Join the new world

I was around 11 or 12 years old at that time. Still in primary school.
We kids in those days were very much outdoor type. And we played together with real friends.
We went to school half of the day and spent the other half just playing. All sort of games.
No tuition hours, no evening school, no extra classes like poor kids nowadays.

One day we're out of ideas of what to play.
Out of the blue, one of the friends came up with a not so usual idea.
"How about we go investigate an abandoned house....," the guy suggested.

"Which house?"...

"You know... the abandoned house in the old rubber plantation back there."

"What?... I don't remember seeing any house there," questioned me. I often walk passing through that rubber plantation as a short cut going to town.

There were five of us that evening, and strangely enough, only the guy who suggested this idea knew of the existence of the house.
After his brief explanation and map drawing on the ground, I can see why I missed the spot all these while.
The path to take was not the usual route that I normally took. Furthermore, with all those dense vegetation inside, it's very logical that the house was unseen by any passer by.
Rubber plantation in those days were not well maintained like today. It's like a real jungle with thick wild vegetation on the ground.
Need to watch for sudden dash of wild boars, snakes and all sort of animals... We even have encountered a clouded leopard once in there.

Everybody agreed to go. This could be a thrilling adventure.
After all, we were very much influenced by classic kid's adventure novel series such as Enid Blyton's 'The Famous Five', 'Secret Seven'... also Hardy Boys, Biggles, Tintin, Alfred Hitchcock etc.

Off we went walking through the narrow track of the plantation. It's like a maze with criss-crossing trails.

We reached our destination not so long after.
There stood an old wooden house. We gathered stealthily at one corner at the back of the house. There's a rusty barbed wire fence around its compound.
We didn't dare to whisper at all, communicated only through gestures and signs.
One thing which I found a bit peculiar about the house, the place was considerably clean. The grass around was short; contrasting to the thick vegetation of the surrounding areas beyond the fence.
It's so neat and tidy with hardly any fallen leaves on the ground... Indicating there must be somebody was maintaining the place, probably even living in that house.
We needed to be extra careful. For this house could be a hide-out of bad people or criminals... who knows.

One by one. we ducked under the barbed wire carefully. Just as we began to walk closer a few steps, suddenly we heard a sound in the house. It's like somebody pulled a chair or a heavy furniture.
Quickly we rushed back to our corner, surprised but trying hard to control our giggling. "Shhhhh... Shh!"

As I predicted, there must be somebody in the house. Our curiosity grew even more.
Just imagine... if... tomorrow's newspaper headline: "5 young heroes helped the police to catch the most wanted criminal gang"... Wow, what an achievement that could be. The real life Famous Five!
Determined to get to the bottom of this, we made our move again. Queueing silently getting closer while paying attention to any noise or human voice.
Just as I was crouching by the side of the house...
BAMMM !!! A window pane above my head flew open.

For a moment I thought I was shot dead already.
Everybody rushed back to our corner. Heartbeat pounding almost exploding out from my chest.
The window stay opened but nobody was seen peeking out of that window scolding us.
Perhaps it's just accidental that the mysterious guy happened to be opening the window but had not actually aware of our presence.
So what now? Should we just go home and abandon this mission...?

No... We never gave up easily.
This time we made a new approach. We moved to the front side.
The main door was closed but seemed ajar. So we went up the stairs right to the front door.
But wait... hey, this door was locked from outside!
Not actually locked, but the door handles were tied together with a rope... Then how would somebody from inside get out?
Very illogical.

Since the handles were just tied loosely, we were able to peek through that door gap.
Five heads stacking up squinting eyes trying to see what's inside.
It's rather dark inside... but nothing... there's not even any furniture on the floor.
Nothing on the floor, nothing on the wall... look up above...
What's that thing moving up on the roof rafter?
Hmmm... a suspiciously shadowy object... was it falling down?
Huh... getting bigger?
NOOOO... It's getting nearer! Flying down straight towards us... LONG HAIR !!!

"R R R UUUU N N N !!!"

We ran... we desperately ran for our lives. Sprinting ahead without turning our head around checking who might have left behind.
We didn't care, we didn't think.
I don't remember how did I jump over the barbed wire.

Reaching home with scratches and bruises all over.
Long live The Not So Famous Five !

LET YOUR LIFE BE SHROUDED IN MYSTERY...


Ghostbusted,