jmrsantos29

“Room 205 - Part II”

Academic Year 2003-2004

The next school year I transferred to San Beda College. I did not have a straight schedule then, hence, I have vacant periods which gave me reason not to go back early to my room in San Antonio Bldg. Also, my cousin’s husband decided to practice teaching in our hometown instead because he said he missed his wife children. My other cousin replaced him as my new room mate. I thought my stay in the room would be more enjoyable knowing that my cousin, Khong, who was a joker will be staying with us. My friend, RC, whom I forgot to name in my previous post was also elated because back in our hometown, the three of us were already barkada. Sometimes our other friends from Bataan would visit and spend the night in our pad. Those nights mean beers, tong-its, and laugh till you drop. The previous experiences I had in the room were already slowly being forgotten.

I forgot to mention in my earlier the gift I have. I am especially sensitive to the aura of the place and people. At the first encounter with a stranger I can already sense if this person is good or bad, if he has bad intentions against me, if we will jive, if he can be trusted or not. This gift has saved countless of times from being mugged. I am proud to be a probinsyano who, up to this day, has not been held-up or experienced my pocket being picked. I am also sensitive to my surroundings, I can sense if the place has a good or bad aura, if the place is spooky or not, if we are welcome to the place or not. This gift gave me a very good sense of direction. Maybe it’s instinct but I don’t really know what to call it. By the way, the first time I entered San Antonio Bldg. during my first year in the metro, I sense a lonely but not harmful aura in the stairs that’s why I did not expect their presence to be felt conspicuously.

My cousin Khong also has a gift. He can see spirits and elementals. However, he does not want to accept that gift and he focused his mind to ignore such sights. He avoid going to hospitals and cemetery alone because he knows he will see all sorts apparitions. He said spirits are also sensitive to people who can see, feel and even smell them. They can also sense if someone is talking about them. That’s why there is a great chance of experiencing them if groups of people are sharing spooky experiences about ghost. Another thing I forgot to mention, If people who can sense but cannot see ghost and those who can see are together, there is a higher probability that they can share the ability of their gifts and experience the same thing. Now here is how if happened.

As you may recall, our room is located on the third floor of the building, we have a window with metal grills and its distance from the firewall is only two meters. On the morning, RC already left for school. I had just put on my clothes and was combing my hair (the mirror hangs on the wall separating our room from the hallway) while Khong was sitting on a chair beside the dining table (his back facing the opposite wall I stated above). My back was facing my cousin. We were talking and telling jokes when all of a sudden I saw (remember I do not have the ability to see ghost) from the reflection in the mirror that something black entered our room from the window and walked briskly towards the opposite wall. In short, he passed through the space in the middle between me and Khong. I blurted “p#ta ano yun?” Khong replied “Nakita mo rin yung pumasok at tumagos sa kabilang pader?” I did not even bother to answer his question. We just quickly got out of the room and smoke some cigarettes outside our building. While we were outside he asked me “Ngayon ka pa lang ba nakakita ng multo?” I replied “What person in his right mind would like to see something like that?” He said the spirit is just making his presence felt but does not want to harm. I said I also felt that his aura is not harmful. After that, I accepted the fact that whenever my cousin and I are together He can sense what I can sense as I can see what I can see. Thank God he is in Dubai right now.

Chronicle of the Residence Bee

When I was in college, I was one of those people who may be classified as a “residence bee.” I have had the fortune or misfortune of residing at different places around the University Belt during the entire period of my academic stay in Manila. Now let me share with you the creepy memories I have of those places. First in this series happened during my early college years.

“Room 205”

Academic Year 2002-2003

I used to rent a studio type room with my cousin’s husband and a friend. My friend and I were both college freshmen, I was enrolled in UST while he was enrolled in FEU. My cousin’s husband, the oldest among us three occupants, was a new high school teacher at UST Pay High. He was the one who spotted the “Room for Rent” advertisement while buying some flowers at Dangwa. The 5-storey building, located at Dos Castillas St. corner Maria Clara St. in Sampaloc, was practically new since it was constructed just three years prior to us renting it a room in it. The first time I saw the building, I was already sold to the idea of renting a room. I was sure my stay in that place would be pleasant, with its outside walls painted in old rose and pastel blue colors, inner walls painted in cream tones, iron wrought secured gate, classy wooden benches and crystal tables at every stair landing and paintings hanging on the walls along the corridor of every floor.

The ground floor spaces are used as commercial stalls for flower shops. The second floor area serves as the annex of the flower shops below and can only be accessed thru a stair located at the rear area of each stalls. The third and fourth floor areas are dedicated for people like me who wants to have a temporary place of residence in the metro. Hence, even if our room is actually on the third floor, the room number starts with the number 2. Both residence floors are comprised of 5 separate studio type rooms. The fifth floor serves as the penthouse and is exclusively used by the son of the owner of the building who was then studying fine arts in UST. My favourite place, roof deck is where we can hang our laundry to dry. I used to go up there often and pretend to hang my laundry just to have a peek at the windows of the dorms near our building and catch some coed dormers changing or taking off their clothes. Let’s just say I get lucky sometimes. he he he.

The rooms on the third and fourth floors are place in this way: If you are standing at the hallway, to your right is Room 201, diagonally to your right is Room 202, in front of you is Room 203, diagonally to your left is Room 204, and to your left is our Room 205. Room 201 and 202 are located at the Dos Castillas Side of the Bldg. Room 203 and 204 are located at the Maria Clara side of the Building. Those four rooms are fortunate to have a view of the outside world thru their windows. Our room is not that fortunate: our room is a perfect square and if you picture yourself standing in the middle of the room with your back facing the wall where the door is placed, to your right is the wall that separates our room from Room 204, the wall in front of you is the firewall of the building, to your left is a wall that has the grilled window but it only has a distance of 2 meters from the other firewall of the building, the wall behind you is the wall separating our room from the hall way. In short, even if we have a window in our room, we do not have a very enjoyable view since it is only the firewall we will see. Anent is the very little amount of sunlight that is permitted in this set up. Hence, even if is a bright and sunny day outside, if no light is turned on inside the room it will look as if it’s just the breaking of dawn or dusk.

My cousin’s husband and my friend stay at their respective school all day. I’m the only one fortunate enough to have a very lax schedule. My class starts at 7:00 AM and ends at 12:00 PM. I have the whole room all to myself the whole afternoon. I t has been my routine to take a nap after lunch. One time I decided to turn off the lights in the room in order to set a better mood for rest. As I was dozing off, the television turned on by itself and startled me. Being a techie I know that sometimes a device can turn on by itself if the buttons on the remote control jams. So I check the remote and turned off and on and off the television using the remote control. The remote is working fine. As I was heading back to my bed, the television turned on again by itself. I know it’s strange but I decided to just unplugged the television and continue sleeping. I think I have already slept for 30 minutes when all of a sudden the television and the lights inside the room turned on. I was really frightened, I hurriedly gather my books and ran out of the room to go to the UST Central library to catch some sleep and study. My friend was already back in the room when I returned at around 5:00 PM. He asked me where did I go and why I left the lights turned on. I did not tell him what happened to me. I just said that I forgot to turn off the lights. I asked him if the television is turned on when he returned. He said no because it is unplugged from the socket when he returned. After that incident, I know that we are not the only one’s occupying Room 205.

Another time, I was also alone in the room and I was in the bathroom taking a shower. I had just turned off the shower to apply soap on my body when I heard footsteps inside the room. I shouted my friends name thinking he just came back from school. I did not hear any reply. I thought maybe he is not feeling well. I continued my shower and was already rinsing my hair when someone knocked on the door of the bathroom. I said “Pare di pa ako tapos. Sandal na lang.” I was singing when I came out of the bathroom but was spooked when I did not see anyone in the room. I hurriedly put on my clothes and approach the door to get out of the room. I turn the knob but the door would not budge. I then notice something that made my experience creepier; the security bolt was on the lock position. It can only be locked inside and no one on the outside can come in once it is locked. I clearly recall that I did not lock the security bolt. Once outside, I ran as fast as I can along the hallway and down the stairs. I just decided to wait for my room mates to come before returning to the room. I told my friend what happened to me. He just said “Akala ko pare sa akin lang nangyayari, sa iyo rin pala.” We were thinking then of moving to another place but since it is already the middle of the second semester we will surely have a very hard time finding a suitable place to move to. Besides, aside from those experiences the building is okay. We just decided to stay.

I have more stories to tell but I’ll reserve it for another time. [/font][/font]