PREMONITION

As kids we were carefree, as you would expect of kids. Perhaps careless is the right word. We would put a glass filled with water or juice at the edge of the table or near the bed or some place where it was in danger of falling or spilling. My Tita, who lived with us when she was single, would often utter, “If you don’t remove that glass from there right away, it is going to fall and break.” We would often not obey pretending we didn’t hear her only to be proven she was right. If it was not a glass that broke, it could be something that fell and hit the head, or a plate that broke, or food that got wasted on the floor, something like that. She would always sense that something was coming or going to happen.

When we were older, I guess her senses graduated to some extent that she would dream of something that would take place in the future.

The first thing that comes to mind was during the early 1980’s when she dreamt of my uncle, her brother. In the dream she saw my uncle’s red car, slowly being driven down our road. She couldn’t see who was driving though she assumed it was my uncle, since he drove in it everyday. Behind the car was my Grandma, pacing slowly, with my uncle’s wife and two young kids in tow. She said it was just like a funeral procession.

Two months later, my uncle would die of a stroke during a basketball game with his officemates. He was suffering from high blood pressure. Basketball was a regular Friday activity of their office. That night was especially exciting. Like the rest of his officemates, he was cheering loudly and jumping when he suddenly slumped dead on the ground holding his aching heart. It was a tragic blow, for his wife wasn’t there when it happened.

Another dream she had was of my Grandpa’s cousin. In her dream she saw a big fire eating up their huge white house. After two years, the bank they owned did go up in smoke, but not literally. The bank went bankrupt and shut down.

One death dream she had was involving her officemate. She saw her standing behind a black cloth that was placed in the woman’s living room. The living room was empty, except for the black cloth that hang completely covering the wall. After I don’t know how long, I forgot, her officemate’s mother would pass away.

Another event that would materialize after a series of “two somethings” was the crime perpetuated on my sister. After the devastating earthquake of 1990 that shook Baguio and brought it to its knees, crime rate shoot up due to 90% of shops, offices and establishments closing down literally. Two days before it happened, my Tita woke up at dawn because of the disturbing dream she had of my sister. That night she didn’t come home because she had gone to her friend’s birthday party. She spent the night there. When she came home the next morning, my parents and my Tita wouldn’t quit asking her what bad thing happened to her the previous night. She kept on saying nothing happened, and that she had a great party.

Two nights later, when she came home after work, she was followed by two hoodlums right from the moment she came out of her office until she reached the Cathedral Church. It was really dark in that portion of the street. They took their chance by walking alongside her, one on each side and pulling her into the dark, with a knife pointed at her side. In the dark they got everything she had except for the umbrella. She was lucky they set her free. When she arrived home, I thought it was funny that she was holding her closed umbrella, while the rain kept on pouring. She was rain-soaked and her clothes were dripping. She didn’t tell my parents at once, she immediately locked herself in the room and asked me for a dipper of water to clean up her wound. They set her free because she lied that her baby was waiting for her at home, when she was actually single and childless. She had sustained a moderately deep cut on her neck. The scar still remains to this day.

There was one more revealing vision she had sometime in 2007 but has not yet taken place. It’s been 2 years and counting…. I wouldn’t delay writing about it as soon as it materializes. Log in next week for more encounters of the third kind.

 

KARMA? Another Story

May kasabihan, “Matagal mamatay ang masamang damo”. But I guess this saying doesn’t always hold true.

When my Dad was younger, he once worked as an agent for some company. Unfortunately, the company flapped. To his surprise, one of the company’s clients, whom he himself introduced to the company as an agent, filed a legal suit against him for the reason that my Dad was the instrument who made him join the company. The client was running after his investments from the company since it has filed for bankruptcy.

My Dad was a victim, just as he was. He was out of job. He was just working for the company. He didn’t own the company. He was not liable for its downfall.

Anyway, this client was barking at the wrong tree. He wouldn’t listen to reason and even got my Dad arrested. He really gave him a hard time but of course for my Dad, justice prevailed.

Some years flew by, and one day this client was in the front page of the local daily news. He had died of a gunshot wound. He was shot from the back while seated in a waiting jeepney. The reason: he was wearing a jacket which he had borrowed from somebody whom he didn’t know had angered another person – the shooter. The shooter thought the client was the real owner of the jacket and needed to settle a score with him by shooting him. He wore the jacket at the wrong time, at the wrong place. It was somewhat an accidental shooting since the bullet was not intended for him in the first place.

It’s amazing how life plays out. Coincidence? Let’s see. Check out my next story and then tell me if this is coincidence.

Huling Paalam

A not-so-close encounter happened exactly during the time when my paternal grandfather died. My grandfather was 96 when he died. It was the year 1996. He was bed-ridden and refused to eat for 10 days prior to his death. It seemed that his spirit wanted to move on already but his body didn’t. Anyway, he died in his sleep around dawn. When my Dad came up to his room in the morning with breakfast, he discovered that my grandfather’s body was cold, stiff and purple already. He didn’t die of any ailment; he just died of old age.

A day before my Grandpa died, my sister went vacationing at a beach resort in La Union. Early in the morning, about 4 am, they were disturbed by persistent knocking at their beach hut. Thinking how crazy it was for anyone to disturb their sleep at an unholy hour, they ignored it thinking the person would just give up and go away. But they were wrong. The knocking didn’t stop until they finally opened the door only to find no one.

Also at dawn, my eldest sister who lived in another place, woke up thinking she heard someone outside knocking. She peeked out the window but nobody was there. That was the time my Grandpa was dying. His spirit went roaming before he went. He was bidding them goodbye. As for me, I was the last one he saw the day before. After he saw me, he called out for my brother.

After he died, Dad had his room repainted because on the wall where his head would rest ever single day while he sat on his bed, was the shape of his head.

Have you had this experience? Or heard a similar story? Tell me about it.