I've never been a tea person, to be honest. But I bought an electric kettle for Three Kings' Day (January 6th), mostly for instant noodles lol. Then I thought 'I should use this more to get my money's worth', so I bought a few tea packs and I've been drinking them from time to time. It's not bad!
However, as I wait for it to cool down, I've found myself reminiscing. Old memories that I didn't remember for years blooming back into my mind as the steam rises up into the air. Today I'm here to tell you one of these memories that came back to me.
My late grandma's house was in one of the outlying neighborhoods. One of the areas close to the trees and the cliff. The same house where my mother and her siblings were raised! When I was a kid, sometimed we'd have lunch there before the afternoon classes. It was close to school (just a few minutes on foot whereas from our house we had to use the car). My grandma was blind and couldn't move much, so my aunt lived with her. The house was old and besides the TV it didn't have a lot to pass the time so it was kinda boring for little me but it was bearable. The rooftop had one of those big blue plastic barrels filled with water, and around every Spring I could see tadpoles there.
Although the house was not that exciting, I liked it when we visited. Mostly because when we were there, I was allowed to go out by myself (well me and my older sibling had to go together)! Something my mom didn't let us do at our house downtown. Our grandma is the one that often insisted in letting us go walk around actually. She'd give us some money, tell us to be back before lunch and then send us outside. Visits were more frequent during the Summer holidays; my grandma had one of these old woodburning stoves which was used for grilling meat sometimes. My mom, her siblings, their spouses and their kids (my cousins) would all agree to meet up some nights to have grilled meat for dinner. It was so hot inside the house! But boy the food was awesome. Meeting with our cousins was always fun, which I what I liked the most about these reunions (and also the many ice pops we ate lol).
That was a long introduction I know, but I wanted you to have some context
A Summer night in the early 2010s. Once more our family is gonna have dinner at my grandma's. However, my cousins wouldn't arrive until evening. So me and my sibling pass the afternoon by hanging around the neighborhood. We walk around many of the streets—we even pass in fronf of one of my favorite buildings, which was nicknamed 'The Labyrinth' due to its weird layout and colors. Eventually, we get to where the houses stop, the road becomes a dirt track and the trees start.
I never saw that part of town before, and we were both kinda excited to keep going. Yes, I was excited to check the forest! That's what being overprotected does to you. Anyway we kept going as I consumed my umpteenth ice cream, not being able to see that much as night-time arrived. We saw pretty normal stuff: trees, stones, the edge of the cliff far in the distance, a few bats (common sight here during Summer) and a few cats as well.
And a building. It looked like a masia.
Large and old, it was surrounded by a fence that at one spot was once decorated with a mosaic. At least that's what I assumed, as I spotted shattered tiles on the ground. Probably belonged to a ceramist family that got rich(ish) during the years the town was reknown for its ceramic works. Just an assumption, but just saying: it wasn't the first time it happened.
I was so fucking excited when we saw this. You have to understand, this was around the time when Slenderman was becoming really popular, my young self was thrilled at the sight. Of course, as the stupid kid I was, I wanted to explore the abandoned masia. My sibling was against it, saying that our cousins probably arrived by now and that we should go back. I didn't wanna go back, and poorly attempted to climb the fence. We kept arguing as I kept trying to climb the bloody fence.
Then we heard a loud creaking sound from inside the house. And we ran away as fast as we could.
With the benefit of handsight, it was probably just the house reacting to the changes of temperature. The usual noises you might hear in your own house! But in that moment, I was just thinking holy fucking SHIT Slenderman is inside the house. Just one of those funny childhood stories.
Thanks for your company!