The Ghosts are Knocking Again

It must've been around 5PM when I heard the faint knocking on my bedroom door. My room doesn't have any windows so the only light that kept it from being pitch black came from the cracks of space of the AC unit. I was alone in my room. I wasn't expecting anybody, so instantly, I felt suspect. I hesitantly approached the door and tried to ask who was knocking. No answer except for three more soft taps on the door. I opened the door slowly, placed my feet as a doorstop and allowed just enough opening to see who was on the other side.

I was already thinking of worst-case scenarios and the worst thing that could happen was: someone would try to grab me as only a hand could fit through the opening, then I would close the door and slam it on the hand, thereby hurting it which would cause it to retreat and that would be the time I would close the door, lock it and call for help.

But when I opened the door, there was no hand, instead, there was an old lady, all wrinkled in the face but with neatly-fixed gray hair. She wore an old black dress with a pink collar. She looked lost and sad. When I opened the door, she instantly leaned closer such that her face was almost going through the door (I didn't think of this scenario! what to do?!). I felt my heart race. When she was close enough I saw that she had completely black eyes, then she said in a raspy voice "I need a typewriter," to which I hastily replied "No, I don't have," and quickly closed the door but careful not to slam it for fear that she might get offended and decide to grab me anyway.

I stayed for a moment more then slowly went back to bed to resume my nap. That was when I woke up. Yes, it was a "dream". To me it was more than that because this has happened several times. It was not an outrageous dream sequence. It seemed more like an out-of-body experience (OBE).

I have never felt scared of this building where I work and sleep. The interior looks like a funeral parlor and it's extra ghastly at night but I believe that monsters or ghosts have a sense of geography. For example, I can only laugh at the thought that while walking in the desert, a manananggal ("remover" in English) might suddenly swoop down on me and eat my heart. A white lady would appearing in one dark corner would be a joke since most women here wear black. Such concepts do not exist here in Qatar.

But the knocks tell me a different story. The first one came from a lady. There are no specifics, I only know the gender. But while I was on my bed, I "awoke" slowly (or maybe this was the OBE part) and I saw her silhouette on the door. The door was wide open and she was just standing there looking at me. Then I went back to sleep (or to my body).

The second one was particularly funny. I was on my bed as usual then I "woke up" when all of a sudden the door swung open and revealed an Arab man shouting "wake up" repeatedly amid the clanging of a bell-like sound. I actually woke up and laughed a bit and texted my mom about it at three in the morning. At first I thought the man was my boss but now I realized that he wore Arab clothes and not Sudanese clothes.

The third one was weird. As usual I was on my bed and "awoke" because someone was caressing my penis. I looked up and saw the same lady I saw the last time. Still no details on this lady. I just know that she has shoulder-length hair. She disappeared a few moments after I "woke up" and then I actually woke up.

The fourth was the only scary one. I was on my way up to my room. After turning off all the lights in the office, I went up the dark stairway. When I reached the top I paused on the hallway leading to my room. The toilet door at the far end was slightly ajar which allowed a faint fluorescent light to illuminate the hallway. I froze because I felt that somebody was waiting for me in my room. And I knew that my body was back there sleeping, and somebody was already there beside me, waiting for my spirit to return. I decided to make a lot of noise on my way to my room, so much noise that I woke myself up.

The old woman from yesterday was the fifth "knocker". I don't know why they have to knock in my room and why they need to knock when I'm asleep. I've always wanted to see a ghost but I hope they'd show up when I'm really awake.