Whispers

Those of us who use Yahoo Messenger (YM) would certainly be familiar with the notification sound when our contacts come online or goes offline. The sound is akin to a whisper (for lack of a better way to describe it). It sounds like "Psssttt..." or something like that. This is actually the default sound for YM which one can actually change if one chooses to. I never changed the default setting simply because I didn't think that it'd make much difference.

Several months ago, my wife was at my office. She was marking her exam scripts while I was doing my work in front of my trusted laptop. Then I had to leave the room to attend to some matters on the administrative floor. When I came back, my wife asked me whether I have an automated air freshener in the room. You know, the one that would spray air freshener at certain intervals. I said, no. When I inquired her reason for asking, she said that she heard the sound of something similar to an automated air freshener.

I didn't respond because she could just be imagining things. Then I had to leave the room again, this time for a discussion on Level 2. About 15 minutes into the discussion, I received a text message from my wife saying that she has left the office building. When I met her later, she told me that she kept hearing the "whispering" sounds when I left the room. To hear whispers when no one is around was certainly too much for her to take. Strangely enough, these whispers were conspicuously absent when I was around.

Now, bear in mind that this incident takes place one day after a staff who was working late said that he saw "a shadowy figure" lurking in the background on his floor (Level 1). The staff rushed out of the office into the elevator, and he could hear "footsteps" chasing him down the stairs. He could also smell some sort of fragrance during the incident.

With that incident happening the day before, I did not want to speculate on the whispers that my wife heard. For days and weeks that followed, I have been staying back late for work, and I didn't hear any whispers in my room. That certainly got me puzzled.

Puzzled, that is, until two days ago.

I was at the office late at night with Rohaizad working on the book "Ke Arah Umat Hadhari". I was just outside my room when I heard a "whispering" sound. At first, the sound took me by surprise. But upon rationalising things, I realised that the sound was very familiar. I rushed into my room, stood in front of my laptop, and I started laughing when I realised what the whispers were.

It was the sound of one of my YM contacts going offline. All this while, I hear the same sound when I am in front of the laptop. So, the sound comes at the same time as the text notification of someone coming online or going offline. As such, my mind did not register anything peculiar or odd. Only when I was not in front of my laptop that I realise that the sound can be mistaken for someone whispering.

When my wife heard the whispers, she was not in front of the laptop. To her, it was like someone was whispering to her.

I told my wife what the whispering sound actually was. She nodded, but I don't think she is totally convinced. After all, the incident involving my staff on Level 1 is still unexplained until this very day.