The Mystery of The Sound

It was completely dark, but for the circles of lights coming from cars in the opposite direction.

A long stretch of dark road, oil palm plantations on both sides.

We were silent now, listening hard for The Sound.

Nothing.

We turn right at the bend in the road.

Grrr-thump.

There it goes ! The Sound !

We erupt into anxious chatter.

"There, I heard it ! It's from the back of the car !"

"Yes, there was definitely a sound when we turned !"

"It really sounds like something rolling around."

"Yeah, like rolling from right to left !"

Our voices faded into silence again, each with their own thoughts, own hypotheses, if you will, as to the cause of The Sound.

"Could it be the umbrella?"

"No, it didn't move."

"Could it be a suspension belt problem?"

"It doesn't really sound like it, does it?"

"What about the spare tyre?"

"No, the spare tyre is under the car. And it wouldn't make The Sound even if it were loose from its position."

Silence.

(You could almost hear the cranking of gears as brains worked.)

"You know, it actually sounds really like a bottle, rolling around."

"But there's no bottle at the back of the car. We've checked."

"Maybe we should stop the car, check again."

So we turned off the road into the petrol station that loomed big and bright in front of us.

We drove over to the "Angin dan Air" (Air and Water) section of the station. Set the car into 'Park'.

All of us dismounted, our brows furrowed.

What if something is wrong with car? What if the car stops half-way along the highway? Is it a problem with the tyres? Is there something under the car that's loose? Will we get stuck here? Can we make it back home?

All of us were thinking along the same lines, worried that the car had been affected by that rough entry we had made from the oil palm plantation onto the ledge of the road.

It was a rough road, and the car had bumped onto the ledge of the road, making a huge noise.

Ever since then, the car had been making The Sound every time we turned a corner, or even slowed down.

We bent over at every tyre, checking the rims, the air pressure. We were on our hands and knees, scouring under the car with a strong flashlight, trying to see if there was anything wrong. We opened up the boot, attempting to find an object, something that could have made The Sound.

We found nothing.

Some of us made calls to other people who might know better - the parents.

No leads on the probable cause.

We were about to give up on figuring out the problem when suddenly......

"Oh my God, could it be this???"

Xinli stands on tiptoe and reaches over the top of the car to reveal this:

A bottle.

A freakin' water bottle.

Oh, wow.

No wonder it sounded like a bottle rolling around.

Because it was a bottle rolling around.

On the roof of the car.

What a scare it gave us !

After being so tense, all of us laughed in relief, barely believing that a bottle had been the cause for our anxiety. hahaha.

Yet.

The mystery still remains:

Who (on earth was the Smart Aleck who) left the bottle on the roof of the car?

It was not one of ours.

Whose could it be?

*plays creepy haunting music*

This was what happened after we conquered Broga Hills and were on our way to dinner in Semenyih. What a scare ! >.<