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A somewhat horrific, yet weird experience. (Mireen)

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A somewhat horrific, yet weird experience. (Mireen)

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When you're alone, do you feel another presence in the room besides yourself?

I don't know if this is considered weird nor horrific, but one time around November, I was alone in the living room at night. I was watching something on the TV, I told my mother I wanted to finish an episode of the show I was watching. So I laid back as the show went on. Everyone was upstairs, so I was the only one in the room. After a few minutes or so, the TV suddenly switched channels. I thought it was just me, because my elbow was resting against the TV remote. I switched it back to what I was watching, but then, the TV switched back to another channel. I got a bit confused, but I switched it back again. Then suddenly, it began to switch through channels, and I wasn't even pressing buttons on the remote anymore. I got scared, thinking that I wasn't alone in the room. I thought, was an ancestor trying to make me notice them? Have I accidentally called their soul over during All Souls Day? Are they stuck in my house, finding a way to communicate with me because they have unfinished business? I freaked out, getting paranoid at my surroundings. After that I just turned off the TV, quickly took a short shower and went to bed. The next night, when I watched the same show I tried to watch, yet the TV didn't switched channels by itself anymore. I sighed out of relief, praying that it won't happen again, and it didn't. Or at least, that's what I thought.

One month later.
7pm, December 8.
Me and my parents were in the living room, the news was on. I was doing my tasks on the computer, my parents were conversing. Then, it happened. The TV switched channels on its own again. At first I thought it was my father switching the channels, but the remote was far from him. Remembering the past experience I had, my hand shook as I grabbed the remote. I switched the channel back to the Kapamilya Channel as I placed the remote on my desk. Then, it started to switch channels on its own again. "Nak, linipat mo ba yung channel?" My dad asked. I nodded no as the TV kept switching channels on its own. My dad stood up from his chair, and tried to fix the problem on the TV. After a while, it seemed like he was done trying to fix the problem, so I went up to him; "Dad, ano problema nung TV? Baket palit sya ng palit magisa?" My dad told me, "May problema ata yung Cignal set up box natin, tawagan ko lang sila para maayos bukas." And with that, my paranoia washed away. I really got scared, I really thought another presence we couldn't see was with us. Right now, our setup box has been replaced and has not switched channels on its own ever again. However I still wonder..

Are you really alone in a room? Or is someone beside you, reading this over your shoulder with you?

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When I was a kid, I used to be afraid of the dark and being alone every night. I always wanted to have my mom beside me, even staying up late waiting for her to sleep with me.
One night, I went inside my room, again not sleeping because I was waiting for my mom. I knew I needed to go to bed because it was getting pretty late. I really can't  fall asleep without her beside me, so I looked at everything inside the room, zoning out. Suddenly, I heard weird noises coming from the door, seemed like someone's trying to get in. I was so frightened so I hid under the blanket and waited for it to stop. It did stopped for a while but now the weird noises were outside my window. I started crying because how can a 6-year old girl knew what was going on. I cried myself to sleep that night. The morning came and that scenario never left my head so I asked my mom if she heard those weird noises from last night and she said "no". My jaw dropped in shock because it's very impossible that I was the only one who heard it. It was very loud. When my mom said no, it kept me thinking if it was all in my imagination but it seemed very real to me.

Sometimes that incident still come back and still it makes me wonder if it did really happen.

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I barely have any weird experiences considering ‘weird’ doesn’t come to me but more of ‘weird’ comes from me. So here’s a weird dream of mine that is one of the few dreams I remember. I had a dream of me running away from something that I still don’t know at the time with pieces of land floating around me. The sun is shaped like a crescent moon and I just passed a guy preaching about how Saturn is not real. Then I got curious about why I’m running so I looked back only to see a couple of people wearing cloaks holding torches with their ‘tails’ while riding a bike. And I, unfortunately, woke up the very moment one of them threw said torches at me.

And that's the moment I realized how weird dreams of mine can get

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"I Regret Doing This, But I Have to Do It Anyway"

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"I Regret Doing This, But I Have to Do It Anyway"

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(Angelo)
O Haniel, O Haniel
Do you remember a memory of weirdness?
If not, I shall recap to you the memories that you thought were forgotten.
Now listen to my voice for I shall recall them all.

The time we first partnered on Arts class, where I accidentally ripped your badge.
or maybe the time I ripped my pants by the locker room just because I slipped on the ramps?
This is just the beginning.
For I regret remembering these by detail for no reason.

Do you also remember you have a crush on someone younger than you?
Or the time we beat the life out of another because I called you Hansel?
These are the memories I only recall
I may regret sharing these with you.
P.S. I do regret doing this and I am in deep pain while saying it out loud

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This unusual moment occured around 5 or 6 years ago at my school here in Qatar. It's probably just my imagination or "guni-guni". Probably, most students or Filipinos studying in the Philippines knows about this saying that, "Filipino schools are initially cemeteries". I was on my 2nd grade that time. While my teacher was discussing and when I looked back, I saw something strange. A man like slender man facing at me, but he was not literally in front of me. The man's skin color was white, similar to an A4 Bond Paper. It was wearing a formal attire, a tuxedo with a red necktie. The strangest thing about the attire is that in his torso there was a white question mark. It was really just like slenderman or a human being. The only difference is that it has no arms nor face. I was totally frightened, especially because I was just 7 years old at that time. Due to that I started to think if the saying, "Philippine schools are originally cemeteries" was true. So, I tried looking back but it was not there anymore. However, I saw it twice though, at the same year ,and same place.

Although that happened, I don't really believe that Philippine schools are somehow haunted or what :DD

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I remembered when i was seven years old, me and my friend decided to play a small game, he decided that we should burn papers, i dont know why but i agreed, i took the matches and paper from my house and the burning of paper started, we were burning this one piece of paper infront of my other bff's house, while the paper burned, we danced around it like we were summoning something from the underworld, someone saw us and shouted "HOI!! MGA BATA KAYO, ANO GINAGAWA NYO??" then we ran, very fast.

It was evening, then i decided that maybe we should burn something again, he decided that we should brun his brother's train toy, his brother agreed and took his toy and my bff threw it in the canal, while i took the matches and alcohol, i saw the train toy  in the canal, i splashed the whole bottle of rubbing alchohol and lit a match, and threw it in the canal, the fire was very huge, it was warm, i liked that...i was very lucky that no house was burned down, after a few minutes of just staring into the fire, my grandpa saw us playing with fire, he shooed my friends and brought me back home, my grandma was very angry so she scolded me=( i cried, but i was happy because of the warmth of the fire.... its wierd that i liked the warmth of the fire. its like the warmth you feel when your friend hugs you full of joy=)

it was a wierd memory, but i chersih it<33

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This week's writing challenge is Monito-Monita! Our goal is to give a memory (something we hold dear, or something we now realize means something profound to us) as a gift to someone.

Guidelines:
1. Our Monito-Monita theme is "Something Weird". Use this as a prompt for your writing.
2. You may choose anyone to give this memory-gift to; it doesn't have to be someone in the club.
3. You may write the memory in the form of an essay, a letter, a poem, an audio file, a note or a chat. It's your choice. :) I hope you really give it to your chosen person! I'm curious to know how they react to your gift.
4. Please share here your finished output by next Friday Dec 10 (Don't forget to write your name!)
5. Enjoy!

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Weird.

What constitutes as weird?

By definition, we say weird when there’s something bizarre or strange

Like if there’s a random cat in the boxes you’ve just arranged

Or when you see a rat dancing in the rain

Anything that you don’t see every single day

But just because it’s weird, doesn’t mean it’s bad

Many people confuse what connotation it has

You see, we’ve become accustomed to likening that word to “crazy”

Along with disturbing, creepy, or unsettling

But for me, weird is the extraordinary

It is marvelously remarkable, surreal, and noteworthy

Yes, it has the tendency to give me anxiety

But that’s just because it’s something that I wouldn’t normally

Encounter in my everyday existence

I mean, who wouldn’t be anxious when going through a new experience?

Like for example, profile pictures didn’t mean a thing to me

I don’t have much use for it. Hell, I didn’t even bother to change it

I mean, what’s the use? You can identify me with my name

So I was understandably perplexed when you asked me one day

“Hey, you want matching profile pictures?”

I’m paraphrasing, by the way. That isn’t the exact words that you said

But honestly, at that moment, you almost had me dead

I was completely caught off-guard, but delighted at best

I mean, who wouldn’t? I felt important in a way

But I can’t seem to explain it because my thoughts are all over the place

Especially after we played Minecraft together. Do you remember those days?

Back in December? We even lived together at the same house that we made

What’s so bizarre with this one? Well, I never really had someone to always play with

So it was strange to me that I’m talking to someone while playing

Because I’ve always been a solo player, barely socialized with other gamers

But you changed this perspective of mine with each invite you sent

But what’s more surreal than this gaming sessions that we had before

Was that time you managed to make me sing, even though I barely hit every chord

It was odd to see someone encourage me to sing, hell even ask if they could duet with me

I’m not that good of a singer, so I could tell I did poorly.

I didn’t even got time to practice the songs

But I hope I didn’t ruin the music. I really did my best to sing along

But now that I’ve mentioned these memories.. it’s really been a while, hasn’t it?

You and I, we’ve been both busy with the lives we have and

I don’t want to assume, but it feels like we’re drifting apart

I don’t know. It just pains me to see that we rarely get to talk

I hope my words reach you someday. At least before it’s too late

Because I really cherish those memories

No matter how out of the ordinary they can be

And a little part of me wish that maybe we could do it all again

To try and start over. To mend what were broken

With a small ray of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel

I wish this poem would deliver how much I miss your presence

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Isn't it weird that whenever I need something, I cannot find it but when I don’t need it, it appears out of nowhere? Like, I almost looked all over the house but still none.
I can somehow connect it to what I am feeling whenever I'm with my circle of friends but oppositely.
I don’t know how to make friends with others. I'm not sociable.
I remember when teachers asked me to list down my traits, I sometimes put “friendly” weird right? I just let people talk to me even though I feel awkward but I welcomed them in my life.
Back to the main topic, I am always with them, but I always feel like they just see me or feel my presence when they need help. Whenever I’m with them, I feel out of place.
I always help them but when I'm the one who needs help *silent*. They sometimes reply with “ Yan hindi ka kasi nakikinig” ( asking help about lessons).  I will just shut up and feel sorry that I’m a slow learner. I rarely ask for help because I always think that I'm just talking to the when I need help or they might feel irritated or what.
There is one classmate who is hated by almost everyone in the school. * I also hated her*. She was the only person who asked me if I’m okay, that time when I entered the classroom with puffy eyes. This is the most heartwarming thing I have experienced in my whole life I guess? I think it is weird that some I hate will ask me that.

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The train smelled like strawberries on my ride home yesterday. My back was bent from a day of endless walking and getting lost, but suddenly I felt like I was seven years old again, discovering Kool Aid for the first time.

It's weird, I didn't even know you yet when I was seven, but you were the first person I thought of at that moment. Because meeting you was just like that: tasting the magic of strawberry-flavored sugar when I thought all life had to offer was room temperature water.