THE GIFTED

THE GIFTED CHAPTER 2: THE DOPPELGANGER

My 18th birthday is coming up. My friends wanted to make something special for my birthday, and they planned to have a surprise party for me. But, I just want a simple birthday celebration with my loved ones. That is how I want to spend my every birthday. Simple but memorable. All was well, we already planned where we were going to have a simple dinner with my family and also friends. I am super happy that I am surrounded by people who truly loved me for who I am. Three days before my birthday, I was at my friend's house. Her name was Alissa, we sometimes hang out at her house when her parents are not home because she doesn't want to be alone. Her place was a bit far from the other houses that lived there, and also her house was the oldest. Whenever I came to her house, there was always this weird feeling that I always feel. The moment you will enter her house, there is always this heavy feeling, something I can't explain. The sudden change of temperature, lights flickering when the clock hits three, and things moving into places on their own. We were baking cookies when we heard someone knocking at the door three times. She ignored it, I didn't know why, so I asked her.

"Aren't you going to answer it?"

"Just ignore it" She replied.

The knock was getting louder and louder. A few minutes later it stopped and thankfully the cookies are already cooked. After that her hands began to sweat like crazy and she looks very nervous and terrified. She asked me to hurry up. I realized it was two fifty-five in the afternoon. We hurried upstairs heading towards her room and she immediately slam the door shut.

"What is happening? You're making me anxious" I asked

"It's their time, whatever happens, do not open the door or answer to whoever's calling you okay.." She said while shaking

When the clock hits three, all the lights went flickering and we heard someone coming up the stairs while calling Alissa's name.

" Alissa?"

"Alissa? You home honey?"

"Alissa?"

" I think your mom's calling you," I asked

" Did you hear the gate open?" She replied

" No," I said

" Then, that is not my mom" She replied

" So who is it? It does sound like your mom Alissa" I asked

" I'll explain everything later, wait until it hits three-seven, but for now let's just keep quiet" She replied

It didn't stop until it hits three seven o'clock. The flickering stopped and someone calling Alissa's name also stopped too. And after all of that happened, she finally told me what is happening. She said it happened a long time ago when they moved into their house. They bought the place at such a good price but they didn't expect that it would come with a bad burden. They said when they first experienced that one five years ago when they answered somebody calling their name, they experienced bad luck for a month and much worse their pets dying. When her grandma visits their place every week before she passed away, she will always hold a seance that helps out the 'happenings' a lot. Whenever she did the seance the place will eventually become feel much lighter and the 'happenings' would never come within the week

" Why wouldn't you all move out to this place," I asked

" We can't, ever since we moved to this place good luck started pouring in. My mom got promoted to her job that she worked on for so many years and my dad got more sales to his company and my elder sister got good grades andI , got so many friends that I always wanted since I was a child, all of that happens ever since we moved into this house" She replied

"Isn't that just a coincidence?' I asked again

" It's not because every time we go out of town or out of the country very far away from this home for just a month, bad luck started pouring in again. So we decided we should stay here in this home and just ignore and never answer to whatever or whoever's calling you."She replied

"How would you know that, that is not your mom?" I asked one more time

"It only strikes three o'clock to three seven o'clock, and all the people living here are always already in their rooms when the clock hits two fifty-five" She replied

" Why don't you ask for help about that?" I asked again

"I told you we can't" she replied

She patiently answered all my questions, even though I was getting a little bit annoying.

Moments passed and she invited me for a sleepover, but I politely refused because, I couldn't leave my cats alone in the house. Instead I invited her for a sleepover at my house, and well she agreed. She packed her things and got out to her house. Nothing was wrong until we got into the car, and I suddenly spotted something at the window staring straight at us. It really looked like her mom.

" Are you sure that was not your mom we heard earlier? Cuz I just saw her at the window" I asked

"DON'T LOOK AT HER!! THAT'S NOT MY MOM!!" She whispered

It was twelve o'clock at that time..We then immediately started the car at a high speed until we get to the highway.

"How long did you stare at it?" She asked in a terrified but low voice

" A minute I guess " I replied

A few minutes have passed and we still haven't got home. Usually, it would take ten minutes before we got to my house, but we were driving twenty minutes at the same route over and over again.

" We got played," she said

" What?" I replied

We stopped in the middle of the road. It was pitch black outside.

" Quick, grab the rosary and the cross at the back," she said.

I grabbed the rosary and the crucifix and we prayed in silence. As we were starting to pray the headlights went flickering like crazy and we felt someone or something was in the backseat of the car. Then a strong wind came rushing toward us while praying. I felt distracted.

" Don't stop! Focus on the prayer!" She said

I was shaking. We were terrified. She then chanted something and a few minutes later all the flickering, the temperature dropping and the strong wind came back to normal. And we then drive out there as fast as we can. Thankfully after all the prayers we eventually stopped driving the same exact route and we got back to my home safely. We were traumatized. When we got back to my house, I was surprised when my mom was there. If I do remember it correctly, she was on duty that night.

" I was supposed to be on duty tonight but I changed my mind because I thought you were going to stay at Alissa's house for the night and I can't leave the cats alone without any food. So I decided I am going to stay." My mom said.

" By the way, are you two going to stay here for the night?" My mom added

"Uhmm.. yeah mom" I replied

" Did you already eaten dinner yet?" My mom asked

" No mom, not yet" I replied

" Here! I cooked chicken noodle soup for dinner " my mom said

"Thanks mom, we will eat later" I replied

" I am gonna go to sleep okay, you two have fun and make sure you two are going to eat dinner" I replied

My mom then kissed me goodnight and went to bed.

"Should we tell her what happened to us earlier?" I asked

" No! Of course not, she would think we are crazy!" Alissa replied

" She won't I promise, let's tell her tomorrow morning" I said

" Are you sure?" Alissa doubted

" Of course, she's my mother we can trust her on this" I replied

*THE NEXT DAY*

As we were getting ready to eat breakfast, I asked my mom

"Mom?, Can I tell you something?" I asked

" Of course honey, what is it?" Mom replied

" Yesterday I went to Alissa's house and something unexpected happened, something we can't explain. It happened inside their house. At around two-fifty in the afternoon as we were baking cookies somebody knocked three times and the knocks were getting louder and louder. Then around two fifty-five in the afternoon, Alissa said we should hurry back to her room and hide. I don't know what that meant first but when the clock hits three o'clock the lights in her house started to flicker and the voice of her mom started to call Alissa but she said it was not her mom. She said something or someone is just pretending to be her mom." I told my mom while shaking

I stopped because I started to get scared

" Go on honey, I am all ears.. Mommy's here don't worry" Mom said

"But mom I am scared to continue because until now I am still getting panic attacks about what happened earlier" I said

" Honey, listen to me, if you aren't going to tell me what's going on, how am I supposed to help you?" She said in a soothing tone

I inhaled and exhaled just to calm myself down and really tried my best to be brave and tell the whole story to my mother and not leaving out any important details and continued the story

" Alissa told me all about the history of the house, why it is happening to them. She said it happened a long time ago when they moved into their house. They bought the place at such a good price but they didn't expect that it would come with a bad burden. They said when they first experienced that one five years ago when they answered somebody calling their name, they experienced bad luck for a month and much worse their pets dying. She also said that when her grandma visits their place every week before she passed away, she will always hold a seance that helps out the 'happenings' a lot. Whenever she did the seance the place will eventually become feel much lighter and the 'happenings' would never come within the week. And then later that night as we were getting into Alissa's car I saw a dark figure staring right down at us. And we started panicking and drove miles away from their house but the bizarre things didn't stopped there because we got played by 'something' as we were driving back here, at our home. We were driving twenty minutes straight at the same exact route. Then we stopped in the middle of nowhere. Alissa said I should grab the rosary and the crucifix and start praying in silence. And as we were starting to pray, the headlights went flickering like crazy and we felt someone or something was in the backseat of the car and the temperature in the car started dropping. No one was in the back seat of the car because I was the one who was driving the car and Alissa was beside me, sitting in the front seat. Then a strong wind came rushing toward us while praying. We were really terrified. She then chanted something after the praying and a few minutes later all the flickering, the temperature dropping and the strong wind came back to normal. Thankfully after all the prayers we eventually stopped driving at the same exact route, and we actually got back here safely." I told her

We then started eating our breakfast

" It was not a very lucky night for us," Alissa said

" Alissa? Can I ask you something" My mom said in a confusing tone

"Yeah sure, what is it?" Alissa replied

" Do you mind if I ask, what did you chant after you two finished the prayer?" Mom asked

" Yeah no, I don't mind. I think I can trust both of you. The chant was something my late grandmother taught me. She said it was something to protect me when I am in trouble with 'it'." Alissa said

" I see " Mom replied

After eating our breakfast. Alissa's real mom started to call her from work and told her where is she because her mom started getting worried when she didn't find her in their home. Her mom also said that she was going to our house to pick her up. My mom then started to look for something, like an old book that my late grandma gave her. She said it was a book of Latin chants. A few minutes later my mom found the old book she was looking for, while Alissa and I washed the dishes together. Hours had passed we suddenly heard the doorbell ring.

" I think that's my mom," Alissa said

I then answered the doorbell and let her mother come into our house. Alissa then hugged her mom after she came in. We all chatted for a while until they decided to go back home because it was getting late. And she also said that Alissa's father was waiting for them. They purposely waited to hit passed three o'clock in the afternoon to go. We then waved each other goodbye.

Later that night something much bizarre happened. I dreamed about Olivia saying I should be careful and I should stay away from Alissa's house because she said that the house was dangerous and not safe for me at all. I remembered that the dream was just me and Olivia chatting about how my life has been in these past few days and I am turning eighteen years old in a few days. I also remember she said that she was always there watching me and always there for me whenever I needed her, and in the dream, after we talked for hours that just felt like a minute, we hugged each other.

A day before my birthday 'Alissa' called me saying that she needs me to come to her home and hung up. I kinda find it strange that she would hang up the phone immediately after saying something like that but I ignored it because the person who called me sounded like her.

"Who was that?" My mom asked

" Oh! It was just Alissa's mom, she said she needed me to come to her house." I replied

"Why? Did something happen? Is she okay?" My mom said

" I don't know, she immediately hung up the phone after she said that" I replied

" I'm gonna come with you," My mom said

" Didn't you have work to do?" I asked

" I can't just leave you alone going into that house again after what happened the other day.I can't help but get worried and besides Olivia visited my dream last night saying I should prevent you from coming to that house again because it's too dangerous. Olivia looked so worried while saying that." My mom said with a serious face

"Olivia visited in your dream last night?" I asked again

"Yeah, she also said she already warned you about going into that house again." My mom replied

We then got in the car and continued to chat in there. We got unconscious of the time that we ended up arriving at the house five minutes before three o'clock in the afternoon. All the clocks in Alissa's house started ringing like crazy, and that's how we know we should start to look for a hiding spot. After coming into Alissa's house my mom said she immediately feel the heaviness in the house. Exactly three o'clock in the afternoon someone is calling my name that sounded like Alissa.

" Emy?"

"Emy?, You here yet?"

"Emy?"

As it was saying that the lights went flickering and the temperature started dropping and it's getting harder to breathe because of the heavy feeling inside the house. A few minutes later it all suddenly stopped and went back to normal.

" Is it gone now?" My mom whispered while hiding in the guest room of their house

" I think so?" I replied

We got out of the room while holding the rosary. A few minutes later something caught my eye, it was like a piece of clothing stuck on the floor and I also saw Alissa walking past the hallway of their house, it was just a shadow of her but I am pretty sure that the girl I just saw was her. I tried calling her name and followed her but she just disappeared. It couldn't be my mother because she was behind me, I didn't tell my mother what had happened. As I started touching it, I saw a vision, it felt like I was in there. In that vision I saw someone a teenage girl that is much taller than me with a white dress around nineteen years old reading a book, and a man started calling her and she looked happy after hearing the voice. She thought it was her dad but when she opened the door, the man that she thought was her dad stab*ed her right in her abdomen, the girl started bleeding but the man wasn't finished there, he grabbed the poor girl's hair and banged the head hard to the wall, but before the girl felt unconscious, she saw her mom on the floor dead The man started putting the girl's gadgets and jewelry that he found inside his backpack. It suddenly caught my attention that the incident happened at exactly three o'clock. The robber pretended to be her dad just to kill and robbed them, much worse the killer was her father's brother. Because the last word she said was

" Why did you have to do this uncle?" she said

The girl started crying and cursing before passing out. As I was watching the whole situation I felt something heavy behind me. I looked behind slowly, and with that, I saw the girl bleeding while holding a knife. And then it stabbed me.

After that vision, I realized that I was bleeding super badly in real life. I thought it was just all like a dream. The wound started to hurt so much that I couldn't even handle it, i'd lost too much blood in the process, while my mom started calling the cops something just pulled my feet straight into the kitchen, and the tall girl was there holding not one knife but two knives. I started screaming at the top of my lungs calling for help. When the tall girl tried to stab*ed me again my mom chanted something that prevents the tall girl from stabbing me but it was no use because the 'entity' is much stronger, and it successfully stab*ed me again. But this time it was on my feet to prevent me to escape. I screamed in pain and cried. The entity tried to stab*ed me again, and this time my mom chanted a much more stronger spell that made the entity back off a little. I started crawling away from it while mom was chanting the spell. The cops arrived and Alissa's mom immediately looked for us when she saw my mom chanting while I am crawling, she knew what is happening. Alissa also found us and she helped me get away with it by pulling me with her full strength and assisting me out but I said

"Alissa we have to help them, please," I asked while screaming in agony

" I will, I promise but I need to assist you out to the cops so they can treat you, also we called our aunt to help us out of the situation she's a paranormal investigator and exorcist" she replied

The aunt Alissa was talking about arrived at the scene and helped my mom, Alissa's mom and the cops can't do much to help because the situation is something out of the ordinary. When the emergency personnel carefully treated my wounds and when they slowly put me in the ambulance, the house started shaking and the lights went flickering and the house started to break into pieces. All the neighbors, cops, and emergency personnel saw what had happened, and that's the last thing I remember before passing out because I'd lost too much blood. Thankfully the doctors and nurses successfully treated all my wounds and I eventually stopped bleeding and also my mom, Alissa's mom, and her aunt got out of the house safely.

The day of my 18th birthday had come, but I cannot celebrate it much because I am in the hospital bed, still weak because of too much blood loss. Too bad I had to celebrate my birthday like this. But thankfully all my friends, family, doctors, and nurses sang me a happy birthday song and celebrated my birthday in the hospital, luckily the hospital room is bigger to fit all the guests and the food inside. I then saw someone familiar at the corner of the room. It was Olivia. I am really glad that she came tears of joy started coming out of my eyes. I am so grateful for them.

"How are you feeling?" Alissa asked

" I am doing well, thanks" I replied

" How did you find out that my mom and I are in your house?" I asked

" I called because you were not inside your house, I tried knocking and calling many times but you didn't answer so I started getting worried, but the last time your phone rang your mom answered it and told me what had happened." She replied

" I am sorry for trespassing in your house by the way" I said

" It's okay " Alissa replied while giggling

"But hey, seriously I am so sorry because you got hurt because of me" She said

"No, it's not your fault at all. It's my choice to come in there without knowing that the person who called me that has oddly sounds similar like you was not you. It was so foolish of me" I replied

Alissa then hugged me tight. And we giggled.

"Hey your eighteen now, your now at the legal age to drink alcohol hahaha, just kidding.. Happiest birthday bestie, let's celebrate together when you got out in this not-so-lovely bed of yours in this hospital" she said

" You're right I am at the legal age now to drink alcohol and can't wait to go back home and get out of this hospital" I replied

Until this day, I still don't know how to accept these 'gifts' of mine, but I hope that one day I can help other people with these 'gifts' just like I did with Olivia. Onto the next chapter of my journey.