The day Ah Gong came home

As a butterfly.

No, you didn't read wrongly. Ah Gong came home on the same day the Ghost Festival began. He came to visit Daddy and he whispered in his ear that he was gonna come and see us the following night.

His soul came back in the form of a butterfly. A really huge one. It's about the size of both palms put together. To be honest, I've never seen such a huge butterfly in my entire life. And, I still haven't, since I wasn't there to witness the homecoming of my grandfather.

It seems all the butterflies I've ever seen in my life look something like this.

Well, he came home at about 10pm the night before and hovered around my grandmother, persistent in its intent. It flew right in front of my grandmother and refused to leave.

I asked my Daddy, "So, what was Ah Ma's reaction?"

"Ah Ma ah... Ah Ma just ignored the butterfly loh."

My Mum told me that he also went to visit an uncle of mine. I was, like, "Huh? How does he go from our house to his?"

"Aiya, he knows where your uncle stays mah."

"Yeah, I know. But, how does he travel, you know. I mean, does he take the bus or what?"

"Ah Gong flys!"

"Huh? You mean ghosts can fly meh?" At this point in time, I am thinking whether they fly at a speed that can put SIA out of business.

"Of course lah! You mean you didn't know ghosts can fly?" My maid piped in.

Sorry, I'm a bit of a realist. But, I do believe in the supernatural, though.

Anyway, as it turns out, that uncle of mine was in the same room as my grandmother at that time when my "grandfather" returned.

"So, what did Uncle do?" I asked my Dad.

"He wanted to stay, he didn't want to leave the butterfly."

"So what made him leave?"

"Well, Ah Ma chased him out of the room."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because Ah Ma wanted to sleep."

So, my mind kept taunting me with images of grandfather returning. So much so that I spent the whole night wide awake in bed, waiting for a butterfly to appear out of nowhere or fly through the door since I've always watched in movies that ghosts can fly through things.

My eyelids were so heavy and desperate for sleep, and yet I couldn't help but stay awake the whole night awaiting Ah Gong's "arrival". I ended up cuddled up in bed, occassionally poking my half-awake, half-asleep sister beside me. Half-awake because I woke her up. And half-asleep because she went back to sleep after I woke her up.

Once or twice, I dozed off. Only to wake up screaming after having a nightmare. Well, I had a dream that I was at Ah Gong's funeral wake. The only difference was that the wake was held in our bedroom! And, the coffin was placed just beside our bed. The mood was very depressing, and it was dark and gloomy all around. Then, suddenly, as I got into bed, I felt a hand reach out and touch me, and I screamed...Then I woke up.

And, so I waited and waited, for the butterfly to appear, to hover above my ceiling, anything. For someone to whisper into my ear and say something like, "I'm gonna visit your Brother tomorrow night."

As it turns out, he never did appear.

Or, at the very least, he made no sign of his appearance. Maybe, he came, but he was invisible. You know, like Harry Potter, who becomes invisible after putting on the invisible cloak or something. Maybe he just didn't want to disturb us. Or maybe he changed his schedule. Or maybe something else cropped up and he couldn't make it.

Well, anyway, Daddy says Ah Gong touched him and his touch was very cold.

On a different note, Mummy was reading the papers yesterday. It was an article on a group of ghostbusters or something, experimenting to gather evidence of the existence of ghosts. They placed powder on the floor, and gigantic footprints appeared. Those with the "third eye" also say that they see ghosts more frequently now. Among the trees. Everywhere.

Sheesh. And, this year, it's gonna be a double lunar year. Meaning there will be two months of the ghost festival, instead of the usual one.