That moment when even the dog hids and refuses to come put of hiding, not exactly one I want to be experiencing while I'm in the club alone after midnight. But such was the case tonight. I noticed Pacquiao wasn't up to his usual stalkerish self when I moved from the one end of the club to the other so that I could do a cool down light jog on the treadmill. He had ran to the bathroom, curled up in the corner of the sink area and was shaking. It took Snickers, WOW and me to overly encourage him to get up and come out, and even then he came nervously out with his tail lowered and ears down. Something had happened or he had seen something but I had no idea what that could have been. He's never been like this before....ever.
Did the mistake of pretending to leave the club, a little while after the whole Pacquiao incident, just to trick Snickers. I heard him call my name, walk around the club and then he turned off all the lights. Thinking I was hearing Snickers still walking around, I stayed hidden in a random locker at the front of the club. I thought I was so sneaky, being in that locker and him walking just an arm's reach or so away from where I was hiding. Then there was the obvious sound of the front door opening and Snickers returning with Pyen Chi that shocked me. I was totally confused. He had gone outside to look for me. But if was outside all that time than who was inside?! Pyen Chi was outside, Pacquiao's footsteps are quick and light, and Balboa is a Chihuahua so his footsteps sound clicky because of his small feet and nails, but both Pacquiao and Balboa were in the bedroom with the door closed. I knew I hadn't heard the sound of any four-legged friend, I couldn't have. Instead, the footsteps were slow, heavy footsteps, almost like the person was wearing boots.
This was the first time I heard footsteps at Hulk's -- unexplainable footsteps. Back around Christmas when we had an extra helper living at Hulk's for a bit, he had called us on the first night he slept over and complained about strange activity -- Pyen Chi suddenly turning around and barking at nothing and the sound of footsteps. Oddly enough, since then Pyen Chi has never acted strange in front of me with regards to anything odd going down at Hulk's. Balboa seems to be the one to freak out and start barking uncontrollably and Pacquiao always insists on standing right by my side when I'm training and he seems to only do this when I am training alone in the club and at late at night.
This whole day seemed to center around ghosts or spirits...of whatever you want to call them. We had travelled out to Granny Kim's house out in the sticks but upon arriving and she not being home, we decided to try to search her out. She lives in a small mountainside village that consists of 25-30 old country homes, some of which are now abandoned. The village is old with most of its residents being equally as old so there is a small village school/activity centre. Granny Kim attends school there. She is relearning how to read Korean there but she also is learning yoga and other things.
Trying to search out Granny Kim in a cluster of small, old homes evolved into more than us just trying to find her. Beside Granny Kim's home is an abandoned property with a supposedly haunted house. Some would even go so far as to call it cursed. As the story goes, a man who once lived there decided one day to put a lid on a local well. I'm sure it was just a means of protecting anyone from possibly falling into it but what happened to this man shortly after doing this was ironically the opposite of his assumed intentions. Shortly after constructing this lid, the man mysteriously died in his house as did two other male occupants who later moved into this very same house.
Snickers, his cousins and even his father are always teasing me about this particular house. Retelling its ghostly tales and then asking me if I want to go in it. The goosebumps I get from their stories always leave me saying no but today I told Snickers I want to go into it. It was broad daylight, the sun was beaming down, the air was fresh, and I definitely had a wave of confidence about doing it because of the beautiful sunny weather. "No ghost story ever takes place in the sun", I told him and so on that note we ventured onto the property.
With my sandals on and its thick wild grass, I was more concerned about my ticklish toes than anything walking into the scene. There was a small building to the left of the house, also abandoned. It was hard to make out if the house had a courtyard-like area of not because of the overgrown weeds that had taken over the surrounding land. It was a traditional Korean house though, that I could make out. It had the landing around it like old houses do and it had old doors. When I stepped through the main gate area Snickers stopped me and told me not to continue. I assumed it was because I had sandals on but he said it was because my "mind wasn't strong enough". I didn't know if he was just trying to feed the ghostly tales surrounding this house and playing on my fear or if he was being serious. Regardless, he refused to go in with me and told me that if I wanted to go in I could go in alone if I was so set on doing so.
I never did go in alone and Snickers never teased me about not continuing. I think he honestly believes whats been told about this place and that thought alone kind of freaks me out because Snickers isn't one to be afraid of anything. Later, when I asked him what he meant when he said my mind isn't strong enough, he said "they prey on the vulnerable". I wasn't exactly sure on who "they" were that he was talking about and what "they" would do but I don't care to find out. Geez... I got goosebumps just writing that!
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