The following

It all started when I saw a figure drenched in blood watching me from the corner of my room. I was around four years old and still living in our old townhouse in New Manila. Since that time, the feeling that something, somehow, was always watching me never left me.

I spent most of my years in elementary plagued by night terrors. I woke up every night at the devil’s hour with my body drenched in sweat and my throat raw from screaming. I never remembered the dreams I had except one — and this dream has haunted me ever since.

I was baby-sitting this young boy who was six, maybe seven years old. We were seated on a wide white sofa positioned at the center of a living room. The living room itself looked pretty ordinary — there was a red Persian rug on the floor, and two armchairs flanking the sofa we rested on. When I remember this dream, the scene is always tinged with a sickly shade of yellow green.

The young boy and I sat in silence until I stood up to face him. He looked up at me very, very slowly.

“I need to go grocery shopping,” I told him.

The boy’s eyes twitched but he made no sound. I felt like something behind me, breathing down my neck, but I tried to ignore it. I waited a little longer for the boy to reply but he remained silent, so I turned around and began to head for the door.

Outside, I saw a dilapidated wooden bridge held up by decaying ropes. It swung back and forth, creaking slowly. As I stepped outside, something from behind me let out a high-pitched shriek. I stopped mid-step, echoes of the scream still ringing in my ears.

I whipped around and the young boy was missing. Instead, a little girl sat in his place. She had long messy hair, and wide eyes thirsting for blood. She leaped from the sofa and grabbed onto my bare ankle, digging her nails into my skin. I fell onto the ground, centimeters away from the door. Pain shot up from my leg. I trembled on the ground as I watched her nails draw more and more blood from my ankle.

I kicked her off and sprinted outside toward the bridge. And then I woke up. I switched on the lights and focused on calming myself down when I noticed a sharp pain in my ankle. I stretched it out and saw a cut, drops of blood decorated the ravaged skin. The wound was still fresh.