The current hysteria that swept the school kids had people like me wonder, does the spirits/jins and ghosts goes marauding according to seasons?
Downtown KL, a club with gyrating bodies dancing and prancing are filled with smell of cigarettes and booze. Amidst the rapid beats and body-shaking house beat, a young 20 something Malay girl took a slow sip of alcoholic beverage with intention not to get very drunk or else someone car interior would be spilled with vomit. Occasionally, smoking a stick of freshly lit cigarette. Barely touching the edge of lips to achieve that ‘carburetor’ smoke and air mixture. Exhale into the air as moment past it disappears into thin air. A man walked up the aisle and offered drink; perhaps a better, expensive and classier variant of booze to excite the 20 something girl about the meaning of taste. A simple chat started and the man had visions of whats next, ultimately he charted his journey through the night as a wild suave stud ending messily on a sea of blankets next morning bare naked. Perhaps, a simple contact trade will do if magic does not happen as expected.
A Malay girl somewhere in a small town in Pahang sits in front of the television while doing her homework recently given by her add maths cikgu Roziah. Question is quite tough and she keeps scratching her neck. She looks on at the iron board that sits near the television. A kain tudung ( veil ) has yet to be iron out to get rid of the wrinkles for sekolah. Still, she is stuck with the add math single most mind boggling question which failure to answer might land her in danger zone if cikgu calls her forward.
Ayah is busy reading through the newspaper with headlines about Anwar and his big win. Nah. Politics never capture a chunk of her brain quadrants. Emak is busy cleaning the clothes to be hung early in the morning tomorrow. A sense of loneliness is felt. But yet, the television is turned on and playing hantu serial. All images of long haired creature inside a white veil and green eyed biawak-like humanoid make the basis of these hantu serial drama. Ah. Its something that captured every quadrant of this girl brain quadrant. She then paid attention to the drama hantu.
Simple imagination takes place. She wonder what jampi/mantra will her dad cast if a green-eyed toyol encroached into her house through the front door? Because ayah seats near the door. And the door is wide opened to let the wind in.To cool interior. Her imagination extended to kilometers away outside of her door. Reminiscence of how her geography teacher told that Pahang is rich with timber. The jungle outside there sort of become a kingdom for all sorts type of ghost, jin and spirits than wander amongst themselves.
Downtown KL, the kingdom that a sweet petite 20something girl wander were filled with bright neons and bursts of loud laugh of fellow girls which had their partners visiting clubs, pubs and bistros. She made a stop to a mamak stall with her mates. She scratches because she is sweating. Of course, she did dance for a couple of minutes recently with that unknown guy. But, his suave confidence saw attempts of him landing his palm in few ticklish and sensitive areas. She is not in the mood, so she politely pulled out. The girl seating opposite keeps telling about the bitchy is her housemate. She tells about which shop to get good dresses. She tells about the cocktail parties, and whom is invited or associated.
Can I assume the hysteria sweep is just the collective-belief atmosphere that influences them?
Back in the Pahang smalltown, ayah started his Honda Petak. The engine started abruptly, moments, it sounded like the engine might gone dead. Thin white smoke coming out of the exhaust. No helmet is worn since the school is situated a few kilometers. No JPJ would want to conduct an operation as its still early in the morning. They would probably be busy humping their wives or enjoying teh-o-kaw with two half-boiled eggs. Emak, as expected, are carefully hanging the clothes which she manually washed last night. Water can still seen dripping onto the earth. Sun has not fully revealed itself. The grass is thickly covered with embun – or dew. It left a trail as ayah motorcycle went on top of it.
As ayah went through the kampong road, the girl adjusted her tudung, so that it would not fluff too hard. Luckily she managed to iron it, but the add math sum is still left in limbo. She had to find her smarter classmates to sort things out before double-period add maths come after recess. As ayah Honda petak passes through a thick jungle and improperly managed bushy FELDA lot on the right, with hill backdrop things begins to get a little gloomy. The girl remember the drama hantu which long haired in white cloth would partially reveal the face behind the old trees. Fear begins to grip. A loose grip because her worries is still focused on the unsettled Add Math sum. Cikgu Roziah will sure get mad.
Morning in Klang Valley, the 20something Malay girl start to get out of bed. She had to get to college. Media studies class will begin in matter of minutes. Mass communication is what she always wanted to do. The expressway are really busy with vehicles lining up to get their tolls paid, she can see it through her apartment bay window. She is worried about the clothes which she is going to wear. A pair of heels which she bought last week was not opened yet as she finds no matching clothes. She felt lazy, but she must go to her college. She noticed her saliva still had that booze smell. SMS inbox were filled with messages inviting her to check out new clubs,bistro or just simple hanging out spot. Mr.Suave which bravely laid a few of his fingers on her petite curves last night had send a message too. Two actually. She honestly felt not in the mood to give it a ‘go’.
The Honda Petak arrives safely infront of sekolah. She kissed her dad hands and proceed to the school compound. She quickly enters the class although there is merely only 10 minutes before the assembly bell rings. Like mentioned earlier, the add maths sum bothered her. She needs to sort it out before Cikgu Roziah stepped into the classroom. Inside the classroom, she met Latifah. Her ayah is a rubber tapper and emak is a nasi-lemak and kuih-kuaci maker cum seller. Latifah seems to partially complete the add maths sum. She proceeded to copy her work. At least cikgu roziah might realize her effort. Latifah is then joined with Syahirah and Rohaizatul. They talked about the breeze that moved branches visible from their classroom and strange sounds of bird outside. She begins to remember the dramahantu she saw yesterday. The black hairy inside white veil that barely walk but float. The green-eyed lizard like humanoid that colours matches the lush timber landscape of inner Pahang.
She begins it with precursor words like “ takut, sejuk, pelik “ ( scary, cold and unusual ). With Latifah, Syahirah and Rohaizatul that had witnessed the drama hantu the night before, they begin to think differently about the nature works surrounding them. Making things worst, Latifah uncle is a bomoh (shaman). Syahirah grandfather was a former ketua-kampung (village chief) and Rohaizatul brother-in-law is a penggali kubur (undertaker). Their work are not necessarily mystical, but their weird ‘carried-forward’ stories made these girl lend their ears with total concentration.
All of sudden, Latifah, the daughter of the rubber tapper, screamed and shouted with a strange loud pitch that broke the silence. She later fell to the school cement floor and twitching continuously. Her body bend and twisted. The other girls ran outside the classroom. Leaving the boys looking curiously at Latifah. Moments later, an English teacher came in to monitor the situation. Minutes, ustaz came in to control the situation. By this moment, the other girl had told the other school mates about the strange occurrence. A special assembly is held at the field. Students were wondering what really happened. As one person tells another, the story gets spookier. The 5th person tells about Latifah screaming like a crow and by 10th person, Latifah screamed like a crow because his rubber-tapper ayah were interrupting the crows habitat. The other three girls were left fear as they would be next to be attacked by the ‘thing’. Because they seems to felt the same emotion moments before the freaky thing occurred: “takut, sejuk, pelik “. They all have heard what mother always said; be sure to take care of your hygiene as during PMS, ‘things’ easily comes to haunt.
Suddenly another girl screamed and dropped to the assembly field twitching. Two down, two more to go.
Perhaps, its all in the mind ?
