At my old house in Kelana Jaya, there was this small dark store room under the staircase. You can only enter the room through this really small door that’s accessible from the outside. The size of the door reminded me of the doors that Alice had to choose to open to go to Wonderland. That store room was my perfect hiding place when I was a kid. Whenever I was in trouble (or trouble came looking for me), I would hide in that room. It was filthy. Cobwebs everywhere, smell of rat piss, cockroaches & other (not so) friendly insects. Even at night, whenever I couldn’t sleep (or trouble came looking for me), I would hide in the store room in total darkness, accompanied by the sound of crickets. By sunrise, I would quickly get back into the house & change for school. Sometimes, whenever I just feel like it, I would just go to the store room, locked myself & just stay in the darkness for hours and hours. While this may sound weird & strange to you, but that store room was my place of solitude. Even as a kid, I was already displaying some sort of eccentric behaviour.
I miss that store room right now. And I miss the strange places I hang out to just be in the dark for the simplest reason: To be at peace.
Even as a grown up, I still yearn for that time in darkness. And the sound of crickets.
I too have an interest in room with total darkness. However, my spot was under a table which has three walls around it with the lights switched off. You are not alone…
Comment by Amirul Ali — January 22, 2010 @ 1:46 AM