The Haunted House

Samoans are famous for their superstitions. Cover all the mirrors at night. Don't comb your hair at night. Don't whistle at night. Don't sweep at night. Yes, don't do ANYTHING at night. Everything is connected with some "aiku" or other. All children were brought up fearing the aiku. Since I was a child I have never been afraid of any aiku or the dark in general. Nor have I been afraid of staying home alone at night. It must be my upbringing with none of the "sau gei le aiku ai oe!" threats. I guess that's also why I am not afraid of driving home alone at 2 in the morning after a "few" drinks on the town.

All was well and good in my fearless aiku-less little world until 2 weeks ago.

Ok, let me recap. My dad had a bad fall in June outside of the house and was hospitalized for 2 weeks. Then in August he had another fall in the shower and broke his arm. At the hospital, one of the nurses told him it may not be coincidental. There must be a bad spirit on our land attacking him. She is a strong AOG member and said there is a group of them who are licensed, so to speak, to "exorcise the demons" from people's homes. My dad left for NZ 2 weeks ago for an operation on his face (damaged from his first fall). His flight was on Friday evening. On Friday morning he asked for someone to give him a bath (which is very unusual) and he was trembling (as if he was afraid of something in the shower). That same day, he called that nurse to come and exorcise the house. That night he left. Later on that night, my housegirl's mobile kept ringing. It was my dad's number. The same number which was in the sim card lying in his drawer. After about 10 calls, the number disappeared and the phone screen was totally blank. And still ringing. The next day we found many of the trees in our yard had been damaged - the bark had been stripped off. We lock our gate every night. So WTF?!

Needless to say I haven't been able to walk around my own house at night because I have become afraid. I've started sleeping early. Every time I wake up in the night to get Elita's milk, I turn on all the lights. Everytime someone goes to the bathroom (right next to my room) I freak out. After 27 odd years of being unafraid of such rubbish, it takes one small happening to completely overturn my beliefs. I now believe it is possible that there is a spirit in our house. My imagination is on over-drive every night. My night prayers have doubled, no, tripled! I actually feel like going back to Malie. I know, that bad.

It doesn't help hearing the tsunami stories. One about a taxi driver who drove a woman and her children to Lalomanu. When they reached Le Mafa Pass, he looked in his rearview mirror and his passengers had vanished. He has been sick and delirious ever since. Another story about the villages of Satitoa and Saleapaga - each night the villagers can hear the sounds of people wailing and screaming and babies crying. The same case with the Tafaigata cemetary where 11 of the tsunami victims were buried. The security guard of the waste disposal (not far from the cemetary) quit his job claiming he could hear children crying every night at the cemetary.

There's some freaky shit going on in this place.