Bedtime Stories: Part I

Anyone who’s known me long enough is aware of my love for the supernatural, the ghosts, the other world residents.

Don’t get me wrong, these things get me pissing the shit out of my pants, but I still love listening about them.

Throughout the years, I’ve amassed quite a few ghost stories, some famous re-tellings and some personal experiences that usually creeps the fuck out of me more so than the generic “This happened to a friend of a friend”.

I think I’ll share them. Here.

Now.

So pussies, stop reading if you want to sleep tonight.

I’ll start with a personal experience:

Story #1: Genting Apartment

When I was about 11, my dad’s Company was hosting a Family Day up in Genting Highlands.

Now you know the stories about Genting Highlands. That place is littered with restless spirits and demonic presence. One theory is that because it hosts a grand casino, a lot of people would commit suicide when they find themselves faced with some serious gambling debts, and they become our residential "spirits that are stuck in this world", with varying degrees of sinister auras.

Our family lucked out, we had a huge third-floor apartment to ourselves. The layout was a huge living room that led to an open kitchen, and several bedrooms scattered throughout.

Even as a young kid, despite being described as “lively and cheeky”, I still preferred solitary activities and would find any reason to just stay indoors. It was around 12pm and every other member of the family was out doing something Family Day-ish. I, somehow, managed to force my younger sister to stay in the apartment with me.

And this was when I had the unfortunate idea to play “Old Blind Man”. 

It’s like Marco Polo, without the swimming pool/sea, hot babes, nudity and come hither looks when you sneak a peek, as Hollywood depicts it. Well, slightly different, since the Blind Man here is supposed to listen attentively to scuffling sounds and stifled laughter to help search for the other players.

Now that I’m older, I know better than to ever play that game. Just like Hide-and-Seek, people go missing.

These are what I’ve heard from friends about the Hide-and-Seek game:

“I played it with my siblings once, and my brother was the last to be found. When we managed to find him, he was trembling in a corner and his face was pale as a ghost. To this day, he refused to tell us what happened to him, what he saw. Now, he claims that he never remembers any such incident..”

“A kid in my kampung went missing once, while he was playing hide-and-seek with his sister. It got pretty serious, they had a search party led by the Ketua Kampung that lasted for weeks. Months went by and they never could find him. Finally, they accepted that he probably died or could never be found again. On the day of his corpse-less funeral, when everyone was reading the Yaasin, they heard a scream from one of the bedrooms on the second floor of the house. Everyone ran up, and saw the little boy’s older sister screaming hysterically. They soon discovered why. In the room, the lost kid was sitting peacefully on the bed, looking curiously at everyone. He looked immaculate, not a speck of dirt on him, wearing the exact same shirt he wore when he went missing. It was like the whole disappearance never happened. When everything finally quieted down, he said to the room “I didn’t know so many people were playing too!’”

Anyway, back to my original story.

Before we started playing Old Blind Man, I laid out the ground rule:

• 1.     Our play area was confined to the master bedroom. Under no circumstances could either of us enter the adjoining bathroom or the living room.

The purpose of that was to reduce the risk of injury for the “Blind Man”. Very much necessary, since I imagine face-planting a wall is not a pleasant experience.

I lost the coin toss, so I became the “Blind Man”, in which I got a white towel and wrapped it around my eyes.

Now, being a cheater at games, I wrapped it thinly around my eyes so I could see the outline of everything.

I faced the wall and counted to 10 while my sister hid. 

The moment I turned around, I immediately saw her. She was standing in front of the bathroom.

Of course, if I immediately head straight to her, my deception would be obvious. Instead, I started wobbling around the room, pretending to turn left and right occasionally while heading to the general direction of the bathroom. The whole time she stood there immobile, trying to stay quiet to win the game.

The moment I was so near that I could almost touch her, she immediately ran into the bathroom.

Now, this time, rage overtook me (I was a pretty hot-headed kid). Forgetting my own bad sportsmanship, I was enraged by the fact that she broke the rule. Quickly, I tore the towel from my face and ran into the bathroom, screaming;

“HEY I TOLD YOU WE WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO PLAY IN THE B—“

I stopped short when I noticed something crucial.

There was no one in the bathroom.

Except for me, it was empty.

I panicked and started screaming for her, but she didn’t respond. I looked in the cupboard, I looked in the living room and finally found her, giggling behind a monstrously sized couch.

Basically, she cheated too.

We had two more days in the apartment, so the remainder of the days was something I could not possibly forget. It was repeated events of me screaming:

“DON’T GO INTO THE BATHROOM I’M USING IT DON’T GO INTO THE BATHROOM I’M USING IT DON’T GO INTO THE BATHROOM I’M USING IT.” While using the bathroom with the door completely open, because if I had to use that bathroom with the doors closed, seriously…

Fuck.

That.

Shit.

...The end.                                           

Story #2: The Bunk-Bed

This is a popular story, and I’ve heard many variations of it, but this one was how I originally heard it from a friend:

It was the beginning of the semester, and this college girl was assigned to a two-person dorm room. She did not have a roommate yet so she had to sleep alone for the first night.

The room was pretty cramped, and it could fit only two small desks and a bunk bed. She immediately chose the lower bunk.

Being tired from the day’s events, she slept easily enough. She woke up around midnight however, when she heard slight creaking noises. She then noticed that the bed was also moving slightly.

Remembering that she locked the door and thus no one else could possibly be in the room, she slowly opened one of her eyes to find out what’s causing it, all the while being scared to her bones.

She froze in horror when she saw a pair of child’s feet dangling nonchalantly on the upper bunk. She went white from the realization that;

Her room was locked, but…

There was a kid.

On the bed.

Moving his feet back and forth happily.

She was paralysed with fear, unsure of what to do. Finally, she decided the best course of action was to pretend to be asleep still. Maybe the kid won’t do anything to her. Maybe the kid will go away. Maybe she was just having a nightmare. Maybe.

Not a few seconds letter, she heard a sweet, happy voice, saying something in a sing-song manner that only made her blood curdle:

“Hi Kakaaaaak~ I know you’re awaaaaaake~”

...The end.

Story #3: You’re Not the First

This one is quite popular too, and it goes like this;

A group of about 7 college kids was having a sleepover in one of the dorm rooms meant for 4 people. They took down all the mattresses and gathered it in the centre under a huge ceiling fan. Everyone slept huddled together since the space was pretty cramped.

It was late at night when one of them woke up from the sounds of footsteps slowly encircling the makeshift king bed. Her hair immediately stood on ends and she felt uncharacteristically scared. Somehow, instinctively, she just knew it wasn’t human. Her instincts told her not to look up and to pretend to be asleep.

Doing just that, she heard the footsteps slowing down and finally… the thing stopped in its tracks. It stopped for a few seconds before continuing its uniform steps, but not before saying in a low, haunting voice;

“Now four of them are awake.”

Story #4: The Telephone Booth

I heard this as a young girl, and I’ve never heard it being repeated. A friend swore this happened to her cousin:

Malays believe that sunset is the scariest time of the day. It’s when night encroaches into the sun’s territory and minutes later, we are engulfed by the dark.

This is the favourite time of the day for those… things.

Malay parents would call their kids in right before sunset and they’re not allowed to play outside again until about an hour has passed.

Now, this girl, being a rebellious teenager in that phase and all, could not care less about that “superstition”.

She was on the phone, shooting up the telephone bills, flirting with a guy non-stop. Her mom got angry and disconnected the phone, telling her;

“Unless you pay the bills yourself, you’re not allowed to use any phones in my house.”

This happened in the years before cellphones were a common household item. Peeved, she was not having any of that. She grabbed her purse full of coins and headed to the telephone booth just across from her house.

She called him up from the booth, giggling flirtatiously and arranging a future meet-up. She noticed then that someone was right behind her, queue-ing up to use the phone.

Now, being quite a bitch, she decided to continue chatting, completely ignoring the other person, talking about trivial things and feeding her teenage girl fancy.

Raging hormones and all.

All the while, the stranger stood waiting patiently for his turn, not a single word uttered from his mouth.

She kept feeding coins into the phone while the minutes continued to run. The guy continued waiting patiently. Finally, as luck would have it, she dropped one of her coins and bending down to pick it up, she noticed something that sent chills straight down her spine.

The guy had no legs.

She was terrified, almost paralysed, but she remembered one important rule; Never make them aware that you’re aware of what they are. Hands violently trembling, she ended her conversation with the guy in a nervous tone;

“I’ve… got to go now. Someone… is waiting to use the phone.”

Just as she placed the receiver back in its place, the stranger said;

“Young girl… are you really done, or did you just realize... what I actually am?”

...The end.

That’s it for now. Don’t think I’m done though.

This is just Part 1.