The Keys (Day 1)

"Weh satg aku mai rmh hg nk amik duit. Dlm kul 9.30 ke. Nnt aku smpi aku miskol k." There. I sent this sms to my sister in Akasia hostel. It was around 9 pm when I put my stuff (MUFC green wallet, Nokia 1110i handphone, JPJ Kedah card holder) into my brown sling bag. I put on my favourite jacket, took the sling bag, reached for the "house keys" and straight for the door. I locked the door of our room from inside, got into the living room and pulled the door shut, as confident and sure as chanting the ABC song. "Lets go!" I said to myself happily. I reached for the "house keys" to open the grill outside and looked at it.

"Aik??" It wasn't the house keys I was holding, but the motorcycle keys. Fine. I put my right hand inside the sling bag and searched for the right keys. I searched and searched, I held the sling bag upside down and all its contents fell out. The house keys were nowhere to be seen.

At that moment I could feel the increasing of my heart beat. I went back to the bedroom door and twisted the door bolt. Of course, it didn't open for me. "Alamak..." I whispered to myself. I began to shake the door bolt furiously like an angry Jack the Ripper wanting to get in a room where his victim screams with fear. I tried everything. I shook the door bolt, I picked up a paper clip found in the living room, thrust it in the keyhole and moved the paper clip up and down, left and right like a thief, hoping for the door to be unlocked. I thought it looked easy in movies (television has negative influence on children). But I'm not an actress, so that trick failed too. I began to sweat with nervousness and my stomach did not feel good. I decided to tell someone about this, and Yaya was the first person that I could think of.

"Weh yaya, help! Km trkunci kt living room, kunci km kt dlm blik. Cmna ni?" After a few minutes, she replied: "Almk,siannya hmpa! Cmna leh trkunci? Amoi ada tak?" Oh, I forgot! I ignored her sms and started to type one for Amoi instead, hoping that she would be coming home that night. Even though she wouldn't be able to open the door to my room, at least she could open the front door for me so that I could get help from a locksmith. By the time she replied my sms, I got really, really freaked out. She was at her aunt's house and won't be back until Monday! By the way, this incident happened on a lovely Saturday night. Oh, yes. It was definitely a Saturday Nite Fever for me!

I sat on the floor in the living room, switched on the tv and put on my brain to work. Who else can help me, I wondered. I began to think of anyone who knows how to use paper clips to open a locked door, and I believe guys are experts in this kind of stuff. An sms asking for help was sent to a friend of mine, AF, and he was the only guy friend whom I can ask for help. A few moments of waiting, his sms appeared on my handphone. "Zati maaf, AF ada kt KLIA skrg." Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. I felt really sad, but I didn't cry because I actually didn't put high hope on him in the first place (haha).

I had given up forcing the door to open, now I started to think of how to get out of the house. I didn't have the keys for the front doors, so I needed to find an alternative escape. Since every window in the house is grilled, the only way for me to get out was the only window in the kitchen where we hang our clothes to dry. I stood by the window and looked outside. Some motorists were seen around the flat compound, cars and motorcyles came and went. Yup, the road next to my building is quite a busy road. Then, I looked below. There are two floors below mine, and I have to admit that it looked pretty high from where I stood. Oh no, I am not that stupid to simply jump out of the window from the third floor and land on my feet. I'm not a cat and I don't have nine lives. So I looked for any object that I could hold on to in order to get down from the third floor, a rope or something, but found nothing. I went back into the living room, looked outside the window to the far left (I could see our clothes lines from that angle), and I found something. Next to the window in the kitchen, a long white PVC pipe, probably for the rain water from the roof to flow, was attached firmly to the wall all the way to the safe ground below. Yup, I guess that was all I need.

Actually, I was thinking of staying in the living room and wait until my prince charming came to my rescue on his handsome white stallion, or wait until cats grow horns rather than risking my life jumping out of the window from the third floor. But the Death Angel paid me a visit that night and gave me two options: Did I want to die of falling from the third floor, or did I want to die of hunger in my own house? It was a tough one, choosing how I want to die. But then, I chose the first option because it would be a quick death. You see, if I chose the second option, I might die very, very... sloowwwleeee...

So I made up my mind to become a young female version of Tom Cruise in an Impossible Mission to escape from death of starvation. You see, if I wanted to get out of the house through the window, I had to do it on that night. I couldn't wait until morning or I might easily be seen. I sent an sms to Asmah, saying that I wanted to sleep over at her house, but will be a bit late, which was around 11.30 pm. I informed her first so that she would be expecting me that night and she wouldn't go to bed before I arrived. Safely, if possible. I went into the bathroom, found my toothbrush, toothpaste and my Olay facial cleanser and put them all into the sling bag. I turned off the light, switched off the fan, wore my slippers, and headed for the window in the kitchen. For a moment, I just put my elbows on the window sills, stared outside and waited. I could see cars came and parked themselves at the compound below. I must not be seen, so I waited for the right moment. I waited and waited some more. There were times when the coast was clear and I climbed up the window sill. But then motorcyclists appeared out of nowhere, so I had to get down and got back into the kitchen. I didn't want anyone to see a spiderwoman sliding down a water pipe like a firefighter sliding down the pole as seen on tv (it is proven now that television has negative influence on children), and I also didn't want anyone to see the spiderwomen on a window sill, waiting for her opportunity to spin her web.

It was almost 12 midnight and I was still in the house when my handphone rang. It was an sms from Asmah: "Zati, r u cming over 2nite?" I really felt guilty because she had to wait for me, just because I was too afraid to get out of the house through the window. After I sent her an sms saying that I will definitely be there, I put my Nokia 1110i back into the sling bag, gathered all the courage and bravery that I've got, and started to climb back on the window sill. "This time is for real", I thought.

I looked around the flat compound. When I was sure no one was around, I stepped on the metal bar on the right side that holds the clothes lines, my right hand still on the window, while my left hand on the metal bar. At this moment, I was facing the flat compound. Then, I turned myself so that I faced the window. Both of my hands gripped on the metal bar like my life depends on it (which is actually true), and I stuck out my right foot downward to sense a stepping stone just below our kitchen window. By the time I found it, I placed my other foot on it safely and sat there for a moment while giving a chance for my heart beat to return to normal. However, I realized that I must not stay there for long because someone might see me. With both hands, I reached for the water pipe and hugged it. Almost immediately, I put my feet around the pipe and swoosh! Umm, no, it was not the sound of water coming out of the pipe because of my weight, but it was the sound of myself sliding down the water pipe all the way down to safe land. The slide was smooth at first, until I reached the last floor. I knew that they tied some nylon strings on the water pipe as clothes lines, and I was ready for it. But I guess I was too heavy and I slide down too fast, I simply hit the ground and ruined their clothes lines. Seriously, I made very loud noises throughout the dangerous mission. Luckily I didn't scream unconsciously...

As soon as I reached the ground, I let go of the clothes lines entangled to my feet and walked quickly and shakingly away from the crime scene, headed for the road like I did nothing wrong. I glanced around to see if anyone witnessed the crime, and I saw a shadow of a woman at the ground floor window and was about to open it, probably after she heard the noise I made when I ruined her clothes lines. I quickly looked back ahead and walked at normal pace, struggled to act as innocent as possible.

After I crossed the road and I believed I was safe at last from being spotted, I began to feel pain in my palms. I looked at them and saw scratches and torn skin here and there. But my skin wasn't the only thing torn that night. My favourite jacket had also been sacrificed during the escape. The jacket's arms were torn badly and I had to fold them up to my elbows. I walked in pain, dragged my feet (just exaggerating) and headed straight for 7-eleven. I didn't eat anything since lunch, and I was so hungry that eating a horse for supper was not a problem. But I don't like horse meat, so a Slurpee at 7-eleven was just nice. With a cup of Slurpee in my hand, I went to Asmah's flat only to find two oh-so-familiar girls pretending to be guys, both sitting on the see-saw at the playground. I went to join Marni and Kechik, offered them my Slurpee, and even pretending to be a ghost. Kechik was a long-haired ghost from Ju On, Marni was a ghost with a twisted head, and I was just a headless ghost. We hanged out together until 1 am, then I followed them home. Asmah was fast asleep.