In Loving Memory Of Mary Cherry Chua

True Philippine Ghost Story version

IN MEMORY OF CHERRY  (True philippine ghost story book 2)

 (First Published on 2003 by PSICOM. And written by Judy May Geronimo)

 

I studied in an exclusive  girls school on Panay Avenue during my high school years.

A medium-sized school where the building stood close together, it stood in a quiet section of Quezon City, a block away, but parallel to, the bustling trafic of Quezon Avenue.

Everyday, we used to hold our flag ceremony in the quadrangle near the grade school department.

i used to come to school early in the morning and hang out with my friends before assembly. We used to sit in the benches neat the quad so that we'd easily hear the bell when it rang.

I remember a concrete bench under one of the trees which bore an inscription that read: In loving memory of Mary Cherry Chua.

I'd always been fascinated with this bench, and at same time wary.

many of the students in my school were afraid of this bench. They said it was the haunt of malevolent spirits. Or at least a spirit who was crying out of pain.

According to witness, they sometimes hear the voice of someone crying as they pass by the spot. This is why some students would either cross to the other side of the quadrangle or go out of their way to avoid passing it.

Other claim anyone who sat in the bench become possessed by the malevolent spirit that guarded it. The pattern was the same all the time: the student who sat on the bench would suddenly burst into tears and then faint.

This happen to several elementary school girls.

After several such incidents, some parents began to think twice about enrolling their children in school.

One day, my friend decided to play truth or dare on the benches. I gamely joined in the fun.

Most of the dares were pretty simple. Stuff like go to the middle of the quad and sing the national anthem at the top of your lungs, or introduce yourself to the first ten people who pass by. Besides I wanted to know the juicy tidbits that would come out when my friends picked "truth"

Just then I realized it was my turn to pick "truth of Dare"

Since I wasn't ready to divulge any secrets, i chose "dare."

"Okay," my friend Alice said. "I Dare you to....hmmmm. naubos na ata dare natin (I think we ran out of dares)."

"Alam ko na, i-dare natin siyang umupo dun sa bench ni Cherry (I know, let's dare her to sit on the bench of Cherry)!" another classmate, marie said.

"But what about the curse? Baka mamaya ma-possess din siya (She might get possessed)," said Alice.