2 FLAT

Years went by, and Hairi had finally turned 29. That was the day when he first moved in to his new home, a third floor old flat unit. He chose to move there because his new workplace wasn't too far from the building. There were only a few people living on the same floor as Hairi. To get to his unit, Hairi had to pass through some doors of empty units. Some of the doors were broken, leaving such an unsatisfying and dirty sight of an abandoned property. To walk through those doors during daylight was such a torment itself, what more to say when the night falls. Nevertheless, Hairi had to be brave. The facts that the place was pretty much affordable and very close to his workplace were convincing enough for him that he had made a right choice. Besides, the place still looked brand new aside from how old the building looked from the outside.

On the first day, Hairi was too busy cleaning and tidying up his new home that he couldn't make some time to greet his new neighbours.  The night had come, and Hairi was watching a reality tv. He laughed his heart out watching their silliness. However, for a brief moment he thought he heard someone at the door. Hairi turned down the tv, yet he heard nothing. He continued  the show again but after a few minutes, he heard the voice again.

This time, it sounded like a whisper. "Is it just me or did I really heard someone whispering?" Hairi went towards the door slowly. As he stepped closer towards the door, he could hear the whisper at the door. But the whisper wasn't too clear. "Assalamualakum…" A soft whispering greeting is definitely the last thing you would like to hear. It gave out an eerie feeling to Hairi.

Hairi was in front of the door when he heard someone's heavy breathing. He was very sure that there was someone outside right in front of the door. He quickly opened the door but to his surprise, there was actually nobody outside. To make it even scarier, the door opposite to his house was widely opened. The empty house looked dark and  scary. A sudden breath of wind came from inside the empty house brushed his face. A chill of fear swept over him and goosebumps sprang over his arms.

"Something is not right here." He closed the door immediately and shutted down the tv. He went to his room and lied on his bed, letting himself sinking in his own thoughts. His mind was blank when he looked at the ceiling fan and realized something odd. Some part of the ceiling was fully covered by A4 papers. "What a design! Whose brilliant idea is this?" teased Hairi in his heart.  He ignored his thoughts and turned down the light then went to bed again.

Another  day had begun, he made a lot of friends at his new workplace. One of them asked him, "So where do you live around here?". "I currently just moved into a place nearby, the XyXy flat building." The person went quiet while looking at him with a rather pale face.

"Why?"

"No… Nothing." said the man immediately with an awkward smile.

Hairi felt weird. He knew something was definitely not right about this. After leaving from work in the evening, Hairi stopped by a shopping mall to buy some goods and groceries. It was already dark when he finally went home. When his car was entering the apartment area, chills were running down his spine while watching the creepy-looking building from the outside. The terrifying sight made him gulped. Hairi came out of his car with his both hands holding groceries bags.

A few steps before reaching the stairs, he felt like someone was watching. He gasped when he suddenly saw a boy in the dark watching him from behind a wall not too far away from where he was standing. Hairi took a deep breath slowly and began to approach the boy. The boy just kept quiet when Hairi tried to approach him.

"Hello? Where's your mom, little boy?" asked Hairi. The boy was still in silent even when Hairi tried to ask him more questions. Hairi was so confused as he had no idea what to do with the little boy. While he was thinking and worrying about the boy's safety, suddenly he heard a woman shouting from afar as if she was looking for someone.

"Ajib…! Ajib…! Where are you, Ajib? Where are you, my child?" Hairi looked around to find the woman's voice.

"Is your name Ajib?" asked Hairi to the little boy. The boy nodded his head. Hairi shouted back so the woman could hear his voice and find Ajib, but the woman didn't seem to hear his voice.

"You wait here for a moment. Let me go find your mother for you."

When Hairi found the woman, he asked "Hey! Are you looking for Ajib?"

"Yes, did you see him?!"

"Yeah, he was behind that wall just now." Hairi pointed towards the wall where he found Ajib just now. The woman was so excited and relieved when she heard about it. She followed Hairi to where he told her where Ajib was. But to their surprises, the boy wasn't there anymore.

"Where is Ajib???" the woman sounded a bit angry and panicked.

"I swear he was right here just now! Ajib…! Ajib…!" Hairi called out his name but no answer.

"You lied to me! Where is my son?! Ajib…!!!" The woman was so angry and her eyes became teary. Hairi had no idea what to do with the situation. His gaze fixed to an old lady waving at him when he looked towards the stairs. She signaled him to go to her. The old lady told Hairi a shocking fact when he went towards her.

"Do not entertain the woman. She is crazy! She always going around and bothered so many people before you."

"Crazy?"

"Yeah, crazy!!"

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course! She asked you about her son, isn't she?"

"Yeah…" answered Hairi faintly.

"Her son had passed away so long ago."

Hairi was left stupefied