Horrorfest

17: Jalan Puteh Jerneh

"Kuro?"
 
I called its name yet again but it refused to acknowledge me.

The black domestic short haired cat was staring. Its eyes fixated at a spot on a white wall. Its small feline head was jerked slightly upwards and tilted to the left.

"Kuro?"

This time, it took a few steps backwards, cowered its body downwards, flattened its ears and growled a deep guttural sound.

"Kuro, what is it?"

I glanced towards the white wall in confusion and back at Kuro which had now puffed out its black fur, arched its body upwards in a curve, narrowed its eyes into slits and hissed hostilely at the same corner of the wall.

"KURO!"

My demanding voice had broken its trance-like state and now it fixed its gaze on me for a second and ran towards a spot under the sofa.

"Kuro... come on now. There's nothing there." I approached my brother's cat and softened my tone of voice.

I picked it up gently and walked slowly towards the white wall that it was staring at previously.

"See? There's nothing - OWWWW! KURO!"

Hisssssngeowngeowngeowhissssssssgrrrrr....

Kuro had somehow managed to escape from my tight grasp and left a few scratch marks on my arms. It sprinted out of the living room and towards the guestroom.

Oh boy... it's going to be a long day...

******

Later that night...

"Can you stop messing with the piano? You know that Han kept reminding us that Yuki doesn't like anyone touching it," I complained, my eyes still focused on the show on the television.

My sister and I were house sitting our brother, Han and his wife, Yuki's terrace house and their cats for the weekend as they were away on an overseas trip.

"It wasn't me. It was Tora."

I turned my head towards the sound of my sister's voice and realised that she was in the kitchen whipping up something.

"When was the piano keys uncovered? I could have sworn they were covered in the afternoon."

I made my way towards the piano, cautiously lifted up Tora to stop it from stepping onto the piano keys and placed Tora on the floor. I gently wind down the hard wooden cover and covered the piano keys.

******

Later that night, around midnight...

I was laying on the left side of the bed in the master bedroom while my sister laid on the right.

"Pssst... hey sis, are you awake?" I whispered.

As I could not sleep, my mind began to wonder about the uncovered piano keys earlier. It was that exact moment that I heard it - that chilling sound.

Ting ting ting triiing....ting ting ting triiing....

It was the piano keys.

There was no way the piano keys could be uncovered as it took some strength to wind up the hard wooden cover.

I tried to nudge my sister awake but the only response I received were light breathing.

Mustering my courage, I slid out of bed and gingerly crept out of the room. I could not see Tora or Kuro anywhere as I made my way towards the living room where the piano stood.

The piano keys were uncovered.

Taking a deep breath, I took one step forward but stood rigidly in place when I saw the piano keys going downwards.

Ting ting ting triiing....ting ting ting triiing....

I briskwalked backwards in fright cursing myself for getting out of bed.

TINGTINGTINGTINGTINGTING!

A set of piano keys on the far left and far right were pushed down roughly by an invisible force - the sound harsh, demanding and dangerously hostile.

I quickly turned on my heels, ran towards the master bedroom, jumped on the bed, cowered under the blanket and hugged my sister close.

I prayed as hard as I could in my heart, trying my best to fall asleep but nothing worked.

After what seemed like forever, I turned around to face the door, pulling the blanket away from my face and saw Kuro, Tora, Miki and Aiko standing at the doorway. I could sense that they were looking at me. For a second I felt relieved that they were keeping "watch". In the process of rolling over to face my sister, I could feel my heart stop for a second as I saw something eerie.

There, at the foot of the bed was a tall and dark figure with disheveled hair, staring down at me.

Clenching my eyes as tight as I could, I clutched the blanket closer to me and uttered all sorts of prayers that I could think of.

With my eyes still closed, I rolled my body towards my left so that I could face the cats and hoped hard that in doing so would give me more courage.

But as I parted my eyelids slightly, my view was not of the door nor of the cats - but of the same shadowy figure standing just a few centimetres away from me, its long hair almost touching my shoulder.

Closing my eyes out of fear, I prayed yet again only to wake up with the highest fever that I ever had that lasted for two days straight.