Sleepless in Pondok Indah

Last night, I experienced something tense.

It was just a few minutes after midnight. I was in my room and about to retire to bed when suddenly a loud thud came from the ceiling of my room.

This was followed by a peculiar sound. Similar to the sound you get when you slide two pieces of plywood against each other. Almost like someone dragging one's foot on the gypsum board.

I stayed still. Eyes gazed at the ceiling.

Silent.

Then it happened again. The dragging sound.

It couldn't be a rat. The thud was too loud to be caused by a rat. And the peculiar sound? A rat on cruthes???

I quickly reach for my mobile and called the Pos Keamanan's number.

Me : *Trying to sound as calm and as dignified as possible* Malam mas. Saya Pak Azuan dari rumah nomer dotdotdot di jalan dotdotdot. Boleh datang ke sini? Barusan saya dengar kayak ada orang berjalan di atas atap rumah saya.

Mas PK : Malam pak. Maaf pak. Bapak di rumah yang mana?

Me : Di jalan dotdotdot, nomer dotdotdot. Sepertinya ada orang di atas atap rumah saya. Mohon mas datang dengan segera.

Mas PK : Ohh di nomer dotdotdot. Saya Sofyan bos.

Me : *dah tak maintain macho dah* aduhh Sofyan... cepatan datang. Barusan saya dengar bunyi kayak orang jalan di atas rumah saya. Cepat Sofyan!! Bunyinya kuat!! *I swear I sounded like a bad sinetron actor*

If you recall, Sofyan was the area's security personnel who helped resolve my uncollected garbage problem a couple of months back.

I stayed put in my room.

Then, less than two minutes later (damn... they are more efficient than Ampang's police), someone rang the bell. I ran down the stairs and opened the door. It was Sofyan. He came with six others. Apart from Sofyan I knew one other guy, Ruslee.

I opened the gates and asked them to come in. Sofyan and Ruslee followed me to the balcony just outside my room while three others went to the inner courtyard. Two stood guard at the main door.

Barefooted, Sofyan climbed up the roof. I then asked Ruslee to accompany me to check the balcony leading to the maid's room at the back.

Momets later, Sofyan appeared from the roof just above the maid's room. He then got down stepping on the steel construction which holds the water tank.

They were at my house inspecting every room and corners for nearly 20 minutes. No sign of any person trying to break in.

Before they left we chatted at the main gate.

Sofyan : Gak usah kuatir pak. Pas tadi saya di atap, saya lihat yang jaga di rumah belakang juga lagi nyalain senter ngadep ke arah saya.

Me : Oh ya? Tetangga saya di belakang ada satpam ya?

Sofyan : Iya.

Apparently I found out last night, my neighbour at the back is a big shot of Partai Golkar.

Ruslee : Dulu pernah ada yang coba masuk ke rumah Sherina di hujung sana.

Me: Oh ya? Sherina siapa?

Ruslee : Sherina yang artis itu.

Me : Ohhhh (pretending to know who this Sherina is)

Ruslee : Pernah juga dulu ada warga yang di rampok. Tapi perampoknya gak bisa di lihat bos. Pakei ilmu!!

Damn!! Just the piece of information which I seriously do not need to know. That made the hair on my forearms stood on end.

Ruslee : Tapi gak usah takut bos. Kalo ada apa-apa, telpon aja ke pos keamanan.

With those reassuring words from Ruslee, I thanked them for coming and apologised for the hassle.

What made me worry was, last weekend, while I was about to shut my gates and leave for the gym, a man was walking by and his eyes peered intently into my house.

And two days later, the same suspicious man, walked by at the time when I was about to leave for Fx. Sheer coincidence? Well, probably.

But those two incidents were enough to make me uneasy.

As I'm typing this, I'm feeling sleepy as hell. I had just a few hours of sleep last night. I would open my eyes at the slightest of sound. And the invisible perampok story from Ruslee made going to sleep more difficult. And last night was malam Jum'at.

Lucky me, I'll have company for 3 nights starting tonight. My former boss will arrive later today for a short visit.

I'll worry about the invisible perampok next week.