My Grandfather

The event happened fifteen years ago in a remote countryside proximity to Cambodia-Vietnam border. I was seven at that time. I lived in an ancient house with my widowed aunt and emaciated grandfather. The house was very big, and so did the land surrounding it. It was built almost one hundred years ago and left unoccupied for years when there was a civil war in the country, but my grandfather and my aunt moved in again after the war finished. My parents did not live there with them because they had to do business abroad. They left me with my aunt and grandfather and would visit us once, sometimes twice, a year. I missed them very much, and sometimes I would not sleep for the whole night; I would sit on the front ladder waiting for them.

One night, the gibbous moon was dimmed by the dense black clouds. The thunder was rumbling, once in a while, at the distance, very far away, giving an ephemeral light. There were no stars in the sky; it seemed like the planet earth was in a depressed mode, no sound, no light. Recalling the bygone memories, I looked at waning moon hovering tenuously in the sky thinking when I would meet my parents again. My aunt was asleep, my grandfather was asleep, and everyone was sleeping, safe and sound; I didn’t and I couldn’t. I missed my parents; I sorely needed them. I felt nostalgic when immediately I saw a white, dimmed figure flying through banana trees which were swaying to and fro due to the force of the gentle winds. I had a gooseflesh and felt my backbone cold. I wiped my eyes gently with my hands to make sure that I was just hallucinating a ghost; I convinced myself it was just an illusion. I frighteningly looked at that place again, but I saw nothing; I felt a bit relieved. Then I rushed in to my bedroom. I entirely covered myself tightly with a blanked. I tried to close my eyes and sleep but couldn’t. I still was awake. The atmosphere became quieter and quieter. Only the rustling of the trees’ leaves and the swaying of the trees made noise from outside, and the ancient clock hanging on the wall made noise from inside of the house. I remembered my grandmother had told me about a ghost story once before she died. She said that a ghost would appear during the full moon and that dogs would howl when they saw a ghost.  

I felt a bit relieved when hearing no dogs howling. I went out of the bedroom silently and walked to the wall and peeped through a small hole in the wall to speculate the place where I had seen a dimmed figure again. I saw nothing, not at all. I decided to open the door and sat on the ladder watching the moon again. As the wind kept blowing, the dense cloud which dimmed the moon light became thinner and thinner until there were no pieces of clouds concealing the moon from being seen. I could see the full face of the ravishingly beautiful moon, and I fancied it so much. I gazed at it admiring its glamorous beauty until I accidentally fell asleep. I slept comfortably leaning my back on the door and putting my head on my left shoulder. The cold wind was warm enough to make me felt cozy. Peacefully, yes very peacefully. But it did not long lasting. I heard a voice from a distance, a howling of dogs. The voice became clearer and clearer and came closer and closer. I was frightened; my body was trembling. Cold sweat wet my forehead. The full moon, the howling dogs, it was a sign of ghost. I shouted at the top volume of my voice but it was inaudible; I lost control of my voice, and my body too; I couldn’t move, let alone stand. I was petrified. I heard something near the banana tree, but I refused to look; I closed my eyes; I would not look, no matter what. I could smell fresh blood, really fresh, as I heard a footstep approached me. I really wanted to open my eyes to see what it really was, but dared not to.  I shrank back as it approached me. I didn’t want it to touch me; I was afraid. But, but it did touch me on my shoulder. Then it spoke; it was a man voice asking what I were doing there. I decided to open my eyes. It was my grandfather. He went out to take a pee, but unfortunately stepped on pieces of broken glass, so the blood flew out from his foot. I felt really relief, and helped him clean his injury. It was nothing, but my grandfather, not a ghost.