Legal Alien in Southern California (Part 3)

I started to get to know my host family more during the orientation. Rick owns an air conditioner business and the wife has a lot of health problems so she stayed home most of the time.

They finally took me to their house. It was a typical Californian house. It's beautiful but you can tell that it's older. I remember the garage was on the front side and it was converted to an office. I was supposed to stay with them for three days. They showed me my room. They told me it was used to be their daughter's room.

The room's outdated furniture and frilly decor were for sure a little girl's room. The bedcover is made out of patchwork cotton and ruffles. Porcelain dolls and toys are everywhere. To be honest, it gives me the creep.

They didn't say anything much about the daughter. They just put away some of the dolls to the side. I didn't ask either. From the vibe, I assumed she had passed.

An episode of the show "Friday the 13th" flashed in my mind. It was an old-school horror show that I used to watch growing up. In one of the episodes, there is this couple who is looking for a babysitter to babysit their only son. But instead of babysitting, the babysitter was an offering for their demon son's to be eaten alive. Yup, my mind did go there. I mean they seem like nice people but I'm still spending a night in a stranger's house.

I put my bag inside the room and join them for dinner. We talked for a while. I was not looking forward to sleep in the room. It's been a long day, so we said good night to each other and they said to make sure to turn the lights off. I don't want to be rude, so I did. I'm not going to lie, with the lights off, the room is way more spooky.

As an Indonesian, I grew up with a lot of superstitions, urban legends, and ghost stories. My mom always tells me to pray when I'm in a new place and before I go to sleep. So the spirit or ghost won't bother me. So I prayed extra hard that night. I pray every single prayer I could remember. I couldn't sleep, my mind is racing. I do think that the room is haunted.

I'm starting to feel sleepy and right when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a couple of things fall in the closet. I looked at the clock and it's around one in the morning. I was so tired, I keep telling myself, it might be just a rat or something in the closet. I tried to go back to sleep.

Now, the bed starts to shake!! I. AM. TERRIFIED!

I am convinced that I'm experiencing a poltergeist moment. I was so scared I think I passed out.

In the morning, I woke up to the sounds of people chatting. My room is right next to the dining table, so I'm sure they were probably eating breakfast.

I rolled out of bed, immediately open the door, and saw Rick, his wife, and a young lady sitting on the dining chair. A couple of kids are running around the table.

"Good morning!" said Rick. "This is Katie, my daughter, you're sleeping in her old room."

"Sorry about all the toys in the room. My kids just dump them there," said Katie.

In my mind, I was like "Oh...so, she's not dead."

"How was your sleep last night? Did you feel the earthquake?" Katie asked.

I had an AHA moment. "Yes! I did." I said.

"Welcome to Southern California!" said Katie.

I was just smiling and felt so relieved! Cause lord knows I still have 2 more nights here.