Before I moved to Woodlands, I was staying in a 3-room flat at Ang Mo Kio. I was sharing a room with my mom as my newly-wed elder sister was using the other room. Without fail, and I mean WITHOUT FAIL, my mom will lock the door from inside as soon as she enters the room. I always have to knock the door when I wanted to get in. It was an old flat and we did not make any renovations to it. So you can only lock the door from inside and no key can open the door from the outside as there is no keyhole.

One night, as I was fast asleep, I was awakened. I didn’t know whether any of you have experience this before. But it is not natural for a deep sleeper like me to be awakened in the middle of a quiet night. My eyes opened instantly in the middle of my sleep. At first I saw a person was wearing a white cloth like a bed sheet over him/her/it! I’m not sure because ‘It’ was wearing a ghost-mask. You know the kind of stupid scary rubber-mask that you can get at a specialists’ stores. And the one that people are wearing for Holloween parties to scare people? The first thing came to my mind, was my sister trying to play a trick on me cos in my family, i am the weak one. So I called out her name and told her to stop coz I’m sleepy (no mood to play). ‘It’ then smiled widely and started jumping up and down, coming back and forth towards me. I was still lying and watching ‘It’. By the time I tried to call my sister’s name again, I was unable to move and I panicked. My eyes was wide opened when I was screaming. To me, I had screamed from the bottom of my lungs but my voice was buried within myself. I was crippled. I tried to reach out and pull my mom’s arm, hair but she did not respond. I’m sure it’s real and not some sought of a nightmare. The thing is still jumping and this time, ‘It’ is waving ‘It’s’ hands in the air. I couldn’t breath as if something was sitting on my chest. I then closed my eyes and started praying. I chanted a prayer from the Quran over and over again. I opened my eyes to see whether that thing is still there. And ‘It’ was still standing and smiling to me. I continued my prayer with my eyes closed. I then felt that I clenched my toes. I can move again! So I try to move my hand before I open my eyes.

After a few moments, I can feel that I am holding my mom’s arm. When I opened my eyes, the thing was gone. I saw my mom was sleeping beside me as usual. Without hesitation, I got up (in a cold sweat)to the toilet and wash my face and feet! .. It was a master-bedroom so I don’t have to go out to the kitchen. I gathered my courage to get back to bed. This time, I hugged my mom tightly. I have the chance to glance at the clock. And it shows 3 in the morning.

I woke up at 9am and the incident still fresh in my mind. First thing I did was asking my sister whether she is the one in the room last night trying to scare me (just to be sure). And she said “NO”. I then told the whole story and her face turned pale. But she told me that I deserved it coz I always came home late at night so the thing followed me home. When I asked my mom whether she felt or hear me last night she said “NO”. After telling her what happened, she told me to clean myself up before going to bed and not forgetting to pray to Allah for forgiveness and protection against evil.

From then on, I never fail to do so.