Written by Ysabella Yao

Everybody has heard of Sonia, Paco Catholic School’s infamous ghost.

Everyone in the school believes that she was a student who was wrongfully raped and then killed by her perpetrator, but no one really knows for certain on where she haunts.

Guards have said that on graveyard shifts, a young girl would be seen walking by the school founder’s bust, but would seemingly disappear when a guard takes a second look. Teachers working late nights, meanwhile, have said they’ve seen a figure standing at the end of the bridge connecting the girls’ and boys’ departments.

But the most common urban legend was that Sonia notoriously haunts the fifth floor of the Blessed Pedro Calungsod Building, even at daytime. Coincidentally, the Grade 6 Girls Department’s classrooms were all conveniently located on the same floor, in the same building.

My classmates would often tell stories of how Sonia makes her presence “most known” at the girls’ CR, which is suspiciously tucked in at the end of the hallway and is separated from the currently used classrooms by vacant club rooms and science laboratories. My general cynicism in the supernatural shrugged this off as an excuse for them to take CR breaks in groups, so I often don’t heed the warning and go alone.

There was one time I went to the CR alone. My footsteps echoed through the bathroom as I scanned for empty cubicles, but saw that each of the five cubicles was vacant. I went into the rightmost cubicle, the one beside the sinks, and did my business. As I looked down, I saw two feet in front of the door, dressed in plain white socks and Mary Jane-style black school shoes. I was puzzled, not merely because I didn’t hear any footsteps right after I came in, but because I wondered why someone would line up at the cubicle I was occupying, when clearly the four other cubicles were vacant. The feet didn’t move from their position, and stayed there

I felt a sudden chill, but I tried to suppress it. “That’s not Sonia”, I tried to reassure myself. I flushed and opened the door to see if a classmate had secretly followed behind to prank me, but as I pushed the door open, no one was there. I realized I was still alone in the 5th Floor Girls’ CR – but maybe someone tried to keep me company.