"No more massages!" I said, trying my best to keep my voice firm and steady. However, it faltered in confidence as I was still unnerved by the two otherworldly presence in the room.
"Excuse me?" Mak Bidan voiced out, her defensive eyes now on me. Her calm demeanour a few seconds before was rattled with my sudden appearance in the room. Nonetheless, she kept her professional stance and continued massaging. Mak Bidan's hands passed through the vaporous shadow that hovered just above Melati, encasing the former's hands in the same black mist. Mak Bidan continued kneading at one part of Melati's skin that glowed an unearthly red. "Young man. I don't know if you're aware but when you start massaging someone, you have to see it through!" Melati made an effort to get up and remove the damp cloth from her eyes but Mak Bidan coaxed her back down on the bed gently and adjusted the cloth back before Melati could see or say anything. "Relax. We've only just started, dear," Mak Bidan said reassuringly to Melati who was biting down on her bottom lip anxiously.
Hostile words rolled at the tip of my tongue as I approached them but what came out was a surprising calm, "I said, enough. Take your things with you." I pointed to the massage oils, but really, I was referring to the shadows. I avoided looking at them. I did not want to anger them. Who knew what they were capable of doing.
As I reached over for Melati's hand, Mak Bidan held onto my arm, the grip a little too vice-like for my liking, "Let us be."
"Baba, is everything okay?" Saleha trotted into the room, just at the edge of the doorway. She peeked around the room in confusion, unaware of the strange entities in the room. "Why is the room so cold?" Her warm breath expelled in a small cloud as she crisscrossed her arms and rubbed at the side of them, shivering at the drop of temperature in the room.
The diabolical shadow that was behind Mak Bidan lurched towards Saleha in a viperous swirl, moving at such inhuman speed and I growled, "NO!" I loosened my arm from Mak Bidan's grip and reached over desperately to push my daughter out of the room but the shadow was too quick for me, "Saleha! Get back!"
The hellish cloud of smoke descended aggressively on Saleha. The whole of Saleha's body glowed with a blinding light as soon as the vicious shadow landed on her. The large, minacious shadow dispersed into minuscule fumes before the tiny pieces merged again into one savage shadowed beast with monstrous horns as though reborn into something more powerful. Its brute form struck again at Saleha in a furious snarl and Saleha jerked backwards. She clutched her hands at her chest and scanned around the room in fright, "Did you hear that, Baba?"
The same bright aura that shone intensely around her earlier, illuminated her once more. The dangerous shadow flinched as soon as it touched Saleha and it disintegrated again into smaller pieces. The shattered segments fused again but this time, the shadow kept its distance. Somehow, it was not able to touch Saleha.
The shadow advanced towards me like an enormous, turbulent wave. In the process of dodging its attack, I lost my balance and stumbled backwards onto the small dresser in the corner of the room. My right arm flew over my head and the back of my hand swept through the shadow's form for a brief second. The initial feeling was like an icy burn as though I had gripped on a frozen icicle and then my skin started to sear at the sudden intense heat as if I had scalded myself at the side of a thousand boiling kettles. I gripped at my wrist with my left hand in pain yet as I looked down at my right hand, there were no burn marks, only random scattered bruises.
"What's going on?" Melati got up hurriedly at the strange sounds and removed the cloth that was obstructing her sight. "What happened to the dresser?" From the way she was looking at all of us, it was obvious that she did not see the things that I did. Same was true for Saleha. My daughter was looking at me with the same confused expression. The harsh crimson marks on Melati's body disappeared at the same time Mak Bidan released her hold on her and both shadows in the room dispersed into thin air.
"Quite a ruckus your husband made," Mak Bidan noted grimly. "I know when my presence here is not welcomed. I'll come another time, Melati. We'll continue where we left off," Mak Bidan, bowed her head down slightly and begun to pack her things.
"You shall do no such thing. I don't want you in my house anymore or anywhere near my wife or my daughter. Do you understand?"
Mak Bidan kept her head bowed and slowly headed out, "It seems your husband craves some family time. I'll leave you all to it." As she headed out, Mak Bidan looked over her shoulder and gave me a look that spoke of a knowledge that only she knew, "I'm sure we'll meet again, Dr. Lim. Goodbye."
* * * ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ * * *
"Why did you send her away?" Melati asked me the moment I stepped back into the room, her voice caked in disappointment as she got dressed on Saleha's bed. I had personally escorted Mak Bidan out of the house in a manner that was far from friendly and saw to it myself that she had disappeared deep into the forest before I made my way back into the house.
Avoiding Melati's question for a moment, I walked towards the small dresser that had collapsed on its side and placed it back in an upright position. I shifted it to its original spot in the room before I looked back at Melati.
Stories of the supernatural kind had always terrified her to the point of night terrors. It all started when we attended a wedding during the first year of our marriage. Someone who sat at the same table had unwittingly overshared their supernatural experience. It drove Melati absolutely amok during her sleep. It lasted for a dreadful week.
I had woken up one night to a monstrous grunting beside my bed which I soon learnt came from Melati as she slashed at our mattress just centimetres away from my body, horrifying the life out of me. Since then, I had hidden all the sharp items under lock and key each time before we went to bed. But it did not stop there. She woke up screaming and pulled at her hair, tearing some strands out as she stumbled over furniture. She would throw glassware at me that I would successfully dodge as I tried to comfort her. Her fully opened eyes had an unnatural, cloudy glaze as she stared at me, unblinking, the whole time. The small scars on the left side of my chest was a testament to her disorientated clawing when I got too close.
These sleep terrors always happened at three in the morning. It was probably best not to startle her with what I saw in the room earlier, especially in her current condition. If there were any chance that the night terrors would come again, I would rather keep the shadows incident buried deep in the recesses of my brain. Sleepwalking during a nightmare episode could pose a risk to the baby's safety and hers. Saleha as well.
I sighed deeply, "I know you're upset but I have my reasons."
Ignoring me, she stood up, wincing in pain as she did so. She limped backwards a step and sat down on the bed again.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I rushed towards her and sat on the bed beside her. "Did Mak Bidan hurt your leg during the massage?"
Melati looked at me, slightly appalled as though I had told a horrible joke. "No. You did."
"Me?"
"Two nights ago. Don't you remember?" Melati searched my eyes. I could only stare at her dumbfounded. All I remembered was eating less than palatable food.
"I'm sorry...I-I don't."
"I was already limping yesterday. This morning too..." She swallowed hard and looked away. "It hurts to do the five daily prayers. I couldn't even finish one raka'at (a single unit of prescribed movements and prayers to Allah). I had to stop myself every time at the first sujud (prostration to God)."
Why had I not noticed it?
"Let me take a look at it," I offered as I gently reach for her leg but she flinched away as soon I laid my hands on her.
"We still don't have enough plates..." Melati's sad voice trailed off, but I knew she was more upset that I could not remember that night's incident or the fact that I was oblivious to her limping.
"I could get more banana leaves, Mama! We could continue eating off of them." I had forgotten that Saleha was still in the room. She never left and was now busy rearranging the items that had fallen off the dresser earlier. Her worried eyes bounced back and forth as she looked at us in the mirror's reflection.
"Saleha, could you wait outside, please?" I told my daughter. "Continue your game of congkak?" I suggested. She nodded at me through the mirror's reflection. Before she could reach the doorway, I called out to her, "Wait." She turned around and looked at me eagerly. "Could you help bring the kuih kochi here?"
Melati's face slightly shone with a small smile at the mention of kuih kochi. Both of us shared the same passion for the sweet dessert.
"But...you said no food in the bedrooms," Saleha reminded me, unsure if she should proceed.
"Make it an exception this time. Mama's not well enough to get out of bed." I placed my hand on Melati's thigh. This time, she did not jerk away from the contact.
"All of the kuih kochi?" Saleha bounced around happily.
"All of it."
As soon as Saleha left us, I squeezed Melati's thigh lovingly. She looked at me slightly shocked as though I had never been affectionate with her. She gave me a weak smile and her eyelids which still possessed a tinge of sadness drooped downwards.
"Look...if you want a prenatal massage, we can always approach Mak Joyah for this. I can speak to her now if you want. Just don't engage Mak Bidan's services anymore. She and I-" I darted my eyes around uneasily. "We have a bad history."
"Here you go, Baba!" Saleha burst into the room, flashing a huge grin and passed all four kuih kochi to me.
"Be careful how you handle those things!" I chuckled as she almost dropped them while placing them in my hands.
"Sorry!" Saleha smiled sheepishly.
"Black kuih kochi?" Melati looked at it in surprise. "I've always wanted to try the version that uses black glutinous rice."
Melati reached over for the one that was already opened, said a quick bismillah and placed it near her mouth. The moment she did so, the kuih kochi dropped to the floor and disappeared through a crack on the wooden flooring. I should probably repair that flooring and nail a much studier panel of wood in place.
"It's okay. Don't worry about it. Here, have another one." I opened one and offered it to her. She took it away from me gladly, said her bismillah and opened her mouth but the dessert dropped through the crack once more, just like the first.
"I'm so clumsy."
"No, you're not, Mama. You're just too excited to eat it. Try again!" Saleha coaxed, removed another kuih kochi from its wrapping and passed it to Melati.
She thanked Saleha, said another bismillah and tried to pop it in her mouth but again failed as the sweet dessert slipped in between her fingers and deep into the crack on the flooring. By this time, she was frustrated. There was only one kuih kochi left. A good thing that I ate one in the office. Otherwise, I would be craving for it.
I took the last kuih kochi out from its wrapping and placed it near Melati's mouth in an attempt to feed her. "Here, let me."
"Bis-" She started to say another bismillah but I stopped her.
"You don't have to say it so many times. Once is enough," I said gently. "Now open wide."
My wife looked at me shyly and placed a loose strand of hair behind her ears before opening her mouth to welcome the delightful dessert. This time, it did not fall. Melati chewed on it contentedly, taking the time to savour the taste. "It's delicious!" She said as soon as she swallowed it down.
"You like it?" Saleha asked Melati, with her face all scrunched up, signalling her disgust that both of us could eat those things.
"I told you it was delicious!" I teased Saleha and she scrunched up her face once more.
"I wish there was more," Melati said regretfully. "Where did you buy this?"
"Erm, a colleague made them. I can ask her to make more next time." I gathered all the loose mini banana leaves and stood up. "I should probably throw this. Do you want something to wash the food down? Water? Tea?"
"Warm tea would be nice. Thank you." As I made my way out of the room, I heard Melati spoke again, but this time, to our daughter, "Saleha, could you help Mama to the couch outside, please?"
* * * ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ * * *
Saleha dashed around me to grab a few things from the kitchen as I was busy waiting for the water in the kettle to boil over the charcoal stove. I was too engrossed tending to the burning fire that Saleha disappeared from the kitchen before I could ask what she was up to. The shrill sound of crickets chirping in the background signalled that dusk was soon approaching. I made a mental note to light all the kerosene lamps in the house as soon as I finished making tea for Melati. The kettle hissed and its lid bobbed as boiling water bubbled to the surface. I quickly took it off the stove, set it aside and put the fire out.
CLAAAANG!
The sound did not come from the kitchen, but rather from the living room. Rushing towards the sound, I saw Melati hunched over the coffee table. The tiffin tin carrier overturned with fleshless chicken bones, an assortment of gravy spillage from the different tins and other bits of half-eaten food items on the floor.
"Bleeeuurrgh!" Melati regurgitated a mix of blood, undigested food and other items from her mouth. The sight of it stunned both Saleha and I into silenced shock; the items that laid in the same pile consisted of pieces of sharp glass, rusty nails and other questionable objects.
"Mama!" Saleha screamed in a mixture of surprise, fear and concern as she headed towards Melati.
"Saleha! What happened?" I demanded as I scrambled towards Melati and stopped her in time before she could plummet down onto the floor on her pregnant belly.
"I- I don't know! Mama was eating the food in the tin carrier. She started coughing. I stood up so that I could get water from the kitchen, but she started making vomiting sounds so I stayed. But she looked like she was in pain and started clutching her throat. I don't know what's wrong with Mama! Baba! Help her, please!" There was desperation in her voice as she started tearing up.
"Waa...waa...wateeerrr..." Melati said weakly in a barely audible voice as I propped her up slightly.
"Saleha, bring Mama a glass of water," I ordered. Noticing Saleha's hesitation and more anxious tears from her, I repeated myself more urgently this time, "Saleha, water, now!"
The wooden flooring beneath me rattled at the echo of Saleha's footsteps. The room was getting much darker now and the azan, the Muslim call to ritual prayer made by a muezzin from the village mosque, resonated in the air, indicating that it was time for Mahgrib prayers, the fourth obligatory prayer of the day.
What was taking Saleha so long?
I looked over my shoulder to see my daughter mouthing something into the glass of water anxiously.
"What are you doing?! Bring it over here!" I hissed.
Saleha jumped at my voice but did not stop moving her lips. She walked briskly towards us, blew over the water and passed it to me. Melati said a weak bismillah as I fed her sips of the water. But seconds later, she screamed in pain and thrashed wildly in my arms.
"Why is Mama still in pain? It's supposed to help!"
"What is?"
"The prayers I recited and blew over the drink! Jabir from school taught me. He told me reciting Al-Fatihah (The Opener), Al-Ikhlas (The Sincerity), Al-Falaq (The Daybreak) and An-Nas (The Mankind), blowing them over the water and letting a sick person drink it would cure anything! Why would he lie to me?"
"Nevermind that! Just get me a small bowl of water from the water basin in the kitchen and a small cloth. Mama's body is burning up."
Saleha ran towards the kitchen once more to gather the things I had mentioned. The azan was slowly coming to a close when there was a knock on the door. Melati's screams could have been loud enough to attract the nearest house's attention. As much as I wanted extra hands to help us, there would be endless gossip in the village if I let them in and I did not want that kind of attention on my family.
"Saleha, don't open the door!" But I was too late; she already did.
"Baba, someone's looking for you." I looked over my shoulder but the front door was blocking my view of the visitor.
"Who is it?"
"It's a lady in red."
* * * ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ ˚ ◊ * * *
I let out a languid sigh as I adjusted an exhausted and weak Melati to a more comfortable position on our bed. Her pale skin and dry lips were making me more worried by the second, not to mention her rapid, shallow breathing and equally rapid but weak pulse. She was shivering and yet, her whole body was flushed red with strange purple patches all over her skin. She refused to get treatment at the hospital. With most of my medical equipment at my office, I felt too handicapped to render any helpful assistance to her. Saleha was carefully sponging Melati's face and neck with the damp cloth, alternating the spots every few seconds. In between, Melati would clutch at her abdomen and tried to hurl out more squidgy matter from her mouth. Every time, it was coated with blood.
"I'm going to the hospital to get my medical kit and some medications. Could you stay here and make sure she's alright?"
Now that we had a nurse in the room, I felt more at ease at leaving Melati's side.
"What did she eat?" Kamsaton asked to which Saleha recounted the food Melati took since the night before. I still did not trust food from Mak Bidan. One of the dishes given to Melati was herbal black chicken soup. It could not be from the kuih kochi because the same symptoms that are plaguing Melati did not happen to Kamsaton or me.
"Please don't tell me it's sepsis," I said with deep worry in my voice as I just noticed a small wound on Melati's ankle. I prayed in my heart that it was not blood poisoning.
Kamsaton whispered so that only I could hear, "Do you or your family have any enemies?"
"What are you saying?" I whispered back.
"It's what's in the vomit that concerns me. Someone had cast black magic on your wife." She looked around uneasily at the ceiling. "There's a lot of things in this house. The energy feels very heavy in here. I felt something similar when I passed by the other bedroom."
I swallowed nervously as I remembered the strange occurrences that happened when I was alone in the house. I chose not to mention it to Kamsaton as Saleha had turned her attention towards us by then. "Baba, shouldn't we bring Mama to the hospital?"
"No-nooo hospitals..." Melati shook her head with barely any strength left in her.
Kamsaton beckoned me towards the doorway so that we would be well out of earshot and whispered to me again, "Modern medicines won't be able to help her. Only the person who has cast the black magic can undo it."
"Well, I know who did it. It's Mak Bidan!" I hissed angrily. "She was here earlier giving a prenatal massage to Melati," I spat out. "Parts of my wife's body turned red. And by that, I meant, glowed," my voice deepened in anger, my blood boiling with rage inside me. "I saw two shadows in the room. One of them was floating above my wife. The same shadow that I saw back at the house tried to attack my daughter and me!"
"You can see it glowing? How's that possible?" she muttered to herself before addressing me, "The shadow that you see floating above your wife is completely harmless. Mak Bidan uses it during massages. It shows her the hidden parts that are in pain that she would otherwise miss during a regular massage. This thing guides her hands along and uses a special force to heal. Believe me when I say that many people in this world have a similar thing in their possession."
"Even Mak Joyah?"
"I wouldn't know unless I see it. Even so, it's not my place to say. But I can't keep my mouth still and stand around doing nothing if someone in my family was slandered with untruths." Glancing at Melati, she continued, "I don't know how to cure it but I know how to make it better and less painful for her."
"Where are you going?" I asked Kamsaton who was now heading towards the doorway.
"The kitchen," she looked over her shoulder.
"What do you need?"
"I know my way around the kitchen. Stay with your wife. She needs you more."
"About the watch-"
"Not the time. You can thank me later."
I nodded and hastened towards Melati as soon as Kamsaton left us. I placed one of Melati's hands in mine, squeezed it lovingly and brought it to my lips, giving it a light kiss, "Shhh...it's going to be okay."
A pool of tears welled up in Melati's eyes but none of them streamed down her face. Her eyes had shot up to the ceiling, and only the whites were seen.
It brought me to my past - the past where I saw death.
"Baba!" Saleha gasped in panic. Melati's body was convulsing as if she was going into shock.
__________________________________
CREDITS:
Background Music: Myuu - Facing Darkness
Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/BxDVgEhZppk
Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSKnkKCKAQVxMUWpZQobuQ