20,December. Friday. 8:59pm.
There are things which can be ignored but their existence can't be denied.
I sat on the armchair in my hotel room, my laptop in my lap, as I brainstormed to remember a good anecdote out of my countless experiences to write about and finally post a new chapter of this novel. The start of a thing is mostly gorgeous and beautiful but it's shine dulls with the course of time. The same phenomenon takes control of me whenever I write or draw or start a new thing . Just that unlike other things, I can't bring myself to give up on this one.
I sat deep in thoughts, my fingers hovering over the keys of the laptop when suddenly–
KNOCK KNOCK!!!
I froze glancing at the door as I spoke loudly enough so the person on the other side can hear it.
"Who is there?"
"Avina, it's me, William."
I relaxed as I heard the sound of my husband's voice, I instantly got up and opened the door to allow him to enter, but that single instance sent me years back to that one specific night. And now I knew exactly which anecdote to write about.
________________________________________
It was late June, and the month has surprisingly being most amazing and worst at the same time. It may sound absurd but it's the truth. In some aspects it has been amazing and In others it has been a horrible nightmare. But now that I look back I think it was all well needed, with all the goods and bads that happened ofcourse.
You all might be wondering what am I even talking about, well, let's get into the details.
Years ago, a few days after my 18th birthday we got the news that my maternal grandmother, who lived with my maternal uncle was hospitalized after a accident, she was in ICU so my mother had to rush to my uncle, who lived in a different state. The condition of my grandmother was serious and my uncle wasn't married so my mom had to stay with them until grandma's condition improved and thus there was no telling when she will return. And I wasn't allowed to join her because well, at the time I was sick with heaven knows what. But I knew it made it hard to breathe or work and it made my life hell.
Tho I wasn't left on my own, as I told in last chapter, my paternal grandmother, aunt and cousin lived just downstairs so my mom asked them to give me food because I wasn't able to make food thanks to my illness. And thus I had to go and spend time with them often daily, and it was like going through seven circles of hell in just a few hours. You might be thinking it can't be that bad, but trust me, spending time with people who didn't care about you and think that socializing can cure diseases IS bad.
But now now, why does this sound like a ranting session. I am pretty sure none of you came here to listen to me rant about some old family problem nor do I think it's fair on my side to bore you all with my ranting so let's move on with the story.
So, my mom. She had this Strange light to her, something that I am sure she might not notice but I always did. It wasn't just because I loved her and saw her in a positive light, no. I honestly myself don't know the reason, but maybe it's because she was almost like a saintess or maybe because she was very spiritual, but whenever she was near,... I never noticed anything paranormal. Till this very day I don't know the true reason of why all evil energies cowered away when she was near, but it always just felt like... A relief from the constant pestering of the evil energies which always drove me crazy .
But now that she wasn't near, now that she was literally on the other side of the country, as you would have guessed.... The paranormal activities increased....
The very first night that she went away, I decided to sleep early. I used to have insomnia at the time but I just stupidly decided to lay in bed anyway , thinking I would fall asleep soon . But I didn't.... just as I laid down to sleep... I saw in the corner of my room a figure standing, it was a figure of a girl, pitch black. I could see it. As clearly as my own hand. It stood there motionlessly staring at me. And for those thinking I could have misunderstood because of the lack of light. No, the nightlamp(which was bright enough to light the room enough so that one can read a book in the corner I was talking about). That thing was there and I was sure of it.
Now, even though I was used to feeling them or seeing them out of the corner of my eyes or even seeing them clearly at times. This still scared me, and can you blame me? Who wouldn't be scared if you see a figure like this standing in your room, staring at you? I jolted up in my bed and flashed my phone's flashlight in that corner, luckily the thing disappeared instantly, tho I can still feel it there. It's just disappeared physically, not entirely. Obviously, I didn't sleep that night. I kept the lights on and spent time watching videos on my phone and slept after sunrise(which was at 5am).
My mother used to tell me that after sunrise no spirit can come out, they vanish from this realm and only come after 12 in the night . That's a lie. They don't vanish during day, only do in sunlight. I can say that with precision because I could still feel that spirit in that corner, watching me, even after sunrise. Then I thought that "maybe sunrays will make them disappear?" So I opened all the windows to let in sunlight and sure enough I stopped feeling it. Tho when I used to close it during the afternoon because of the scorching heat, I could feel the spirits again.
So it was either bear the sunlight and sweltering heat in 45° Celsius or constantly get pestered by spirits. So ofcourse I choose the latter.
Obviously those days weren't the best, a few days after the first night, one of the lights in my room suddenly stopped working, I fell sick with only myself to tend to my condition. During those times, since I stayed up all night because of these happenings, I didn't get the best sleep(If I did get any at all). Half way through the month tho, I started doing prayers and chants and kept a idol of God(I had it since childhood) with me at all times. And luckily things got better a lot and I stopped feeling those things,.... In my room atleast. Outside it was just the same, worse might I say. I would constantly feel their presence and if I accidentally went to the bathroom after 12(bathroom was outside my room), I would often hear noises on the door. Or if I left my room at all during night l, I would feel someone following me. Just 2 steps behind me. The experience was so chilling it always made me froze. But I knew I only have myself, so I just ignored them and countinued with the task at hand.
Many might wonder, "how can you ignore such things? " , well, you can't. But the question wasn't what can I do and what can I not at that moment, it was always "what will you even do". Scream? It will bring unwanted attention and nobody will believe me. I knew the fact that this is a war in which I only have holy powers of God or whatever holy beings there are. And myself.
Many psychic people say they tried to get more knowledge about their gifts, and use them to help others. Tho that wasn't the case with me. I didn't even knew why these things happen to me until I was 16. And no matter what I did, I just attracted more and more of these. It was a maze with no way out. So I accepted the reality. I did my research on these things as much as I can and ignored all the hostile spirits trying to pester me. I refused to give them the response they wanted.
My mom always used to tell me, "leave the spirits alone in their world and they will leave you alone" , so I did, I did leave them alone but.... They didn't....
________________________________________
It was nearly the end of the month, my mom still wasn't back, tho the supernatural activities reduced so greatly I was wondering what happened? Now, it wasn't that I wanted these things to happen. I am not a masochist who would relish in this mental misery, it was just wierd that it stopped, wierd and scary. Like that one teacher that hates you, suddenly becomes Indifferent to you, you think they finally let you be at peace but they then surprise with something more horrible than they ever did. That, that is exactly what has always happened to me, I knew that when the waves start to recede it always comes back with a tsunami, and thus I was wondering what is going to happen now. I felt genuinely curious for once.
Tho I wasn't very worried. I was actually so used to these things that I was just planning on ignoring whatever it is anyway.... But, just because I ignored it, doesn't mean it did affect me.
It was around 2:36 am, I was sitting on my bed watching YouTube videos with my headphones in, and the door lockef. It was a warm night tho I had a exceptionally good day that day. No pestering from the supernatural realm nor did I get sick again and I somehow managed to be productive. A voice in the back of my head was telling me something is going to happen. Something bad is going to happen, but I just ignored it. Knowing full well that whatever I do, I can't stop, whatever it is from happening, so I better endure it without fretting. That's what I believe. If there is something bad that you know is going to happen but you know you can't stop it, then try to endure it calmly. Because fear will only lead you to worsen the situation, I know it's not easy to stay calm in difficult situations. But now that I remember, I read somewhere once that "Calm is the treasure of the wise, and fear with impulsivity is a fool's demise" , so I think it's better to stay calm because nervous actions only leads to ugly consequences.
So I was calm, ready for whatever lemons, life may throw at me. But what it did was something very unexpected.
I had at some point stopped watching videos and now was on webtoon, reading something, I don't remember what but I still remember what happened afterwards . As I was reading I suddenly felt the room's temperature drop significantly, I didn't think much of it at first since I can endure some cold and because, well I was probably on an interesting part of the story. It might sound wierd but I have, sometimes, even yelled at the spirits so this much was normal. So I kept ignoring these wierd happenings... Until I couldn't.
My reading was interrupted by sharp and loud knocks on door of my room. I whipped my head towards the door and stared at it frozen for a moment as the knocking countinued. Some might think that it might be my dad or aunt knocking, no. It wasn't. On the end of the stairway, which started next to the main gate and ended on second floor(my floor)was a door which was locked at night to avoid any intruders from breaking in on the second floor. And only me and my dad had the keys to the door. Plus even if she had the key, I would have heard her enter because I have sharp ears and the door is so noisy it can make even a corpse wake up.
But there was no sound.
And it couldn't have been my dad either because I can recognize him by the sound of his footsteps and this time there were no sound.
Just as I was thinking all this– "Avina, my dear Avina open the door... AVINA!"
I heard a unfamiliar and hoarse voice of an old man, calling my name... My first name. Nobody in the house called me with that, they all had their nicknames for me with which they called me and as I heard this thing call me by my first name I knew it wasn't a family member. I held the God's idol closer, took several deep breaths to calm down and then plugged In the headphones and started watching YouTube videos at full volume . By now I knew that whatever it is it can't enter the room because of the prayers and chanting I did in here. I knew for sure because I can clearly feel it, not inside the room tho but outside of the room and thus I decided to ignore it and cat videos did just the trick to divert my mind.
I could still hear it a bit, knocking loudly, over the sound of the videos and if I am correct, the knocking and yelling countinued for 10 more minutes before it stopped. The rest two hours, I was a bit at ease because I can't feel it outside anymore but a little around 4:30am the knocking started again.
And now since I was watching my favorite anime and since I had severe anger issues at the time I did something oddly hilarious.... I yelled at the spirit.
I am not quite sure wether it was because of the exhaustion or the lack of sleep or the fact that I hated being disturbed while watching anime, or maybe a mixture of these, but that day... I just lost it. I yelled at the spirit while spewing profanities even after the knocking stoped. It was hilarious now that I look back at it but I believe it was justified after everything I endured, I nedded a release.
Nonetheless, after 3 days my mom came back and luckily the supernatural activities decreased again . Tho those days are still clearly engraved in my mind. Later I reaserched a bit and found out that the spirit that I berated that day, was probably a spirit known as mimic which can copy the voice of someone you know. It will knock on your door and talk with a familiar or unfamiliar voice and persuade you to open the door. Luckily I didn't open the door that day. But because of that very incident. I still don't open the door before confirming the person's identity.
Regardless I hope you liked my wierd little anecdote. I hope you have a good day bye bye.