Horror Stories for the Homesick: A Short Story Compilation for Those Missing Their Second Home by The Blue Bridge

HORROR STORIES FOR THE HOMESICK THE BLUE BRIDGE

Letter from the Editor When I was in the 1st grade, our school had a recurring story about how the old abandoned building beside ours used to be a kindergarten classroom that mysteriously burned down. One student got left behind, and since then, a voice, although faint, would call out for help from the inside. One of my classmates (probably) made that story up, but it was a nice source of thrill, and it became the start of many school horror stories that made my elementary years memorable. There is an unspoken school tradition where infamous ghosts, spirits, and the paranormal are the main characters of every story. You’ve heard of the spirit haunting one of the bathroom’s cubicles, the statue that had eyes you’ve sworn looked your way, and the hallway that no one should pass through because a ghost guarded it during ungodly hours. As we moved from classrooms to Google Meet links, I realized how much our mundane has changed, more so than the usual lack of face-to-face interactions and school events. Although the Philippines doesn’t really celebrate the conventional Halloween, we have our fair share of spooky myths and folklore, especially on school grounds. There’s always a story about a particular building, a room somewhere, even a tree. For this month’s issue, we wanted to revisit this old tradition by writing short stories based on personal anecdotes from school camps, retreats, late-night school experiences, and the like. The Blue Bridge wanted to honor a part of ourselves that we’ve forgotten about—a part most of us probably miss. As we welcome November, we hope this compilation gives you the chilling plot twist our everchanging lives desperately need. Happy Halloween. Andrea Andam

Horror Stories for the Homesick: A Short Story Compilation for Those Missing Their Second Home Editor-in-Chief Andrea Andam

Literary Editor Bea Bogoy

Associate Editor Reane Bermudo

Art Editor Mcenzie Han

Contributors Krystal Punto Zane Garfin Angel Dagohoy Aiki Maraguinot Andre Manug Cristine Sapico Gabrielle Tamayo

Cielo Krizsl Ampis Joel Josef Casia Athea Astudillo Bai Nizra Rasuman Kay Adeliza Cañedo Yllea Shanelle Ostan Nicole Beccera

@ashsthebluebridge @ashsthebluebridge @ashsbluebridge ashsbluebridge@gmail.com Copyright © 2021 by The Blue Bridge All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or other methods without the prior written permission of the publisher.

CONTENTS The Locked Cubicle The Shower Green Heights The Computer Lab Santelmo The Coin Bearer Senior High School Building Old Man The Elevator The Garage Dismissal Time Compound The Glitch The Loop Doppelgänger Our Mango Tree Ancestral House

2 3 3 4 6 7 8 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 18 19

FEATURED ILLUSTRATORS Andrea Andam Cover Page Inside Page Illustration The Locked Cubicle The Computer Lab Doppelgänger Shazmeen Claro The Elevator The Glitch The Loop Ancestral House

Bea Bogoy Santelmo Gabrielle Tamayo Dismissal Time Elliot Dimasuhid The Mango Tree Juleah Zardilla The Coin Bearer Chloie Bonggo The Garage

THE LOCKED CUBICLE by Krystal Punto

When I was still an elementary student, there were times that I really needed to wait for my ate so we could go home together. One instance, it was my first time staying so late at night (at around 7pm) and I went to my busy ate and she claimed that she would be finished in 2 hours or so. For this reason, I told her that I will wander around. While strolling, nature called and it led me to the bathroom on the 2nd floor of the Martinez Sports Complex (MSC). When I entered, the first cubicle was inaccessible so I immediately used the second stall hastily. Once I finished doing my business, I went out of the cubicle and at that same moment, I heard the toilet on the first cubicle flushing. As naive as I was, I waited for the person to come out of the stall. However, 5 minutes passed by and the person still wouldn’t come out so I just went out of the comfort room. When I stepped outside of the door, the cubicle was suddenly unlocked so I turned around and stared at the mirror and immediately checked whoever was using it. There was no one inside though, so I went back to the comfort room and checked the cubicle. Confusingly, I was met by emptiness and this made me sprint hurriedly outside towards the middle stairs. However, I halted when I saw a child or so I concluded, standing with their back facing me. I went to get my phone but then they vanished. I prayed afterwards. 2

THE SHOWER by Zane Garfin One rainy night, I used the gym and was left to close it since the coach left early. I went to the showers on the 4th floor of the Martinez Sports Complex (MSC) to take a bath. While I was dressing up, the shower that I used turned on by itself for 6 seconds. It could’ve been the pressure, it could’ve been the storm, it could’ve been something entirely different. I want to think it was a common plumbing situation, since I never thought of the occurrence as a paranormal experience, but after the countless stories I’ve heard about the building at night, I realized that I should have been scared when I went home that day.

GREEN HEIGHTS by Kay Adeliza Cañedo When we were still living in the green heights, numerous spirits would appear as a child or an elderly person. On my way home from school one night, I slept for a bit in our living room and I noticed that there were cluttered toys of my niece, Shiloh, across the table. When I woke up from my short slumber, I thought there was someone playing around and when I looked at the table where the toys were, it all vanished and I discovered that it had all fallen to the floor.

THE COMPUTER LAB by Angel Dagohoy When I was still in junior high school, there was a rumor about a girl who took her life and how her soul lingered on the high school building’s 4th floor where the computer lab lies. There were two boys who walked near the area when they saw her with her head down and in uniform. Both of them got curious as to who she was since the person they were seeing wasn’t a face they saw regularly on school grounds. The boys decided to get a closer look but when they reached the computer lab’s door, the girl vanished.

ANTELM by Yllea It was summer and I was on an outing with my cousins on an island. At about 4 pm, we were riding a boat to head back home. The weather was a little gloomy even though it was still 4 in the afternoon. As we headed back, one of my cousins suddenly shrieked and said there was a fire in the ocean. At first, we thought it was a joke but when he pointed towards that “fire” with a very frightened expression, we all looked at it and we panicked. There was a ball of fire that was following our boat, it was floating on the surface of the ocean like it had a trail. Its flames were blinking while following us. About 1 minute it disappeared along the waves. When we reached land, our local guide told us that it was a spirit. It was a santelmo. Then, we prayed immediately.

THE COIN BEARER by Cristine Sapico When I was still in elementary, we had a camping activity that was good for 2-3 days. It happened at night when the Martinez Sports Complex (MSC) was in a total blackout. We just finished the scavenger hunt and got ready for bed. I stared at the MSC and the high

school building beside it in awe when a faceless white figure captured my eyes— it was like a coin bearer but an adult that is in a veil. I rubbed my eyes and saw that it was slowly fading away into the fog.

SHS BUILDING by Cielo Krizsl Ampis

My mother is a teacher, and she claims that every first day of school, one student gets possessed by a spirit. When it happens, the spirit would always tell them using the body of the students, “Why would you demolish our house when we’ve been living here for so long?”

OLD MAN by Althea Astudillo When I was about 6-7 years old, I was in Mamo’s house, facing my tita Opaw’s house. Being a kid, my curiosity always drove me to glance around the houses from Mamo’s window. I began by looking at my grandmother’s house, then I moved on to my tita Opaw’s house which was empty at the time. Knowing there were no people in that house, I was startled when I noticed an old man in front of their door staring at the ground but his body facing me; it was quite dark at the time, but I could clearly see him. That old man caused a stir in our compound since I wasn’t the only one who could see him.

THE ELEVATOR by Aiki Maraguinot After Andrea and I’s Ateneo Dance League (ADL) training, we decided to go back to the building where our teachers’ faculty is located since we still have Physics requirements to pass. Most of the lights were turned off since it was already late in the evening on a school weekday. With our friend who is fond of telling teachers’ doppelganger stories, we just quickly entered the science department on the 4th floor and placed the paper on the desk without looking around since it was really dark.

We used the elevator to get into the building’s ground floor. To our surprise, we stopped on the floor below us and the elevator opened to no one but empty air and darkness. If the floor was empty, then who pressed the button to get into the elevator? Our realization left us screaming as our friend frantically closed the elevator doors. We managed to finally reach the ground floor, unscathed.

THE GARAGE by Bai Nizra Rasuman

It was late at night when my tito arrived at our place. Since our gate was open at the time, he drove right into our garage and waited in his car for a bit to cool it down before leaving. Our garage was dark at the time since the lights had been turned off. While he was inside his car, he noticed someone crouching, hiding, seemingly playing a prank on him. The silhouette suddenly bolted up and ran away, and tito never got to make out who the figure was. He mistook it for my brother, Wali. We were still eating supper that night when my tito unexpectedly questioned us, mainly my brother, upon entering our house. “Did you go outside, Wali?” We were confused when he mentioned that because my brother was eating with us in our dining room the entire time.

DISMISSAL TIME by Gabrielle Tamayo Back in grade six, I used to roam around the campus a lot. I would see my friends and invite them to walk around the grounds with me. One time, I spotted a classmate near our old canteen minutes after dismissal. I remember not being able to bid her goodbye because it was a Friday, and Fridays were usually one of the

busiest days of the week. After leaving my classroom, I mentioned her in a conversation I had with my friends, recalling that I met her as she was leaving the building. My friends were quick to question what I said. Apparently, that classmate was sick and absent the whole day.

COMPOUND by Joel Josef Casia Our previous apartment was part of a compound and in front of it was the house of the so-called “faith healer.” Faith healers, in particular, can obtain the so-called “powers” of evil spirits. When they moved in front of our apartment, it began to feel creepy, as if we could feel something whenever we passed by a room that we weren’t using. Our stairs were particularly eerie because you can feel someone waiting for you, and if my sister was the only one left in our apartment, she would always have a story to tell. She constantly said that there were sounds like plates breaking or faucets turning on but when she checked both, there were no shattered plates nor faucets turning on since the sink and floor were dry. My mother called my tito who is a priest and asked him to bless our apartment again. My tito promptly booked a trip to Davao, where he arrived at 6 p.m. Our guard was also in the hospital at that time so we went to him first to have him blessed with a final sacrament. After that, as we were enjoying our late dinner outside, our maid in our apartment called to inform us that it appears someone is peeping through our spring door and that it opens even if there is no one inside or even air in that area to open it. We began blessing our apartment at 12 a.m., beginning outside the unit, in front of the compound. When my tito made the sign of the cross and said his first few words to begin the blessing, the house of the faith healer began to light up and the faith healer began to shout a name—which we didn’t recognize—and then there was a loud noise coming from his house, like collapsing boxes. I assumed it was merely our oven’s box with plates that had fallen over or our chairs that had moved but when we entered our apartment, there were none. There were no boxes that collapsed or chairs that shifted. In fact, contrary to my expectations, our apartment was clean. We were all confused since we had all heard it at the same time. After that, the blessing of our apartment continued, and ever since then, we haven’t felt the creepiness within as often as we used to.

THE GLITCH by Andre Manug There was this incident as well at around 6 or 7 pm when I was the only one outside of the building. I took a picture and a figure appeared on my phone. I don’t know if it was a camera glitch or an entirely different occurrence. Nevertheless, I prayed when I got home.

THE LOOP by Andre Manug It was around 6 or 7pm after my training when I went down from the 4th floor. However when I went down to the ground floor, it still indicated that I was on the 3rd floor. Puzzlingly, I went back up but it still says 3rd floor. I immediately reversed my clothing from head to toe as advised by my family in such situations. After looping for two or three more times, I was finally out of the loop.

DOPPELGANGER by Shanelle Ostan and Nicole Beccera It was around 5:30 to 6pm when the three of us—Nicole, Jelli, and I—went down the stairs to the Office of the Coordinator for Student Activities (OCSA) to go to Sir Arvin’s office. Nicole and I saw Jelli leave to enter the Kabalyero and Blue Knights (KBK) room since she was wearing a bright-colored backpack and can be easily spotted at that time. We were confused yet we let her be and waited for her to come back. A generous amount of time passed by— around 15 minutes—and we were shocked since she doesn’t just leave without saying goodbye. We checked the KBK room and found no one. We didn’t hear the door shut at that time either. Suddenly, Jelli emerged from Sir Arvin’s office. We shockingly found out that she stayed there the entire time. Nicole and I surely saw Jelli enter the KBK room.

UR MANGO TREE by Cielo Krizsl Ampis There is a giant mango tree in our backyard and every time we plan to take it down to lay a wire cable, the chainsaws that were used to cut it always break and stop working. Others claim that there is another creature or possibly a person living in that tree. One morning, a neighbor riding a motorcycle and nearing a mango tree carried a pig’s butchered internal organs. He suddenly shouted loudly while we were asleep and that incident woke up almost everyone in our neighborhood. We noticed him not far from the tree, looking terrified. He claimed that as he passed by our house, he felt someone suddenly ride on the back of his motorcycle. He couldn’t characterize the person riding behind him, but all he knew was that it had a scary face. They speculated that the guy may be interested in the blood and insides of the pig that my neighbor was transporting. After that, my neighbor left his parked motorcycle and came back the next morning to claim it. Our neighbors claimed that a giant black dog with a cut on his head, similar to the famous haunted doll “Chuckie,” has been encircling our house every night up until now. My mother also mentioned yesterday that while she was having a conversation with a fish seller outside our house, she spotted a strolling tall figure by which she believed that it may be or was a “Kapre.”

ANCESTRAL HOUSE by Joel Josef Casia We have an ancestral house in our province. It never got finished and it’s been a long time since we paid the place a visit. The entire family decided to sleep in the house’s living room under our “kulambo” or mosquito net. Before we went to bed, our neighbors informed us that there could be wailing children who have a habit of running around the house. It sounded absurd, so we merely ignored what they told us that day and prepared to sleep that night. As we tucked ourselves into bed, we felt something or someone stepping

on our mosquito net, seemingly moving in a humanly manner. We began to hear noises of someone running and strolling in the bedroom that no one was using. As soon as we heard that, the doors began to bang forcefully. We were terrified, but my mother took the initiative to retrieve her MyPhone mobile phone that contained a wide range of prayers. She recited the rosary prayer aloud and all paranormal activity stopped. After the incident, we returned home to Davao immediately the following day.