I used to live in an apartment in Kamuning (A place in the Philippines) back in the 1990s. It was a really old apartment. From its architectural design, I'd say it was built back in the 60s - five doors laid out in a short row, with a long narrow driveway connecting all of them.
This particular row of apartments was home to a mixed group of people. The first door, the one nearest to the road was occupied by an old, childless couple.
The next one housed middle-classed families with small children while my cousins and I rented the last unit there.
My cousins were all from the province and were enrolled in different universities in Manila. I, on the other hand was attending a university which was a short bus ride away.
The unit, as could be expected was a beehive of activity during day time, what with us and our classmates having to run off from the place with only a maid to look after the mess that got left in our wake.
In the daytime, the shrieks and screams of children in play of their silly games pierced the air.
But at night, the compound turns into a totally different place..
A strange stillness descends on the apartment, enveloping the whole area. With the kids safely tucked in their beds and with us collage kids ready to call it a night, the row of apartments suddenly becomes somber and dark.
It was during one of these nights that my cousin and I found ourselves unable to sleep.
Tossing and turning in my bed, I just couldn't shake the strange feeling that someone or something was there watching us from somewhere near..
I glanced at my cousin and I saw with the very little light coming from the full moon that night that she had pulled her blanked over her head.. I didn't mind her that much. Geese, I thought. I might as well try to sleep.
With my eyes shut tight, I could somehow see in my mind and feel that a black shadow was going up the stairs to our room. There were no footsteps but just a creepy feeling of impending horror. Then suddenly the shadow was inside the room, standing just right in front of the door..
It was staring at my cousin and I! Panic, it was rising up my throat. I tried to not to move, hell, I was even trying my best to not let it notice my breathing and I felt it get nearer.. it came over to my bed. Sleep! I was silently screaming at myself. Don't move and just sleep.. I said next.
Maybe by the sheer force of will, I did manage to doze off.
The next thing I remember was waking up the next day and sunlight was flooding the whole room. Somehow, the memory of what happened the night before got tucked away in my brain what with exams from morning till afternoon.
Later, after the exams, during dinner at home, my cousin and I got to talk. We started with the usual way we always use to start a conversation - how's school, was there a cute guy in your class, etc...
"Did you feel it?" She suddenly asked.
"Huh?" I was taken by surprise and was actually bewildered by her question.
"You know, last night," She pressed on about that topic
"There was something, I don't know what it was," she was dead serious by this time. The light banter we were sharing just a few minutes ago was gone now.
"It went up the stairs and just stood there at our bedroom door. Did you also feel it? did you see it..?"
It took me some time before I could answer her questions about last night. Then I told her that it was exactly what I felt. We were so stunned that we both felt and "saw" it, the shadow from last night.
"I knew we shouldn't have rented this place..," She continued. "It was my mother's fault. Why did she have to put us here. It gave me the creeps the first time I saw this place."
Of course our aunt wouldn't believe any of our stories. You are just making it up, she would scold us.
So we had to stay put and sure enough lots of other strange things happened through the years we stayed there. Even our other cousins and the maids experienced them. Nevertheless, nothing could and can come close to being compared to that night when the strange "shadow" watched over us while we slept.