Jenna's brother, Joey, was depressed. He had just found out that the girl he was courting likes someone else. He was also angry because the girl had strung him along all these months. The least she could have done was tell me that I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell, Joey thought.
Joey found out about the girl's feelings through a friend of a friend. Apparently, the girl had confided to that friend some time ago that she fancied someone else (other than Joey) even though Joey was such a nice guy. She said that Joey wasn’t the type of man she wanted to be seen around with. When this bit of news reached Joey, he took it hard. He hit the bottle, determined to get wasted.
Jenna had just come home and saw her brother drinking by himself in the living room. Their parents were out that night and wouldn't be back until early morning. Marty (her boyfriend at that time) had brought her home and was still outside. She asked Marty to stay and help her with Joey. She called Annie and told her the problem, and they all agreed that Joey shouldn't be alone that night. They dragged Joey to his place to talk over his problem over a few cups of coffee.
But even with the fine company and good food (Jenna is an excellent cook), Joey couldn't get his mind off the injustice he felt was done to him. They were all talking in the sala when Annie cocked her head to one side and sort of zoned out.
"What is it?" whispered Jenna.
"Oh, it's nothing," Annie said.
"I hate when you do that."
"Do what?" asked Marty.
"Nothing. I just spaced out a bit there," said Annie.
Then they heard strange sounds inside Marty's house: a jangle of harness and the clip-clop of horse's hooves.
"Does anyone else smell that?" asked Marty. He sniffed the air. "Smells like wet leather?"
"There's someone else here with us," Annie said.
"Oh no, not in my house. My parents would freak!" cried Marty (he had known of Annie's abilities through Jenna).
"What are you talking about?" asked Joey. He didn't know of Annie's abilities. Yet.
"Don't worry, this is only a one-time thing," said Annie. "He said he had to show himself because Joey's in great need."
"Me? Who's showing himself?" Joey asked.
Jenna put a hand on Joey's arm. "Shh. Annie does this sometimes. It's one of her gifts, or curse, depending on how she feels about it."
"You mean she talks to spirits and stuff?"
They heard a clanking of armor.
"Okay, I heard that. What's this ghost like?"
"He's not really a ghost, per se, but a spirit guide of yours. He looks like a knight, and he's fully armored, like he's about to go to battle," said Annie. "He said not to worry, that everything would turn out fine. Stop agonizing over that girl."
"And how does he know that? Has he seen the future?"
"He could be an ancestor or even you in a past life," said Annie. "Apparently he has seen your future. He also said to tell you that you were never meant to be together, that someone much better is waiting for you."
"Well, what can I say? That's good to know, I guess," said Joey.
And with that, the knight left. There was a cold gust of wind, but all the windows were closed. Marty, Joey, and Jenna looked at Annie.
"Don't look at me, I just told you what he told me," said Annie defensively.
previous next home
*First appeared in True Philippine Ghost Stories book 11.
No comments:
Post a Comment