Do you remember how vivid dreams can be? Well this story happened when I was around 8 years old. We were living in Baguio and trying to pick up the pieces of our lives after the earthquake.
My Papa just lost his job so we had to transfer to a much cheaper apartment in Tabora. The boarding house was quite old and we rented one room while my mom's cousins occupied the other rooms. The place was quite old, the rooms were force locked by pieces of wood nailed to the doors, without using those, the doors would open and slam shut on their own. So after opening the door, you had to rotate the piece of wood to close it. Must be the hinges since it was a really old house. The main door would swing on its own even during midday, even in the absence of wind or slight breeze... Still, it must be the hinges.
Well, being young we were always told to sleep during midday "for us to grow stronger and faster"- (lol-didn't do me much good because I am still 5'1" last time I checked). Every time I woke up after my mid-day 'mandatory' nap-my eyes would be swollen and I would feel strangely weak. That went on for consecutive days after we moved in to the new place. One time, my mom asked me "dear, why do you always cry and talk in your sleep?"
On the 5th day, I woke up in the middle of a dream-I really felt upset, and I saw my uncle and aunts along with my parents beside my bed. They all looked frightened. My eyes were all teary and I was talking in 'Tagalog'-note: I didn't know how to speak in Tagalog at that age, Ilocano being my first language. And I heard the words- "kasi pinutol mo yun paa ko-ikaw!" spoken in Tagalog. I could hear myself talking but it felt like I was not there. My mind was aware of what my body was doing but I was not in control.
My Papa was talking to me- he was asking who I am and what I needed. And then again I felt a force pushing me to sleep. I didn't know what happened next and to this day, my parents refused to talk about it. The only thing I remember was that after the incident, my Mama consulted a neighbour and they were told to burn tires-old tires to drive away whatever bad spirit was there haunting us. The odour of the tires was supposed to drive it away. And I was never told to do my mid-day nap... I dare not to.
After that, my Papa got his job back after the grocery located in Magsaysay road got back into business. So we moved to another address. The dreams stopped either because of the burned tires, the new address or stopping the midday-day naps. I still try to figure out what happened and to this day I do not have an answer.
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