I've run out of energy and fire to talk. "Quickly, I must think of something." Maybe it was because of the full moon and the weird mood it brought earlier, I decided to do a mini-test of courage with my friend. I imagined daring her to stare at the outside. Thinking in my head to scare her a bit... Boy, I was so getting punk'd by Karma.

/click here to read from the start/

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We were driving on an empty road

It was around midnight then and the road felt so empty. It was only just us coasting on the dreary roads homebound since most of the visitors at the resort spent the night there. I'm sitting on the rightmost side of the van with the window wide open to let in the cool night breeze. Everything seemed like a perfect buildup for what's to come next.

Remember that bit earlier when I said I have poor eyesight and all? Until this time, I'm still wondering WHY was I was seeing it so vividly, like high-definition-level clear. Take note that the next events happen in a span of a few seconds. So aside from being weirded out by the experience, I was also severely impressed by how my eyes and brain processed it on that small timeframe. Just after the thought of pranking my friend crossed my mind, I, of course, instinctively looked out the window first.

Several meters ahead, I saw a silhouette clad in white.

Ayan na. Sa puntong ito, mapagbiro at kwela pa talaga ang timpla ko noon. Kasi medyo may maitim nga akong balak na mang-troll ng kaibigan. Mabilis lang talaga ang balik ng karma noon. Ako ay kinalibutan na nang makita ko ang puting telang nasa gilid ng kalasada mula sa malayo. Pero dahil marahil hindi pumayag ang aking utak na may maiwang mga katanungan, minabuti kong magmasid pa at mas intuon ang atensyon ko sa mahiwagang pangitain kaysa sa ibaling sa iba ang aking tingin.

The glowing moon has irradiated the open roads making the object quite visible. It also instantly drew my attention, like it was a primary subject on a stage play where the director orchestrated all the lighting to focus on it. To me, the object seemed somewhat luminescent.

That was my initial observation several meters away. I was still a bit chill at this point and I haven't thought of it as anything out of the ordinary yet. I immediately rationalized that maybe it's just a white cloth hanging ... like maybe a dress left to dry out ... in the middle of a public road ... in a cold breezy night. I know it made zero sense but I had to come up with a potential logical explanation fast.

I still can't take my eyes off of it as we're nearing the figure. At this opportune moment when we're about to get the closest, I decided to validate my silly theory. I turned my gaze downward. As I did, I observed that the white cloth was not just a haphazardly hanged cloth, it was a white dress - a rustic and a bit old-fashioned style at that. My eyes continued towards the ground, looking for that upright wood where this white dress is hanging from. We're almost parallel to the figure and I'm staring wide-eyed, aghast at the bottom of it.

Ito ang bahaging sinasabi ko na nagpakitang-gilas ang aking matabang utak. Ewan ko ba kung bakit dun pa sa pagkakataon na iyon nagpabibo. Sa bilis ng sasakyan, nagawa ko pang magproseso ng kung anu-anong mga sitwasyon at posibleng katwiran. Bagama't parang waley ang aking hinuha na "baka damit lang ito na naiwang nakasampay" (oo, napagtawanan na ako ng aking kaibigan nang husto nang ikuwento ko iyan), mainam na rin at naisip ko yun. Dahil dun nabigyan ako ng pagkakataon na magusisa pa at kilatisin ng mabuti ang mahiwagang pangitain.

My head went into overdrive

I was starting to get terrified. Not because of what I saw but because of what I did not see.

Nothing. It was just an empty space.

Man, my eyes suck at picking the moments to function at optimum. At that point, I was practically the closest person to the white figure. The van was about right across from it so I'm maybe a meter or two away. I clearly saw nothing but the ground and roadside grass. The cloth was raised well above a foot above the ground but there's no post, no wood ... not any leg of any sort to keep the thing upright. It was hard to believe, but I've got no other option but to conclude that it was floating.

Nanglamig na talaga ako pag-angat ng mata ko. Windang na ako nang makita ko na nakalutang ang bagay na iyon, na hindi pala basta-bastang saplot lang na nakasabit sa kung ano. Ito ay naka-makalumang gayak - at nakalutang pa!

While I was calm and being logical before (even for the silliest excuses), I've started freaking out soon. Despite getting severely spooked, I'm still trying to puzzle out the phenomenon of the white floating dress. I was able to muster enough courage and foolishness to look up. I wouldn't think that anything at that time would top the "floating" revelation but something did. We just went past it and we were quickly gaining distance. But before completely losing it from view, I saw it.

On top of the floating white old-fashioned dress, a faceless head with shoulder-length, slightly messy black hair sits. And even without evident eyes and other facial features, it seemed to move its "head" by just a fraction, locking its gaze towards us.

Pag lumingon ka, akin ka.

I'm glad I wasn't driving

I closed my window immediately. As expected, I full on freaked out. My seatmate did as well. It turns out that she saw it too but not as clear and as detailed as I had. The rest were sleeping so we were only the two ones who witnessed the phenomenon. We frantically talked about what we saw and the driver thankfully turned on the light inside the van. Sleeping people be damned, we need light!

It was past midnight and we were weary, so the slight hysteria eventually dulled down. The lights were left on and we purposely never looked outside for the rest of the ride. At the back of my head, I was extremely grateful that we were riding on more-than-maximum capacity. What if there was an empty seat left? Would it have hitchhiked instead of letting us get away with a haunting gaze? My heart would seriously burst out if after I close my window, I'll find the white figure seated beside me.

Sa totoo lang, matapos ang inisyal na takot, nagtawanan na kaming dalawa ng kaibigan ko. Pinoy nga naman. "Gusto ko nang ipasok sa mata ko yun panyo ... haha", bitaw ng kaibigan kong nakasaksi din. At kinuwento ko naman ang aking henyong "sampayan theory". Haha. Napaka-supportive naman po ng tito ng aming kaibigan at binuksan nya ang ilaw. Syempre pagbukas ng ilaw, nagbilang na kami agad ng mga kasama din. Dapat siguradong kumpleto at tama pa kami sa bilang diba? Baka may kulang ... o sobra.

We got home safely with no further excitement. My friend's uncle, the driver, revealed that he saw it too. He was calm and did not react at all then, but he verified that he saw something too. That's the reason why he turned on the lights. Maybe he wanted to check if it came with. I was kind of amazed how he handled it as if nothing happened. He kept calm, unlike us kids who were freaking. Since he was familiar with the route, maybe it's not the first he had seen it.

It was a very memorable event for me. Aside from getting creeped out up to eleven, a highlight from the experience was how well my eyes performed. It was a first. Not a first for a non-normal event but a first time that my eyes cooperated 100% with what I wanted to do. Maybe I can still learn to drive?

Nah. Still not interested.

END

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Nailathala ko po ang blog na wala ang mga Tagalog na parte, pero nabanggit ng ilang mambabsa na na-miss daw nila ito kaya naman hinabol ko iyon at nilagay. Maraming pang kaparehas at kakaibang pangyayari ang baon ko. Ikukuwento ko pa ba? Lol

Tagging @chinitacharmer! Please write your own horror story too. Really looking forward to reading it. The writing with comical Tagalog sections interspersed in the post was inspired by @adamada. Thanks bruh.

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_{Image by Jack Ward from Unsplash edited using SparkAdobe.com}