"that thing scared the shit out of me..."

i woke up startled..

and stared at the dark ceiling.. wondering why i was awake..

i tried to go back to sleep.. my eyes could not shut tight..

i did not have the guts to shake my cousin who was sound asleep..

again and again i tried to go back to sleep..

i began to feel uneasy..

heard sounds of dogs howling outside the house..

scary thoughts crept into my mind..

then i heard something..

was it the sound of someone breathing??

it was so dim at first, i tried to ignore it..

still..i could not stop my ears from hearing things which

i was not so keen to listen..

it kept getting closer..

the noise was coming from the first floor..

i was quite sure now..

it was the sound of someone, panting for air..

"hhsshh..hsssh..hisssshh.."

i could imagine someone was coming up the stairways..

step by step.." hissshh..hssshh.."

i was struck numb...

i could not think of what to do..

i stared at the door of my room..

looking at the strip of light from outside the corridor..

waiting and waiting for something, someone..

i hid under covers..

shivering and sweating..

covering both of my ears with my hands..

"this is not the night for a ghostly encounter..

no, no...not tonight..

this is not even my house!"

memories of ghost stories and horror movies

crawled into my thoughts..

"how does it look like..

long messy hair and white robes?

severed head with blood dripping from the veins?"

my younger cousin once saw a 'pontianak'

outside this house, lingered around the mango tree

aunt planted years ago..

"damn" i thought..

i shut my eyes tight..

trying to get rid of those thoughts..

yet, the sound kept giving me goosebumps..

the sound kept getting louder... closer... with every breath i took..

it was coming towards my door..

again, i looked at the strip of light..

still no sign of legs or anything..

"this is going to be it.."

i reached for my cousin,

but i could not find her..

i waited...nothing happened..

at last, i fell asleep..

next day, everybody asked me

why i looked so pale..

like i have seen a ghost..

i started to open up and tell them..

from the beginning to the part where i nearly

wet my bed, scared shitless..

they asked me "what was the sound like?"

and i imitated it "hisssh .. hsssshh.."

enthused by the adrenaline in my blood,

the story was quite impressive and believable to my audience..

suddenly my aunt spoke..

"are you sure it was coming from downstairs?"

of course i was sure..

it scared the hell out of me last night..

"try to make that sound again..."

"hissh...hsssuush..hsssshhh"

my uncle descend the stairs and joined us..

my aunt laughed whole-heartedly..

"pa, nurul was scared of your loud snoring..."

everybody in the room laughed..

i kept quiet..

besides feeling embarrassed of last night's incident,

i was relieved..

at least i have not seen any ghost, yet....

THANK GOD!!!!!:)