Hide and Seek

by Maureen
(Philippines)

When I was six my three cousins and I used to play hide and seek in my aunt's house. My aunt was already old and sick at the time but her house was the only place with good hiding spots and we lived near there anyway.

One day while we were playing, it was my turn to be the 'it' so I turned around to face the door of my aunt's room and started to count up to twenty. Once I got to twelve I heard a creepy high pitch laugh. At first I thought it was my cousin's but it sounded a bit different - like she was part crying and part laughing.

Once I got to twenty I started to look for them and found two of them in the kitchen. We searched for our missing cousin but couldn't find her. Finally, we shouted that we give up and she could come out already. After a moment of complete silence we all heard a laugh, the same one I heard before, but it was coming from behind the curtains. "Hey, come out already" one of my cousins said.

No reply.

We walked closer to the curtain and saw a pair of dirty feet sticking out. "Hannah!" I yelled "come out already!" At the exact same moment my cousin, Hannah, stepped out from the bathroom from behind us "alright fiiine" she laughed. Everyone else had the exact same thought.. "If you were in there...who was that?"

We all turned to the curtain and pulled it open. Nobody was there but we could still hear the girl's high pitched laugh ringing in our ears. We swore never to play Hide and Seek in my aunt's house ever again.