Dark room

I woke up to a dark room.

Let me bring you on a tour around my neighbourhood:



Sounds of collected rain drops dripping on neighbour's aluminium roof. It must've rained while I was asleep.

I hear people locking and unlocking their metal gate. People coming back from work, I guess.

A car thunders by and it's headlights reflected on my dark room's wall. Reminds me of those sleepless nights in Klebang, where I would count the cars that pass by, by looking on their headlights reflected on the walls.

Downstairs, I can hear my housemate's spatula clinking on her wok. Dinner time.

The opposite street lights gives out a orangy light that hits on my bedroom window. A nostalgic reminder of nightfall.

Further away, I hear people cheering and laughing. Must be from the mamak stall one block away.

Honks and motor engine travel to my eardrums. They sound like from a distance. Must be from the main road opposite Jaya One.


So many happenings, but sometimes, everything goes quiet.
No cars passing by. No people cheering or laughing. No housemate cooking.

Just the humming of my bedroom fan. I feel it's cool breeze. I close my eyes and buried my face in my pillow and breathe in my shirt's scent. My fingers went in my hair. It's cool after being blown by the fan. Soft, silky, light. I just washed them before my nap. They smell of my shampoo. I am happy.
It's not that I'm lazy to get up, on the lights and proceed to do things normal people will do, it's just that I want to cherish this moment.

This moment of being alone and quiet. I'm in my own world.


I enjoy all these little things. It makes me feel alive. Why? Because I know that I have to be alive to feel these things. Things we take for granted in our daily life. What are those you ask? The ability to hear. The ability to feel. The ability to take in all these sounds and connect them with your past memories.

As I'm typing all these, I'm doing them in the dark. My room lights are working, I just don't want to turn them on. Because somehow when I do turn the lights on, it's like this quiet and magical world of mine will disappear along with the darkness.

It's weird but true. Turning on the florescent lights makes me shut down my observation towards things happening around my neighbourhood. My brain will choose to ignore all the little sounds and I'll only focus on whatever I'm doing, which is fine, but... boring.

Maybe it's in the dark that our senses are enhanced. Since our vision is down, our ears work extra. Just our bodies adapting to surroundings.


But whatever it is, I like this.

I like to be alone and quiet in my dark room, listening to things around me, knowing that I'm actually living in a busy world.

Thank you Dad, for letting me live this moment in my dark room.