Toyol
Night after night, for at least a month, it happened. In the middle of the night, the residents of this block in Bedok Reservoir would hear knocking on the doors, a soft knock would hear knocking on the doors, a soft knock and then the heavy thump of a fist. However, when they opened their doors, shock awaited them. There was no one.
Strangely, little things started to go missing, a pair of shoes, the television controller, jewellery and cash. Pots would be overturned without reason. When any residents decided not to answered their door, the knocking would become louder and more urgent. Some of the residents even heard scratching sounds on their door. Finally, when someone answered the door, there was no one.
Baffled, residents sought the help of police but since no crime was committed, they were not able to help.
Soon, all the residents could not take the knockings. The harassment had to stop. To make matters worse, children were starting to have nightmares. They reported the matter to the residents' committee. A meeting was conducted the very next day.
"I think we need to get to the bottom of this matter. It is a serious thing and we are all losing sleep over it."
When the committee chairman finished his sentence, everyone was nodding their heads.
"We shall all stay awake tonight, and look out for the culprit," he said.
That night, a member of the committee stood at every floor, keeping vigil. They waited through the night, but nothing happened. At 4 a.m, they left for home, thinking that the culprit would not be striking that night.
Shortly after they left, the knocking started again, this time louder than ever.
The residents' committee gathered again the following day. This time, they realised that almost all the residents of that block had complained at least once, except for Mr. Tan. It appeared that his house was the only undisturbed one.
"Did anyone see anything last night?"
No one replied to the chairman's question.
"It seems that Mr. Tan is the only resident, living in the block that has not complained about the knocking." His secretary noticed.
"Do you think he has anything to do with this?"
"Why don't we ask him about it?"
"That family has always been a weird family," someone cracked a joke.
The residents committee decided to approach Mr. Tan at his home that night.
"Mr. Tan, have you noticed anything strange happening in the middle of the night?" the residents committee member asked.
He decided to approach Mr. Tan at his home that night.
"No, why? A lot of burglaries lately?" Mr. Tan asked, wondering what was it all about. He had no idea.
"No. What have you been doing for the last few nights? Are you at home?"
"No, I was working. The other security guard was sick, so I had to take over his shift. You can call my boss if you don't believe me."
Mr. Tan began to look uneasy.
"No, we believe you. But your neighbours were complaining of hearing knocking on their doors at night, but they never saw anyone. From our records, you were the only one who never complained.
Mr. Tan looked more nervous.
"Well..."
"Any information you can give us will be helpful."
Mr. Tan was profusely sweating. Everyone gathered knew something was wrong. However, they did not expect what Mr. Tan had to say next.
"I just came back from Thailand about four weeks ago. I brought a toyol back with me but it got lost. It's funny, you know. I have left my doors open, waiting for my toyol to come back for two weeks now, but it hasn't yet."
"What are we to do?" asked someone in the group.
"You must not laugh... if you open all the doors in the block, then the toyol will not knock because it can recognise the house. I will keep my door open so the toyol has to knock and ask permission to enter. Only I have the secret word."
"Come to the point."
"Open all your doors tonight and the problem will be solved."
The resident committee then told everyone to sleep with the door open, with the exception of Mr. Tan. Do they have a choice?
"Close your door tonight." They told him.
That night, nothing happened. Although their front doors were open, everyone slept peacefully, without any disturbance. When the residents committee visited Mr. Tan the next day, he smiled at them.
"It is back."
No
one wanted to ask why it came back or why Mr. Tan bought one. Most of the
residents just avoided him. At least now everyone knows that when you hear
someone knocking on the door in the middle of the night, you know what
is returning...