One night many many moons ago, when the clock on the wall struck half past midnight, when all my children tucked in their bed and the husband was sound asleep, I woke up feeling restless and thirsty at the same time that I decided to come downstairs to have a glass of water and drift back to snoozeland after that.But upon seeing dirty dinner plates and glasses with some pots piling up in the sink area, well what the heck, I decided to give them a wash since I'm already awoke.
It was a silent night. No activities were heard from other houses. The back lane was pitch black. I let the window pane slightly open to let fresh air flow in. I was mentally absorbed doing the dishes when all of a sudden I heard sounds of footstep from distant and immediately dropped everything that I was doing.
It sounded so close until it reached exactly at the back of my house and it stopped there. Quiet. No movements. I started to get that feeling of uneasiness but somehow my mind didn't want me to think anything out of the ordinary so I continued doing the dishes and this time I heard somebody or something shaking the locked grille like it wanted to come inside. It wasn't that loud but when there is silence everywhere you could even heard a pin drop.
That's when I started to get frightened and quickly my mind thought of something bad. What if its a robber or worst still more than one robber? I thought of waking up my husband but since he wasn't feeling well that night and I didn't want to cause ruckus in the house by waking up all the kids, I decided to play brave and face them once and for all. Chewah, beraninya aku!
I didn't give it much thought and with penyapu lidi firm in my right hand, I opened the door with full force and tadaa, .... there was no one in sight! I looked left and right, everything was dark outside. Not even a cat passing by, only the sound of birds chirping occasionally at night. It was a creepy moment ok! It was at this point when suddenly the hair at the back of my neck and my arms stood up.
Oh shit! That's when I realised something supernatural was at work. I quickly slammed the door, threw the penyapu lidi on the floor. Left the unfinished dishes in the sink. Switched the light off. Ran helter skelter to my bedroom upstairs. Covered myself in blanket and recited any quranic verses that came to mind. I was shaking incontrollably not from the air-conditioner that was on but from fear itself!
I had never felt so scared before in my life. Seram-seram sejuk gitu. I used to hear ghostly stories from neighbours about certain time at night at certain row of roads near our place that some people had bumped into before.
The next morning, I woke up as usual and told my husband about the whole episode and he just brushed it off. What a bummer! I had a close call with something not from this living world and he laughed?! He even had the cheek to tell me that I shouldn't basuh pinggan at the witching hour. The kids didn't know about my so-called experience that night and I wanted to maintain it that way.
Whoever or whatever it was that night, I'm glad it didn't want to play peek-a-boo with me. Lesson learnt here; do not wash your dishes at midnight or you might bump into something like I did.
