The night is getting late, I've finished cleaning the dishes in the sink. Meanwhile, Ajeng chooses to read a book in front of the television. I took a jar of melinjo chips from the kitchen and put it next to Ajeng.
"I'm full, bro."
"Who said it was for you."
Ajeng just smiled and looked back at her reading. I looked at the title on the cover of the book, then remembered the old story I was about to tell Ajeng.
"Kisah Kelam Kembar Buncing, The Dark Tale of Buncing Twins?"
"The theme is just your usual ethnic novel Bro, they take a usual theme like conflict between custom and modernity."
"Is that takes place in Bali?"
"Yeah, I bought it because it reminds me of our last vacation on there."
For a moment I remembered when I was forced to go on Mother and Mr. Anjasmara's honeymoon. At that time I was just in junior high school and Ajeng was still in elementary school. We, who were left alone in the hotel room that night, chose to take a walk on the beach to make people worry about us so Ajeng can feel wanted by her family. That was probably the first time Ajeng tried to rebel against her father.
"Bali is a bit strange, isn't it? I mean, they are open to foreign tourists but at the same time still trying to keep the ancestral traditions alive."
"So that's why Bali is unique, Bro! They try to open their mind toward modernity without losing their identity. It's just beautiful!"
I ended the conversation by taking a piece of melinjo chips from the jar, seeing that Ajeng was interested. He took a piece and divided it into two. His brows furrowed as the dried melinjo seeds landed on his tongue. He then gave the rest of the pieces to me.
"Ew, it feels bitter!"
"Just try to chew it a little longer. It's eventually will turn sweet"
"Or you can eat it while looking at me Bro."
"What the hell!"
I turned on the television, switched channel after channel without interest, and then turned it off. My eyes glanced at the cellphone near my feet, several missed calls from my mother made me sick. I chose to turn it off because I was sure there would be no important messages. I've left the restaurant where I work, and besides it, the only call I ever receive is from Ajeng who usually calls me from her dorm.
"From aunty?"
Ajeng closed her book, then took melinjo chips from the jar – Only to frown and hand the remaining pieces to me.
"Who else?"
I took the rest of Ajeng's chips then closed the jar and put them away before my sister made me eat all the rest of the chips until they were empty. We were silent for a moment because we were bored. Ajeng suddenly put down her book and asked me to tell her about the legend of the city of Bandoso.
"A long time ago, maybe even before the Dutch came to Indonesia. There is an unwritten myth in this place. About a plague that attacks a village on a hillside. Many people believe that the plague was caused by the grief of whoever lived there.
But the story doesn't stop there. Every villager who died by the plague, his corpse will appear at the doorstep of their house on the seventh day."
"Why the seventh day Bro? Something to do with the commemoration of the death? I remember some people still believe that's the spirit of death will return on the seventh day"
"I don't know, Let's say, the story of the resurrection on the seventh day is just a myth. It could be that the bodies weren't really dead. Only his family thought he was dead and buried them."
The case is similar to the vampire myth. At the time of the bubonic plague, medical science was not as good as it is today. Especially at that time, Christianity thought that knowledge and magic were like two sides of a coin. This caused the vampire myth to emerge. Those who were not yet dead were sometimes buried, causing voices to emerge from within their graves. The vampire myth was exaggerated, and there are things that make the vampire myth more believable. Like when a corpse is buried, the gas from the corpse will push the blood out of its mouth, making it look like that the corpse just sucked blood.
"But Bro, the story itself doesn't say whether the corpse is animated or is it suddenly just spawn at the door of their house, right?"
Ajeng's words made me think about that possibility. Was there an animal carrying the corpse? Dogs for example. Considering that Kijing villagers mostly keep dogs to hunt wild boars. But why did the Dog bring his master back to his house? Especially on the seventh day?
"Then how did the legend end? Wouldn't the problem be solved if the body was reburied?"
"No, because the next day after the funeral the corpse will be lying in front of the door of the house."
"Wait! If the next day the corpse is back at the door, why does the first burial have to wait for the seventh day?"
"Who knows. The legend itself ends after the village's founder, Oldman Kijing, goes to meet the Danyang or spirit who guards the village. meditating for seven days without eating and drinking he finally got a solution about the corpses."
"By burning the corpse?"
"Nope, instead they burn the bamboo coffin of the corpse. Each corpse must be delivered with a different bamboo coffin or bandoso. Each coffin must be burned after they use it to deliver the corpse into the tomb. Also, it is forbidden to give a gravestone with name craved on it."
"Does they've done it so the corpses will forget their identity, so they will forget about their home too?."
Ajeng seems to have a similar thought with me, the influence of Hinduism in Java is actually very strong. However, acculturation is also unavoidable. The procession of burning corpses seems to have happened before, but due to cost constraints, the funeral procession was changed to burial. This makes sense, and the cremation procession was increasingly abandoned when Islam began to expand to this island.
"But that doesn't explain why the coffin had to be burned."
"I don't know, do you think the legend itself makes sense?"
Ajeng took a deep breath while shaking her head, she seemed to feel stupid trying to argue about something that shouldn't be debated. she then chose to lie down on the sofa while trying to read her novel.
"You still don't want to talk to Auntie?"
"I don't know, I just can't. Even though I pick up the phone, eventually she will just tell me to come home to your house right?"
"Well. Auntie still keeps asking me to force you to come home, Bro. Do you still hate them? Your Mother and My Dad?"
I fell into a silence, my tongue feels numb every time anyone else come up with this conversation, even Ajeng. We looked at each other for a moment, then returned to our respective worlds. I leaned my body near the legs of the sofa, making Ajeng bend her knees so her toes wouldn't touch my hair.
"Ajeng, do you think I should…"
"No, you don't! If Auntie really misses you, why doesn't she just come right now? After all, this was also her home, right? I will cook for her and prepare everything for her. and let you two talk about family stuff, and I won't even bother. Easy ain't it?"
"But how about your father?"
"That's not your problem bro, people from my house are my business! And for the sake of our siblingship Bro! Don't you ever dare go to that place without me, okay?"
Ajeng's words were soft but curt as if there was fear mixed with hatred in her every breath. This conversation makes me sick. I decided to get off the carpet and walk to the kitchen. I tried to offer Ajeng a cold drink, but she just shook her head.
I took a sip of cold water from the teapot, trying to clean the remnants of food between my teeth while holding back the pain. The cold air from the refrigerator was so cold that night, and for some reason, it give me a goosebump.
The smell of frangipani suddenly wafted, as if coming from behind a window. I almost choked when a faint hum was heard from behind the curtains. My heart skipped a beat as the voice became clearer. I swallowed my saliva and walked slowly towards the window.
"Sssh, Bro! Come back here!"
I looked back, Ajeng's voice was whispering. She was a few steps away from me but the silence of the night made it sound so clear. With a small nod from her, I stopped myself from approaching the curtains. Before I left the kitchen, I saw Ajeng looking disgustedly at something between the window vents. She then followed me and we sat back in silence on the sofa.
"Wait until tomorrow Bro, I hope they're gone tomorrow. For now, don't go near the door or the window, okay?"
Ajeng's voice broke the silence, her smile was as if trying to calm me down, I nodded without speaking. Only this time I felt the strong interference from those creatures. Usually, they only came as voices or sightings, and usually, only Ajeng can experience those stuff.
If this stuff happened, Ajeng's face would turn pale. When I asked her about it, Ajeng said that the disturbance from those creatures had never been as aggressive as this. Surprisingly, stuff like this didn't make her give up on spending her vacation at my late father's house.
The night is getting late, while I'm daydreaming while watching a football game with no interest. Midnight had passed, and Ajeng fell asleep on the sofa. Seeing him curled up with a book on her face made me go up to her room while holding back my drowsiness. I took the cotton blanket over the bed and decided to go back downstairs.
When my feet stepped out of Ajeng's room, the smell of frangipani smelled again. The faint hum was getting louder and clearer, slowly sounding like a song.
"Awakened by Twilight, wandering in the night.
Alone, as if always together."
The voice hypnotized me, my curiosity finally overcame my fear. Eventually, it made me forget what my little sister said a few hours ago.
The wind that blew from nowhere shook the red curtains as if tempting me to peek at them.
"On top of this accursed place, who will I be?
Silence is glued to me in this abandoned place."
My eyes saw the figure on the banyan branches, with long hair and pale skin under the dazzling moonlight. She uses her long sharp nails as a comb for her shiny black hair. Meanwhile, a pair of faint eyes glimmered between the bangs of her hair.
My body froze at her terrifying yet horrendously beautiful figure. Until then I realized that a pair of sad eyes returned my gaze with a sweet smile. But her smile slowly turn into a grin, where I could faintly see a pair of sharp canines ready to pierce my neck.
My heart almost fell out as the echo of his laughter sounded so loud that it rattled the windowpane, running as fast I can, finally, I returned to the living room. My body trembled violently as I covered my little sister's body with the blanket while I felt guilt in my heart for breaking her word.
That night I don't have any balls to sleep in my room, and chose to sleep on the carpet to accompany my little sister.
I tried to close my eyes a few times, but the image of those dark black eyes and rows of sharp teeth wouldn't leave my mind. when I heard Ajeng's snoring, somehow I can feel her so I don't feel lonely. And slowly I finally can fell sleep