I don't know if this was a memory or a dream

WARNING: 
The writing you're about to read
 may contain content that are 
too SPOOOOOOOKY 

I'm writing this 2 hours after midnight right now...so 2 am.

While my brother is sleeping soundly and loudly on his bed I'm wide awake typing away at my laptop because when I was trying to fall asleep myself, I remembered something, a very old memory.

I knew it was a very old memory because I remember being at that place in time as a child, but what made me toss and turn and eventually sit up and write this was that the fact that I couldn't remember for the life of me if the event that I remembered was an old memory that actually happened...or a dream that wasn't real.

Has that ever happened to you? Think. Seriously. Think HARD. An event that you can remember by detail, where you were, who was with you, what you were doing but the only thing bothering you about remembering it is not being sure if it was a real memory or just a dream.

Before I analyze it any further I'll tell you the event in detail so you can judge for yourself and make your speculations if it's real or not.

(PHOTO: Me writing this at 2 am.

making sure there's no one behind me as I do) 

I was about 5 years old (Yes, I was a cute kid), I'm in my family's province of Ilocos Sur near Vigan.

It was Halloween night, Me and some of my cousins that were also kids are sitting down on the living room floor of my Aunt and Uncle's house counting coins for some reason while watching the annually 'Halloween Spooky Special' (or whatever it's called) of Rated K on the television.

When suddenly my sister and my older cousins walked into the living room, they came in talking loudly and invading the privacy and silence of us kids (which is kind of ironic when you think about it), they wanted to watch the Halloween special but they turned up the volume and made annoying "Ooh" noises to try and scare us kids, my other cousins might've gotten creeped out by it but I remember just being annoyed by them.

(Side Note: As I am writing this, more details of the "memory" come up, I don't know if that's a psychological effect or something but it's weirding me out)

I was waiting for my aunt and uncle to wake up and subdue their noise but they just leaved them be, I tried to go back to counting coins when suddenly one of my older cousin; Hazel, suggested to do something that would eventually become the main event of the evening.

Now, when I was a kid, I know what scary was or what being scared was, it's either creepy crawling bugs, ghost stories or jump scares but what happened (or didn't happen) that night taught me the definition of what true horror really was.

She suggested for us all to go to the school that's right outside and of the village because some people were said to be having a kind of creepy Halloween party and that since all our parents were asleep they could bring us younger kids.

My other younger cousins were pretty hard to convince to come and one of them even cried but for some reason I was ready and excited to go. That was my first doubt of this memory, I was easily scared as a kid and frightened of everything (My sister once scared me by rapidly running towards me and she was in front of me). So why was I so eager to come to this scary gathering?

We went outside and started walking out of the village and towards the school all the while my older cousins were trying to freak us young kids out even more telling us how the school was built on an old cemetery, someone was killed themselves in one of the classrooms and how the janitor sees ghosts during his midnight shift. You know, usual haunted school lore.

The school's entrance was a pretty open area, there were no guards that had a night shift there, it was an old provincial public school so security cameras was not at all possible and if you really wanted to break in you didn't even need to jump it's 3 feet fence because the gate never had a lock on it so literally anyone can break in with minimal effort if they wanted to.

(Here's an actual picture of the school during the day for reference but since I'm trying to create a spooky vibe, I'll add a typical haunted school picture to get the vibe back on)

(There we go)

As I was remembering this "memory" it was pretty normal up to this point, it all turned blurry for me when I remembered what I saw when we approached the school and I began to doubt my own memory.

We opened the gate and get inside and as you can see from the boring day picture above the creepy school hallway picture that as soon as you enter the school there is a patch of grass on the right side while the classrooms are straight ahead.

As we went inside, my older cousins were suggesting that we go to the empty gym, just chill out and tell more ghost stories to which my younger cousins were now excited to do and I got excited too.

But then I look to my right and on the grass on the right side of the school were 6 women sitting in a circle, holding hands and they were all covered head-to-toe in white sheets, I knew they were women because they were also chanting something in a foreign language, I knew it wasn't Ilocano because I would've understood what they were saying.

(The most accurate photo I can find to show you what I saw)

I called to my cousins, pointed at the chanting women and asked my cousins who were they, but here's the weird thing, my cousins even the younger ones can't seem to see or hear the women, I keep asking them if those women were part of the supposed Halloween party that my cousins said.

And that's ANOTHER thing, ever since we got there, we basically broke in and were trespassing but I thought there was supposed to be a Halloween party? nobody seemed to remember that that was said to be taking place and nobody is addressing that the only people there was me, my cousins and the chanting ladies.

I got frustrated and wanted to cry because my cousins kept saying that they can't hear the chanting ladies even if their chanting was extremely loud. I looked back at the chanting ladies to make sure they were real and that I wasn't going crazy, they were still there but to make it even more creepier, they were swaying now.

And then I glided, (that's right GLIDED) and I seemed to not be able to control my legs or any part of my body, I tried to turn my head and shout for my cousins help but I couldn't.

I glided by the chanting ladies and then-(boom)…dead silence, they stopped their chanting and just looked at me as I glided right past them and then either blacked out or there's a gap in my memory of something else that I couldn't remember.

The next thing I knew, I was walking along an open hallway, there were dark empty classrooms to my right and I felt, extremely nauseous, I was sure I was about to throw up any minute now.

SIDE NOTE: As I'm writing this right now, I also suddenly felt so nauseous.

I held on to the wall to keep me from falling because I was so dizzy, when suddenly I came into a corner and as I turned into the corner (bear with me, I swear to you this part really happened)…I saw a hold in the ground, it was about a meter wide but I couldn't tell how deep it was because there was white smoke and a bright red light emanating from it.

And then suddenly, I heard it, a deep and menacing laugh that came from the hole and I was raised to be extremely religious so the only thing I was thinking in that moment that this was it. This was a portal to hell and the devil just laughed at me.

(Photo: Portal to hell)

This was the moment I learned what true horror was, it wasn't ghosts, vampires or spiders, it was the religious manifestation of damnation and sorrow showing itself right in front of me and showing no remorse of laughing at me and the scariest part of that was that that was the first time in my life that I accepted the fact, that I was going to die.

When suddenly something grabbed my shoulders, hoisted me into the air and as I I braced to be thrown into the pits of hell, the one who grabbed me suddenly pulled me out of there, I got a chance to see my savior and it was my cousin Hazel and all of my other older cousins. I should've felt relieved but what still scared me was the look of horror in their eyes and when you were a kid, a frightened adult was always scary.

They carried me and ran me out of the school but on our way out the gate, I looked over to the grass and saw that the ladies in the white sheets were still sitting there, still staring at me and still dead silent.

Next things I knew, we were back on my aunt and uncle's house, I asked them where my younger cousins were and they told me they were already asleep as they gave me some water to "calm my nerves", I mean I was glad to be out the school but the sense of panic was still in the air.

As I tried to calm down I can see my cousins talking to my aunt and uncle and they looked worried as they talked about something I couldn't hear, then they all suddenly looked at me and tried to put on a brave face as they assured me that nothing was wrong.

This is supposed to be the part that I woke up and reveal to you that it was all a dream and directed by Christopher Nolan but no, because I remember sleeping that night.

And that's the end of the story.

What do you think that was? A memory of an event that actually happened and taught me the true reason of fear? or one of the most realistic and terrifying nightmares I've ever had? You can debate about it and tell me what you think, I'll listen, I won't interject but remember this...

Of course when I remembered the part about seeing a portal to hell it should've been a dead giveaway that that was a dream but now, years later when I ask my cousins about that night, they now confirm that they too saw the chanting ladies and that they did pulled me out of the school because I looked like I was about to pass out BUT none of them want's to answer what they saw when they rescued me.

They didn't deny that they saw a portal to hell and they didn't confirm it either. They just kept silent.
 

Dead silent.