Before I start, let me just tell you my views about the paranormal (ghost and elemental, etc). I am a believer that those things/entities really exist but I haven't really seen, feel or have any contact with them. I am now 27 years old, married and have kids and not one single experience with them (though I love reading horror, ghost, elemental stories and am never a scared cat). But, there is always an exception, and I have one.
Remembering, it seems unreal, like it didn't happen at all. But it did. It did. And it feel like it's just another scary story I have read or watched before. I never talked about it to anyone other than my family, never have the heart to tell anyone my story after it happened and ended. Only my immediate family knows of this and me. So let me tell you, how it all happened.
It was probably the year 2003 or 2004, I forgot the exact year, but I was in my 3rd year of high school when it all started. We live in a city in Cebu, one of those developing cities where urban and rural life is merging. We live near the business district, crowded yet there is a sense of provincial vibe to it.
My parents built our house in a lot owned by my mother's ancestors. I love that place. We were living next to our cousins, relatives, all of us living in one area/compound. Our house is right next to the ancestral home of my great-great-grandparents (mom's side). It's really very old, dating back Spanish era time, and have been renovated but preserved throughout the years.
Right next to it is the only living tree in our compound, which still survived. They could not cut it down because, according to our oldies, elemental spirits are living in the tree (forgive me but I don't know or forgot what tree it is). It is huge and looks really old.
Several ghost stories surrounding our ancestral home and the tree have been passed down from one generation to the next. White lady passing by floating in the air, squealing pig wearing bakya (traditional wooden slipper) roaming the second floor of the house, huge black man-like figure seen smoking cigar up in the tree, a sigbin (mythical creature in Filipino folklore) and other horror stories that I love to hear and enjoyed listening to as a child. I don't get spooked easily, so it never was a scary thing for me. But, everything that I believe in and not believe is about to change.
It was past midnight, I was sure of that, when I heard a woman softly calling my name. Her voice is very enchanting like you would want to listen to it and follow it wherever it leads you. I was already asleep by the way, I just sleepily woke up to her voice beckoning me to open the back door of our house and go out to her.
Now you would be alarmed if you happen to know where our back door actually leads. It actually leads you out to the canal dike about 10 feet (or more) high. If you open the back door, you'd step directly on the dike's topmost part. Ten feet below is the clean canal. This used to be a small river, leading to the sea. It's hard to explain but that's how I can describe it, since our house is built on the edge of the ancestral lot and the dike serves as the border.
It really didn't mean anything to me that time. Why is the voice beckoning for me to go out? I didn't even question what her motive is or why. But when I woke up the next day, I was sitting under our dining table in the kitchen where our back door is. I dismiss what happened, didn't feel alarmed or scared even. I just had a vague memory of what happened last night. But that incident was followed by another same episode. The same thing would happen every night, I would wake up (or be half-awake) to a voice asking me to come out of our house and wake up in the morning under the dining table. This went on for a week, and I never told my parents about it, I didn't think of it at that time as alarming. It was just probably sleepwalking, though I never was one who sleep walks before that or even now.
However, it escalates from simply hearing a voice calling me to go out. I also began having a dream. In the dream, I was near the sea, I'm in the beach collecting these pretty seashells. Then I look up and saw a white lighthouse in the sea (probably 20 meters away from me), there's a cemented path that leads to it from the beach. A figure of a man in white is there. He's beckoning me by his hands, like asking me to come to him. Then my dream would end and I would wake up the next day, again, under the dining table. This is when I started to feel uneasy, like somehow, something is not right. That I shouldn't be having that dream. I was beginning to get scared.
This went on again for a week, same exact dream. Same place (however not familiar to me), same scenario, same man. But, each night he seems to be getting closer to me. I can't see his face clearly, but I have this feeling that he seems good looking, must be my crazy teenage hormones, so I feel excited every night to have this dream and finally see his face.
That night finally came, I dream of me strolling the beach picking up seashells, and he's right there standing in front of me. And what shocked me is his face, it's the face of my high school crush then! And then I wake up, same place, same position. I don't know what the dream meant and why is he showing with the face of my crush. But this time, I got really scared. Scared to go to sleep, and scared to see him again, because every night he keeps motioning his hands at me, asking me to come with him.
This actually took a toll of my school days. I would just passed out while at school and when I wake up, my friends and schoolmates are already crowding around me, worried, asking me if I was sick, and if I'm feeling okay. I am okay, I'm not sick. I would just passed out in the middle of doing something (talking to my friends, listening to my teacher's discussion, eating my snack) and having no recollection of what happen before that to cause me to pass out.
The next night, I heard the same voice calling me out again. I went out of bed (I don't remember if I was sleepwalking), but it's like I'm awake but my eyes are close, and tried opening our back door. Now, sidetracking, let me explain to you the structure of our house. Our house is just small, we don't have any bedrooms yet. It is a nipa hut (traditional house in our country). We have a small closed balcony leading to our front door, that's where my two younger brothers sleep (I'm the eldest by the way). And in the living room is where my parents, me and my 2 youngest sisters sleep together. Then there's the dining area, where our back door is, leading outside to the dike I was talking about earlier. The back door, unfortunately, has a lock that is very hard to open and only my father can only open it. It's really hard to open, believe me, and only the strength of my father can open it by all his force. I think it's also a good thing since it can be dangerous for us children to fall down the deep dike, break our necks or hurt ourselves.
Going back to the story, so I tried opening the lock of the back door but to no avail, it's just so hard. The voice keeps on calling to me saying "Emilia (not my real name), Emilia. Come on out. Come here. Come." The voice is very hypnotizing, very melodic and its like really seducing me to go out.
I woke up the next day, guess where? Under the dining table, and funny, with a toothbrush in my hand and my mouth full of toothpaste. It was my mother who found me there and shaken me to wake up. She thought it funny why am I there with the toothbrush and toothpaste. But I was simply creep out. I look at the back door, and found the lock to it just a few move would have open it. My father who usually opens it in the morning to take a hike going to the sea, was also shocked who had open it more than halfway, knowing how hard the lock is. I know it was me, I know I did try my hardest to have it open last night and wondered what could have happened if I did open it all the way. That's when I started telling my parents what had transpired the previous weeks. The dream, the voice calling me at night, and me passing out at school. They were shocked and couldn't believe I keep it from them that long. But they believe me. And was scared for my safety.
I'm really sorry guys but I have to cut this since it's too long. And I'm about to go out of the office and go home already. It's past my shift. But I'll be posting the continuation of the story as soon as I can get to a computer. For now, I need your opinion and comments on what do you think of my story. I understand if you would doubt if it really did happen or was I just making this up. But as much as I wished for it to be just my imagination, it really did happen to me. And the continuation would be more alarming, scary and really difficult to understand or believe.
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