From when I was born till when I was 5, we lived in a small cottage. It was built by colonials and was probably 50 years old before I was born, so of course it wasn't a new or beautiful building however, it had the best scenery all year round.

There was a huge meadow behind the house with a forest after it and a huge grass field in front that attracted wild ducks during the raining season because it always got flooded after a heavy rain which made it resemble a huge pond.

I enjoyed sitting at the backyard and looking at the meadow, watching as beautiful butterflies and dragonflies went by. I'd occasionally see some squirrels chasing each other and cute bunnies hopping along. The snakes were colourful but dangerous and they had often come around. I remember clearly one Saturday around midday, everyone else was either cleaning, doing chores and or running errands. As a little child, I had nothing to do so I went out to play alone at the backyard and then I saw it. It was a bright colourful snake and it had curled around itself with its head up staring at me. I didn't know what it was so I just stood still and stared back at it. After a while I went back into the house and called my mom to come see what I had found. We were both surprised to see it by the door I had just come in from. My mom screamed and everything else was complete chaos. I just stood there scared as I watched everyone run around trying to hunt it down. That was my first time learning that snakes were dangerous. I still wonder why the snake never attacked me but instead followed me.

True it was quite dangerous with the poisonous snakes and sometimes creepy insect, but I still liked the place. Their was everything there, we had an almond tree, banana trees, guava trees and I think lemon and orange trees. Their were some people who planted close to the forest and they brought us things like corn and okra after they harvested.

After the first rain of the year, everyone would go out early before the sun came up to pick mushrooms in the grass field. At night the crickets and frogs sang while fireflies danced around. I'd stay up late with my grandma trying to count as many fireflies as I could but the numbers were probably hundreds, but I never knew because I'd get sleepy and give up plus I couldn't count that high. I loved everything about that place besides the snakes.

Sadly development came, more houses were built, the forest was cut down and wild animals which I heard lived in it were chased away. The stream which I wasn't allow to go to because I was too young, was probably drained and sand filled. The beauty of that place was destroyed, never to be seen again. Now, no one would ever believe that that place was once beautiful with so much nature but even now, I always close my eyes and remember the daisies, the dandelions, the vast green grass land, that beautiful summer there. I'll never forget that place because my first memories as a child, began there.

When you first move into a new building as a kid, the last thing you expect are ghosts or spirits or even demons. You don't think about the superstitious and supernatural. As much as people hate to believe in anything paranormal, their isn't any clear proof whether it is real or not. Humans only trust in what they see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. I don't urge anyone to believe in paranormal events, however if you find yourself experiencing such a thing, then do not hesitate to seek help.

If something happens once, it might be your imagination. If it happens twice, it might be a coincidence. If it happens thrice, then your on to something. As an only child of 5 years of age amongst adults, I was looking forward to moving in to a neighbourhood with lots of other kids my age. My family rented a three bedrooms with two full bathrooms semi detached bungalow apartment that was in a small gated compound. We were to have neighbours in the other half of the building. My family and I moved in first then a few months later the neighbours moved in too. Everything was okay, there were trees and gardens in the yard so it felt a bit similar to our old cottage. The fact that the neighbours had kids my age was a huge bonus to the place. It wasn't until later I found out that it wasn't all that fun having them there because, those kids turned out to be super rough, cheating, lying, jerks. I mean they were the worst set of kids I had ever seen in my entire life and innocent quiet me who had zero knowledge on little demons like them, was forced to endure their bullying, take blames for them, and help them keep up their facade of good kids in front of their parents, while I cried to my mom. You'd think that as a child that would be the major problem but no, something much worse was about to start.

About 4 months after we moved in and a month after our neighbours did as well, we experienced the first strange occurrence. One night after everyone had gone to their rooms my grandma and I were saying our goodnights to each other because we shared one bedroom. The lights were out and suddenly we heard something crash into the room from the ceiling. It sounded like someone had thrown a stone and it broke into the roof and went through the ceiling. My grandma rushed to put on the light and we both looked around to see if there was any hole in the ceiling but there was nothing. It was very strange but we went to sleep that night hoping to investigate more in the morning. The next day I went to school like I normally did and when I came back my grandma said she hadn't seen any holes in the ceiling, not in the bedroom or bathroom or in any other room in the house. In fact when we asked my mom and aunt if they heard anything the previous night, they both replied "NO" and were even surprised that something like that ever happened. We brushed it off until I opened my underwear storage bag that afternoon and found a bullet in it. I didn't know what it was at that time but it was shiny and I hadn't put it there so I showed it to my mother. I still remember the chilled shocked look she had on her face when she asked me, "where did you get this?", and it was then she told me what it was. When everyone at home heard this they all tried to make a reasonable explanation for it.

Maybe the sound we heard that night was the bullet crashing into the room, but why didn't we hear any gunshots?

Maybe it was a silent gun, but why didn't we see any holes in the ceiling or walls or even anywhere?

We couldn't come up with anything, but till today I still think that the bullet was a signal of beginning because something crazy and completely unbelievable was about to begin.