Lucid Dream Diaries: The Locked Room

Prologue: The Locked Room

DISCLAIMER: the story is purely fictional and derived from writer's lucid dream experience. Any similarity with names/experience/location are purely coincidental. English is not my first language so please pardon any grammatical errors (any correction are welcome). Thank you for reading.🖤

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Mrs. Lupita Reyes came to Singapore twelve years ago. She worked as a domestic helper for five years. She quit her job when her long-time boyfriend, who was also a foreign worker, proposed to her. Now she works part-time here and there, raising her two sons, Juan and Danilo alone.

Not long after her second son, Danilo was born, after months of suffering, the late Mr. Reyes passed after a heart attack, leaving Lupita to fend for herself and the boys. Misfortunes seemed to follow her family as she was on the brink of losing a place to live. The lease of her current flat was expiring and her status as a foreigner made it impossible to extend. Every two years, she had to find a new place.

In between juggling her jobs, raising her young sons and mourning for the demise of her husband, Lupita also had to look for a new place. She is also considering taking an extra graveyard shift to supplement her income.

She eventually found a considerably affordable three-room flat in the northern part of the island. Northern areas are often cheaper because they are out of the way, bordering with Malaysia and three room means two bedrooms and a common room, an upgrade from her current place which is a single bedroom and a common room. The owner of the new place has not fully paidd off his mortgage, so he rent it out discretely. It is a common practice where a room would be locked and inaccessible for the tenant as if the landlord is "staying" with them, hence evading the law.

Her new flat stood in a bright, auspicious corner. A corner unit is usually the most sought after due to its privacy. However, the apparment block appears to be older than the previous one. A bleak grey building with signs of age and wear-and-tear. But for the price, she did not mind at all. By contrast, her previous flat was painted yellow to make it look brighter and livelier and was slightly cleaner and had that more modern feel.

This new area they are moving into is also of a much more established estate compare to the other places she had lived in before. It feels more secure and homey with more greenery and child friendly areas. Juan and Danilo would also fit easily in to the schools in the neighbourhood, she imagined.

Juan and Danilo of course, were also tired of moving to a new place every two years, and they grieved too. But as little as they are, they could not grasp the idea of death yet. They cried for days but somehow in the back of their minds, they feel their father will come home again one day. That there will be four of them again one day.

For the move, , Lupita brought along few belonging: only two large suitcases, a medium sized cardboard box, and a backpack they each carried consisting only of clothes, essential items, memorabilia, and utensils. Coming from struggling families in their home countries, at home, Lupita and her late husband lived frugally. She prefers to own only a few essential items and goes to thrift stores instead of buying new. She saves her earnings diligently and devotedly and sent a good portion back to her family overseas.

On one October morning, in a rare sunny Saturday, they arrived at the new place. She and her sons were walking towards their 11th storey flat with all of their belongings, she saw the tenant of the unit next to hers, a middle-aged man who was watering his assortment of succulents.

"Hello," Lupita smiled politely. "We are the new tenant. Say hello to uncle, boys."

"Hello." The boys said in unison.

"A new tenant?" the man looked slightly puzzled. A small frown appeared on his forehead as if he was trying hard to remember something, probing on a foggy memory. "You are moving here?" He asked with a strange note.

"Yes." Lupita answered, feeling slightly uncomfortable by the man's response.

The man scratched his goatee slightly covered by a thin goatee. "Strange, I thought the previous tenant hasn't moved out yet." He shook his head. "Never mind, nice to meet you and see you around!" he quickly changed his tone to a friendlier one and continued watering his small greenery he seemed to cherish.

Lupita smiled at the man and inserted the key to her flat. Click. Her boys scurried inside pushing each other excitedly.

"Boys, take off your shoes first!" Lupita reminded. The boys took off their shoes hurriedly and rushed inside the rooms to inspect.

"Mom can I stay in this room?" Juan, the eldest, shouted from the master bedroom.

"I want to sleep here!" Danilo exclaimed in front of the guest bedroom. Both boys turned on the lights in all the rooms and gushed at every piece of furniture, wallpaper or paint. They seemed to be relishing the whole new experience.

"No boys, you will be sleeping together. We will decide which room. Now help me unpack!"

Danilo came running to her mother's lap. "What, Ma? Am I not going to sleep with you again?"

Suddenly, Lupita's heart ached as she suddenly remembered she would be sleeping alone. The bed would feel oddly large without her late husband by her side especially when they used to sleep together in one room, on mattresses placed on the floor.

"Of course, you still can!" Lupita said, decidedly. "You know, how about we all sleep together in this room and use the second room as study? We can read, pray, or study there. Anything that needs concentration. A room for peace and tranquillity!" she proposed.

"Ew. No momma, I don't to study." Lupita laughs at Danilo's innocent remark.

"What is this ma? This looks so cool!" Juan shouted from the kitchen.

There are two doors in the kitchen, one to the bathroom and another to the locked room, a small study at the back of the kitchen that serves as the room where the landlord fictionally staying. Lupita did not notice it when she visited the place for the first time that the door was covered with an iron grill. "Such an uncommon thing to adorn an indoor door," she muttered to herself. The iron grill was painted in metallic green, decorated with the shapes of the sun, moon, and stars. It looked beautiful and magical.

"What, what? I want to look too!" Danilo called out.

"Don't try to open it, mijos!" Lupita warned. "That's the owner's room. We are not the real owner of this place. You have to understand that, okay?"

Juan and Danilo stood silently, staring intently at the iron grill and the plain wooden door behind it. Then, unbeknown to Lupita, the boys heard, a faint sound of a woman singing enchantingly coming from the room. They looked at each other with eyes wide open with unable to contain their curiosity to what lies beyond the door.  

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