My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 2

Have you ever had experience a phenomenon that cannot be explained no matter how you tried to understand it?  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘beyond one’s imagination or understanding’?  If you have this some sort of experience that makes you feel that hair-raising/eerie or déjà vu feeling, please share through email message to merlinagp@gmail.com.  It is my pleasure to post your experience in this Blog.  Let the circle of sharing begins.

Experience No. 2: Tapik (“Pat")
(shared by Jayden Manumbale at manumbale.jayden22@gmail.com)

Given the chance that we are now having a game/story sharing about out-of-this-world experience, let me share with you a story about my neighbor who is being rumored as "Mangkukulam" (Witch).  Well I know that this might sound vindictive and unfair for her as I previously said it to someone that told the same thing about her but I think it may be worth sharing as I personally encountered something uncommon.

The poor subject of my story is a woman in her 50s living in our neighborhood.  When I was a kid, I remember her to be a normal woman, a bit energetic, and friendly and very accommodating.  As year passed, her looks and behavior drastically changed that it made my other neighbors uncomfortable.  I remember hearing from an acquaintance that she is now being avoided because of her unusual actions.  She was often caught staring in front of some houses while whispering some kind of prayer in the middle of the night.  Unlike before, she can sometimes totally unaccommodating and walking like she is hiding a something big.  Well, I know that she is still sane because of the conversation she’s having with other people but in some ways, when you look at her you can feel that she’s having this weird aura.  There was an occasion that when she was being talked about by people I know, I defended her, stating that they must give her the benefit of the doubt and stop talking nonsense as it may affect her.  They just simply replied to me that I should observe her and avoid being "TAPIK" (pat) by her. Being "TAPIK" (pat) by a witch is one of their ways to get strength from someone.  Sometimes, the victims fell into sickness or disease.  I still believe that it was wrong to judge someone but there was some voice within me that it is safer to just avoid it.   
It’s funny to remember my reaction when she conversed with me.  She smiled at me and as a courtesy, I smiled back.  She asked me how I was so I answered I am fine and begun to start a conversation.  While we are talking she begun to pat me, to be safe I patted her back (this is a way to counter the spell according to someone).  It becomes weirder when she continuously patted me back as I returned the “spell”.  After the conversation, when I know I patted her last, I quickly distance myself from her to see if she is going to continue the “battle of patting” telling her that I forgot something important.  Surprisingly, she run to me and gave her last pat.  To save myself from strange things, I just discreetly patted her as we part ways.  With her disappointed reaction, she left me.  
I am sure that I protected myself without disrespecting her, simply because of the rumor clouding up my mind.  It was then I remembered that when I was young, her daughter told me something that made my whole body shiver.  When we were playing that time, she told me about something that caught her eye.  “Bat kaya may kakaibang fiesta sa amin sa probinsya? nakaitim sila lahat tapos nagdadasal sa gabi”, she said.  Today, I still smiled at her whenever we meet each other but prepared to pat back whenever needed. 
Impossible but it happened to me. Lol.