EPT***
The clock was ticking past 11 pm. It was a fine, clear night. I was surfing through until I came upon my favourite horror channel, Thrill. I then checked the movie description, and it was ah, the good old Ring-u, the Japanese version infamously known as "The Ring". I had been watching that movie several times in the past, and it never gets old.
So anyway, I put my legs up on the coffee table and watched the movie in darkness in the tranquil peace of the living room. When it came time to the infamous scene of dear sweet Sadako climbing out of a well, on a running tape being watched by one of the movie's protagonists, I murmured to myself, "oh, oh, oh, here we go again...".
There was static on the tape, and she finally began to emerge with her black hair visible, covering her face. It was then that the creepy coincidences happened.
She began to crawl forward and onto the ground, towards the screen. I smiled back at her, knowing that I was not the scared protagonist, staring in terror at her (or was it his) TV. Oh, how much I love Japanese horror films!
As the static grew louder and more coherent, and Sadoko's white dress became more starkly contrasted against the background, the cable box beside the TV began sending out erratic signals. There was now static on my own TV as well.
"What... the... fuck...?"
At this time? At this time? The cable wiring beside my TV was known to be fickle sometimes, showing static and distorted images on some channels. But why must it have to be this channel of all things?
The picture was distorted, and still, Sadako continued to approach the screen with her contorted body, crawling on all fours like a hell-born lizard. I was frozen. I wanted to reach out to the cable box, and adjust the cables as I always do whenever there was static on the TV. I could not.
No, no, no, no, no.
My eyes darted around, and then finally to the clock on the living room's wall.
11.57 pm.
"What... the... fuck...?" Small beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. My heart pounded silently against my ribcages. I desperately wanted to move, and switch off the TV. Luckily, it finally went into total white noise. The distorted picture was gone, and so was Sadako, at least for now.
11.58 pm.
With the droning sizzle of white noise still in my ears, I looked out through the balcony window. The tenants on the opposite row of condominiums were going on about their lives peacefully. A teenage boy studying. A young baby girl running across the carpet. A family eating dinner. I let out a huge sigh of relief.
11.59 pm.
The telephone rang. I was startled for a second. I did not want to pick it up, not after I had watched "The Phone Call", or whatever that Japanese movie was called. The ringing stopped. Oh, my mom had picked it up in her room. I let out another sigh of relief.
The white noise continued to sizzle and sizzle. I stared at the TV blankly, hoping that the well scene was over by now, once the TV came back on. If it would, by itself.
12 midnight.
The living room door
"Hey, bro." Shit, it was just my younger brother, coming back from camp. I slumped back into the couch, weary. My brother came over, looked at the TV, and remarked, "Huh, white noise? What are you going to do about it? I guess it is those cables again."
Yeah, yeah.
12.01 am.
I adjusted the cables, and Thrill came back on. This time, there was no well scene and no dear sweet Sadako. Oh, how I have missed thee... NOT. I continued to watch the remainder of the movie in peace.
Soon, it was time for bed. I trotted into my room, and under my comfy blankets. I left my lamp on, leaving the room in partial darkness. Staring at the ceiling, I counted imaginary sheep and thought of this day's happenings.
The blanket ruffled. My mind immediately scrambled to a scene of Ju-On (The Grudge). I pulled up my blankets, and I expected Kayako with her deathly eyes, and black hair covering her face, to snarl at me.
A hallucination came over me. She pulled me under the blankets, over the end of my bed, and underneath it, into whatever hell she had prepared for me. I screamed... silently. And I died with a gaping mouth and terror-filled face, soon to be spread on newspapers the day after.
Woof!
Huh, what? It was Buddy, my sweet Shih-Tzu. He snuggled between my legs, and tried to sleep. My heart was pounding slowly, and the blood was still ringing in my ears.
Well.... shit.
1.32 am.
***
And yes, this is all true. It happened to me. Pure coincidences, or maybe I am really cursed. Later in marriage, they might come back to haunt me. Maybe. ^^
PS: R.I.P, Buddy. I love you very much and I still miss you. =3
It happened to me overseas; there was this swaying tree in the wind outside the window and it kept rattling its branches against it.
