My Longkang

Few Nights before Raya
By Hawksmoor

To skeptics of the supernatural, what I am about to recount may seem nonsensical – something perhaps attributable to tiredness or hallucination. But I am not one for seeing things, and despite being educated in Western ideas and disciplined in rationalism, I have a healthy respect for the otherworldly (interestingly, my work is tangentially related too). Also, this “encounter” is not my first, having had a few episodes when studying in one of the most haunted campuses in this country – University Malaya! But that is another story.

The one I am about to recount took place a week before the Raya celebration. It was early morning (say around 3ish a.m.) when I woke up to perform my in-between sleep ablution. I normally have my window curtains drawn, except for a small gap to let win in (I live on the top floor of a five-story apartment, situated on top of a hill). As I was about to climb into bed, something caught my eye from the interstices; edging my head a little to see more directly, I saw, to my horror, two human-like figures sitting on the roof on the apartment block just across from mine (about 200 meters). Now, my rational friends, before you say that they may be a couple of kids just up to their tricks, let me stress the point that the two figures were glowing – a kind of soft green light emanated from them. One of them was sitting, and another was standing with its hands outstretched – and both were absolutely STILL. Of course I freaked out, and was momentarily petrified. One small blessing in all this is that I cannot really see clearly because I wear glasses, and although my glasses were right next to me, I did not dare put them on precisely because I did not want to see clearly. But I am not blind nor highly short-sighted: I know/saw what I saw.

Anyway, as the fright subsided, I crept back into bed, praying to God that they did not see me, and tried to go back to sleep (needless to say, I wasn’t very successful, and for the rest of the night, was plagued with frightening dreams). The next day, I told my mom about it, and she advised me, as any sensible woman would, to sleep thenceforth with the curtains completely drawn – which I heeded.

Until Hari Raya that is.

Visiting a student of mine, I recounted the story to her, which she related to her mom – a highly respected artist in this country. She later told me that what I experienced had to do with the fact that it was twenty-seventh night of Ramadhan, and according to her, at a particular point in time during this night (which no one knows exactly), the world enters a “silent” phase and the natural and supernatural worlds open up to each other. She also told me – and this is the happy news – that what I witnessed were not, as I thought, ghosts, but angels, judging from their green glow. Having heard this now and in retrospect, the outstretched hands may have been wings all along – but of course I view this in light of popular imagination on what angels look like, and hence may be totally off the mark! And now that I have seen them, I am blessed for life!!

Now I am not claiming any authority on what I saw. All I know is that I saw something which frightened me at that point, and days after. I’d love to hear from those of you who are reading this what your opinions are, but please save your skepticism, not because I think you are wrong (because you may be right), but because I have already heard them. Cheers.

( Hawksmoor is a guest writer on mylongkang. This is his first post. )