The Cloud Across The Street
Short stories of my encounters with the paranormal and supernatural. These stories are based on real events. Enjoy :)
I remember I was about 10 years old then.
It was one of those nights returning from my babysitter’s place. My parents worked at the factory and often had to do overtime. That particular night, it was the usual route, the usual car ride, nothing out of the norm. Though it was late in the evening around 9 pm, there were still people walking around the neighborhood, stalls still opened for business. Neighborhood dwellers sit around chatting their night away and people coming home from work.
Something caught the corner of my eye when I got off the car. There was a white cloud moving towards us from across the street. It was moving in our direction at an eerily slow pace. I pointed at it, signaling to my parents that there was a drifting cloud.
“Mom, why is there a cloud of strange white smoke drifting towards us. What’s burning?” I asked.
“Look at your feet. Don’t look up until I tell you too. Follow me.” Mom said, with a hint of panic in her voice.
I was led to the lift lobby quickly. While holding my mom’s hands, I could see the goosebumps on her hands. She was sweating a little, and unusually jittery. We reached home safely with no more incidents. Until bedtime.
That night, while I was trying to fall asleep, the burning smell came back again. It was as if someone was burning joss sticks and some metal-like stuff outside my window. It was late, around 10 pm. My neighbors don’t usually burn their offerings this late into the night. I noticed against the light from the corridor, a strange shape, almost like a cloud of a smaller person, moving outside slowly. An auto-response of goosebumps came, in waves. Something wasn’t right. I wanted to run.
Sleep paralysis (or so I know it as, now that I’m older) or something else was holding me. The cloud of smoke was now manifesting itself in my room. It stood in front of my windows and stopped. I then heard a croak. Something like a short crackle. It then disappeared suddenly. The burning, metallic smell didn’t. I think it was undeniable proof that something was in my room.
Days later, I heard from one of the neighbors gossiping to my Mom that there was a fire at the opposite block of flats. One of the households caught on fire. It was a family of three. Their only child was alone and playing with a lighter as rumored. A sad tragedy. The parents were out when it happened. The fire was put out but the kid was burnt to crisp, along with the curtains and furnitures.
I looked across the block and noticed the burn marks on the walls of that affected unit. Something was moving in the house. It seemed like the same white cloud near the windows, drifting left and right along the sides of the broken window frame. It suddenly stopped as if it knew that someone was staring at it.
This time, it’s no longer a slow-moving entity, and it swooshed right at me at an unbelievable speed from where it was. I screamed. The cloud of smoke went through me, and it was gone. And the room was once again filled with that strange metallic burning smell, which dissipated after a while. Unable to contain my shock, I ran out crying for my parents.
Years later, I realized that it was probably the smell of burning flesh. Human flesh. A mix of unappetizing burnt meat and hair, along with the metallic taste of blood in the air.
Since then, the same smell comes every once in a while in the night. And every time it comes, I would find some excuse not to sleep alone. I couldn’t remember much of what happened in that few years. I guess people really do outgrow their fears. But these memories of the cloud and smell of burning flesh will always be hidden in the darkest part of my mind.
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