Blasphemous Rumors II

My previous post mentioned about Blas being the caretaker of a certain house here in our village. Now, that house has had a notorious reputation of being a haunted one. That may be one of the reasons why it is vacant most of the time. Very few renters are brave enough to risk knowing if the tales were true.

Various ghost stories have been circulating about the house since we were still young, most of them unconfirmed. Eerie noises, weird sightings and strange coincidences of bad luck become the theme of most of these anecdotes. Some wave them off as our village's version of urban legends. But a recent story relayed by someone who previously didn't know anything about the house intrigues us all the more.

One fine weekday morning, Aling Nena, the village's street sweeper provided by the city government, goes by her daily task of cleaning the streets in our relatively small village. Most of the homeowners may have already gone to work by this time. Streets are practically deserted except for the occasional people going to the nearest sari-sari store to buy some stuff.

An old car stops by near Aling Nena as she was sweeping some leaves off the street gutter. An old couple, probably in their sixties, greets her.

"Magandang umaga ho. Pwede ho bang magtanong?" asks the old lady by the passenger side.

Aling Nena stops what she was doing and tries to extend assistance to the old couple who were obviously not from this village. "Oho, ano ho ba yon?"

"Meron ba kayong alam ditong bahay na pinaparentahan?" the old lady asks.

Aling Nena has been assigned to this village for quite a few months now that she notices all those "for rent" signs in all the vacant rental houses in our place.

"Meron ho dyan sa kabilang kalye. Bagong tayo lang ho kasi yung apartment. Subukan nyo ho doon," Aling Nena informs them.

"Eh dito sa street na 'to? Wala ba dito?" asks the old man on the driver's seat, presumably the husband.

"Wala ho yata dito," Aling Nena answers after thinking it through.

"Di ho ba meron dun sa bandang dulo? Doon sa may tapat ng basketball court?" says the old lady.

Aling Nena was kinda confused. First, she tries to recall if there was indeed a house for rent along this street as described by the old lady. And second, why would this old couple ask her if they already knew about the house? Weird.

"Di ko lang ho sigurado. Subukan nyo ho daanan, baka di ko nga lang ho napapansin," replies Aling Nena.

"Meron! Bakit hindi mo alam? Doon yun sa bandang dulo," the old lady pronounces in an irritated voice as she rolls up her window, motioning to her husband to move on.

As the car leaves Aling Nena, she just shakes her head. Weird people.

She decides to continue on the task of cleaning off the leaves from the gutter. What's wrong with these people? You try to help them and this is what you get.

She gives the speeding car another look as the vehicle reaches near the spot where the couple said was the house for rent, just across the basketball court.

And right in front of her very eyes, the car vanishes into thin air.

Holy shit! What just happened? Am I hallucinating? WTF?!

Aling Nena perturbedly continued on with her job. All the while, the image of the car disappearing instantly keeps replaying in her mind.

And when she reached the spot where she saw the car vanish, she took a look at the house to her right. It was that vacant house which didn't have any renters for the longest time.

She asked around about the story of that house while she told them about her strange experience that morning. And she was shocked by what she was told.

When she described the appearances of the old couple who asked her for help, she was told that the description certainly fits the owners of that house.

Aling Nena has never seen them before that's why she wouldn't know. And even if she knew their faces, all the more she would be terrified. Because as she was told by the people in the neighborhood, that couple whom she was talking to that morning have long been dead.

Now, if you were Chito, my friend whom I told you about in my previous entry, which would you prefer? That you were carried inside the house by its gay caretaker? Or that you were lifted into their home by the spirits of the old couple?

Shivers.