1) The narrator goes to her aunt's house to babysit her cousin Merlyn while it is raining heavily. 2) During a loud thunderstorm, Merlyn wakes up scared and the narrator sings to comfort her. She imagines seeing an old creature at the window that frightens her. 3) After briefly falling asleep, the narrator hears banging sounds from the kitchen but finds no one there. She realizes her aunt has not returned home, leaving the source of the sounds unexplained.

1. The Creature
routine meeting with her husband. The meeting was held in the city
away from home. So, I had to take care of their only kid since I got
It was extremely dark evening when the light was out. It was always
home at two.
gonna be like that if the rain hard splashed the earth. And so in my
auntie’s house. I remember, that was on Thursday at five in the
afternoon when the horrible scene begun. Hard rain made the
situation felt to be dark and gloomy night. My auntie’s house seemed
like an old cemetery area located miles away from the others. It was
separated by a long grave river. The back yard was decorated by
great dense and branch trees which seemed like skeleton’s hands
creeping the roof of my auntie’s house. It was doom and cold. I was
The thunder and lightning started blaming the earth, so often, and so
noisy. When the light was flashing the dark, the room suddenly so
bright for a moment. After that, the thunder could be heard so loud.
Blam…! Blam…! The thunder showed its super noise, it irritated my
ear. It was very loud until Merlyn woke up by its noise. She was
sleeping before the hard rain because she was so tired after playing
jokes with me all the time. She woke up.
sitting in the living room, dealing with my mobile phone in my hand. I
was playing games and I did not care about the dark.
“Kina…! Come here please, I’m so scared!” Merlyn screamed while
she was calling out my name. so loud. She heard so scared. “Okay
That day, I came to my auntie’s house where about a kilometer away
from my house. I went to take care of my nephew named Merlyn.
She was about five years old. She was a very cute and fat girl with
long wavy hair. My auntie who is Merlyn’s mother, was attending a
dear, I’m coming.” I answered loudly, competed to the rumbling
thunder. I crept in the darkness, accompanied with the dim of a
candle light in my hand. “Sister…hurry up, please. I’m so scared. It’s
so dark. Please help me.” I heard her shivering voice again. I forced
my step. The distance from the living room to the Merlyn’s bed room
@restianantika

2. was quite far. My auntie’s house was an old big house given by my
neck. I still sat on her soft bed when I was starting to sing.
granny.
The living room in the front was full of wooden furniture. They were
The only thing can make her sleep is by rubbing her head and
four wooden chairs around a table. The next room I passed was the
singing. Commonly, the song is lullaby song, but Merlyn does not like
dining room. My auntie and her family usually spent their time here.
it. She likes “Burung kakatoa” ( The Krakatoa Birds ) as her lullaby.
The room was separated by wooden wall. And one thing, as my
So i started to sing. I knew it was a little bit odd singing in the
opinion, the door set up was so odd. It was so uncreative room set
thunder. I had to force my voice louder because I knew Merlyn was
when the door was lined straight away like a corridor of a train.
still awake. I had repeated the song three times but I still found her
Finally, I got the kitchen and passed it to Merlyn’s bedroom at the
awake. I kept singing. I felt like an idiot singing a wrong song in a
very corner of the house.
wrong time. I tried to make her feel comfort and hear my voice. I
made my head a little closer to Merlyn’s ear so that my voice could
I was stood in the front of her bedroom. It was unlocked. The door
be heard though it was vague.
was half opened. She was sitting on her soft bed and she was
covered by her blanket. She seemed very scared. She was
I continued singing maybe I had been singing for five times. I thought
shivering. Directly, I sat on her bed beside her. I rub her head and I
about the lyrics deeply : The Kakatoa birds...........perch in a
hugged her. “Hush…chill out my dear. It’s okay. Don’t worry, I’m here
window.........my old old granny.......has only two teeth. I sang
with you. You had better to sleep again. I will sleep with you until the
consciously. Then I realize that the blaming thunder had gone. I kept
light is on”. She was so tired so she started to sleep again. I
singing in a lower and lower voice. Merlyn didn’t fall asleep, she
continued rubbing her hair. I covered her body with the blanket to her
turns her body sideways, her face was facing the wall. I kept singing
@restianantika

3. while I looked around the whole Merlyn’s room. I looked the room
to because there was nobody see me.
with the corner of my eyes. Everything was wooden furniture. A
cupboard, a desk, a chair, and a bed I sat on. The last, my view was
It had been a minute I covered my face with my hands. I wiped my
trapped on a window the next cupboard. The curtain was blowing by
face hoping that my fear would be gone away. I started to look at the
the wind although the window was closed. The wind blew the curtain
window once again. There was nothing. Yes, there was nothing. I
through the ventilation of the window. Once again, I felt something
convinced my self. I knew I only imagined something too much. Then
wrong.
I felt better than before. I looked at Merlyn next of me. She was fine
and fell asleep. Still in my position on Merlyn’s bed, I took my mobile
Suddenly, I felt scared while I was singing that song. The lyrics
phone on my Jeans pocket. I saw the time was at 6 pm. It was late
forced my mind to create such scary imagination of a creature of
but the light had not on yet. I was felt a little bit scared but not as
ghost or something. I imagined about the lyrics I sang. I imagined
much as before. I decided to lay my body on the bed and took a nap.
about the old creature on the window. I was so scared so I stopped
singing. I saw an old woman, like a grandmother. She had long white
I felt like standing alone at somewhere. It was a dark forest or
hair, her back was crooked, her face was wrinkled, her face was so
something. Suddenly, it was changed. I felt like standing in a long
scary, her voice was very husky, and she grinned at me like a ghost!
path of a dark and quite village. When I started to walk, the
My fear was getting higher as I imagined the old creature who has
background had been changed into a long big crossroad but odd.
two teeth and grins at me like a ghost. Oh my god, I wanted to
There were coarse grass in the right and left side of the road.
scream, but I could only cover my face with my palms. I realized that
Suddenly, I was shocked by sound from my back. Blam! It was so
I was fainthearted and I felt so shy. I didn’t know to whom I ashamed
loud. The sound was like a falling table or a blaming cupboard. But i
@restianantika

4. could not see anything at all. I could only hear the sound. And again,
I felt a little bit disappointed and dejected because I found my auntie
Blam! Blam!
was there cooking but she didn’t answer me before. She was
cooking in the dim. So busy with her food. She was accompanied by
So I opened my eyes and realized that I was sleeping and dreaming.
a candle light which I put before. She was a fat woman and she had
I looked at Merlyn, and she was alright. The situation was not
long hair. She was wearing faded green trousers. I could only see
changed. It was dark and cold by the hard rain. I looked at my
her back because she didn’t look at me at all. I felt relief, then I
phone, and I knew i had been slept for about ten minutes, but it felt
thought that maybe she came home when I was sleeping. And then
like just a minute.
she prepared meals for her family and me.
Blam! Blam! Blam! The sound could be heard again. The sound was
So I left while taking my bag on. I yelled at her from the living room,
same as in my recent dream. But I was awake. I was awake. The
“Auntie, it has been so late, and I must go home now! Okay?”. But
sound came from the kitchen. Then the sound was clearly changed
she didn’t answered. When I was out from the house to take my bike,
to be kitchen utensils sound that used for cooking. I wanted to know
suddenly the light is on. I felt so upset but relief. I thought the light
what was happen. I took my feet down from the bed. Then I walked
played me. “Oh, okay then!”. I grumbled. Once more, I wanted to say
to the kitchen and yelled, “Hey auntie, is that you cooking?”. There
goodbye to my auntie. Yelling I said, “Good bye auntie! I’m leaving
was no answer, so I went closer to the kitchen. I heard the sound of
now! Merlyn is such a kind girl today! Bye!”
frying pan. “Hello auntie? Can you hear me?”. There was still no
answer. Finally, I got the kitchen. Then I saw a creature.
I drove my bike in a hurry to home when suddenly I met a familiar
face ridding his motorcycle. I knew it, he was my uncle, Radit. He
@restianantika

5. saw me too so he stopped his motorbike. He said, “Hey Kina, will
you go home now?” Then I said, “Yes. I have to go home now. I got
so many things to prepare.” He answered, “Oh, alright then. And how
about Merlyn? Is she okay?”. I said proudly, “Of course, she is so
fine. She is so happy with me all the time”. Then suddenly I heard
one more familiar voice. “Oh great, Kina. I think you are a good
babysitter honey.” And the voice laughed so hard. She thought it was
a joke. Yes it was, but not for this time.
I looked at the women behind my uncle’s back, I felt my heart was
gonna blown up. “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! Auntie! You
are here! Aarrgghh....!” I tried so hard to sit on my saddle and went
away. I tried so hard balancing myself on my bike. I felt like I wanna
run away but my body shivered so much. Finally I got on my bike an
ran my bike away. Along the way home, i thought about the creature,
the women on the kitchen. I thought it was my auntie. But I knew
then, my auntie had not go home yet!
@restianantika
THE END