doppelganger?

In literature, a doppelganger (“double walker”) is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of bilocation. I haven’t personally encountered anything like this, or even heard the word before in my life, until it actually happened to me! Eerie!

It was in November 2004 when I was still a classroom teacher. I filed for a whole day leave from work because I had to enroll in UP for my graduate classes for the second sem (Anyone who has ever studied in UP knows that enrollment takes one whole day, even more! Even with CRS and all!) I was already in the Benitez theater at around 4pm, waiting for my assessment, when a fellow teacher texted me something like “Nades, andito ka ba daw sa school ngayon?” To which I replied something like “No, why?” Then she said something that sent me shivers… at least three of my fellow teachers claimed to have seen me in school that day! I asked her to quit kidding, but she said she was also just as surprised.

The following day, when I reported back to work, my fellow teachers hugged me, and told me all about their experiences. The first one “allegedly” saw me at around 7:30 am (the time I usually come in) sitting on my desk looking at my reminders tacked to my divider. The second “sighting" was at past 12 noon, when almost all the teachers had gone down to the auditorium for a seminar. This teacher claimed that I walked past him and even “said” something like “Lika na, baba na tayo,” but cannot be sure what happened next because he said he merely replied “ok” without even looking up from what he was doing. The third one claimed she saw me in the seminar.

While I was listening to them, it sounded too fantastic, but they could almost swear that it really was me. Nothing bad actually happened, unlike in the literature that states that doppelgangers are premonitions of death or harbingers of bad luck. But what other explanation can there be? One teacher said that it was probably because I was so used to my routine for the past five months that when I took just one day off, my “spirit” did not “realize” that my body was not there but continued to linger in my regular work area! It seemed logical, but nevertheless eerie. They even kidded me to submit my experience to Nginiiig Files, and get paid for the story.

After that experience, I have made it a habit to inform all my officemates if ever I am taking a leave for a particular day. This may be a useful tip for everybody too, so that nobody will “think they saw you that day.” Awoooo!!