I found this in my Draft folder, dated 11/4/16. I wasn't sure why I did not continue submitting this. Probably, I was not that confident to write in English anymore. This is something I've experienced between November 2010 to January 2011.
As a new teacher (and single; no love life), our deputy head gave me early and late classes in my first year of teaching. When I say early, it's 7:30-9:00 a.m. And late is from 6:00-7:30 p.m. My parents' house is an hour and a half away from the university I was teaching, so I decided to rent a room. In the Philippines, it's common to call a house where you can rent "boarding house." After three houses, I finally found the one I like.
The boarding house was an old two story building. There were three rooms on the ground floor and two on the second floor. I occupied the second room on the second floor. When you enter, the first thing you would see was the sink and big window at the opposite side, overlooking a public basketball court. Beside the sink was the bathroom. Near the bathroom was a queen-sized bed. So, a bed for two. 'Cause the price was quite expensive, I looked for a roommate. Glad I found Celine, a student-volunteer in our office. She's like a younger sister to me and we became so close to each other, since she would never be my student.
Most of the time, Celine was busy with her student-volunteer activities and we'd only see each other at night, or during lunch time. During Saturdays, I didn't like extending hours at the faculty lounge because that would mean seeing the man who just broke my heart. So, I'd take home some paper works, enjoying the solitude in my 'safe haven'. After few or more paper works, I would fall asleep. Bad handwriting of students give me headache. I would take a nap still holding my pen and the paper. I would be awaken by a gentle tap on my shoulder. I thought I was imagining or dreaming. But it happened for two to three times on the same period of the day and I was alone.
It didn't freak me out. I just prayed that if ever there was really a ghost, it would not harm me. One day, Celine forgot her keys to the main door of the house and our room. She sent me a text message that she was on her way to the boarding house from school and she'd text me again when she was already at the front gate. I was on the bed that day, feeling sad and blue, while listening to love songs from my laptop. I closed my eyes - did what I usually did: reminisced the past and asked what went wrong; why the bloke suddenly 'broke' what we had. Suddenly, I felt 'someone' lie down beside me and felt another gentle but cold tap on my shoulder (I was facing the wall). I opened my eyes, turned to see who was there, but I saw no one.
I lay again and didn't notice I fell asleep. I felt a gentle, cold hand on my leg (near my ankle) and when I opened my eyes, I saw my phone on the bed side table, vibrating. Celine was calling. I answered the phone and she told me, she was already outside the boarding house, waiting for me to open the door.
Few days passed, I wasn't the only one who could feel the presence of our third room mate. One night, Celine and I were awoken by noise from the bathroom. It was the sound of dripping water. I thought we left the faucet on. I got up and opened the bathroom. The sound was gone and there was no leaking or flowing water. The faucet was turned off.
Several nights passed, it still happened. We would be awoken by the sound of the dripping water. And I would always get up to check the bathroom only to find the entire bathroom floor dry. We got used to it. After all, it was harmless.
Most of the time, when I was alone and listening to sad love songs that would make me remember the guy, I'd feel a gentle tap on my shoulder, as if telling me "it's okay". I was sure, it wasn't my imagination 'cause Celine could feel the presence, too; just in a different manner. But our "third roommate" would also wake her up by a tap on one leg.
That was my first paranormal experience, though when I was a child, I used to see "weird" and horrible faces at night at the foot of my bed, but perhaps they were just my imagination. I used to wake my mom (in the Philippines, due to poverty, children can sleep beside their parents until a certain age), and tell her that there were people staring at me and she would tell me to close my eyes and pray. By the way, I still don't know until now if those images I saw when I was a child were 'real' or just my imagination. They stopped when I reached first year high school. Anyway, as it was what I considered 'first paranormal' experience, I asked around. I asked some people if they have encountered ghosts. Some said they did, several times already. Some said, the ghost of a family member visited them. I started thinking if our third roommate was my deceased brother. We were so close and we lost him unexpectedly. That time, he was already seven years gone. But I wasn't sure as my brothers and our tenants would mention from time to time about seeing a man in white shirt walking around the house.
Then, my best friend crossed my mind. She was my one and only best friend, since childhood. But an illness took her away... Confused, I already told my landlady about the weird things happening. She confirmed that there was a ghost in our boarding house and the previous occupants of our room also complained the same things. Celine and I were somewhat relieved when we learned that it's not only the two of us who experienced such things. At the end of the school year, we both moved out from the place and searched for a new one.
A year later, TREE GIANT and IMMERSION happened.
Thanks for reading.
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