Beyond

The Spirits that Trail

"Keep on pushing," I ordered my son who was much bigger and muscled than me.

"I'm doing it, dad. There's no way it could be opened. This door is locked from the inside."

"It happened again," my 86-year old mother whispered. She tapped my son's shoulder. "We better leave and come back at some other times." Her voice was soft and gentle but filled with disgust. She turned to my wife and held on to her hand. "Let's go."

I was a few steps away from them, busy taking a video of the backyard with my cellphone. Mom surely missed her house where she lived for many years and seeing my work later would somehow cure her loneliness.

The property was unattended for almost a year now, making it look like a haunted house. Leaves were scattered, tree branches left uncut, chairs and tables that were witness to many happy occasions were strewn around. The slight drizzle, cold wind and shadowy bends and corners of the two-story house sent a chilling effect. It was only 11 in the morning and yet it looked like evening was approaching. The sun had never shown for days as rain kept on pouring.

I caught up with them as they were helping mom slowly and painfully getting inside the SUV. I sat down beside her.

Heavy rain poured again as soon as we entered our vehicle.

I saw the pain in her heart through her eyes as she watched her old house disappeared from her sight as my son drove us to the cemetery to visit the remains of my father. Well, I can't blame her for being emotional and attached to this house where she lived with my father until his death eight years ago. She knew very well that the spirits who lived with them in the house didn't allow us to enter. It happened so many times in the past, even with my older brother, being the caretaker.

"It was abandoned for a long time and it might be the reason why they had laid claim on it and are doing what they wanted to do." My mother was murmuring.

"No mother. It was raining for many days and the panel door might have swollen, making it hard to open. We better come back this summer when the wood had shrunk." I just wanted to appease mom's mind.

"No dad, I rocked the door and I felt that it was locked from the inside."

Mom knew my son was right. But still I hoped that she would rest her mind but she didn't. She said something that really sank us in our seats.

"I saw them, a man and a woman; they followed us up to the gate." Mom was in her usual soft voice but everyone heard her.

"Did they say anything, mother?"

"No, they didn't but I told them in a whisper that we will come back and should allow us to enter.

Every one of us knew that there were supernatural occurrences in that house. Oftentimes, my mother would tell us about a man loitering outside the house on some nights. My brothers and their wives attested to it as they themselves had seen the entity even inside the house. They have even talked with the being, mistaking him as our father whom they would later see resting in the room. My nephew had seen a dark shiny carabao just to disappear so quickly; and my daughter and nephews hearing strange noises in the second floor and footsteps on the stairs.

Mother was unusually silent throughout our trip back to our house in Manila, as if something was bothering her.

..............

Mother, could finally rest in her own little abode. But I was wrong. At night, she couldn't sleep. And because of the incident Mavic, her lone companion in the house, called my attention in the morning.

"Kuya, Mother was restless and couldn't sleep last night."

"What made you say so?"

"She got up several times; as if she was out of her mind walking to and from the bathroom."

"She might be uncomfortable with her bedside commode or maybe just tired from our long trip," I reasoned out.

"I don't think so, Kuya. I sensed something is bothering her."

I didn't dismiss her observation. "Okay Mavic. Let's observe her for another day."

.............

I asked the opinion of others who knew about this situation. Two of them in the medical profession advised me to let her undergo a medical check-up. I did what they said and the test proved she was physically ill. My nephew, being a doctor, ordered me to buy her antibiotics.

But her agony and stress worsened on the succeeding nights in spite of the medication. This time she heard voices crying in pain. Mavic had to stay beside her 24 hours of the day because even at daytime the voices never left her.

The entity would shout 'aray', meaning he was in pain. And most of the time it happened on the verge of her sleep. She would jerk, almost getting up, thinking that she pinned someone under her.

To make matters worse, the entities became two. A female voice was added...and they were speaking in Ilocano.

The time came when mother wouldn't dare to stay in her room anymore, even on day time. She slept on the sofa while Mavic on chairs lined up to accommodate her petite body.

There were times we heard her talking alone inside the bathroom. She was asking why these spirits bothering her. We were already thinking that she was losing her sanity and it worried us all.

She lost weight, color and appetite for anything. We turned to the last resort—bring her to a quack doctor or albularyo, someone who could deal with spirits.

The albularyo learned that spirits in her house we recently visited in Rosario, La Union, went with her. They had no demands for following her; they just simply decided to stay with her. The quack doctor gave my mother salts sewed into a pouch made of cloth and pinned to every dress she would wear and oil she would occasionally rub on top of her head.

Since then, she never heard the voices.

July 21, 2018, that fateful rainy Saturday in La Union, would never be forgotten. It was the day that the spirits left their domain and stayed with my mother here in Makati City. I heard about this kind of occurrence before but it was my first time to see it happen with a close member of my family.

................

But one thing bothered us about these entities. We thought that they would be driven away and find a new home but the quack doctor said otherwise. Although they could never bother or harm my mother, they would still stay in her present house which was within the family compound.

For mom, the story of the entities had ended but not for us.

What if they enter another body, say mine? Well, just thinking--but somehow gave me something to be anxious.