When You Wake Up at 3 AM and Everyone in the Resort is Asleep

Last Saturday we went for a hike in Calamba, Laguna for an overnight swim. We left Manila at 4 pm and got there at 7. Then the dinner picnic started and they all went for a swim after.

But I and my wife slept early at 9.30. We were too tired to swim.

While drooping to sleep in our comfy air-conditioned room, I could faintly hear them shout and laugh at the pool while the rest were siniging loudly on the mezzaniine floor.

Then, silence.

Suddenly, I woke up at 3 am. My stomach was violently convulsing and I had to really use the toilet. But the toilet door had been accidentally locked from the inside. Now, where do I relieve myself, I asked.

I went out to the pool where there were 2 toilets. There was this eerie stillness that bothered me somewhat, especially when just the night before the pool area was filled with cheery noise and laughter, so did the neighborhood pools around.

Now, it was dead quiet.

Was this all just a dream? Or was it the Zombie Apocalypse?

I went into the toilet and relieved myself. The toilet door was made of unclear glass so that if anyone was standing just outside it, you'd see his or her shadow on the glass. 

What if I did see one and asked who it was and got no answer? What if I opened the door and saw a faceless woman in white?

I smiled and remembered: "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world."

I walked out to the pool again and surveyed the deep dark recesses around it and the things that slightly moved in the shadows. Cats! There were two of them, scavenging leftovers. I shooed them off and smiled.

Then I returned to bed and slept.

The next time I woke up it was 5 am. The morning was glorious and my wife and I sipped something hot near the pool and talked softly. Later I went up the mezzanine floor to view the mountain in the background.

Then I went to the toilet a second time (after the hot drink and fresh fruits) and smiled again. It was a nice morning after.