Chapter 4: Pregnant (Part 4)

...together with us since he moved a lot when he slept, and he might hit the baby.

One night, the power went out again! My husband and I dived towards our baby and even bumped heads too. I told my husband, “Do you hear those footsteps on the roof? It sounds like a person’s walking on it.”

The odd thing was that our dog didn’t even bark at it, and it was the type to go wild at intruders, even cockroaches!

My husband got his Japanese-style sword and went out of the house. He went around it and listened for whatever it was. He threw something onto our roof, and something fell onto our neighbor’s roof.

I was worried, as my baby was still so young. I carried her and didn’t put her back on the mattress.

All the flashlights were switched on and pointed at different directions. My eyes, however, were trained on the window. I wasn’t afraid since right outside, near the window, there slept our dog. If someone started standing over there, the dog wouldn’t just stare at them since it was protective of me.

It’s just that, on that night, he didn’t bark at all.

When my husband went back inside, we prayed. I uttered a silent prayer, while he said one out loud in Arabic. My husband was Muslim.

Suddenly something cried out in some kind of moan. The hairs on my body all stood on end and goosebumps erupted all over me as well.

My husband went out again. I cracked the window open.

There was a large black cat sitting in our yard, it had probably gotten inside because our fence was made of bamboo. Anyway, it was sitting smack dab in the middle of it. The power was out, and it was dark, but I could see it because the moon was bright outside.

My husband tried to throw things at the cat, but it didn’t go away. It mewled strangely, sounding like a crying woman.

Meanwhile, I continued praying. It was just a silent prayer, but the beating in my chest was intense.

My husband then went back inside the house and got out his sword again. He also got himself some salt and a pitcher of cold water. I didn’t know which of the three he used to drive away the cat, but after a long while, the cat stopped making noise.

However, our dog was acting strangely. He paced to and from the window, not barking at all, but you know he was worried about something. He kept whining, as if he was stressed out.

My husband and I didn’t dare sleep until dawn came.

After that, we pulled many more all-nighters. We still heard those mysterious and creepy footsteps, and it wasn’t just the cat that visited us every night.

However, we didn’t give in to our fear.

My husband bought one of those rechargeable fans that had LED lights on the side. When the power went out...