Selamat Malam,Mr Gecko

Vacation is a good opportunity for me to stay up late,but sometimes this may spell unnecessary terror and fright,like last night......
Making up my mind to finish Jeffrey Archer's "Not a penny more,not a penny less" by yesterday,I shifted out of my room with the book(which was once remarked as literary rubbish by Miss Sathi when I read it in history class) and switched on the light in the dim corridor. There was not a single person at that ungodly hour,not a single soul,that is,except a wild cat meowing insidiously at some unknown corner,sending a chill down my spine...The cat has an extremely short tail which I suspect that it was cruelly cut down by a cold-blooded person when she was discovered stealing food from the canteen.Actually,the cat is not an unfamiliar sight to me, for almost every time when I enjoy the food in the canteen, she is on the spot milling idly around. Perhaps it was not quite fair to call that "idly",for at least she bear a simple ambition in mind:getting something to eat.When she finds someone that seems "munificent",she will lie down in a lovely manner,right beside the person's steel chair,rubbing her forelegs carelessly,attempting to evoke your compassion. When you try to seem hard-hearted,she will invariably let out a cute cry,seeming like begging from you. The cry is extremely cute in the daylight,yet I cannot say the same when the sun falls down,that is, when the night is getting thicker and thicker...

The electronic light on the cluster gate was shining blood-red,indicating that it was too late to get out(actually,when you break the curfew and go out,never expect that you can come in again without attracting the attention of the Malay security guard,and what awaits you is possibly a ruthless issuing of "hourly report").I put my book and pen on the wooden table and began my reading,striving to rip the cat cry out off my head.

The wind was swirling harder and harder, some wilted leaves from a nearby tree were blown right onto the wooden table,covering my book like stretching hands of devil.So I tip-toped back to my room and took out a bile-green coat from my wardrobe without turning on the light,for fear of awaking my sister. At the moment of turning the knob, a phrase which I had learnt from"New Concept English:Book Three" leapt subconsciously into my mind which in a split of time rendered me speechless----"A SKELETON IN THE CUPBOARD".

I had to admit that I thought far too much...but just that can you stop thinking at that wee hour?

Putting on my coat,I felt much warmer.To avoid further attack by those distracting wilted leaves(according to our Bio teacher Mdm Yong,they are alledged "plant faeces",leaving me kind of revolting impression) ,I shifted again--to the pantry.

The new spot was nice,a heavy door kept out the annoying cat-meowing and of course,those "plant faeces".I kept reading for another 45mins undisturbed,and occasionally drank some water from the hot/cool/warm drinking fountain,when suddenly I heard some "woo-ing" sound above my head.It was then that I perceived that something was amiss.

Lifting my head pretentiously high while trying to conceal the infinite fear in my heart,I looked motionlessly upwards,it was a super fat moth cycling around the light.

The chill penetrated my marrow when I swallowed the latent yelling down my throat,my first thought was "escape",but my feet stood rooted to the ground.I was unable to move a single inch,let alone out of the door...the moonlight shone on the whiteboard which hanged helplessly on the wall,illuminating the words left by Komal(our cluster-in-charge) the day before, the grimace then was not cute anymore.

The fat moth was like going crazy,she woo-ed and wee-ed and bumped blindly in any direction at great speed(like gas molecules). For fear that she would soon discover the presence of a human being,I mustered up the courage and shuffled along the pale wall out of the gate,adrenalin rushing down like stream.

I swore never read at that ungodly hour again!

After banging the door of pantry behind me,I closed Jeffrey Archer's work in fury,making up my mind that tonight I could by no means finish it. Switching off the light in the corridor as if nothing had happened,I closed my eyes and moved towards my room,almost fearless,when a little creature caught my attention.

A gecko!!!

My brain cells could not transfer any voluntary impulses anymore,so,watching it crawl swiftly across the wall and into a hidden slot,I gave it a flying kiss----

"Selamat Malam,my dear Mr Gecko~~"