I was scared.

I always perform my prayer first before I go home, and normally it would be late evening. The female surau or the praying room is located at level One. The room is at the end on the first turn. The whole floor house the meeting rooms, and normally by late evening, it will be very quiet. The surau is also a little bit secluded.

Occasionally, I would meet few people who were also rushing to pray before catching the bus or train or driving their car homes, but most of the time, I would be there alone. 

Since the floor is kind of almost empty, I would be a little bit cautious of my surrounding. I would look at the male surau, which is not far from the female surau. If I saw someone praying, I would be happy as there was still someone around.

When I reached the surau, I pushed the door slowly, and checked who else is there with me. If I saw someone in there, I would feel relief, else I would brave myself to enter. I would then put my things on the bench and slowly took my time to remove my shoes, my badge, and my tudung before I proceed to enter the praying hall.

Once I have put down my things, I would lay the praying mat, took my telekong and also my special chair. Hmmm... if you wonder why I have chair, it is because I cannot pray like normal due to my knee and back problem. I then proceed to take my ablutions and get ready to pray.

There were few occasion while I was praying I smelled something like man's hair cream. I just ignored it, but lately, it was quite frequent and normally, after I finished my prayer. Every time, I smelled that, I would look around, looking for the source of the smell, but the room is empty except for me.

"Ahh.. this is not good," I said, and I quickly folded my telekong, put on my tudung and within five minutes, I would be out from the room.

Yesterday, it happened again. I was alone in the surau and was putting away my telekong in the cabinet. I was adjusting my tudung, looking at the mirror when suddenly, I smelled it again. I looked around. No one. I continued to adjust my tudung, and when I looked up to the ceiling, I saw the source of the smell. Perched high on the wall is the air freshener.

Damn! All this while, the air freshener has been scaring me. I thought it was a ghost. I laughed loudly, happy and relief that I found the source that scared me for months. Every time I think about it, I smiled, I can't believe that the air freshener has been playing a trick on me, and I don't know who else experience the same thing like me.

Salam