In my country, there’d always be vendors selling balloons outside of church after the Sunday masses. They had many different designs like SpongeBob, Elsa, Anna, Spider-Man, and many more that are cute enough to make children beg their parents to buy them one. My parents never bought me one because they said that it was impractical. That really bummed me out as a kid, but now that I’ve grown up, I understand where they’re coming from. I also came to realize that the balloons can get annoying as hell.
My little brother Josh also loves to beg my parents to get him one of those balloons, but just like in my situation, they never gave in. One day, when he came home from Sunday School, he brought one of those balloons home. It was bright red and circular in shape, unlike any of the ones I’ve seen sold by those vendors. Moreover, it noticeably wasn’t full of helium like it should be, as if it were old and had been left alone for days.
“I didn’t know they sold those types of balloons in church,” I said.
“I didn’t buy it, a nun left it for me back in Sunday school!” Josh exclaimed, tugging on the balloon repeatedly, which caused for it to make loud sounds.
“Was it Sister Maria?” I assumed, as Sister Maria was one of the nicest ones there. She was also fond of giving little gifts to the children.
“No, the one wearing black who smiles a lot,” Josh said. “I’ve never seen her before she left the balloon for me by the old convent. She was peeking through the door!”
I narrow my eyes. Our church has a convent right next to it, but one of the buildings hadn’t been used in decades.
“And she didn’t stop you from taking it?”
Josh shook his head, right when mom called for him to go upstairs to take a bath, stopping me from asking more questions. He continued to tug on the balloon as he went up the stairs. It annoyed me at the time, but I soon forgot about it, up until the late hours of the night came.
I had to stay up to study for a test I had the next day, when I started hearing the sound of the balloon being tugged repeatedly again, right outside my room. I waited a few minutes for Josh to stop, but I soon lost my patience.
“Quit it, Josh!” I said. “I’m trying to focus!”
He continued on playing with the balloon, so I opened the door and to my surprise, it was pitch black. I can hear the sound coming from the end of the corridor right in front of his room, and he still hasn’t stopped. I wasn’t able to fight the urge to whisper-scream at him.
“JOSH. QUIT. IT.” I said aggressively.
He abruptly did.
I stared at the corridor for a few seconds and then went back to my room when I was sure he wasn’t going to start again. I had no time to waste if I still wanted a few hours of sleep before having to go to school.
I had to leave early the next day, which is why I wasn’t able to confront Josh about the balloon-tugging situation until dinner time.
“I didn’t do it, you know I’m afraid of the dark!”
“Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that after you’ve been tugging at it all of yesterday afternoon?”
“But I didn’t do it at midnight!”
We both ended up arguing, which was quickly solved by dad making Josh promise not to play with the balloon like that anymore, and having me promise to stop yelling at Josh or else he’d ground me for a month, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to go out with my friends a few weeks from now if I kept at it.
But that night, he still kept tugging on that balloon.
And the night after, and the night after, and the night after, hindering me from getting the sleep that I needed.
That was it. I was sick and tired of him so I barged out my room, ready to get grounded. I went to the side of the staircase, where the light switch was, and flipped it on.
At the end of the hallway, was a nun wearing black, standing right outside of Josh’s room. She slowly turned to me, her grotesque face and hands covered in blood. Her habit was tattered, and she was smiling so widely, her teeth showing as she breathed deeply through her mouth. She was still tugging on the balloon, staring at me while I stood there in shock. She tilted her head a bit, and walked towards me at an even pace, tugging the balloon even more.
I ran back to my room and locked the door. It’s now 3am, and I don’t know what to do. I haven’t left my room since then, and I barricaded my door. The sound of the balloon stopped already since 5 minutes ago, and I can’t hear her breathing anymore. I don’t know what to do. I tried calling my parents, my grandparents, my friends, my neighbors, but not one of them answered my call. What if she went to Josh? What if she killed him? What if she killed my parents?
I don’t have any choice but to leave my room and check if she’s still there, and I don’t know what I’d do if she is.
Pray for me. Please. I’m going out now.