A First-hand Encounter with a Ghost

I have been working as a secondary school teacher in a special science high school in Metro Manila for two years now. And a few months ago, I applied and was luckily taken in as an online freelance writer. It is not because I find my salary as a teacher not enough for my expenses (well, that can be a reason, though) but because I also find myself endowed with the passion in writing. Maybe one reason is that I have been into school paper since elementary, high school, and even during my college days.

Early this morning, I went to my school for the purpose of checking and recording the projects of my students. I had to work overtime (since it is a holiday and semestral break at the same time). Likewise, I was thinking of finalizing the article that I will be submitting in an online company where I work as a freelance writer. Two incidents battled in my mind. One was the story of my friend about a road incident where a procession of people carrying a white coffin and the people all dressed in white, intercepted the bus he is into, with an old woman warning their driver not to  overtake the procession for it might bring the bad luck. The other story is an elevator incident in my previous job wherein an old lady joined my shift supervisor inside an elevator, claiming that she is going to attend a mass in the building where our office is located in the middle of the night (it is not definitely for misa de gallo).

However, as I enter the faculty room, the air conditioning unit began to work, even before I pressed my thumb on the remote control. At first, I ignored it, believing that the security guard might have switched on the breaker located at the ground floor. I have heard of several stories that an alleged child ghost which they named “Kulit” (Naughty) roams around every room of the campus at night. Some teachers and students even experienced a first hand encounter with that unseen entity. Pay no attention to that idea, I turned on the radio and began browsing over the first movie review of one of my students. Suddenly, I felt something moving on my feet below my table. I looked for it, finding nothing. I continued with the second movie review. As I was about to finish my student’s output, I felt my shoe laces untied, eventually my shoes removed off my feet.

In so much fright, I quickly stood from my seat and ran out of the faculty room, leaving all the facilities inside the room unplugged. My hair literally stood up, and I was trembling with fear. The guard saw me with my terrified look and asked me what happened. I narrated the story and surprisingly, he was not shocked. He even told me that he has been encountering such incidents while going around the campus, checking for every facility in order.

This, he said, is a proof that the rumor of having ghosts in the school is true. And I, myself, have proven it.