Cold Nights in My Room

The way home from work was the usual 45-minute bus ride from alabang to makati. Things has been the usual things that graveyard shift. A couple of intercon meetings and a couple of movies from youtube. It was a cold morning when i stepped out of the bus and headed towards my pad.

The even colder air gushed out of my room when i pulled the door opened. I left the A/C on for the whole night and i shivered, wondering how much my electricity bill would come out the next time i get it.

I had a donut and milk for my meal and brushed my teeth before i slipped into my 3-day old boxers and climbed into bed to sleep.

**** My Little Uncanny Messenger ****

The room was cold and dark, but i could see thru amongst the outline of my small sanctuary. I felt i pulled my comforter too high that it failed to cover my feet. I could feel my toes shiver but i cant seem to let myself crunch them to keep some warm blood running thru my icy toes. I tried to reach the comforter but i cant move.

I CANT MOVE.

Then horrified by the view i saw when i tried looking at my feet, I saw a little man standing along the edge my bed. He was a little boy with a shaved head. I was wearing nothing but a brown cloth that covered his entire body.

He was waving at me. His hands and forearm beat like a metronome that was out of beat and it was waving fast and the slow.

Fast and then slow.

Terror rushed from my little toes, thru my spine, all the way at the back on my neck. I conjured a force to move my limp legs.

I kicked as hard as I could.

And then there was me. Lying on my bed. Catching my breath. I could hear my heart pounding. I got up and drank a glass of water. I went back to bed to sleep.


**** Don't Wake Me Up When I'm Sleeping ****

It was 3 months now since i've reoriented the position of my bed. The small window was just below my feet and my head is opposite the wooden cabinet in front of the bathroom door. I was feeling the chill of the A/C blowing against my toes and so I tucked myself further inside my comforter sheets.

I was awaken by a movement that I heard rather than felt. Slowly the sheets that covered me slipped ever so lightly pulling it to totally cover my body. I pulled back.

Someone is pulling my sheets from above my head.

I fought and pulled to keep my head exposed to the cold stagnant hair in my room. I saw small hands grabbing my sheets and pulling it. I immediately turned my head up to see what is pulling it and it was the little boy. He's still wearing his brown coat. My heart dropped from my bed when i realized that his neck doesn't have a head on top of it but just the pitch darkness that is suspended in my room. To my horror i closed my eyes and tried to wake up from that dream. The moment I opened them back the pulling stopped, the little boy was gone and I have to get up and open the lights to guard me while I sleep.


**** I Swear I Was Not With Anyone ****

A month had passed when Ive put back my bed to its original position. I was now facing the tube when i lay down my bed. I slept most of the mornings together with the soft rumbling of the A/C.

My roommate got home later than I did and found me asleep.

He went straight to bed without taking off his work clothes.

10 minutes has passed when the door suddenly opened and closed. My roommate was awoken by the thudding sound and got up to brush his teeth and he made sure that the doors were locked.

"Hey, You should tell your boys to at least say goodbye before leaving." He made a comment while i was trying to understand what he was saying.

"What?" I asked.

"I said, The next time you're going to bring a guy over, tell him he might at least lock the door when he's gonna leave" the peculiar sarcasm made me realize that it was really my roommate who's talking.

"What guy? I was sleeping here alone." Slowly i swallowed my words and froze in front of my roommate.

"Yeah right. There was this guy beside you when I got in. He was lying on his tummy so I didn't exactly saw his face." he insisted. "He had a shaved head. You know, you've been bringing over too many guys that you don't remember any of them."

"Dude! I'm fucking serious... I was alone the whole night...What the hell are you talking about?" I exclaimed.

We both looked at each other for a while... It was one of those looks that wanted some answers...