The Mouse Deer Society

٢. Season of Witches

The sun had begun to creep on the tiled rooftops of the houses when Lyra crossed the road and took a turn towards the lonely leafless tree that had been rooted on the ground since the Ahmadis came to Temasek decades ago.

The tree had become a landmark for her whenever she came to visit the town because behind the gnarly branches and its wide trunk was the home of Ben and Suri - her sister, Amelia's only surviving family after she'd passed away fifteen years ago. Their house with a coat of faded paint and surrounded by a yellowing garden seemed solitary at the far end of the street since unlike the other homes within the neighbourhood, it wasn't linked to another residential structure.

Lyra took a deep breath while she stood waiting outside the fences where vines and weeds have already latched onto the wood and a dried bird's nest lay rotten on one of the posts. The sound of a school bus among traffic of cars echoed from afar; signalling the procession of a normal day for Temasek where there was only one primary and secondary school in the area and an embarrassing yet thriving two-storey complex that the residents proudly called a "Mall."

When the front door of the house opened to reveal a man dressed in casual slacks and a black jacket over a buttoned-up polo shirt, Lyra could feel a lightness transpiring within her. To the undisclosed onlookers, the man - in his late thirties - with a cropped haircut and a tall build would be unbearably ordinary but Lyra knew that concealed within his trousers was a gun, and in his front pocket was his ten-year-old police badge.

The grey streaks in Ben's hair glistened under the sunlight as he walked over the dying garden, stopping just a few steps from the gated fence when his eyes meet Lyra's gaze.

Ben shook his head and smiled and Lyra silently scrutinised the lines on his face to observe his hidden micro-expressions but the way he called out to her was enough to disperse any worry she had for their reunion, "Lyra! You dick! You should have called."

Lyra broke into laughter with her head thrown back as Ben beamed and ran to her then, enclosing her in a tight embrace that was not dissimilar to the hug they shared on the day of Ben and Amelia's wedding after Ben had whispered, "Thanks for letting me into the family. I always wanted to have a sister my age."

But Lyra was no longer Ben's peer because despite his age inking his features and bending his posture lower to the ground, she had remained unchanged with her looks and figure fixated at the point of her life when she began her practice as a Dukun.

The night when she was initiated as a shaman in the 1970s was - in retrospect - terrifying, as the ritual became a pregnant hour of burning incense and warped meditations before it ended with a slash of a blade on a clueless hen's head so that the animal's blood could be used to paint runes on Lyra's body.

Ben pinched Lyra's already reddening cheeks and pointed out the obvious, "What the hell? You look great! Not a day over twenty. Aren't you supposed to lay low? You know? Avoid suspicion considering you should be about thirty-eight years old now?"

"Actually, I would be in my sixties now but it's fine, we settled it. We did a ritual last night so that the town doesn't remember us."

"So that's why I felt something different in the air yesterday. It felt too quiet. And what do you mean 'we'?"

Lyra drew a sharp breath and laid curses in her mind; she couldn't lie to Ben who after years in the force where his circle of friends became a revolving door of lawyers, convicts, and police inspectors, was able to grasp any sign of foul deception.

"Meera's back too," Lyra almost whispered, and the joy that brightened Ben's eyes only moments ago had darkened. Lyra wasn't sure whether Ben realised that he had taken a step back as if Lyra's words pushed him away, "I'm sorry, Ben. I only saw her yesterday too."

"No, it's f-I mean, that's great. Why shouldn't she be back? This is her home too. Speaking of which, where are you staying?" for the first time that early morning, Ben looked agitated in Lyra's presence and it made her want to crawl inward within herself, "We're staying at an apartment just above this cute little shop. I'm thinking of opening a bakery so that could be our cover..."

The sight of Suri in her bright blue and white school uniform at the front door caused a thick silence to fall on Lyra and Ben. Lyra hadn't seen Suri in over ten years and seeing her niece as a young woman at the edge of seventeen stirred clashing emotions inside her chest, "Hi, Suri." Ben motioned Suri to greet her aunt but the teenager only glared at the cracked pavement and walked hurriedly through the gates before disappearing at a corner of the street.

A few years ago, a young Suri would have a lingering scent of clay and crayons but when she passed Lyra, there was a whiff of floral perfume and inked paper - it was as if Suri had become someone else entirely.

"Sorry, Lyra. It's been hard on her when you didn't come back. That's why she didn't want to talk to you when you called last month," Ben looked genuinely apologetic and Lyra tried to force a smile, "That's alright. I understand. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to leave like that, especially after what Meera did but I had to go to Borneo and there were just so many things going on there."

"Something is happening here too," said Ben, and this finally sealed the invisible threat hanging in the air and changed the light atmosphere to cold darkness. Lyra looked up at the bright sun which was now consumed by silver clouds, "I know, that's why we're here. We think we can help because it might be someone like us who's been killing these women."

Ben bit his lips, his trembling black pupils wavering on Lyra, "Lyra, do you think this is the same 'thing' that killed my wife?" Lyra could only stare back at Ben wordlessly until the sun emerged as the blue skies cleared; the harsh sunlight stinging her eyes and making her vision as cloudy as her mind, "I don't know but I promise you that I'll find out who it is. I'll find the killer."