My ‘Out-of-this-World’ Experience No. 15

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. 15: “The Fireball”
(Shared by Reyne June Bawisan <junebawisan@yahoo.com>)

It’s already 5:00 o’clock in the afternoon and my mother is busy cooking while I’m playing holens (marbles) with my two brothers. We looked so dirty already, my knees and elbows are full of sands and my brothers got dirt on their faces. Our clothes are full of mud stains and so as our feet as we usually take our slippers off when playing. This is how we spend our whole day in the province especially during school break.

At around 6:00 PM, our mother told us to stop playing and clean ourselves, as we’re about to have our dinner. My two bothers go first, so I have to wait. While waiting, my mother asked me to bring my sister her dinner who was in the municipal hospital that time. She was confined in the hospital due to inflammation of her toenail. As she told us, she did a pedicure herself and tried to get the ingrown out of her toenail. Unfortunately, it bled, and a day later, it swelled.  The next day, she could not stand anymore and she had developed a fever --- she got an infection. The pain is unbearable as she described it, so my mother rushed her to the municipal hospital.

It’s dinnertime, we need to bring her food and I’m the lucky one to do it.

We’re living in the poblacion area and the hospital is just less than a kilometer away from our house. However, before reaching the hospital I need to pass a 300-meter rough road in the midst of a rice field. I have to leave right away, as it’s getting darker already. As I grabbed the food, my mother reminded me to get back immediately as I still need to clean myself. So, I put my slippers on and start walking. I walked faster than the normal. By normal walk, the hospital can be reached by 25 minutes --- I got it by 20 minutes hahaha I was just a child then so I had shorter legs (as if I have longer legs now...lol). As I put the food on the table beside my sister’s bed, my sister requested me to assist her to the toilet. Afterwards, she asked me to assist her in having her dinner. It’s already 7 o’clock and I need to go back home. As I get out the hospital, the surrounding was totally dark. There were streetlights but the bulbs were busted so I relied on my night vision. The dogs were barking, owls were hooting, and bats were flying around. Nothing to be scared, it’s the normal scenario in our place during nightfall.

As I approached the rough road, I got goosebumps, precisely because I’m walking in the midst of a vast rice field, where you can see nothing but darkness and silhouette of bats flying around. It likes I’m in a horror movie. As I walked faster, I recalled all the horror movies I’ve watched before. Lol! I’m scaring myself to death! I’m heading north and I was already in the middle of the 300-meter rough road. As I uttered to myself (that the next house with light will be 100 meters away), I recognized on my left a ball of fire flying towards me. Damn! It’s getting closer to me! I remembered my cousin telling us about the story of Saint. Elmo’s Fire (Santilmo) during my cousin’s husband funeral (remember?). He said when captured by this fire, you will be trapped in there forever. As I looked back, it’s almost closed to me. Being so terrified, I took my slippers off and put it on to my hands, to my elbows, and ran as fast as I could! I felt like I’m flying that time. I didn’t fell the roughness of the road, not to mention the rocks and pebbles. I couldn’t believe to myself, I have reached the lighted and paved street in less than a minute. While still panting, I looked back to see if the fireball is still following me --- thank God, the fireball has disappeared.

As I reached home, my mother asked why I look so terrified? I replied nothing and I proceeded to the bathroom.

It was just another terrifying experience, Impossible but it happened to me!