Old Wives' Tales

Chapter 1

More than thirty percent of humans from all over the world believe in haunted houses. It is also interesting to know that one third of earth's population believes in supernatural beings and one quarter of westerners said that they have had an encounter with ghosts. Still, the truth about their existence remains as an endless parade of debates. There have also been plenty of explanations about spooky experiences. For instance, apparitions must have been caused by various psychological phenomena which results to our brain producing images. Such images are then associated to entities of the dark and these imagined occurrences are what people often find difficult to isolate from reality. Even moving objects can now be detached from sole paranormal accounts. Here, we can introduce the idea of infrasound: soundwaves too low for bare ears to hear but causes enough vibrations to make small objects move. What about the shining orbs we see in some pictures in the internet? Photography explains it simply. They are merely dusts which are captured too close from the camera and reflect its flash into numerous glowing circlets. Furthermore, a person's perception with regards to the existence of ghosts is highly affected by his religious affiliations.

So, why is it that a great number of people still believe in ghosts? They aren't just typical people, by the way. Most of the times, they are people whom we know very well, or worse, trust. Perhaps, at least once in their life they have encountered something supernatural which have already been a proof enough for them to consider that these things are indeed, real.

Randell Codera is a great example of a person who would not care about such subject. Even if he already got caught in an incident related to the paranormal world once, he was not really familiar with the series of events which eventually led up to one of his friends getting killed. He was personally a witness to how his friend Bobby endured everything, but the real reason why it meant that much to him, he didn't really know. Its effect on him, meanwhile, caused great repercussions as well. Nevertheless, he still considered himself lucky for being able to get a diploma in college after all. Graduating during a formal ceremony would have been a big deal for him and his family, but considering the weight of what had happened a few months before that, the measures taken were accepted openly.

But he wouldn't forget that... something like that.

A few months had passed and most of the people involved eventually moved on from that tremendous episode. They had gone their separate paths and Randell now found himself working at a McDonald's restaurant near his place. Although he did not want to admit it to himself, he was fully aware that he wasn't really satisfied with his current work. Sometimes, he would imagine himself contributing to one of the most prestigious newspaper in the Philippines, but such imaginations just worsened how he felt. The only thing that got him going was the idea that he had been able to give something to his family, especially since there wasn't anybody else to support them.

A little past four, the restaurant started to be filled with a big number of diners. It rapidly became crowded and Randell began to get busy again. He realized that it was the time when students go out of their classes and hangout in food chains nearby.

The bigger the number of people came, the harder their task became, and the busier they got.

Different school uniforms filled the entire space of the store. Noises seemed to buzz from all directions and conversations overlapped each other.

Randell approached one of the tables and started wiping away what was left by its previous diners. While at work, he seldom raised his head; he always made it a point to bend his head low. Perhaps it was the feeling of wariness, knowing that a lot of people there might know him. His work was one of the things he was not very proud of. In order for him to detach from his thoughts, he simply busied himself; that had always been his escape.