Hide And Go-seek

This is one of many strange things that happened in my childhood home. This house was was a very old two story wooden house or "Queenslander" as we call them in Australia. I was around the age of twelve at this time.

On this particular night my Aunty and Uncle had come to visit us and along with them were my four cousins from the ages of six to fourteen. My parents were outside on the deck at the back of the house catching up with my Aunty and Uncle, us kids decided that we would play hide and seek in the dark.

One of my cousins was elected to be the "finder" and the rest of us hid. Being my house, I naturally knew the best places and so I chose to hide between a linen cupboard and the wall of our bathroom with the door of the cupboard opened to create an enclosed space for me to hide. I could hear my cousin searching and the sounds were very clear whenever one of them was found, walked passed or talked.

After awhile I still had not been found and I realised that I could not hear them searching. I waited a little longer as I thought it may have been a trick to lure me out. After another ten minutes or so I decided that I will come out. As I was about to push the door open, in my ear I hear a soft giggling and whispering. It was almost like someone was laughing at me for some reason. It felt so close to my ear that I could feel it. I couldn't make out the words but they were saying something and laughing about it softly.

I assumed that it was my cousins on the other side of the cupboard though part of me felt it was something else, and the voice I did not recognise. It was a child's voice and I pushed the door open and walked out into the dark hall to realise that I was the only person in the entire house. At this moment I was quite freaked out and ran as fast as I could outside to where my parents were entertaining on the deck. As I got to them I could see that everyone was there and one of my cousins mentioned that they gave up searching a long time ago. I was speechless.

All I know is that there was someone there that night, and whoever it was... Was playing hide and seek with us.