The sky was getting darker as the waning sun was setting below the welcoming arms of the awaiting horizon. My dad and I were planning for a night out together as it was my tweflth birthday. We were dressed to the nines as Daddy was planning to bring me for fine dining – my very first time - to celebrate the joyous occasion. Excitement was bubbling inside me. I looked like a little gentleman today, dressed in my smart tuxedo.
Seated in the limousine, our metal gate clanked open and we were prepared to set off. The headlights shone ahead as Daddy ignited the engine. Out of the blue, a motorbike abruptly turned into our driveway. In a flash, the motorcyclist and his pillion passenger, wearing balaclavas with helmets, leapt off with great agility and stormed towards our car. With a hammer, the tall man shattered the car window into smithereens and forced open the car door.
“Get out of the car now!” he boomed and shot us a malicious glare, brandishing a long silvery parang that glinted in the light. The other had a gun in his hand.
Our mouths grew agape in shock and fear pulsated in us. A pair of strong arms encased me and together with Dad, we were immediately bundled off back into the house.
Right in living room, Daddy and I, tied with thick ropes, huddled in a corner, fearful of what might happen next. Trepidation filled our pounding hearts. The robbers started ransacking the entire house and emptied all the valuables like Rolex, mobiles and notebooks. Overcome with greed, they rummaged for more, searching like hunting hounds. They were literally ripping our house apart.
They soon found the safe in the study and the taller one came, towering over us. Pressing the gun against Dad's right temple, he threatened in baleful intent, “Open your safe or you shall die.”
“Over my dead body!” Daddy replied adamantly.
This antagonised the livid robbers and they immediately treated Daddy like a punching bag and threw kicks and punches at him mercilessly in unison. Dad turned ghastly pale as he writhed on the floor in excruciating pain.
“Dad, please give them the pin!” I pleaded ashen-faced, with tears streaking down my cheeks.
Unable to withstand the beating any more, Daddy revealed the pin. When the safe door opened, the perpetrators' eyes lit up in awe and they kept chuckling in glee. It was their moment of jubilation for there were wads and wads of fifty and hundred dollar notes. I had never known that we were that rich. Scooping up all the money, they emptied them into their gargantuan bags and made a mad dash to escape.
Within minutes, a ear-splitting gunshot suddenly pierced through the air. We hurried to the window and saw what was happening. A posse of policemen in bullet-proof vests had surrounded the house, prepared to battle the armed robbers. Someone had called the police. The bullet had whizzed into the heart of the towering man and he fell to the ground in a dead faint.
“Ah Seng!” The shorter robber let out a devastating scream. He dropped his parang as he rushed towards his accomplice, cradling him in his muscular arm. “Seng, wake up! Don't leave me here!” he implored but there was no reply. His body had turned icy cold as the flow of blood continued to pool ceaselessly. A dam of emotions unleashed and the devastated man wept in inconsolable tears.
Our ordeal was finally over. Everything then happened in a blurry. The police officers moved in to arrest him swiftly. Subsequently, the crime scene was secured, statements were taken and pieces of evidence were collected. Daddy soon recovered from his injuries. With one robber dead, the other miscreant was sentenced to life imprisonment. The terrifying incident took a toll on me and I had many nightmares after that. The house was later sold for Dad did not want me to relive the horrors of the robbery.
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