Who was watching me from the terrace titled story is from my friend Rashmi Niroula, her own unusual experience in hr life has been posted here in my blog. Here she goes:
Hello friends
Once again, I have come before you with a paranormal experience—one that I personally saw, felt, and still cannot completely explain.
I have experienced strange things since I was very young. There were moments when I felt the presence of people who were no longer alive. After my beloved Kanchi Kaki passed away, I sometimes felt as though she came to me at night while I was sleeping. It felt as if she were calling my name.
Something similar happened when my cousin, my phupu’s son, passed away. Even after his death, I experienced strange sensations that made me feel as though he was somehow still around me.
But perhaps the strangest experience happened much later, when I was preparing for my Master’s studies.
Almost every night, around midnight, I would hear what seemed like someone calling my name.
At first, I ignored it.
I told myself that perhaps I was tired, stressed, or imagining things. But it kept happening.
Night after night.
Around the same time.
A voice would seem to call my name from somewhere nearby.
Eventually, the experience became so frequent and disturbing that I had to call my mother from Biratnagar to stay with me.
Perhaps because of those experiences, I had become familiar with the feeling of fear.
But what happened on this particular Friday was different.
Very different.
At that time, my mother-in-law and I lived separately. She lived in a flat above her office in Banasthali, while my husband and I lived in our small flat in Kharibot.
It had been quite a while since I had visited my mother-in-law.
That Friday, my office was closing earlier than usual. Since I had some free time in the afternoon, I decided to visit her.
I had no idea that this ordinary decision would lead me into one of the strangest experiences of my life.
It was around three o’clock in the afternoon.
It had been raining earlier, and the sky had just begun to clear. The air still felt damp, and the streets carried that quiet, washed-out feeling that comes after rain.
I was walking toward my mother-in-law’s office, lost in my own thoughts.
Everything seemed completely normal.
Until suddenly…
My eyes were drawn toward the rooftop of the building where her office was located.
I stopped for a moment.
There, standing behind the terrace railing, was a woman.
She appeared to be wearing a white sari.
Her hair looked grey or brownish, and she seemed to be standing at the edge of the terrace, looking downward.
Toward the street.
Toward me.
At first, I wasn’t frightened.
In fact, I immediately assumed it was my mother-in-law.
Perhaps she had gone upstairs for some reason and had noticed me approaching.
So I smiled and waved my hand.
“Ma!”
But she didn’t respond.
I waved again.
Nothing.
The woman remained completely still.
I remember thinking, Why is she standing there like that?
Maybe she was upset about something.
Maybe she was lost in thought.
Perhaps something had happened at the office.
I continued walking.
And strangely, the closer I got, the clearer the woman became.
I could still see the white sari.
I could still see the greyish hair.
I could still see her standing behind the railing.
But there was something deeply unsettling about her.
Her face wasn’t clear.
No matter how carefully I looked, I couldn’t make out her features properly.
I called out again.
waved.
Still no response.
The woman didn’t move.
She simply stood there, silently looking downward.
By then, I was getting closer to the office.
I remember thinking, Why isn’t she answering me?
Finally, I reached the entrance.
I opened the gate and walked inside.
And then everything changed.
My mother-in-law was there.
Downstairs.
She was sitting in one of the rooms with one of her students.
I froze.
For a few seconds, I simply stared at her.
Then I said something like,
“Ma… how did you come downstairs so quickly?”
She looked at me, confused.
I continued,
“I saw you upstairs. I waved at you several times. Why didn’t you respond?”
She looked even more confused.
Then she said,
“What are you talking about? I’ve been here the whole time.”
Those words sent a chill through me.
I’ve been here the whole time.
I suddenly remembered the woman on the terrace.
The white sari.
The grey hair.
The motionless figure.
My heart began pounding.
If my mother-in-law had been downstairs the entire time…
Then who had I seen upstairs?
A terrible thought crossed my mind.
Could it have been a thief?
Perhaps someone had climbed onto the terrace.
Perhaps they were hiding upstairs.
I quickly told my mother-in-law what I had seen.
She became concerned too.
Without wasting time, we decided to go upstairs together.
We hurried toward the terrace.
I was expecting to find someone.
A person hiding behind a door.
Someone who had entered the building illegally.
Anything.
But when we reached the upper floor…
There was nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
The doors were closed.
And the terrace door was locked.
There was no sign that anyone had entered.
No footsteps.
No movement.
No person.
Nothing.
We checked everything.
The terrace was empty.
The woman I had seen only minutes earlier had simply…
disappeared.
But how?
I stood there, trying desperately to make sense of what had happened.
I had seen her.
I wasn’t looking at a vague shape from far away.
I had watched her while walking toward the building.
I had waved to her.
I had even spoken to her.
And the closer I got, the more clearly I could see the figure.
Yet when I reached the building, my mother-in-law was downstairs.
The terrace was locked.
And there was no one there.
Even today, I sometimes ask myself:
What exactly did I see that afternoon?
Was it a shadow?
Was it a reflection created by the strange afternoon light after the rain?
Was my mind playing a trick on me?
Was it simply an illusion?
Or…
Was there actually someone standing on that terrace?
Someone who was never supposed to be there?
I don’t know.
Perhaps there is a perfectly ordinary explanation that I have never discovered.
But there is one detail I cannot forget.
The woman was wearing white.
Her greyish hair was clearly visible.
And although I could see her standing there…
I could never clearly see her face.
Sometimes, when I think back to that afternoon, I remember how ordinary everything had seemed.
A rainy Friday.
Three in the afternoon.
A visit to my mother-in-law.
Nothing unusual.
Nothing frightening.
Until I looked up.
And saw a woman standing silently behind a locked terrace.
I have experienced strange things before.
I have heard voices.
I have felt the presence of people who had already passed away.
But this experience was different.
Because this time…
I saw someone with my own eyes.
And the most frightening part?
I still don’t know who—or what—that woman was.
Perhaps she was nothing more than a shadow.
Perhaps she was an illusion created by light, rain, and an overactive imagination.
Or perhaps…
for a few brief moments that afternoon…
someone from somewhere else was standing on that terrace, watching the world below.
And perhaps I was simply the one person who happened to look up.
Translation in Nepali Language:
