Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night?

 

Yes, I most certainly have, (not exactly in the middle of the night though, more like pre-dawn) and it wasn’t such a good experience…...

 

During the summer of 2019, I had gone for a night screening of Avengers: Endgame. The show ended at around midnight and it took us another hour to get back home, so I slept at approximately 1.30 am. I have a habit of waking up around three hours after falling asleep. On that day, I was woken up at around 4 am by the sound of Beethoven’s Fur Elise. But in my hazy state, I thought that it was 1 am and was wondering who was playing Fur Elise in the middle of the night? My over-imaginative, half-awake brain (completely forgetting about the previous day’s events) deduced that my house was haunted and that the ghost was playing the piano. I was scared out of my wits, waiting in my room for the music to stop playing. I was muttering prayers under my breath, begging god to not let any unholy spirit get hold of me. I even prayed to god saying that if I get out of this situation alive, I will do anything you ask for. I was even frantically searching for my mobile to play Hanuman Chalisa to ward off ghosts, but to no avail. So, I waited agonisingly for God-knows-what amount of time for the music to stop. Once it stopped, with my blanket acting as protection, I dashed out of my room and started wildly banging on my parents’ bedroom door. My parents woke up with a start. I was in a dishevelled state, shaking wildly and clutching a blanket to my chest. When they opened the door, I ran straight inside and said, “There is someone there, playing the piano. They’re going to come! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!” My parents calmed me down and finally I fell asleep.

 

When I woke up the next day, I was met with the concerned face of my mother. When she asked me about what happened to me the previous night, I said that I woke up at midnight to someone playing Fur Elise on the piano and that I thought that our house was haunted, because nobody in my family knows to play the piano. All this time, my mom’s expressions kept changing from concerned to confused and finally one of trying to hold back her laughter. After I finished, my mom broke out into a laugh, not a small giggle, but a full-blown belly laugh. When I asked her what’s so funny about that, she said, “Akshata, did you forget that we came back home at 1 am? We don’t even have a piano, so forget about ghosts, even we won’t be able to play the piano. And let me tell you, you came to our room at 4 am, not midnight. Also, that Fur Elise was nothing but your father’s alarm.” My mother once again started laughing and I sat there, burning with embarrassment. When my mother told this to my father, he too broke out into a fit of laughter and told me to give a little rest to my over-imaginative mind. I ended up being the laughing stock for a whole week! 

 

I personally think that my “bizarre” reaction to a simple alarm was the result of watching The Nun, The Conjuring and coming across various supernatural theories about ghosts, spirits and time after midnight being the “witching hour” over the years, combined with my over-imaginative mind (guilty as charged!).  From that day forward, I always sleep with a mobile or a watch by my side to prevent such incidents from occurring again. I also made my father change his alarm ringtone to something more “normal” (according to my standards) – like windchimes or chirping birds.

 

After overcoming the initial embarrassment, I found the situation utterly hilarious and whenever I hear about it from my parents, instead of feeling embarrassed, I enjoy a hearty laugh along with them.

So……... Have YOU ever woken up in the middle of the night??

Signing off,

Akshata😉

PS: The amazingly spooky image at the top was made by my friend Pranamya.

You can see her stellar work on her instagram Pranamya_art