When Lola Iyay Said Goodbye

January 1, 2010 / 3:00am

It was New Year's Day in 2010 when we got the phone call at 3am.

And you know that it's urgent when someone calls you at 3am.

"It's Lola Iyay," my brother said on the other end, his voice shaking. "She had a heart attack. She's gone."

The 3rd Floor Balcony Was Empty

Photo by bjearwicke

Lola Iyay was our mom's distant cousin, and she was the one who took care of us while we were growing up. She'd been part of our family ever since we could remember.

As we drove up to the building in Caloocan that day, we half-expected to find her where we usually found her whenever we came over for New Year's Day (and any other day we came to visit):

Standing at the 3rd floor balcony, looking out for the sight of our car, excitedly waiting for us to arrive.

But she wasn't there.

The 3rd floor balcony was empty. She was never going to wait for us there again.

Her Spaghetti Was Still There. But She Wasn't.

That day we ate the last platter of the dish she prepared the night before, for New Year's Eve: spaghetti.

Her death hit us hard at that moment. This was the last time we were going to taste her cooking.

Her spaghetti was still there, but we couldn't tell even her how delicious it was.

The Strange Story

As we finished Lola Iyay's spaghetti, I told her friend Eden: "I didn't know that December 28 was the last time we would see Lola Iyay alive."

My cousin's wedding took place on December 28, 2009 in Batangas, and most of the family attended.

After the wedding, on their way back to Caloocan, they all made a stopover at our house for a quick snack, drinks, and a much-needed bathroom break.

They also dropped off my sister at our house. She was catching a flight to Singapore early the next day, and was staying the night with us since our house was closer to the airport.

I remember my sister giving Lola Iyay a tight hug, telling her to take care of herself, and not get angry too much so her blood pressure doesn't get too high.

We all hugged Lola Iyay, too -- we hugged everyone -- and as they left to make the rest of the trip back to Caloocan, we all saw Lola Iyay at the back seat of the vehicle, waving at us from the window the way she usually did.

That was the last time we saw her alive.

"But Lola Iyay didn't attend your cousin's wedding," Eden suddenly said.

What?

"She wasn't feeling well that day," she continued. "I remember it clearly. She stayed in bed the whole day, she didn't go anywhere."

When we asked the rest of our family and relatives, they all said the same thing: Lola Iyay didn't go with them to the wedding, and she certainly didn't visit our house.

More Strange

What made it even stranger than it already was was the fact that my sister said the same thing: Lola Iyay wasn't there at the wedding, and she wasn't there when they dropped her off at our house.

She had hugged Lola Iyay back in Caloocan, just before they left for the wedding.

NOT in front of us, in our house near the airport.

Most "Ghost Stories" Are Actually "Love Stories"

We still have no clear explanation about what happened, or which laws of science made it possible (alternate realities? out of body experience? distorted perceptions?).

All we know is the effect: We were comforted to know that -- 4 days just before her death -- Lola Iyay came to hug us one last time, even though she was actually sick in bed several miles away.


---

In Book 3 of the SPRG Trilogy, "Darkness in the World," there is a scene in Chapter 7 that deals with alternate perceptions like this.

Read the sample chapters of Book 3 here: http://tinyurl.com/darkness-sample.

School Ghost Story: The Man Downstairs

Photo by Bjearwicke

My kid's Catholic school is over 100 years old. There is a basement under the gym that's used for storage.

I was subbing once, and during recess one of the kick balls goes down the stairs.

A little girl was standing at the top of the stairs yelling, "Just throw it up to me."

I went over and asked who she was talking to, and she replied:

"That big man down the stairs."

I went down and there was nobody down there, and it was the only way in.

I asked some of the other kids if they have seen the man before, and they said, "Yes, but Sister told us not to talk to him."

I asked them to describe "Sister," and they described a nun.

There haven't been nuns at the school in 40 years.




From Tickld:
http://www.tickld.com/x/when-you-see-what-these-kids-said-youll-want-to-run-number-5-is-bone-chilling

Have You Experienced A Ghostly School Encounter?

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While A.S. Santos was finishing Book 2 of the SPRG series...

...they were experiencing manifestations in their own house, for some reason.


It started in December 2012 (exactly one year ago), and lasted until March 2013, with incidents happening about twice a month.

They were actually very simple manifestations, and they were quite consistent:

People in their household often heard movement inside empty bedrooms.


Thud Against The Wall
The bedroom belonging to their housekeeper L has one entire wall made of wood. On the other side of this same wall was a hallway, where several pictures are hanging on display.

While A.S. Santos was alone in the house one day (everyone else was out), the author distinctly heard a thud against the inside of L's bedroom wall, like an adult body had just slammed against it. It was so distinct that some of the pictures hanging on the hallway shook.

But when Santos opened L's bedroom door, there was no one inside. In fact, the author was still all alone inside the house.

Even as a writer of paranormal fiction, the author felt there must be a logical explanation to it, and decided not to tell anyone.


Chairs Moving
About a week later, when L the housekeeper was alone in the house, she distinctly heard chairs being moved around inside F & D's bedroom. The chair leg sounds could be heard scraping across the floor, loud enough to reach all the way to the kitchen where L was.

When L went in to check, there was no one there. The two chairs in the room were standing in the middle of the floor, but L couldn't be sure if they had just been moved there (since F & D don't always leave them in their proper place).


More Chairs
The final incident happened when C & A left the house and locked their bedroom door behind them, the way they usually do.

They were gone for about 3 hours, but when they came back D reported that they heard the chairs inside their bedroom moving around in their absence.

Because of D's report, everyone else started sharing their own experiences, and that was the only time they realized it had been happening consistently, but they were all just shrugging it off.



These manifestations were nothing alarming, just interesting.

And since A.S. Santos usually writes about the paranormal at night, it's a good thing it didn't turn into anythig more than that.

Corpse In The Mirror -- Book 2 of the SPRG Series -- is now available!
Get the first 5 chapters here for fr*e!