My Very Own Spooky Tale...

I have this feeling that the most defining moment of my adventures on the blogosphere for this week has to be Ah 9's recounts of his supernatural encounters. Read it yesterday, I did not sleep well.

The truth is, I'm afraid of ghostly stories and films. I used to be a sucker for it until one refining moment. I was watching "The Ring" during the midnight slot with my best friend, M. There was a point in the movie when Sadako, the spook, zoomed to the female lead and in a split second, combined with the spontanous sound effect, grabbed the lead's arm with her hand(black-rotten finger nails and all). That very instant, M choose to grab my arm with her reflexed action. How fast her reaction time was! Both hands(Sadako and hers) seem to found their respective targets at the same exact instance. My heart jumped up my throat, hit the nasal roof and dropped back to where it is right now. I was lucky that it did not flew out of my mouth. Since then, I am extremely terrified of ghost and scary movies.

Anyway, talking about Ah 9's recount, I have my share of spooky tales to tell. It happened while I was serving my NS, in the army(Yes, Singaporean males are very un-creative, their spooky tales are always from their army stints). Rumour has it that, there is a female spirit on one end of this particular 2-storeyed bunk. And that explains why, on very hot days, it would be steaming hot anywhere else but the rooms on that particular end, which are always cool.

Anyway, there are only 2 rooms on that end of the building, the trainee's bunk on the 2nd floor and the duty personnel's resting room on the 1st floor. While on overnight duties, we are expected to sleep in the room on the 1st floor.

Twice a month, I would perform my duties. It was a few months after I started that I realise something wasn't exactly right and I dug out these facts. I have a habit of checking out the time before I sleep. So what happened was that, I would fall asleep. And subsequently, at every one hour mark, I would wake up. Firstly, it was the accuracy of the timing, exactly one hour interval. This kinda stuff never happens to me, I would never wake up more than twice a night. Secondly, it was the manner with which I would wake up. I would be unconscious and suddenly, eyes would open up and alert. Its the kind of waking up that results from a nudging by a 3rd-party, except I did not "physically" feel the nudge. After which, I would just resume sleep and the cycle would repeat for at least 3 or 4 times a night. Maybe she was just lonely and just trying to get some attention.

The finale came one day. I woke up, courtesy of the same event, and I decided to go upstairs to check up on the trainees. Now, there was only one staircase up to the second floor and its a pretty small building. I did not spend more than 5 minutes up there. I just went up, walked past all of the rooms, peeped into them, and seeing nothing amiss, I came down. Moment I returned to the first floor, I kinda saw a figure. Lady-liked and yes... the uniformed white in my room.

I did not know why I felt no fear. I carried on walking towards my room, slowly pushed the door open and looked in. I saw no one. I sat on my bed intending to continue sleeping and I realise, that my blanket was folded nicely and placed under my pillow. I NEVER do up my bed at night, especially not when I intend to resume sleep in ten minutes time. Anyway, I murmured a word of "Thanks" and I carried on sleeping, to no further disturbances for the night.

The mystery was... why did I not feel afraid? I attributed it to the fact that I kinda knew "she" was around and after so many months, nothing actually happened to me, so she couldn't be malicious. I also got to know that the waking up at regular interval symptom happens to quite a few other personnel. And here comes the best part, certain personnel who seems "alright" would have no trouble with that room. Some personnel with "not-so-attractive personality"(eg. Chao Ah Bengs or annoying buggers) tend to avoid that room after their first night. One of them was so freaked out that he went upstairs with a mattress and slept in the trainees' bunk. So to what happened to them, I still do not know.

My tolerance for such supernatural encounters aien't like before. To sleep in that particular room for one more night? Not for all the babes on Mohd Sultan Rd on a Monday night...