Chapter Six.....Ghosts?
Eerie sound.
Creepy music.
Creepy hostel, dead leaves all wondering on the garden floor beside the pathway to the hostel.
Coming closer and closer!
The gates,opening slowly.
In an empty storey...
..the most magnificent room and beautiful bedroom was revealed.
"Wow! I want this room please!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I mean what's wrong with it?"
"It's..it's..," the lady debated herself on whether she should tell the reason why,"never mind. Enjoy your stay! Here's the key."
Before the lady went off, she lightly whispered, "I hope you don't believe in ghosts.." It was so light, the 16-year-old teenager could barely hear it. She shrugs it off. She probably heard it wrongly anyways. Besides, she does not believe in ghost.
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
The 16-year-old teenager starts to unpack her stuffs and belongings.
Three whole days she enjoyed her stay in that new room.
It was the most magnificent room in the hostel.How could one not want it? It was huge and lovely. The silks were a delicate pink. The carpet was a bright red. The mattress was a beautiful soft white colour. The dressing table was a light mahogany colour and neatly, intricately designed.Everything about that room was lovely!
Suddenly, a small light chuckle of a little girl came out of nowhere. The teenager sensed a presence behind her, "enjoying it here?" The voice whispered,giggling.
Shocked, she turned around to confirm the existence of what's behind her. Nothing! She shrugged it off. She was probably just hearing things. Everything went normal again.
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
One day, she was sitting at her bedroom enjoying the view of the room. Suddenly with one passing blink, the whole room was instantly filled with red spilling blood and dead bodies lying everywhere. She gaped and closed her eyes as she rubbed it, then re-opened her hazel brown eyes again. Nothing!
What's wrong with me? Why am I seeing things?
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
Some other day, she was with her friends who were sleeping over in her room. Laughing and giggling as they were enjoying themselves chit-chatting above the bed altogether, all of a sudden the room was locked by an unknown source. A small cute girl with short blond curly hair appeared at the other end, near the door of the room. She had light blue eyes, beautiful pale skin,and a creepy smile plastered across her face. Blood was spilled all over her sleeping dress. She held a small knife hidden behind her small body.
"Isn't this wonderful? We have visitors!" She said cheerfully. The room was filled with red blood again, this time thicker like a pool on the once beautiful carpeted floor.Dead bodies were coming into view again: above the closet below the bed, all scattered around the floor, behind the door and much more.
Ear-piercing scream.
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
"Aww, why didn't you bring me more visitors?" The same little girl again who sounded sad and disappointed at the almost empty room filled by none other than the owner herself, the little girl and furniture.
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT ROOM WAS HUNTED?!" The teenager held both her hands on the collar of the neat uniform of the lady from before who earlier gave her the keys.
"HOW WOULD I KNOW, IT WAS JUST A MYTH FROM 500 YEARS AGO!"
Creepy music and a loud rhythmic heartbeat.
Black screen.
All of a sudden, the scream of the little girl: "Bring me more visitors, or you would be of no use to me anymore!!"
Creepy music ending.
Words in bold plastered in the middle of the screen:
The abandoned hostel room.
coming soon...
Sakinah: "I have got to get my hands on that DVD!"
***
(Sakinah's P.O.V)
'The abandoned hostel room movie is out! I have got to watch it no matter what. I remembered how when the trailer first came out. It had caught my attention right away. The film looks very interesting. I do not necessarily believe in ghost- actually I do not believe in it at all- but who cares? I was watching it either way. As far as I'm concerned, this was the first time that I have been really anticipated to watch a scary movie.
My two best friends, Layla and Raudhah are coming by my house this night to watch it at my house. Somehow, Layla had gotten her hands on that DVD. Raudhah will bring along some popcorn and some other small snacks along for us. My job was just to get the place ready and some drinks. Today was Saturday. We planned on watching it at night at around maybe seven P.M when everything would be dark outside.We will also be switching off the lights to make it look as scary as possible.
The movie trailer keeps on hunting my thoughts, it has been for the last whole week. 'The Abandoned hostel room'. It keeps on replaying my mind and I just could not get it out! I wondered what would happen to that girl who had just just moved in. Would she die? Who was that little girl from before, and why was she hiding a knife behind her? I gulped. Something about the word 'abandoned' that strike my heart since the first time I heard of the title. They used a very good word to attract many viewers.
I do not usually like watching scary movies. Firstly, because like I said I do not really believe in ghosts to begin with. The other was because most scary movies are just too cheesy for me and plain lame. While people would be shouting over the tiniest detail, I would be there laughing my heads off. Like a puppet ghost, seriously? Even if it does strangle you, you would not feel a thing because it was made up of cotton bud; it's way too soft and cuddly. Other times I would just fall asleep because the ghost took too long to appear and it bored me to death with the long boring dialogs.
I was deep in thought when suddenly a pillow hit my head hard, "get back to reality Sleeping Ugly!"
I was so pissed at my ten-year-old brother, Zaki. I was thinking hard about whether the girl in the movie would die and how it would have felt to be in her position- I was already the same age as her- if only the ghost were to chase after my life when suddenly that pillow hit me. For a moment, I had thought that the ghost was truly chasing after my life and that her 'force' or something of that sort had hit my head.
"Come here you brat!" I chased after Zaki, prepared to teach him a lesson.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Zaki began to panic, running away from me, "I called your name so many times you did not answer me. I just thought you were dead or something!"
Zaki was giving excuses to save himself from getting beaten up by me. Nice try. Although I was not dead like he thought I was, I thought that I did with the heart attack he gave me earlier.
"I was dead, and now I had come back to life because you had disturbed my peace. Now prepare yourself for I am dragging you to the Afterlife with me!"
I decided to keep up the act and scare him a little. It would not hurt. Besides it will teach him a lesson not to mess with me ever again in the future.
"No, no, please..I don't want to die! I am still young, I want to finish school first!" Zaki was really freaked out.
'Yeah right!' I thought. I don't recall him ever loving school from the first time we sent him there.
He assumed from my tone of voice and gestures that I was truly a ghost coming to get him.Haha, what an idiot. It was still so hard for me to catch him though;he was fast on his feet. We ended up running in circles around the dining table as he kept on pulling out the chairs from behind him, making it harder for me to get to him with chairs blocking my way.
"Come on, Zaki. You know this life on earth is only for a short while anyways. It is the afterlife that truly counts!" I finally cornered him in the carpet of our living room.
"Noooo!!!" He shouted.
Suddenly Hakim, my other younger brother who is closer to my age- who is fourteen years old- came to Zaki's rescue. He hit a pillow against my back when I was unaware of his presence. That was very strategic of him. Now I have two brothers fighting against me. Will I stand a chance?
"Return back to your own world, ghost! You are dead, let us living humans roam free!"
I was on the ground with Zaki sitting on my back, pulling on my hair. Meanwhile Hakim was twisting my legs at a painful posture; it hurts like hell. Hakim, being the boy that he is, had always been a fan of wrestling (WWE). His favourite wrestler is John Cena. He memorised a lot of fighting tricks from there and always practices it on me. As if that was not worse as it is, Zaki was Hakim's loyal student, always looking up to him and taking him as an example. Slowly, he picks up the same rude violent way on how to treat me.
I hate him.
But I still refuse to give up, "over my dead body!"
Hakim smirked, "I thought you were dead already?"
"Oh snap, I forgot. I mean yes.. yes I am."
"You are busted,Liar! Now face the consequences of your lies!"
I screamed for mercy as Hakim and Zaki tighten their grip. It hurts so much. I am not a punching bag.I am still human, still inferior to pain. Sometimes I feel that my brothers forget that.
"Enough,enough, please. It hurts," I begged.
"Don't worry sis. Remember what you once taught us yourself before you would hit us:hell hurts more, this are just minor."
Oh no, not the afterlife lecture.
"Aaah, ouch, ouch," I whined from the hurt ,"assistant Aishah, back me up here. I need your help!"
Suddenly came Aishah, descending from the stairs with my big red square Hijab with it's two ends tied around her neck like a super hero. Her long black wavy hair was let loose.
"Aishah to the rescue!"
I finally managed out of both Hakim and Zaki's grip with the help of Aishah. Now we are even- two against two.
"Fight to the death?" Hakim smirked as he offered me.
"Fight to the death." I returned the smirk.
"Prepare to die."
"Bring it on, loser!"
***
(Hakim's P.O.V)
The door bell rang. "I'll get it," shouted Sakinah as she ran across the living room to the door, enthusiastically. She greeted both her friends well.
I and Zaki still laid down half-dead above the carpet from our earlier fight. Sakinah and Aishah had won the battle.
Sorry Boys out there... I have brought shame to the title 'Men'. Not because I was being rude instead of a gentleman for hitting on my sisters; especially Sakinah who was my favourite victim. No it was not that, that is my pride. It was truly because I had lost the fight to a girl. A freaking girl!
I was so disgusted at myself. I looked at both my hands in front of me as I asked myself: how did I let it happen?
Yolk was spilling down my spiky messed up hair. Flour and broken eggs was lying all across the floor and staining parts of the wall.Don't ask me how the fight went. It was like hell broke loose.
In my defend, Sakinah and Aishah cheated when they fought us. They used their long sharp nails to pierce it against our skin. It was painful! Not to mention how they would pull our hair as if trying to pull a plant out of the soil. My body shivered at the reminder of the painful memory.
"Yuck," moaned Sakinah as her right leg fell upon a yolk. She then rubbed it off by sliding it on the dry floor beside her.
"What happened around here?" Layla and Raudhah looked confused and stunned at the huge mess that stood before them.
"Believe me, you don't want to know.." all four of us siblings answered the question.
"Hakim, Zaki, Aisyah...help me clean this house. It is such a mess!" I know that tone Sakinah's using. It's not a kind offer as she projects it to be, it's an order.
All three of us groaned at the same time, all our voices blended into one.
"Why me?" I complained.
"Shut up, I am the elderly here. Besides, you lost the fight. And you know how Mum is if she was to see the state of this house." Sakinah voiced, sounding like the dominant one.
"But..but..." Yes, I know how mum will be. In fact, I know it very well. It will be unpleasant for all of us! This was not our first time- we fought and rumbled numerous times before. What's worse was the punishment that came afterwards. Mum can be as scary as the angel of death, and be very strict. At times, she seems like losing all hope to get us all to settle down like sisters and brothers do instead of fighting and arguing.
That's obviously never going to happen. So far,not a day had passed without one of us bickering at each other over something stupid. It will always be boys versus girls. It's just the way we get along; really, no joke. Fighting is the way we express our love and compassion towards each other. Well, this is a very hectic family to begin with. Don't worry, it's perfectly healthy;I think. We usually made up afterwords, though even then we'll fight again afterwards.
Toyyibah, our youngest sister who is six years of age is the most sane and well behaved apart from us all. She never involves herself with our childish fight. She's always preoccupied withdrawing and colouring or anything of that sort while singing a merry song. Because of that, she was our parents favourite. Not to mention how insanely cute and adorable child she is. We all love her. She was the only one we could all get all get along with without fighting.
"No buts. Aishah, let them do the work. You monitor. Now I am heading to my room with my friends to watch a scary movie."
"Cool, can I watch?" Asked Aisyah sweetly.
"Sorry Aishah, you know I love you, but I have to say no."
"How about me?" I attempted.
"Especially you."
"Me, me, pick me. I want to watch a movie!" Zaki sounded enthusiastically.
"No, all three of you, No.You are all underage. This are just for grown ups like me. Now when when I'm done with the movie, I expect this house to be sparkly clean again."
She and her friends went up the stairs to Sakinah's room and closed the door behind her.
***
I was holding on to the mop while Zaki was wiping the floor with a rag. Even Aishah was helping out by rearranging the furniture at the right order in order to finish up the task faster.
Damn that Sakinah, leaving us with the dirty work.
I can already imagine a tiny animated Sakinah in my head singing in a very high voice: 'Finders keepers, losers sweepers...Na-ni-na-ni-na-na!' singing as she sticks her tongue out; annoying as always.
"Arghh, shut up, shut up! Get out of my head" I screamed as I rolled at the ground pulling on my hair, trying to block out Sakinah's voice from my head.
Zaki and Aishah could not be bothered by me as they were both equally exhausted.
"Hakim, I'm tired! I want to watch the movie..," complained Zaki as he finished wiping the final stain on the wall.
I smirked, "forget the movie, I've got a better idea."
Zaki and Aishah looked at me expectantly. My smile only grew wider.
***
(Sakinah's P.O.V)
It seems like every five minutes passed with a scream as Me, Layla and Raudhah watched the movie together while eating popcorn. I have to say- although I don't really believe in ghosts- that this was the first and only movie that was able to scare the crap out of me. At times, I had to look away from the screen as the creepy music starts to play, signaling something scary about to appear.
It was the moment where the little girl was killing a few visitors with delight that I had to look away. It was too violent. I swear, I had never been so scared of little girls before. But after this movie, I'll probably be more conscious of any little girls coming anywhere near me; especially the cute adorable ones.
As I was looking away, I sneaked a peek at my two friends. Layla was hugging on the pillow so hard as if seeking for closure. Her long deadly straight black hair was let loose behind her, flowing down her waist beautifully and elegantly. Raudhah on the other hand was forcing way to much popcorn into her mouth as if trying to calm herself down from her fear; it was hilarious. That did not even help her one bit as her hands continued to tremble and her face was showcasing her fear and anxiety.
"Run,run you damn it!" Raudhah shouted at the Plasma Tv screen where it showed a girl running away in the forest from the little girl, who was also known as the ghost, as it tried to kill her.
I broke into a smile, holding in my laughter at Raudhah's funny reaction. As terrified as I was of the movie, I could not stop myself from peeking my eyes out of my hands to observe what was progressing in the movie; I was to curious with the music and the dialogs playing into my ears.
"Faster, faster!" Even I was beginning to get involved with the movie as I start to shout along with Raudhah at the TV as if it would make any difference to the plot. The Girl was almost there out in the open, if she could make it there, then the ghost won't be able to kill her and she would be safe.
"Yes, yes..only five more steps, you can do it!" I and my friends were now holding hands as we prayed silently.
We heave a sigh of relief as The Girl made it with just one step left.
"Aaaaah!" We suddenly shouted to the top of our lungs as the girl did not make it as we thought she had. It was so unexpected, the little ghost came and attacked her out of nowhere, dragging The Girl's body backwards and covering her mouth from shouting. The little girl had that creepy innocent smile again. That smile will be forever plastered in my memory.
My heart was beating insanely in anticipation, we all were. As we further look into the movie, we found out that that hostel was originally a very famous hostel in the past from one thousand years ago.That little girl was a princess who had lost her parents, they put her in that hostel with the best decorated room. Every week, parents will come to visit the others, but she had none. As a result, she felt lonely.
For a moment, I pitied the little girl. She lost her parents at a very young age. But I am not in any way testifying her actions. She had, in her past lifetime, used her cuteness factor to drag hundreds of victims into her room day by day where she would kill them brutally then hide their dead bodies everywhere in her room. How could she gained pleasure at doing such gory things? I felt sick to my stomach.
The movie progressed as the teenager wanted to get rid of the little girl when she had the chance. The little girl started weeping saying random stuffs about how everyone had always hated her. Her face looked too cute and innocent to be the evil monster that she was. For a moment, the teenager took that little girl for her age instead of the villain. The teenager pitied her and so she embraced her in a warm hug instead. As they hugged, the little girl gave off that creepy smile again from behind the teenager without her realising it.
Oh Allah, please let this movie be over soon. I have no idea how I would go to sleep this night after watching this.
Oh.My.God. I am now beyond terrified of that little girl. She had no right to 'feel lonely' , she was the one responsible for killing her own two parents! She is nothing but a psycho little girl.
The movie ended with the teenager burning a necklace that she found with the help of some other 'lost souls' or something that the little girl had once killed. In order for their souls to rest in peace, that necklace had to be destroyed. It was the only remains of that little girl which allows her evil soul to continue living until now.
I switched off the TV as the movie ended, "I am never watching another scary movie again!" I exclaimed.
Raudhah and Layla just laughed at my statement. "You're right, that movie was terrifying. But I thought you weren't afraid of ghosts?"
"I'm not, only because I don't think they exist! Well whatever, luckily it was just a movie that was made up in the fantasies of someone's minds. We don't have such a thing as ghosts in the real world."
Layla and Raudhah also shrugged the idea away as they had no complains. I went to switched on the lights, but nothing came off. I tried again and again, still nothing. I checked the door, it was locked!
Suddenly, we heard shouts and yelp for help; probably from the first floor. I recognise the voice as my siblings.
"Haha, very funny. Now unlock the door you little idiots!"
The scream for help continued, it made my heart ache and uncomfortable. Their shouts seems a little too real and serious as if they were truly in danger. It slowly faded into a dead silence, which only made me feel worse and more anxious.
"Hakim? ..Aishah?.. Zaki?.." I voiced out from behind the doors so they could hear me.
Nothing! It was a dead creepy silence. It went on for a few more minutes as I keep on calling their names but still got no response.
"What's wrong?" Raudhah asked as she began to creep out.
"I'm not sure. Let's just calm down, the lights will probably come back later on." I was trying to calm them down, or rather me myself from creeping out. I was sick to my stomach, I hoped my siblings are all fine. It was already passed 10 P.M. It was deadly dark with the night and dead lights, I can barely make anything out of it; not even my own hands! A creepy wind blew in from the window, touching our bare hands and necks. It was the creepiest gentle breeze as if someone was watching your every move.
"Sis, help me!" There was a sudden faint cry of my youngest sister, Toyyibah.
"What was that?" Layla whispered.
I began calling for Toyyibah, worry started to flood into me. I knew the moment I heard her cry that this was no longer a joke, that it was a serious matter. There was no response at all. I wondered what could have happened.
"I don't know okay, stop freaking out! You are making me freaked out as well!" I was frustrated at my friends' constant nagging.
"What if they were kidnapped or something? Have you ever heard of child kidnapping?"
"Oh my, that is possible. I just read the news three days ago about that case happening in our country.."Layla add on to Raudhah's point, both voicing out their thoughts aloud about many scary possibilities.
"Will you both shut it? You are not helping me one bit!" I shouted out. There was no need for me to hear that. Now I'm all freaked out. I think I am more worried of my siblings safety rather than my own. Their faces flashed inside my mind. I cannot live with myself if anything happen to them. I think I felt tears streaking out of my eyes. In this darkness, not even my friends could see it. I felt the sisterly instinct growing inside of me. I felt the urge to go search for my siblings, being by their sides, protecting them from any harm. I was the eldest, responsible for the younger ones. I prayed that they were all fine.
"Oh Allah, I trust your protection on them.." I whispered silently.
Me and my friends sat side by side near the door, holding each others' hands tightly, shoulder to shoulder. We stayed quiet under all the darkness, but from the tight grasps of their hands into mine, I can feel them praying as well. I was sitting in between Layla and Raudhah; Layla on my right and Raudhah on my left. In this darkness, I kept hallucinating monsters on my room as I was unable to see them clearly.
The lights went on, but it was a dim orange colour instead of the bright yellow ones.
I immediately got up and went to check on the doors; still locked. A creepy noise of light metals banging into each other was heard. It was like there were tons of them which sounded like bells from all over the place. I went back to my friends at my original position as we all huddled beside each other in fear.
Suddenly there was a note floating on the air from outside the windows. It was written on a dark red ink. I resist the urge to throw up; is that blood I see? I steadied myself and sharpen my eyes to read the message written on it.
So you don't believe in ghosts huh?
A loud mischievous laughter of a middle aged girl was heard; it did not sound anything like my sibling, Aishah.
The note flipped around to the back of the note where another message in a deadly red colour was written:
WELL, I AM COMING TO GET YOU SAKINAH, PREPARE YOURSELF!
The laughter came back once again before completely disappearing.
Deadly silent again.
I got up courageously, signaling my friends along. I can't sit here knowing that my siblings are out there!
Suddenly, the door knob turned violently. All three of us shouted, shocked and in fear. I felt like I was no longer in this world anymore with all this fear and pressure of survival weighing down my shoulders.
The door knob stopped turning and I hesitantly went to turn it, attempting to open it again.
It opened!
I gulped and twist the door knob, only to reveal a zombie that stood before me. I shut the door right at it's face screaming as me and my friends ran to the other end of the door. My hands and body was already trembling. The face of that zombie still stuck on my head; it was a mixture of dark green and black.
Ghosts? Ghosts?! They're not suppose to exist! I debated with myself. What in the world is happening right now? Is the ghost really coming to get me? I gulped.
Again the thought of my siblings came to my mind. I can't just stand here. I gathered bits of courage that was left inside me as I rush to the door to go search for them. The Zombie was not there to greet me. I searched further, there he is.
I ran and jumped over him as he fell, "look, I don't care who you are or what you want. JUST GIVE ME BACK MY SIBLINGS!!" Streaks of tears was in my eyes, but my look remained firm. My hands were still trembling as I was holding on to the Zombie's collar...wait the minute, A COLLAR?!
A goblin turn it's back to face where the loud noise came from. "Hakim..," he said turning around but his eyes caught me instead,"oh, hey there Sakinah."
I turned my head to face him instead of the Zombie beneath me with a blank expression. The Goblin covered it's mouth as it slipped, then reopened it again, "I mean, BOOOOO!! BeWaRe, I aM aGoBliN!!"
Two words: Epic. Failure.
It doesn't even sounded like what a goblin would sound.
I got myself up from the Zombie to take a better look at him. He still had the same face on with a messy black hair, a black T-shirt and a dark knee length pants. Hakim?!?
Layla and Raudah catch up to me, "Sakinah, are you okay?...Wow, what happened in here?"
All those time...all those wasted fear...THEY PLANNED THIS ALL ALONG?!
My body was blazing fury as I bit my lips. I grab the closest object to me- which was a stray T-shirt in the room- and I threw it directly at Hakim. "It was this stupid kid all along, there was never a ghost to begin with" I said, disgusted.
Realisation and amusement flooded on their faces as they began laughing hysterically.
I was not the least amused, "Hakim you've got a lot of explaining to do!"
Before I knew it, my body was crushed with Hakim hugging me. He was the same size as me despite our two years difference.
"Thank you...you really do care about us.."he whispered into my ear sincerely.
I was bewildered by the sudden hug. It was so unexpected of Hakim, my evil sibling. What was he talking about? I recalled what I said earlier than realisation flooded into me.
'I don't care who you are or what you want. Just give me back my siblings!'
I relaxed into the hug as a stray tear fell down my cheeks. He cared that I care about him! "Of course, you are my brother. How can I not love you?"
"Aww..." both Raudhah and Layla was touched by us.
I released the hug and we both smiled sincerely at each other.
"Where's Aishah and Toyyibah?" I asked. Hakim shrugged.
We all went down the stairs towards the living room to search for them.
All of a sudden, a girl with long white hair and white dress jumped into view. Although I saw it coming, I shout anyways out of shock. It was Aishah. She had white powder on her hair.
I felt my left feet very heavy, I turned my head to look down at it. It was a smaller mini-ghost of Aishah hugging on my legs."Boo!" It shouted a cute shout; it was Toyyibah.
"Hi there sis!" Toyyibah got up and hug my legs as she was too short. I bent down and carried her on my arms.
"I can't believe you would follow along with their dirty plans to scare me!" I imitated a high childish voice as I kissed her right cheek.
"I was bored and they offered me candy if I do it. Sorry if I scare you sis, I did not mean it."
"Aww, of course I would forgive you. You are my cute-little sis!" I hugged her tighter before releasing her on her two feet.
***
We spent the next ten minutes talking about our earlier experience amongst ourselves, laughing.
"I have to give you props, you all did great scarring us."
"Yeah sis, if only you look at your face at that time!" He began giggling as he recalled the memory.
I gave him a plain boring look, "Yeah, yeah..I get it, it was hilarious, whatever. I was only that scared because you came at the wrong moment, after I was watching that scary movie. Who's idea was it anyway?"
All hands pointed at Hakim. Hakim smirked a kingly smirk, "it was I, the master behind all this.." He bowed down after mimicking a kingly voice. I rolled my eyes at him; he's always so proud ofhis achievements to attack me. And this was another success for him.
I found out they were all doing this because I had not allowed them to watch the movie with me. I did not regret not allowing them to watch that movie; it was too scary and violent for their age to watch it- even I was scared out of my wits!
I told Hakim to spill all his tricks, his eyes glistened as he began explaining one by one of his tricks behind the act. I told them how I was specially scared with the laughter of a middle aged ghost that did not sound anything like any one of them. They looked at me confused. I add on about the note with the dark red ink and asked them what ink they used, like was it Faber-Castel or something?
"Uhh, sis, what are you talking about? There was never a note. None of us did that." All of my siblings looked at me blankly, confused.
There was a long silence. I was waiting for one of them to break into laughter and say 'just kidding, it was me' or something. But everyone remained silent and looked at me blankly as if I was talking alien. It's like they were waiting for me to say the 'I'm kidding' line instead.
Seeing that nothing had progressed in this silence, I broke into an awkward laughter. "Came on bro, sis..it must be either of you. It was so funny, now fess up already!"
Aishah and Hakim turned to look at each other. "Was it you?" they both asked each other spontaneously at the same time.
"Nope, definately not me. Sorry Sis." They answered in one voice again.
"What? So you did not use a thin string, a paper, and a red marker or something?"
They remained silent.
"And..and y-you did not went to the rooftop to throw it down or something?" I insisted on their response, silently praying that this was all a sick joke.
"That's a really good idea Sis, but we would not go that far. Especially at this time of night."
I felt my hair rising, then what was it? I definitely saw what I saw and heard what I heard! Was it a...a..ghost? I gulped, there was just no way. I still insist that they don't exist. There must be a reasonable scientific explanation out there.
Looking at the time- 11.10 P.M- I decided to just call it a day and told them to just forget anything that happened. Besides, it was about time for Raudhah and Layla to go home already.
Suddenly the front door banged loudly. We all jumped in shock and huddled closed to each other. Could this be it, the g-ghost f-from earlier? I thought as I gulped. After 2 whole minutes it stopped banging.
"S-sis..how about you check that door out?"
"W-what, w-w-why me?!" I whined.
"Because you are our loving sis who would protect us from harm?"
Snap. I fell right into Hakim's dirty trap. How am I going to respond to that? Didn't I say that they meant they world to me?
I gulped.
Goodbye, Life. At least I would die for a good cause.
I took one reluctant step forwards. Made it, one more step Sakinah.
Life: Hmph, your life had no meaning to begin with!
The voice inside of me sounded as I made to the next step. Why does no one seems to be able to support me no matter what. Not my fate, not my luck, not Satan when I decided to be his ally for once, and now, not even my life!
There were whistles and cheers from behind me.
"You go Sis, no ghost will dare to mess with you!"
"Yeah Sis!"
"Yeah Sis, your'e our hero"
"You can do it Sakinah, just thirteen more long steps..We believe in you!" Cheered both my friends.
All pressure rests on my shoulder. How can I die now knowing my life never had meaning in it yet?
Come on, come on, Sakinah. Don't give up now. Do it for your siblings, for your friends! I encouraged myself.
That's it, one more step and it'll be your third, go for it girl!
Almost there...All of a sudden, I turned my head around. "How about we walk together?" I suggested with high spirits, smiling widely so that they would reconsider the offer instead of rejecting it.
They all fall down to the ground, exasperated.
"In the end, you are just another coward lousy sister huh? The trust, the inspiration af a great sister you were, all for nothing." Zaki shakes his head disapprovingly at me.
My cheeks burnt in embarrassment, "shut up you little devil, I am still young and want to finish school too you know!" I strive to defend my dignity.
Zaki stick out his tongue at me and we began bickering at each other non-stop.
"Yeah right!" He rolled his eyes.
"It's true!"
"No way."
"Yes way!"
"That's enough," Hakim shouted then heaved a sigh, "let's just all go together!"
Agreed!
So there we were, walking together at 11.25 P.M, shoulder to shoulder in this dim light, in our huge bungalow new house. I let you work that out on your mind how weird it looked like. For a moment I felt like being in the movie, like in an adventure..a scary one but still cool non the less. It was an exhilarating feeling. It'll be more fun if I could really be the hero of the day and be able to kill the ghosts in my own hands. That would be interesting. I laughed quietly at the funny weird amusing thought.
All of a sudden-damn, I am getting tired with all this 'suddenly-s' and 'all of a sudden-s'. Enough already!
Hakim-the usual brave one- shouted causing us all to scream and jump, especially since it was coming from him.
"What is it?" I asked him, wide eyed. We all stopped and turned towards him.
He wiggled his shoulders and body in disgust, "a lizard had just passed by!"
Oh yeah, he was brave excluding that. He received a hit from everyone everywhere:his head, his shoulders, his arms, his back, even Toyyibah our youngest sister pinched his right leg in annoyance.
"Ouch, ouch, ouuuch!!"
"Stop fooling around, you wanna die my friend?! How can you be scared of a lizard you coward!"
"Shut up Sakinah, a lizard is terrifying! It's slimy, it's green.."
"Okay,okay..we don't want to keep the ghost waiting now do we?" Raudhah sang in a high awkward voice, tired of us fighting. I concluded that both my friends had come to the conclusion that we siblings fight a lot.
So there we were, walking again. When suddenly two big figure came breaking in from the windows beside us. i jumped but did not scream as I thought that it might be over something stupid, but when my siblings and my friends ran away, I knew instinctively that I had to run too.
After seven long steps, we all daringly turned around as we were curious to what the ghost would look like in real life.
"Wait the minute, that's not a ghost, it's two living humans! A burglar perhaps, no no, that's not it..MUM? DAD?!?"
***
"I cant believe you would break into your own house!"
Layla and Raudhah had went home by now with a good laugh; they laughed like a monster after today non-stop as they walk along the road, their stomachs hurting- so they said in between laughter.
We, as a family, were in the living room chilling down and discussing the incident.
My dad laughed sheepishly, "sorry if we scared you, we did not mean too.."
"We knocked on the door for more than thirty minutes already, but no one answered. So we came into a conclusion that you were all asleep. We had no choice, unless we wanted to sleep in the streets, but to break in through the already opened windows."
That made sense! Oh man, what a night. We talked and talked and laugh here and there. No one knew I still kept this fear and anxiousness inside of me as I hid it well with my smiling face.
I was still anxious about the note incident, that was not fully explained yet.
I tried to shrug it off, not wanting to keep this feeling of fear with me as I go to sleep later.
Maybe it was my parents? Haha, might be.
But it still did not make sense with the message written on it. There was no way they would write such a thing. Besides they did not know how I was with ghosts, we never discussed about it before. It was something personal I kept to myself, but that note read it accurately as if reading my thoughts.
The scene replayed on my mind, the laugh hunting my thoughts. I remember as the card float in the air moving left and right slowly as if it had been thrown by a hidden string as it balanced to stay still again from the force. But my siblings clearly mentioned it wasn't them and there was no strings.
Then what was it?
A g-g-ghost perhaps?!
I felt something tickling my neck.
I giggled, "Stop it, it's tickly!"
Everyone turned to look at me, "Oh no Sis, don't move!"
What? I turned around, there was no one behind me that could have possibly did that.
It's t-the ghost, it's the ghost! Some body h-help me!
I felt it crawling on my neck, heading down my back. My body went stiff as rock, my fingers bent and I looked away, not daring to face the reality of it. My heart beating insanely.
I'm going to die, I'm going to die..I DON'T WANT TO DIE!
Suddenly all three of my sibling jumped right at me.
***
Dear Diary,
Date= 13th February 2011
M.O.T.D= 1) Long story short, I hate cockroaches. I think they should just die or at least leave us alone. It's ugly, it's black, it has a big disgusting black round eyes like an alien and six thin creepy little toes. How dare it had the nerve to crawl on my skin?!
2) Today, I had a terrible scare. But it was fun I guess finding out it was fake and a pure trick. We all had a good laugh about that night. All went well. Well, all except...
***
I was thinking about that note incident yet again; I can't help it. I was in my own room by myself on my huge queen bed as I was writing my misfortune of the day on my diary as usual when suddenly, the same laughter replayed.
N-no way, no way. That did not just happen. It's all just in my head. My head is making all the noise see, I'm blocking them out so they can scare me no more..'LALALALA..'
I covered my ears and shut my eyes.
Voice: HAHAHA...still neglecting me I see?!..
My hands shivered.
No it can't be, no...Hakim..Aishah..whoever you are..I beg you to stop it..please!
I let out a faint cry of help, begging IT to stop.
Voice: Stay away from him...Stay away from him...STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"