something similar seven years ago.
Our neighborhood used be a farmland and field surrounded by tall grass before any houses were built. Based on what the kids were describing, it seemed like the man had the typical farmer appearance: dirty clothes (from farming), a wide-brimmed hat, dark skin from working out in the sun a lot, and bare feet.
Cousins' Experience (2014): Twins
There was another time when when my 4 year old twin cousins came over. It was All Souls Day (November 2, 2014), and a few of our family went straight to our house after visiting the cemetery.
Everyone was outside playing cards while the kids stayed in the upstairs family room. From the family room couch you can see the guest room to the left and the master bedroom to the right.
There were six of us upstairs: 4 kids, and two adults (including me), all in the family room. It was around 9:00 pm, and we were just watching the twins play on the floor in front of us. One of the twins looked up from her doll and stared at the open guest room door. She threw the doll and came running to me, burying her face in my chest. I asked her what was wrong, but all she did was frantically nod her head and started crying. Then in between sobs she said "He's scary, Close the door!" When I looked toward the guest room all I saw was darkness. The other twin started crying too and ran to her nanny.
At this point, I was scared and didn't even want to get up the go near the guest room. So I called out to the housekeeper downstairs and asked if she could come upstairs. A few moments later, we all heard someone walk up the stairs and was anticipating the housekeeper's appearance, but no one came. I called out to the housekeeper again and she responded, but her voice was coming from outside. She said that she was busy serving the guests and would come up later. We were all afraid to move and just sat there waiting for someone to come up. Finally, someone came up and closed all the doors and we all decided to just hang out downstairs.
I've never seen the man in the balcony, but I know I've felt a presence whenever I took naps in the guest room. I also realized that it's usually little kids who actually "see" things around the house.
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