Room 79

This is one story most fit for Halloween rather than Christmas. But experience such as this needs to be told to remind us of the Supreme Being who has power over all of us, God. Christmas is not just a celebration of Jesus’ birth; it is a celebration of (our) lives, a sheer manifestation of God’s eternal love and the beginning of our redemption. On a cold Tuesday night, I get to experience God’s love in the most endearing fashion fit for someone who isn’t even worthy of a second chance, yet in His forgiving eyes, He must have thought of the grand scheme of things He wants for me, so I’m back home writing this piece from scratch.

I normally stay at one of my favorite hotel in Manila whenever I had official business trips that require spending days at the big city. For me, this trip was an ordinary one just like the rest of the business trips I had for this year. I was working on my final presentation for the following day’s meeting when I suddenly felt sleepy about quarter past eight (8) in the evening. Feeling tired from the travel the night before, I placed my laptop just above my head and yielded to the call of the soft bed, relaxing music and jazzy ambiance of Room 79. Before falling completely asleep, I was thinking then that I’ll have to wake up early morning to continue my presentation.

In the darkest corner of my sleeping thoughts, I begun to hear typing sounds in my laptop’s keyboard, I remembered I opened my eyes to see from the mirror at the side of the room who was playing with my laptop but I didn’t see anyone. Then the typing noise continued and sounds of chairs being dragged on the floor engulfed the keyboard sound. I forced myself to get up to see who was doing it but I found myself incapable of motion. I remembered I was shouting “stop it!” for I wanted to sleep but the noise kept getting louder each minute.

Then the unthinkable happened. In my conscious effort to stop the noise, I had forced myself to get up. But each time my head reaches 30-40% angle in an attempt to get up (I was lying face up in the bed with my arms spread), I felt a sudden rush of electricity in my face which prevented me from rising up. I repeatedly attempted to force myself to rise but each time I get to that very same angle, there comes the rush of electric-like current from nowhere blazing in my face. On my third try, I managed to look back and was surprised to see myself (my body) in my deepest sleep. Right then I realized I was dreaming and the dream can turn bad. So I slowly lay back to my original form and prayed in silence the basic prayers thought to me in elementary. In a few minutes, I regained consciousness and woke up from the nightmare before Christmas.

I was so happy to see my family and my children again as I went home tonight. My children didn’t have a single inkling of the danger I was in days before and they may have never knew instantly the worst ending to that story. It send shiver to my skin while writing this piece. But if it takes to have one hell of a night for me to stop, look and listen to the beautiful things I must have missed travelling hundred miles an hour, then I’ll unlock my foot from the gas pedal and park at the side street. Eighteen (18) days before Christmas, God had given me the most precious gift anyone can only wish for in their dire need. Not everyone gets a second chance, I’m lucky (and blessed) to have gotten one.

Thank you, JC!