This story is told to me by a friend who frequents there. Have you ever wondered why are there so many rich people in Bukit Timah? The answer may lie in Coronation Plaza. In Coronation Plaza, there is an NTUC and beside it is an POSB ATM machine. At a specific time on a specific day of the week, usually at night with low traffic flow, the machine will gain sentience, providing people with whatever amount of money requested by them even if they don’t have it.

However, there is a catch. It is said that the person withdrawing the money will have to exchange something important to them, with the value of the item proportional to the value withdrawn. No one knows this exchange rate as it is claimed to differ from one person to another. Some people think that it’s divine intervention while others think it’s a Faustian bargain.

This story is about Guy A. According to my friend, he had once withdrawn from that ATM money that were not his and had suffered ever since despite being wealthy.

Guy A used to be a typical middle-class Singaporean, diligent, honest and more or less content with his life. However, like everyone else, he can’t withstand the lure of money. It was not clear on how he heard the ATM rumor, but he decided to give it a try upon hearing it. He discovered that it works and, like every person who suddenly have alot of money, he spent big. He brought houses, cars, mistresses, WonderGirls, you name it, he buys it. However, his “fortune” was not to last.

Guy A used to live in a HDB flat with his parents, wife and son. Space was a little tight, but it was a warm and happy family. He loves his family deeply and brought them along to stay in his new home. However, “things” started to happen. His mother caught his father adulterating and committed suicide. His father suffered a heart attack while having intercourse with his mistress and died. His wife and son was caught up in an accident outside NJC and in a flash, he lost his whole family.

Now, being severely depressed and wanting revenge, he decided to destroy the ATM to prevent others from suffering his own faith. He took a tools bag with him and headed to the ATM, planning to hammer that cursed machine to pieces. However, the ATM preempted this attempt and caused Guy A to commit suicide right next to the machine by sawing his own head off.

On dark rainy nights, when winds howl loudly and is cold enough to chill one’s soul, people are said to see a head on the floor right next to the ATM, it’s eyes staring deep into whoever approaches in an attempt to scare people away from the cursed machine.

Bukit Timah maybe a town of wealth, but who knows how its occupants attain them and what miseries they have to live with…

P.S. Just my personal observation, if you’re there on a Thursday night, you’ll realize no one uses the ATM machine after 12 midnight despite the pubs around it being full.