That night, Dickie suddenly woke up in the early morning.
On a dare from Donjie and some of the neighborhood kids, Choy went into the abadoned house on the evening of halloween. Armed with a just a small flashlight, he was told that he should stay inside the house for 10minutes. Choy never went to the house past late afternoon. The house did not have enough covering to block out the light from the street but it was relatively dark in many corners. Choy went to his usual sand mound before exploring the garden and the inside of the house. He saw his name written on the sand. Startled and a bit scared, he thought that maybe his brother and their friends just did that to scare him. Choy sensed movement as he walked up the dark stairs. He thought that his friends were playing a prank on him and ignored it. When he passed by the doorway of the room he avoided entering, he heard scratching noises. He stopped at the doorway, peeped and directed his flashlight inside the room. The far corner that was usually empty and clear had a carton laid out on the floor. As Choy turned to check out the other rooms, he saw something move from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head and looked at the direction of the movement and saw something. When his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw a pair of eyes looking at him!
"Ch.....choy....." said a voice; small and soft.
This freaked Choy out and he ran down and out of the house screaming while his friends laughed at him. No one bothered to check what scared Choy. The friends just chased after Choy and teased him, ".....fraidy cat!" they said, laughing.
From that day, Choy decided that he didn't want to be called Choy anymore. His real name was Richard, like his dad and lolo. His real nickname was Dickie. However, close family members and his bestfriends, Topper and Peps would still called him "Choy" once in a while.
Dickie stood up from bed and went to the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He's had this dream before. His friends always played tricks on him especially when they found out that he liked hanging out and playing in that abandoned house. They played there too but it was Dickie who was particularly fond of the place. Once back in bed, the dream continued.
Many months passed before Choy went back to the abandoned house. He had gotten hooked on computer games that made his stay home more often even when his friends called him to play. One sunny Saturday March morning, he ventured back to the house. The grass was taller in the garden and the place seemed messier in many parts but the sand mound and the "special" bedroom on the second floor seemed to be "cleaner" and "used".
Choy was startled at first when he saw what appeared to be footprints on the sand mound but thought that maybe other people had gone to the house in the months that he didn't. He went around the house and to the garden, not very far from the sand mound which was in the "living room" of the house. There was no wall or door that blocked his view of the inside of the house. He found a small portion of soil that seemed to have been cleared of grass under the big trees along the fence of the house. Near the cleared area was an were some rocks and sticks.
As Choy looked from the garden to the house, he noticed that a path had been created from constant walking on the ground from the house to that spot. Choy's heart raced. What were all these? He thought that maybe someone had been killed and buried in that spot. He went around the house and found an old gardening shovel and decided to dig on the cleared spot. As he ran back to the area, he thought he heard a small voice say, "Huwag!" so he turned and looked around. He didn't see anything and started digging the earth.
After several minutes of digging, Choy didn't find anything in that spot. He looked around for other cleared areas to dig but did not find any. He squinted his eyes to try to spot places that he might have just missed but could not find anything more unusual than the spot he was at. It was late in the morning and he was feeling hungry so he left the house and walked back home.
"Choy! Bakit ang dungis mo?" Yaya Virgie met him as he entered the gate.
"Huh?"
"Anong 'huh?' Saan ka galing? Kanina pa kita hinahanap. Umalis tuloy sina Mommy mo kasama Kuya mo...papunta daw sila ng mall...."
"Ah..."
"Maligo ka na nga muna....tapos kumain ka na ng lunch....anong gusto mo?"
"Yaya, we have hotdog?.....I want hotdog and rice...."
"Okay....pero magsasabaw ka pa rin ng gulay, okay?"
"Okay...."
"O, ligo na dali!"
Choy took a shower and had lunch. He couldn't get his mind off the "mystery" that was now enveloping the abandoned house.
"Yaya....that house sa kabilang street....do you know what happened to it?"
"Alin dun?"
"The white one....yung may gate pero wala na windows...basag na..."
"Hmm...teka.....ahh.....sabi nila, wala daw talagang tao dun...."
"Yeah....it's always dark sa gabi...."
"Wala daw talagang nakatira dun....hindi sya natirhan...."
"You mean no one ever lived there?"
"Yun ang sabi....magulo siguro yung titulo...."
"So there's no mumu...."
"Wala naman siguro.....teka.....bakit ka nagtatanong? Dun ka madalas no?"
"Ahh....ehhh...."
"Hala ka! Pag may nangyari sa yo dun....lagot ka sa Mommy mo!"
"Yaya! Don't tell them na....I just like playing there kasi there's sand like sa sand box...."
"Eh may sandbox naman sa park ah"
"Pero dami kids.....this is my sand mound...."
"Anong mine?"
"I'm the only one who plays there....Kuya Donjie made sama before pero ayaw na daw nya so me nalang....Please don't tell Mommy....Please yaya...."
"O sige....basta pag pupunta ka dun, dun ka lang....wag kang lalayo or aalis dun...."
"Promise...."
