Last night, I logged off a little after eight o’clock and went down to the family room to watch No Reservations with Speedy. The second floor corridor was dark but I could make out the figures of our cats excitedly moving about. I didn’t think anything of it — they often play at night. Almost as soon as I entered the family room, I realized I had to go back upstairs again for something (never mind what — it’s a girl thing). On the way up, I turned on the pendant lamps on the staircase.
There were noises coming from upstairs, like something hitting the walls, and I thought it was the cats playing. Or the wind ruffling through whatever. Or the rain making strange noises against the terracotta roof tiles. I was already on the second floor corridor when I saw it — the thing flew over my head. Black. Large. The shape was unmistakable. And I froze. Literally. I don’t like bats. They look too much like rats. I was holding on to the banister and I started screaming for Speedy. It took a while for him to hear me because the door to the family room was shut and the TV was on. I think the neighbors may have heard me before he did (the second floor windows leading to the veranda were wide open). I was screaming so loudly. And the thing kept flying back and forth.
Finally, I heard the family room door open and in an irritated voice, Speedy shouted, “Ano (What)???”
“May paniki sa loob ng bahay (There’s a bat inside the house)!” I shouted back.
“Ano gusto mong gawin ko (What do you want me to do)?”
“Paalisin mo (Make it go away)!!!” And that was the point when the bat stopped flying around, I don’t know where it alighted but I ran to my study and slammed the door. I got what I was supposed to get then I realized that the darn bat was still somewhere in the corridor and I was trapped inside my study.
I opened the door, just a bit, about two inches, just enough for me to see a part of the corridor and but not wide enough to allow that thing to get inside my study. Nothing. I saw nothing. And I started screaming for Speedy again. I don’t know where he was exactly but he could hear me and he was saying, Run for it!
And then, the bat was flying again — right outside the door to my study and the cats were there trying to catch it. My small camera (the Powershot G10) was just a few meters away from me and I thought, “Damn you, bat, if you persist, I’m gonna make you an internet star.” You know, like the bird and the chicken. It kept flying. I took five shots and got nothing but walls and ceiling. Perhaps, I wasn’t fast enough in pressing the camera’s button. But. BUT. It was a rainy night, I have read far too many vampire stories and seen even more vampire movies and thoughts inside my head started going wild. You can’t see vampires’ reflection in mirrors — you can’t take photos of them too? What? I broke into a cold sweat.
Then, the damn bat stopped moving. It alighted on top of the linen closet just outside the door. I could see it. It was less than a meter away from me. And it was really huge. The cats were waiting to pounce on it. I took my chance. I set the G10 on a table, turned off the lights in my study, yanked the door open and ran. I was screaming while I ran. Speedy was waiting for me and as soon as I was inside the family room, he slammed the door close.
And I saw Speedy holding his camera. Wow, so he tried to take photos too — from a safer distance. He had an image of a dark blurry thing near the ceiling. Not really usable but, at least, I knew that the thing could be captured on camera. No vampire, I figured.
A few minutes later, we had settled down. And I remembered that my big camera, the dSLR, was on the couch in the living room because I had used it earlier to take photos of a cocktail drink that I mixed. And I thought… what if the bat came down and the cats went after it and the chase got violent — would they hit my camera? The darn camera’s too expensive for me to take a risk. Still, I didn’t want to go out there again. So, I asked Speedy to get it for me. He was exasperated but I guess he considered it would be a bigger disaster if the dSLR got destroyed. He opened the door a bit, everything was silent, and he walked quickly and silently to get the camera.
When he was safely back inside the family room, we started talking about the last five minutes. Because all of that happened inside of five minutes although it seemed like forever.
“That is a large bat,” he said.
“Yeah,” I replied. I saw it up close, didn’t I? The wingspan was much, much longer than my two hands side by side. Large. Huge. “Definitely not a fruit bat,” I said with certainty.
“It is a fruit bat,” Speedy insisted.
“No, it’s not — it’s a vampire bat.”
Speedy looked at me, I can’t describe the expression on his face. Like, he was angry at me for wreaking havoc inside his now-peaceful mind because he had already convinced himself that it was just a harmless fruit bat. And he said, “Don’t get hungry in the middle of the night because I’m not fixing you anything — I’m not going out there again.” Okay, I said.
The thing is, by that time, my head was throbbing. I gave myself a headache from my own screaming. I wanted water. I asked Speedy to please get me a glass of water. The kitchen was just outside the family room, much nearer than the living room. If he managed the get the dSLR without incident, he could get me a glass of water, right? Speedy was getting really angry and exasperated but I had this throbbing headache so he got me a pitcher of water — no glasses, I had to drink from the pitcher. Needless to say, none of us left the room until daylight. Good thing that the bathroom is en suite.
P.S. It appears that fruits bats are larger than the common vampire bat but I didn’t know that last night, did I?
P.P.S. @ 2.20 p.m. I pasted the text of the first two paragraphs of this entry in the “I Write Like” website and got this:
Hmmm… interesting. Very interesting.
Update on July 26 2010 @ 10.28 a.m.
Okay, here’s a photo that Speedy took of the thing.
Blueberry ice cream
geri
07/22/2010 at 1:16 pmlol You described the scene in your house so vividly I feel I was there experiencing the commotion hahaha
We have an old house in the province and it has these huge windows that from time to time bats would fly inside our sala – they would either cling to the curtains or crawl on the floor towards us. It happen a lot of times but it would never fail to cause a riot in our house. One minute we would be watching tv the next minute we would be standing on the sofa waiting for our father to get rid of the creature.
He would usually throw a cloth over them, pick them up (ugh) and let them go. I know, kadiri.
Connie Veneracion
07/22/2010 at 1:33 pmemyM, a rooster. I didn’t mind that so much (except the danger that it might poop inside the house) but the bat… grrrr
Lois, hahaha those two — cockroaches and frogs elicit so much screaming from them. A bat — LOL I can’t imagine.
Geri, it goes with rural life, ‘no? Antipolo is still largely rural despite being called a “city.” But bats crawling on the floor? eeeww. Ayaw ko na isipin.
Gay, hahaha okay even scientists are scared of bats. That makes me feel so much better. And not so stupid hahahaha
Lois
07/22/2010 at 10:21 pmdon’t forget lizards…
Twin-Skies
07/23/2010 at 5:45 pmI’ve always considered the presence frogs, lizards and bats as a good sign, since they eat mosquitos, cockroaches, flies, and other insect pests.
Snakes, I’m not sure. I’ve been told that pythons are relatively harmless to adults, and that having them around is a good way to scare off rats.
toni
07/22/2010 at 8:17 pmI felt I was there with you while you were panicking! Wait, panicking, paniki… aaaahhhh! Baka nandyan pa sa bahay nyo!
Jhay
07/22/2010 at 10:19 pmThe exact same thing happened to us about two weeks ago. A small bat, perhaps 4-5 inches long with a wing span of about 10-15 inches flew inside our living room while my wife was watching tv.
It took her a split second to run from the couch to the stairs in order to get away. My shock came when she left our little baby girl alone in the crib. She tried her best to go back and get our baby but her great fear of bats has taken over.
The bat flew inside our bathroom and it was there where we killed it one quick blow to the head using a yantok stick.
I really wanted to capture the bat alive, it’s been years since I last saw a live one. It’s always a good sign that your area is still habitable for such creatures, pollution and urban development has not completely destroyed the local environment yet.
Jayred
07/23/2010 at 6:04 pmSCARY. I don’t like bats — plus snakes, crocodiles, frogs, and the whole lot.
You had to drink water straight from the pitcher? Hahaha. Naging comedy bigla ang otherwise horror story. :)
bertN
07/24/2010 at 10:57 amYou probably know this already but let me just tell you you’ve got a good man in your life. Lucky you!
lrn
07/24/2010 at 4:27 pmwhen I was in Okinawa last year, I’ve just finished doing the dishes after dinner and was about to enjoy the rest of the evening, I went back to the kitchen to get some water and the whole floor was filled with little insects, we didnt have an insect sprayer ready so my daughter had to go to the store, the clerk told her that there were bats flying around so the insects had to hide, nag panik ang mga insects dahil sa paniki
Connie Veneracion
07/24/2010 at 4:58 pmOh, my goodness, I don’t know what’s worse. I hate those little insects too and they’ve been swarming since summer (curious, never before this summer). So, it’s bat related?
lrn
07/24/2010 at 9:21 pmi guess so, since sila yong dinner ng bat, weird ngayon ang mga animals dahil siguro sa global warming, nafefeel din nila yong pag rise n fall ng temperature, lalo na pag yong source of food nila ay nawawala due to climate change, dito sa SF, nangyari yan biglang nangawala yong mga sea lions na main attraction sa wharf kasi nawala yong small fishes na pagkain nila
Trosp
07/24/2010 at 9:48 pmSomething to lighten up the day. Let’s pretend that a vampire and a ghost are the same (I’ve read this one from askmendotcom) –
Close Encounters (By Ryan murphy)
A professor at the University of Texas was giving a lecture on the supernatural. To get a feel of his audience, he asks: “How many of you people believe in ghosts?’
About 90 students raised their hands.
“Well that’s a good start. Out of those of you who believe in ghosts, do any of you think you’ve seen a ghost?” he asks.
About 40 students raised their hands.
“That’s really good.” The professor says: “I’m rally glad you take this seriously. has anyone here ever talked to a ghost?”
About 15 students raised their hands.
“Has anyone here ever touched a ghost?” he asks.
Three students raised their hands.
“That’s fantastic.” he responds. “Now let me ask you one more question. Has any of you ever made love to a ghost?’
Way in the back, raises his hand.
The professor takes off his eyeglasses, and says: “Son, in all the years I’ve been giving this lecture, no one has ever claimed to have made love to aghost. You need to come up here and tell us your experience.”
The big rednecknods his headand walks to the podium.
“So tell us what it’s like to have sex with a ghost,” the professor says.
“Ghost?” Bubba replies. “From way back there I thought you said “goats””.
Connie Veneracion
07/26/2010 at 10:27 amOh my… Shit! Sicko! HAHAHAHAHAHA
esther
07/29/2010 at 4:09 pmThat is HUGE! About 3x bigger than the ones I’m used to seeing.
Connie Veneracion
07/30/2010 at 1:46 pmYep, that’s why i panicked hehehehe
Nikita
07/25/2010 at 9:34 pmGrabe Connie; talagang ang galing mong sumulat – feel na feel ko lahat ng pinagdaanan nyo. Pati mukha ni Speedy, naiimagine ko (and I agree with everyone else who wrote that he was really sweet too) and parang naririnig ko ang lakas ng tili mo. Lalo pa sigurong nagising ang mundo if the two girls were home.
And yes, I was expecting to see a picture of the vampire. :-D
Connie Veneracion
07/26/2010 at 10:26 amTeka, may pic. Speedy just sent it to me.
If the girls were home at the time, someone might have sent the security guard over hahahaha
Nikita
07/28/2010 at 11:49 pmthe eyes of your cat scared me first; wouldn’t have found the bat without the arrow.
Connie Veneracion
07/30/2010 at 1:47 pmSaka nga mas maganda rsolution, kaya lang madilim eh.
malou
07/26/2010 at 10:24 pmi remember when we were still in the phils…way, way back. my brother found a dead bat outside our house, and being naughty, he pinned the dead bat on our door. just nice at eye level. guess who screamed when he knocked in the middle of the night and when i opened the porch like, viola! a bat staring right at him… ayan kasi, tanggal tuloy pagkalasing ng asawa ko. hehehe….
Joy
07/31/2010 at 2:29 pmGood thing your cats were chasing the bat away from your house..
Two years ago, our cat was bringing baby bats inside our dirty kitchen and our laundry area!! Definitely not as big as the one inside your house :) Our cat seems to have their “nest” because almost everyday for a week he would have a new baby bat to play with even if our house boy has disposed of the previous bat. Haay!
alexis
11/02/2012 at 7:32 amomg.did you ever catch it,i bet it was a vampire!
Connie Veneracion
11/02/2012 at 2:42 pmWhoa, we didn’t even try to catch it. That’s scary hahaha We just waited for it to find its way out through the windows.
alexis
11/03/2012 at 7:03 amdo you think it was a real vampire?
Connie Veneracion
11/04/2012 at 3:06 amNo, of course, we didn’t. It wasn’t. :D