Hair Raising

This happened at my best friend's birthday party. There were 2 girls and 4 guys among us. We had booked barbecue pit number 42 at East Coast Park. It was a rowdy affair because my friends loved to joke, and we were the nosiest group on the beach that night. After we finished barbecuing, my friends and I went to the bench to rest. All of us were tired but none felt like going home yet. In the end, we started chit chatting. I was not a great conversationalist, and soon I was looking out to the sea waves and admiring the stars in the sky, while listening to their conversation.

Looking around, I realized that our pit was dimly lit. Only the 'mamashop' billboard light was on. The other people barbecuing around us earlier had packed up and gone home. Suddenly, the surroundings around us was very quiet. Suddenly, my friend froze. She felt a hand touching her legs. She scolded some of the boys, thinking that they were trying to get fresh at her but all the boys denied it. She looked down with fear, but saw nothing. The hand had disappeared. As I was sitting next to her, she gave me a disgusted look, thinking that I was the culprit. It happened to Alex next. This time, he saw a hand under the bench. The hand was hairy with very long fingernails. Alex was flabbergasted. He dared not utter a single word, but pointed his finger down at his legs. Again, when we all looked down, we saw nothing. The hand had disappeared. I had began to feel frightened, and beads of sweat were forming on my forehead despite the coolness of the night. We picked up Alex's green jacket, for fear of finding the hand there.

Fortunately, it was untouched. A man in red T-shirt had suddenly come to our barbecue pit and had seated himself on our bench. He looked quiet young, about 25 years old. We suspected that he had something to do with the incident, but realized that his fingernails were short. Still, there was something in his look that frightened us. Not wanting to stay there any further, all of us got up quietly and left. None talked until after we reached the car park.