For a little while, maybe a fortnight after moving into their new house in Bishan, nine year old Alex began to hear voices by the side of his ear. They whispered and laughed and talked about him. They did not seem menacing, just mocking. Either way, they scared him. At first he thought that maybe it was the radio from his sister's room or the television from downstairs. It was only one day when his parents were not at home that he realized that they were not from the world as he knew it. The nightmares began like normal; children do have nightmares after all. But as the weeks went by, they got more graphic and more violent. So like most children, he did what he was best at. He got used to it.
Children have marvelous ability to incorporate everything into daily life. Not having the notion that monsters were not rel and that not everything is possible, they can take something that would have driven an adult crazy and make sense of it. So this is what Alex did. The nightmares carried on for the nest two years, alternating between periods where they were so intense they would wake him up in the middle of the night, and periods where they did not even come. But they soon evolved into something a lot more serious, and though Alex has suppressed a lot of this now, it still bothers him to think about it. He woke up in the middle of the night one night two years later to the feeling of someone stroking his hair. Getting up with a jerk, he turned around to find the oddest thing at his headboard. It was the shadow of a hand. It glowed with a deep dull, sort of red hue that was bright enough to illuminate itself, but not bright enough to illuminate the area around it. As he looked at it, unable to scream, he saw it inch back into the wall until it faded into the nondescript brown brick.
For the next two years, Alex began to see strange things; green hands and feet, which would poke their way into his room from the hallway outside. He would never be able to see any other body parts, but every time the sun went down he tried as best as possible not to look at his doorway. But the unseen threat always being scarier than what you can pinpoint, he would open his eyes. And see them. Usually he would be unable to scream but the few times that he was, he wished he had not. His dad would come running upstairs and Alex would explain what had happened; his dad would laugh with that laugh all children know is patronizing and would pretend to search under the bed. 'There are no green men here Alex! I would not let them into the house!' This carried on for the next year or so as he grew older, he eventually saw the luminous green hands and feet less often, until they suddenly died down into nothing or that was what he thought.
It was about a year ago, when Alex had the house all to himself. His parent and sister had gone on a weekend trip. Alex was twelve and had convinced them that he could stay the two days alone without them. He asked if Jerry and Yuen Fatt could come over and stay, and they had readily agreed thinking that there was safety in numbers. The three boys had decided to utilize the great opportunity of a house to themselves to relieve their childhood and play a good old fashioned game of hide and seek. Yuen Fatt was the seeker. He stood against the wall and counted to ten loudly, booming the numbers out as Jerry and Alex scampered away on soundless feet. Turning around, he headed to the kitchen and found Jerry straight away. Now all they had to do was to find Alex. Alex was hiding in the cupboard, with the door completely closed. It worked magnetically, so there was no danger of getting locked in. He had been there for what seemed like ten minutes when suddenly he heard Yuen Fatt yelled triumphantly, 'Come out! We see you!'
feeling confused and cheated at how they could have figured it out, he decided to wait it out a little longer. Half a second later he heard Jerry shout gleefully, 'We see you! If you don't come out, we are going to drag you out!' The voices were relatively close. So Alex popped out of the cupboard and, to his surprise, found the boys just outside his room, but looking to the left at the bathroom. 'You cheaters!' he yelled. The boys, white faced, turned around quickly and then both of them looked back at the bathroom in unison, and then back at him. He could see that they were scared. 'What's wrong?' 'Was not that you in the bathroom?' 'The bathroom?' 'Yes, the bathroom,' replied Jerry anxious and annoyed. 'Was not that you in the green face paint?'
Children have marvelous ability to incorporate everything into daily life. Not having the notion that monsters were not rel and that not everything is possible, they can take something that would have driven an adult crazy and make sense of it. So this is what Alex did. The nightmares carried on for the nest two years, alternating between periods where they were so intense they would wake him up in the middle of the night, and periods where they did not even come. But they soon evolved into something a lot more serious, and though Alex has suppressed a lot of this now, it still bothers him to think about it. He woke up in the middle of the night one night two years later to the feeling of someone stroking his hair. Getting up with a jerk, he turned around to find the oddest thing at his headboard. It was the shadow of a hand. It glowed with a deep dull, sort of red hue that was bright enough to illuminate itself, but not bright enough to illuminate the area around it. As he looked at it, unable to scream, he saw it inch back into the wall until it faded into the nondescript brown brick.
For the next two years, Alex began to see strange things; green hands and feet, which would poke their way into his room from the hallway outside. He would never be able to see any other body parts, but every time the sun went down he tried as best as possible not to look at his doorway. But the unseen threat always being scarier than what you can pinpoint, he would open his eyes. And see them. Usually he would be unable to scream but the few times that he was, he wished he had not. His dad would come running upstairs and Alex would explain what had happened; his dad would laugh with that laugh all children know is patronizing and would pretend to search under the bed. 'There are no green men here Alex! I would not let them into the house!' This carried on for the next year or so as he grew older, he eventually saw the luminous green hands and feet less often, until they suddenly died down into nothing or that was what he thought.
It was about a year ago, when Alex had the house all to himself. His parent and sister had gone on a weekend trip. Alex was twelve and had convinced them that he could stay the two days alone without them. He asked if Jerry and Yuen Fatt could come over and stay, and they had readily agreed thinking that there was safety in numbers. The three boys had decided to utilize the great opportunity of a house to themselves to relieve their childhood and play a good old fashioned game of hide and seek. Yuen Fatt was the seeker. He stood against the wall and counted to ten loudly, booming the numbers out as Jerry and Alex scampered away on soundless feet. Turning around, he headed to the kitchen and found Jerry straight away. Now all they had to do was to find Alex. Alex was hiding in the cupboard, with the door completely closed. It worked magnetically, so there was no danger of getting locked in. He had been there for what seemed like ten minutes when suddenly he heard Yuen Fatt yelled triumphantly, 'Come out! We see you!'
feeling confused and cheated at how they could have figured it out, he decided to wait it out a little longer. Half a second later he heard Jerry shout gleefully, 'We see you! If you don't come out, we are going to drag you out!' The voices were relatively close. So Alex popped out of the cupboard and, to his surprise, found the boys just outside his room, but looking to the left at the bathroom. 'You cheaters!' he yelled. The boys, white faced, turned around quickly and then both of them looked back at the bathroom in unison, and then back at him. He could see that they were scared. 'What's wrong?' 'Was not that you in the bathroom?' 'The bathroom?' 'Yes, the bathroom,' replied Jerry anxious and annoyed. 'Was not that you in the green face paint?'
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