The greatest fear of humans is their ignorance. When humans encounter something foreign to them, humans will prefer to stay away from it. Xenophobia and racism are real manifestations of that.
But the truth is, humans also have a curiosity about their fears. The feeling of wanting to conquer is limited by their fear. If curiosity trumps fear. Then humans will understand the fear and accept it. But if not, then hatred will arise.
At that time, I never thought that I would see her again.
My name is Aji Saputra, and I may be coming for my death
My eyes are glued to the figure of a girl in a white dress, I see her long hair gently blowing in the wind. Only the rustling of the banyan leaves under the moonlight accompanied me.
That long-haired girl sat on one of the branches of the largest banyan tree. Her long hair hung down until it's touch the tips of her feet, while one of her dark black eyes stared at me. It's weird, I can't see her left eye because of her bangs.
In that torn white cloth, she looks beautiful with the night sky behind her. horrendously beautiful and frightening
"Come closer…"
Her tiny lips move, she calls out to me. There was no sound, only a buzzing sound like a whisper in the head. Is it some kind of telepathy? Or am I too tired to hear strange voices in my head? I don't know, all I know is that I feel something as if pulling my body to approach him.
Under the moonlight, her pale skin looked as fragile as paper. Meanwhile, her soft black hair was blowing in the wind like silk threads. I admit she's really pretty, but that kind of beauty isn't humanly possible. Like a fata morgana, the creature's beauty was just an illusion to entrap man.
I stepped away from him with a pair of eyes that can't leave her. Those dark black eyes seemed to move as if to say something and it's captivated me, I could tell she was disappointed for reasons I didn't understand. But what?
With her hideous yet beautiful figure she should have the courage to chase after me, but why was she just standing there? As if the Banyan tree where she belongs now is a prison for her?
That girl could do nothing but squeeze the hem of her dress, as I leave her. Her annoyance at me made her inadvertently shake off her illusion. Turning her slender cute fingers into rotten flesh with sharp nails that can easily slice a human's skull, while her eyes glowed red.
The voices are now gone from my head. Likewise, the figure of the girl slowly disappeared like a mist from my sight.
This story began with a dream. a nightmare in a dry season while I having a picnic with my sister Ajeng Rahayu.
For the umpteenth time, I was thrown in this place. Among the grass with some old banyan tree. The sky was pale dark with no stars with only a black moon hanging in the sky. Like a mirage, the moon disappeared slowly, swallowed by a sharp-eyed headless being who stared at me with a grin. He showed the canine teeth sticking out of his mouth.
The giant was without a body, only a head hanging over my head in place of the moon. Beneath it was a black lake that reflected the giant's figure. I vaguely saw a dancer on the lake, her movements were fast dancing like the deathly Rudra's dance waiting for the end of the world.
The giant moved closer to me, our eyes met each other and suddenly the giant's voice whispered in my ear.
"My son, Atmajakala."
My chest felt very hot hearing those words as if something wanted to come out of it. Torn my heart, broke my ribs then tore my flesh and blood. My head felt dizzy while I felt sweat start to wet my body.
The hot evening sun woke me up, with the dusk almost touching the horizon. The breeze from the banyan branch seemed unable to expel the sweat all over my body, even though it wasn't that hot that Evening.
"Older brother? Already up?"
My head feels dizzy as I tried to sit up straight, apparently a side effect after hours of sleeping with an old banyan as my resting place. I could faintly see the look on Ajeng's face that seems worried for me. She closed the book written by I Wayan Artika and stretched out a blue lotus-patterned handkerchief from her hand.
"Thank you."
I wiped the sweat from my face and then immediately cleaned the leaves and dust on my body. Then I use the banyan trunk to support my unsteady body so I can get up easily. The old man was right, sleeping in the evening was a bad idea.
"So we're going to the cemetery, right"
I nodded my head slowly. Ajeng was putting dirty plates and drink bottles into a picnic bag, as I folded a plastic mat next to it and put it in a rattan picnic bag. My eyes stared at the sun setting on the hill of Karang Bulan in front of me. From the hill of Sujati's perspective, the night will come faster while from the hill of Karang Bulan the night will feel longer.
I descended the hillside and occasionally waited for Ajeng behind me. Going down the hill with banyan roots under our foot will be difficult, especially when Ajeng carries a picnic bag and holds books on her chest. she refused when I offers her a hand because she thought pedaling a bicycle up and down hills was harder than merely carrying luggage.
My bike glides freely on the narrow streets that can only be passed by one car. Although the road descends, it takes a few minutes to reach the cemetery on the other side of the hill. The Kijing cemetery on the hillside has an old legend as old as the City of Bandoso at the bottom of the hill. The legends about the undead and the taboos in this place.
"I'm heavy, aren't I?"
"No, the road is going down after all. I also replaced the broken bicycle brakes. I'm afraid about what we've undergone last week."
I can hear the faint laughter of that girl, I smile faintly remembering the last week we went up the hill only to ruin my sandals when we came down. I forgot to check the brakes on my bike and I ended up having to use both my legs to hold the bike up.
An old archway with a slanted nameplate hanging over my head, I parked the bike and locked it. An old man draped in a sarong in the guardhouse of the cemetery smiled at me, I put the money into the charity box near him afterward.
As soon as we climbed the steps to the cemetery area, the smell of frangipani immediately greeted us. Disturbed by this, Ajeng held my hand tighter. Unlike usual, Ajeng put on a worried face looking at the ceramic graves under our feet. Unlike the usual cemetery, the burial ground is divided into two areas, namely the bottom and the top. The lower part is on the outer boundary of Kijing village which according to custom can be given gravestones and even ceramics, in contrast to the upper part which is only a mound of earth with simple wooden gravestones.
"This place looks old huh?"
"They said, this place was isolated during the Dutch era until in the 70s this place begins to be opened to the public. But still, people prefer to live in valleys that are not too old-fashioned. Unlike this place where people still believe in myth such as ghosts, and the other"
I used Ajeng's handkerchief to wipe my sweat, while Ajeng took a tissue from her clothes pocket instead. Dust was in the air as soon as we got to the top. Passing through the tombs in the form of mounds of earth, we finally arrived at the most recent tomb in this section. I put a white rose on it and prayed for it.
"It's been five years, hasn't it?"
I called out softly, remembering the time when the old man's body was lowered into the depth of the grave followed by a convoy of villagers, most of whom I didn't know the name of.
Ajeng quickly took something from her picnic basket, a smaller basket with various colors of flowers in it. I was surprised that Ajeng had bought a Setaman flower when we went to the market, I cleaned the grass around the tomb and then Ajeng began to sprinkle flowers on it without a word coming out of her lips.
The twilight light shone on Ajeng who had never even met the man in the tomb. Ajeng then took out a water bottle from the basket and looked at me questioningly. Looks like she wanted to water the tomb with mineral water after she sprinkle all the flowers on it.
"It's okay, we're also unprepared after all."
I laughed to myself because we missed the procession of visiting the graves according to Javanese custom. But let it be, Ajeng probably bought the flower out of pity for the florist's grandmother in the market, so nothing wrong with putting them on the old man grave.
"Sorry, uncle, is it okay to use our mineral water, right?"
"Never mind Ajeng, if my father is angry, we will take him home to eat together."
The crows shouted at each other as if driving us away. I said our goodbyes and then we walked back up the stone steps, holding on to the bamboo fence.
"Do you know Ajeng, why most of the tombs here are mostly not given headstone with name crafted on it and only given a simple rock as a sign of the tomb?"
"Tradition?"
"Exactly, and there is a local legend in this place. But I'd better tell you later at home because maybe my story will invite something spectral."
I whisper my voice on Ajeng's ear when uttering a spectral word since my old man always told me to not quote any words about ghosts, specter, spirit, or rukh, or they will surely come.
"But I saw there was a big grave at the very top of the hill. There was a fence and name craved on it too."
"Oh, near the biggest banyan?"
Ajeng nodded, The twilight was already in the arms of the horizon as soon as we got on the bikes. The hibiscus and swan trees on the side of the road made the day seem darker. I rode the bike faster than usual because I was worried that it would be dark when we got home.
"That tomb belongs to the founder of Kijing village. He also became part of the legend of this place."
Ajeng's hands gripped my shirt tightly as we entered the descent, the sound of melanin plates and metal spoons clashing from inside the rattan basket. A night bus overtook us after honking its horn many times. Usually I take the intercity bus and then walk five hundred meters to reach the Kijing tomb. But for this time, I wanted to ride a bike instead of waiting for the bus which was sometimes late.
"What will we eat today sis?"
Half screaming I tried to break the silence, the dusk was getting darker in the cradle of the afternoon. It's almost nightfall, and I feel a strange feeling every night is getting closer to this place.
"There are still vegetables, Bro, want me to make stir-fried kale?"
Softly Ajeng whispered with the howling of the wind from the back of my head, I held out my thumb as a sign of approval.
The faint sound of the call to prayer could be heard as we passed a surau, a small mosque that was visible from the top of the road. Street lights began to appear and that means we have entered the city of Bandoso.
After turning left near the intersection, I entered a densely populated area with rows of restaurants and small shops. My late father's house was at the end of the road, bordering the edge of Kijing village, the primitive and old-fashioned place and the sole reason why my father's grave can't even have a name craved on it.
As soon as I got home I immediately turned on the lights on every light in the room and then closed every curtain in the house. Ajeng has realized my habit, so she prefers to wash the dishes and glasses in the sink.
"Do you want to take a shower first?"
"Nah, you can go first big brother. This afternoon the flowers haven't been watered, have they?
I took a deep breath and quickly grabbed a towel and got ready to take a shower. Making Ajeng do her homework was actually hard for me. After all, she was actually a guest in this house. However, because she was force me to let her spend the semester break in my father's house, this feels like a fair trade to me.
After My Father died, My Mother remarried and my mother told me to live with her. But, living in a place that feels foreign to me stresses me out. Moreover, this place has a lot of memories of my late father. That's why I chose to stay in this place, otherwise, this place would have been sold by Mother.
Mr. Anjasmara, Mother's new husband has a daughter from his late wife Rahayu. And since their honeymoon vacation, for some reason, Ajeng and I have become closer. Even though I didn't come to my mother's wedding.
The smell of cooking from the kitchen wafted into the bathroom, cold water touched my skin. Makes my body feel refreshed after a long day of sweating. Living alone with Ajeng is not without problems. Because once my neighbor suspected me of doing immoral things with her because I forgot to tell everyone about Ajeng who was my half-sister.
But other than that, I feel that Ajeng is quite helpful to me. Moreover, she is also a liaison with the family in the main house. A little quarrel with my mother made me a little reluctant to ask her for money, and it made me work part-time last semester. But thanks to Ajeng, my finances have become more secure. Although I still have enough savings if only for food and daily needs.