DAN AKU . . . (ABDUL KAHAR)

episode sembilan | bahagian dua

NARRATOR POV
Darkness surrounds Laila, her feet are cold, and her body feels weak. As she kept walking toward the light, a hand grabbed her hand, stopping her from reaching the light. She turned around in a swipe motion and saw Kahar, tears streaming down his cheek.

"Awak dah janji," He cried, "Janji untuk selalu dengan saya." He sob, "Awak, tolong jangan tinggalkan saya." He begged.

She turned to him and pulled him into a tight embrace, and everything felt right when suddenly the scenes changed. Her eyes widened as fire surrounded her, her hand reaching her face when she realised a red liquid in her hand. Panicked, she backed away when she stumbled across someone. At a fast pace, she turned around to see Kahar with blood all over him, "Cinta, kenapa?" He asks breathlessly.

Something on her hand as she looks down to see a knife with blood dripping, "Aku minta maaf, minta maaf. KAHAR!" She screamed when suddenly her eyes opened, and soon the sound of a monitor beeping caught her attention, her eyes moving left and right when she noticed she was in the hospital again.

Just as the door of her room opened, she saw her mother. The mother and daughter lock eyes when she rushes toward her daughter and cries into her daughter's arms, "Laila, mama minta maaf. Mama tak sepatutnya paksa kamu sekolah kat kudrat." her mother calls as she keeps on apologising.

Laila chuckles, "Ape ni ma, kite okay la." she says, "tak sakit pon, besi je pon." she joked.

Despite the fact she is in pain, she needs to smile so that her precious mother won't cry, but every time she tries to make her mother happy, bad things happen, "Macam mane dengan kawan Laila? Dorang okay ke?" Asks Laila, her mother.

Everything happened so fast yesterday; the last she remembered was when Ayam fell on top of her as an iron pierced through her abdomen part of the body. "Fuh, ma. Kelmarin hectic sangat." She tells her mother regardless of a little flashback about yesterday's event. Even after all the risk, Laila still manages to crack a joke, "Uhm, ma...." All the joking disappeared, "boleh tak, kakak nak jumpa ayam?" She questioned her mother.

Datin Senrose thought for a second before nodding, "nanti mama minta Mr Sin hantar ayam ye." she told Laila. A smile crept on Laila's face, making the mother crack a tiny smile.

In the school compound, Kahar stood in front of the statue with three students' names on it. Guilt on his face as he stares at the names of the reason why the High Council were created in the school; taking a sip of his cigarette, a figure approaches him, "Kahar." Hakeem called his best friend's name as he stood beside the nervous and guilty ex-Kapla.

"High council ni semua wujud, sebab ape keem?" Ask Kahar to the guy beside him.

Hakeem looks at the name on the statue, "Sebab," He starts, "Sebab diorang ni...." He paused, "Untuk kawal setan-setan kita." He says.

Kahar grew more nervous as he replied, "aku nampak setan-setan aku semalam, keem." He nervously say, "aku tengok Fakhri..." he stop awhile, "aku terdetik untuk bunuh dia." he confessed, Hakeem grew concerned as he looked at the ground, "tapi sekarang aku takut keem." Kahar cries, "aku takut, aku dah bunuh Laila." He add, crying.

"Kahar..." Hakeem tries to calm his friend.

"Laila, keem... Laila, aku tergamak nak cederakan dia.." He sobs before calming down with tears streaming down his cheek.

"Kalau setan aku sendiri aku tak boleh kawal," Kahar add, "kenapa aku ingat?" He question, "aku boleh kawal korang semua." He said and face the other.

Hakeem couldn't respond; he knew what Kahar was saying was true.

The following day, the school were gloomy. Most Form 1, 2 and 3 students were curious about the recent accident at the Form 4 block; whenever they spotted any Form 4 and Form 5 students, none would talk. Even Mia, who served them, had their food gloomy. Ayam sat alone at his usual table, his guilt of being the cause of Laila in the hospital traumatising him when the announcement speaker turned on.