Something strange is going on in my old house.

I've never been one to believe in ghosts and goblins, though I do enjoy stories about them. And I have never experienced anything otherworldly during the years I spent in my house in Ayala Heights. Only now, three years after I left it, have things been rather...abnormal.

First it began with stories. One of our maids keeps hearing voices that no one else can. Mother tells me that she sometimes hears loud footsteps in the hallway outside her room around 1 in the morning, though she was alone at the time. My younger sister had taken to having her dog sleep in her room, because she often heard someone moving about the house late at night after everyone had gone to sleep. Once, the cap of a Pei Pa Koa bottle reportedly popped off without warning, and without anyone using it. Also, a family friend claimed to have heard whispering while he was alone in our den, and thus had a good enough reason to flee back to his own house.

I had listened to these things with an open mind but paid them no attention. After all, I was not the one who experienced them. That attitude changed about three days ago.

I was alone one night while visiting in Ayala Heights. It was very late, nearing 1 AM. The maids had gone to bed and my mother was in Palawan. I sat in the sala doing research online. To my right, some stairs led up to a hallway that led to the three bedrooms of my house. This hallway was brightly lit with fluoroscent lamps.

There I sat, typing away at my laptop, sleepy and about ready to call it a night, when I heard a noise to my right. The sound was faint, as if someone had just emerged from one of the bedrooms. I looked and saw nothing there.

At this point, I wondered if there was a mouse running about, or perhaps I had just imagined it. I do remember a queer sensation coming over me, as if my mind was about to say something then just as quickly fell silent. For a quiet moment, I watched for the source of the noise.

I heard footsteps coming towards me along the hallway. Loud, thumping steps. But there was still nothing there.

I leaped out of my chair, staring at the spot where the sounds were supposedly coming from. Just as I did this, the steps did an about-face and went the opposite direction. The noises entered my sister's darkened room. As I waited, I heard it, what ever it was, thumping around in the shadows, as if bumping into things.

Whatever it was, it was consistent.

Quickly I went over to the maids' room. Both of them were there, fast asleep. The dogs were outside. There was absolutely no one else in the house. Meanwhile, the noises kept coming.

I wish I could tell you that I marched up to my sister's room--my old room--to investigate the noises. I did not. If you're inclined to ask why, then I will point out that surely you've seen movies that had scenes where stupid people go and investigate odd noises in isolated areas. Well, I've seen those movies too, and I'm quite a bit smarter than those people. I knew I wasn't going to find something in the dark that I couldn't even see in the light.

I know you can think of a hundred explanations for what just happened, none of them supernatural. Probably you'd even be right. But then, you are not me, and you weren't there. I have lived in that house a long time, and I am very well familiar with the sound of a footstep on the floorboards of the hallway. I have run on them, slid on them, fallen on them, jumped on them. If you say it was a rat, it must have been a very big rat. A big, invisible rat. Walking on two feet.

I also wish I could give you a proper ending to this story. Sorry, there isn't one. As far as I know, the house in Ayala is still...I suppose haunted is as good a word as any. I have no explanation for this. I don't think my house has a history of anything. Like I said, I lived there for nearly all my young life without ever personally experiencing any weird shit.

So there it is. By the way, I'm due for a visit again this weekend.

But I think I should be gone before the clock strikes 1.
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