The Diary

It was one lovely morning. The sound of the chirping birds had awakened her. She rose up from her bed and stared herself at the mirror.

“Today’s my sixteenth birthday,” she smiled at the thought upon writing in her diary. She dated it November 11, 1990. “I feel I have a better day ahead of me.”

She placed her diary on the bedside table after that and excitedly rushed into the bathroom to take a shower. Though it’s her special day today, she still has a class.

After she took a bath, wore her uniform and fixed herself, she goes to the kitchen. Upon entering the kitchen, she smells the delicious aroma of the meal on the dining table. It was like there is a feast.

“Oh, how thoughtful my Mom is!” she exclaimed while she put her school bag on the other chair.

As she was about to sit, she hadn't seen her Mom this morning yet, as well as her Dad, her little sister and her younger brother.

“Oh, well. Maybe Dad has already gone to his work. My little sister maybe goes to her schooling and my brother? I bet he’s still sleeping. Mom’s surely went to market today to prepare some good food for my birthday,” she said to herself then she started eating.

Right after that, she brushed her teeth.

After a few minutes, as she approached her school bag which she didn’t find it there.

“Odd. I’m sure I’d put it there earlier… Oh, maybe someone’s playing tricks on me. Maybe it’s my younger brother!”

So she decided to go to her brother’s room, but didn’t see him there. She thought that her brother’s hiding somewhere and put some little play on her. She still has thirty minutes to look for him and ask if he knows something about her losing school bag. She knew she can’t go to school without it.

She looked around the house, even in the bathroom, thinking she might find him or her bag from there.

She stared at her wristwatch. “Only fifteen minutes. I got to find that damn bag or I’ll be late! The school bus will be here any minute from now.”

She went to her room next and saw her diary fell on the floor. She grabbed it to put it back to the table when she noticed something strange from the diary.

It was as if it had gone through a lot of years. She has just bought it a month earlier. And just as earlier this morning, she saw it looking neat. She opened it and astounded by what she saw. The pages really look old like a decade has passed now.

“This can’t be!”

She felt disoriented from what’s happening around her. Hoping to get some fresh air, she goes out of the house.

There she was standing in front of their house when suddenly a young man in a bicycle came to her sight. It was the newspaper delivery boy.

She knew the young man for he was the one who always deliver the broadsheet to them.

She greeted him by waving her hands. But when the boy looks at her, fears written all over his face and hastily goes off and not looking back, to her dismay. The boy didn’t even notice a bundle of newspaper that fell on the ground. She realizes that he’s not the one who used to deliver the papers to them though. But why the sudden rush?

Trying to ignore the mixed thoughts that coming out from her mind, she picked up the broadsheet and decided to get inside the house.

As she enters, she notices the sudden darkness inside. Strange again, it was still broad daylight but why the dimness? She looked outside and found that it was bright outside and she saw tall grasses covering around their house! How could she get out and get in their house without even noticing them?

Confused on what going on around her, she goes off to her bedroom while still holding the bundle of newspaper. She felt tired and fell her body on to the bed and take a look at the broadsheet. While reading, something from what she saw on the newspaper’s front page strucked her.

She took her diary and opened it, which was dated: November 11, 1990. But why the newspaper has the date November 11, 2001? It is just a typographical error?

“No, this can’t be!” she unbelievably said as she fell out of consciousness.

On the other hand, a young man in bicycle came home when his grandmother notices him sweating and faint.

The boy tells his grandmother what he just saw when he passed by along the road where a huge white house lies.

“Oh, so you see Maria?”

“Maria?”

“Maria and her family have been dead for 11 years now. They were murdered on Maria's birthday and the case has not been resolved yet until now. Some say that yearly, she’s been appearing around their house. And you saw her today because it’s her birthday!”

“How frightening is that!”

“Son, you shouldn’t be frightened. Let’s just pray for Maria and her family’s souls, for them to be at peace.”