A house with a history

The Nair family moved from KL to Ipoh, where Mr Nair had a new hospital job. Mrs Nair found them a home: a hundred-year-old shophouse on a quiet street in the old town.

It was a little dilapidated. The paint was coming off the walls, and two windows were broken. But the ceilings were high, and the wooden doors had ornate carvings of birds and flowers, beautiful and full of detail.

On the first day, Auntie Siew from next door came to say hello. "You know this house has a ghost?" she said quietly. "Towkay Chan. He built it in 1925. He walks at night."

Mr Nair thanked her, but he was a sceptical man. He did not believe anything without proof.

Mrs Nair was even more pragmatic. She cared about what worked, not about old stories. "If there is a ghost," she said, "I hope he helps with the cleaning."

The ten-year-old twins, Arjun and Anand, were thrilled. Priya, fifteen, said nothing. To her the house felt eerie: strange, silent and a little frightening.

At midnight, Priya woke up. Heavy chains were moving slowly down the wooden stairs. The twins were oblivious. They slept through the whole thing and noticed nothing.

In the morning, her father was dismissive. "Old pipes," he said, without looking up from his newspaper.

But on the floor of the front room there was a dark red stain in the shape of a hand. It had not been there the night before.