Why is it that things always happen to drunks? Sometimes you don't know whether to believe them or think that it's all just a product of imagination and drinks. On the other hand, in the countryside there is the custom of telling stories of ghosts and apparitions, some are real but others seem to be taken from the book by Charles DICKENS.

José and the shadows of the road

There are people who were born to tell stories and they tell them so well that every time you hear them they make your hair stand on end and again the night and liquor conspire to generate this story.
One night my brother José was at the wake of a good friend, his house was far away from the community, surrounded by many fruit trees and coffee plantations. To get in or out of that house you had to leave the dirt road, pass a fence and take the narrow road that was usually very dark.

That night my brother was already very drunk and decided to go home, said goodbye and took the road. It was past midnight, the rain had fallen in the early hours and had left a soft mist all around. The silence was more than evident, as the death of the friend had left the hearts of all the neighbors saddened.

José crossed the narrow road without any problem, he went out to the dirt road and went down towards his house, when he passed in front of Justina's house he was surprised that the dog that always bothered him was not there, maybe the dog was also sad and decided to keep himself and mourn or maybe he had also gone to the wake.

He continued advancing and suddenly before his eyes he saw two thick clouds, very dark clouds that did not let him pass, my brother was very scared and although he wanted to fight and asked to be allowed to pass it was not possible; on the other side he could only see the light of the street lamp at Mrs. Amelia's house, that light is always on and he could see a person, he does not know who it was but he signaled him to pass, when he crossed the clouds he felt that two hands were hitting him and scratching his skin. In the end he was able to go through and advance, but the scare did not end there, when he arrived at Amelia's house there was no one there and his skin went goose bumps, he got chills and his legs did not want to respond.

_Pixabay

Where had that shadow gone, was it really a person or were witches playing a bad trick on her?

When she reacted, she shouted to see if anyone came out, but no one came out. He called Amelia but that didn't happen either, suddenly his legs responded but only to go back to the wake where his wife and his friends received him almost fainting, white as a paper, scratched and trembling like a jelly.

That night no one went home, there was silence and prayers, not so much for the deceased but for the ghosts or witches who wanted to do their business in the dark.

Since that night my brother never drank again and although it was very hard what happened to him, it served as a lesson for many who like to walk in the evening among the mountains and roads of that Andean town.

Jordi and the appeared children

Jordi is a boy who used to live in the mountains and only came down on weekends to go from house to house in the company of his inseparable friend "el cuatro" (Venezuelan musical instrument) singing, cheering and making people laugh with his songs.

Jordi would never again take the road late at night and would prefer a thousand times to fall asleep in the trapiche of my house so as not to relive that episode that left a mark on him forever.

It was an ordinary night, there was a full moon, Jordi said goodbye to his friends, threw the cuatro over his shoulder and started his way home.

For all of us who have been through these roads we know that there is a passage that nobody likes to cross, they call it "The alley", it is located in a curve where the trees are bigger and the vegetation is thicker, therefore the darkness is more frightening and only until you get out into the moonlight you can breathe again.

Jordi was going very quietly until he was approaching the alley where suddenly out of nowhere came two children about 8 years old, they took him by the hand and went with him into the darkness. That's as far as our friend remembers that night, the next day he opened his eyes and was already at home. When he woke up he told everyone what happened to him and although he promised never to drink again, the truth is that his desire to drink won out over his fear. Since that night our nice friend has been drinking and cheering up people's hearts, but he never walked down that dark alley again.