And We Call Her Sarah

Living in a baryo (a small community), I grew up with horror stories like one of our neighbors being an Aswang, the durian tree on the third route having a Kapre, and the mango tree on the second route having a White Lady.

I'm not sure if you believe in this, but I do. I have a fair share of paranormal encounters at school, at work, at home and everywhere I go. My third eye is not open, unlike my sisters. But I know when they are with me because I can feel it and they like to make some noises. Sometimes, they do appear in my dreams and leave marks when I wake up.

One time, in my boarding house in Cebu, I felt that someone with a strong grip and a cold hand grabbed my right foot. I was on the upper deck at that time and when I looked up, I saw a girl with long hair. I screamed at the top of my lungs. It was a dream...my roommates woke me up. I was crying, and the small hint of a grip mark was there. A month later, without knowing my experience, someone shared that on the second floor, just above the room we rented, a student committed suicide.

First Encounter

After graduation, I worked in research and development at the university and the office was in the engineering building. Iligan City, known for its hydroelectric power plant Maria Cristina Falls, always experienced a rotational brownout. The building didn't have a generator, so when that happened, we were chilling and sharing some scary stories until the power was back. I've heard a lot about Sarah, especially from those who have been in the research for 3 years already. They always said that she will say hi to us if we start working overnight.

Because of the rotational power cut-off, our work was affected, and I had to work overnight. Everyone went home to have dinner and prepare some stuff for the overnight session. I was left alone in the office. My home is at least a 45-minute drive from the university, and I had to commute three times. It was past 8 PM when I heard mouse clicks and keyboard taps. It was loud enough that I could hear it even though I was wearing earphones and listening to music. I brushed it off thinking someone from LiDAR 2 decided to join the LiDAR 1 overnight session.

_{The door on the right side was the office.}

But the clicking and tapping became faster, and it sounded like someone was playing DOTA2. When I removed my earphones, it stopped, so I thought I was just hearing something. But then, I heard the swivel chair move. I went to the LiDAR 2 area, and no one was there. I freaked out. I ran outside and called my boyfriend to come to the office.

Second Encounter

_{The left side is the Admin area. Upon entering the second door, Phil-LiDAR 2 is on the right side and the left side is Phil-LiDAR 1.}

It was Friday, and everyone went home early. However, I decided to work for three more hours with Argine. Since our supervisor already clocked out, HR decided to stay with us since we didn't have the office keys. It was already quiet, so I decided to turn off the music without removing my earphones. Argine was waiting for her simulation to finish and was busy preparing her things. She had this medium-sized mirror on the table and was combing her hair when she immediately flipped over and looked at the water dispenser.

I maintained my composure because I'm always feeling brave when I'm with someone. Hehe. She then tapped me and mentioned Sarah was staring back at her in the mirror. She hid her mirror and then listened to music again.

I was silently praying the simulation would finish, so we can go home already. We had the option to leave the computer on the whole night with the aircon as well. But because of the errors, we wanted to make sure it was successful. A few minutes later, someone whispered in my ears "Ssssssshhh." I stopped and was sweating. Argine flipped over again. She thought I was listening to music, so she was talking to herself, "Wala ra lagi to. Walay nanitsit." (It's nothing. No one whispered.) Okay, I'm not sure what's the English term for nanitsit.

When I heard Argine saying that, I responded, I heard that, too. And we all ran to the admin area and asked Rachel to come with us so we can turn off our unit. Rachel's response was "Oh, that's normal."

Last Encounter

_{Our Project Leader's office}

Another overnight session and this time, it's the whole Data Processing Team. The project was about to end. There were still lots of deliverables and a week-long conference to attend. We didn't want to extend our workdays without pay, so we decided to work overtime without pay.

Our supervisor likes horror stories. So instead of playing music, he was playing in a loudspeaker a horror story channel on Youtube. Then he stopped it after going to the comfort room. Then he closed the sliding door to the meeting room and went to the admin area. He asked Rachel to sit beside us and transfer her unit beside him. At first, we were teasing them, but Rachel was a little hesitant about the reason behind the transfer. He's a goofy supervisor, but at that time, he was serious. Kuya Dave responded that she was alone there and that it was more fun to be with us. But we became skeptical since we all know Kuya has a third eye, so he confessed that someone was piggybacking Rachel that's why her shoulders probably felt heavy.

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It was past midnight when Kuya Dave decided to open the door to the meeting room since he was sleepy already. The meeting room shows the mini office of our project leader with its glass window. After Kuya Dave, everyone followed except me. It just happened that my head turned around to the meeting room when I saw someone standing and staring at me from the PL office. I tried rubbing my eyes and looked again, and she was still there - fiercely staring at me. I jumped out of my chair and tried my best to sleep under my table.

_{What a cutie! Poncho, Kuya Dave's doggo, was surprisingly loud at that time and kept on barking facing the meeting room.}

Morning came, Mark shared that he saw Sarah staring back at him when he woke up to pee. He asked Argine to come with him, and instead of going to the male CR, he peed in the female CR near the office. Since he can't go back to sleep, he played a Praise and Worship song until the janitor arrived. We all laughed about it because Mark is a very, very vulgar gay, and we didn't expect him to be religious. He was cursing in Bisaya nonstop while saying he played and listened to the songs.

We jokingly said that maybe it was Sarah's way of saying goodbye since she won't be seeing us after the project.

That's it for my spooky story!

It feels so odd to write this while being scared and emotional. It makes me remember those days when every Halloween, my cousins and I used to gather around and share our paranormal encounters. I'm not sure if it's just me but I always cry when I share or listen to horror stories. But that's not the case when I'm watching or reading one. It's a big NO-NO for me.

_{November Blogging contest. This is my entry to @hiveph}

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K N E E L Y R A C
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