Curiosity piqued, he glanced up where he was met with the sight of Trent's girlfriend mid-dress, her expression shifting from surprise to horror in a split second. Time seemed to freeze as they locked eyes, and Ethan's brain short-circuited.
In a panic, she covered herself as a pillow flew through the air like a guided missile towards Ethan. "What the—?!" Ethan blurted, instinctively covering his eyes as if that would somehow erase the embarrassing moment. His face turned a shade of red as he turned to flee. He fumbled with the doorknob, feeling like he was trying to defuse a bomb.
After a brief struggle that felt like an eternity, he finally flung the door open and dashed straight into his own room, heart racing . On the bed was Adhwa sitting cross-legged , an amused grin plastered on her face. "You look like you've just seen a ghost!" she teased.
Ethan ran at her and hugged her hard before pulling back immediately in fear of hurting her where she was wounded after the confrontation with her 'mom'. "It's alright, I'm not human after all, I'm not easily scarred with mortal wounds," she said to Ethan.
"What if she comes here and finds you?" asked Ethan, concern etched on his face.
"She can't come for me, she thinks I'm still at the hotel room," she said, rubbing Ethan's back to reassure him all was well.
Out of curiosity, Ethan asked her, "Why do you look like my wife? You are an exact replica of her."
"Well, that's beyond my control. I can't shapeshift; this is merely how I was born," she responded.
"Born! I thought you weren't human," Ethan asked.
"I was human before my father sacrificed me to the Sundel Bolong for wealth. He immediately regretted it and tried to have me back, but the deal was already through; he couldn't have me. He consulted various shamans to have me freed, but it was all futile. That's why my 'mom' is so overprotective over me."
"Wait, tell me more!" Ethan urged.
Adhwa continued, "On that fateful night, my father spoke to the old lady who had suggested I be sacrificed. I was actually 3 years old and didn't know much about what was going on. My father urged me to join the lady and accompany her home; I refused, but he said that she was just going to stay with me for the night. My twin brother cried as he watched me being taken away; my father scolded him for crying, telling him to man up and stop crying.
The old lady led me all the way to her house, and I was surprised by how she walked despite her age. She crossed the lake with me on her back, rowing the boat in the dead of night, undeterred by the cold, silence, or the stillness of the lake. After the boat ride, I was so sleepy that I couldn't walk. She carried me on her back all the way to her hut. I woke up about 30 minutes later and was surprised by the number of people inside the hut. The woman would chant, and they repeated it in unison. My eyes were open, and I could feel everything that was taking place, but I was too paralyzed to move.
I saw them walk in circles around my body as I lay in the circle, and they all walked out as if nothing happened. My father was amongst them, and I could tell from his limping and how he sobbed slightly throughout the ritual, but I couldn't see his face clearly. He didn't look at me; he instead looked at the roof the entire time. In a fit of rage and pure instinct, he attempted to run back into the house to save me..." she stopped and started to sob and Ethan caught her in an embrace, feeling the weight of Adhwa's past pressing heavily on his heart. "What happened next?" he asked, eager to know more about her fate and how she was that night.
"She then continued, 'A strong force pulled him down and pinned him to the ground. The ritual is done, Budi,' said the old lady, 'you can't go back now!' she added in a much more sinister voice. As she spoke, I stopped feeling anything, and my body froze. The old lady squatted down and looked me in the eyes. She smirked before covering my eyelids with her hands. Everything went dark, and so did my senses. When I opened my eyes, I was ensnared in a suffocating pit, the earth around me damp and clammy, a tomb that seemed to breathe. The old lady hovered above, her silhouette a grotesque shadow against the faint light, wielding a rusted shovel like a weapon of dark intent. I wasn't in a coffin; I lay in a tattered white robe, a spectral remnant of my former life, the fabric now stained with the remnants of my struggle.
From the depths of my grave, I could hear my father's voice, a distant echo of frustration, scolding my little brother to stop asking where I had gone. But the old lady's laughter, sharp and cruel, cut through the air, drowning out their exchange. I screamed, my voice a raw plea for help but i was unheard, the dirt fell into my mouth, forcing me into a suffocating silence. Each clump of earth that struck my chest felt like a betrayal, a reminder of my helplessness as I lay there, unable to move.
As the soil piled higher, I felt the chill of the earth seep into my bones, the gritty taste of dirt filling my mouth, stifling my cries. They all walked away, i could feel them ,leaving me to rot beneath the earth, a ghost forever forsaken in the darkness.. I could feel my mother scream in her grave uncontrollably, her voice calling my father, 'Why did you kill me? Why did you kill our daughter? All for dirty money! You sick bastard!' As I lay there contemplating, I could hear some rustling from above. A lady who looked beautiful but wore an expressionless face was digging me out with her bare hands. After she got a hold of me, she pulled me out of the soil.
Once above the ground, my paralysis left me. I could now move better than ever. In the area around me, I could see that it was empty; everyone had left except for the old lady, who was lying flat on the ground, dead, with a large hole in the back of her head. One man was hanging from a branch that went through his back and came out the front. The lady covered my eyes to shield me from a few other bodies that lay strewn around and walked in the dark with me all the way to the lake, where she washed me. It was when she poured the cold lake water on me that I realized I had a few cuts on my body. The water stung in the lacerations, but I bore with it. The mysterious lady then walked deeper into the lake, and I could see a huge wound in her back.
I blindly followed her and got deeper and deeper into the lake until I was drowning. I couldn't swim and struggled with the water. Below the surface, I saw her walk deeper, undeterred, as if I wasn't behind her fighting for my life. I then passed out, and when I woke up, I was in a bed inside that hotel room. I asked the lady for her name, but she told me to call her 'mom.' The hotel room was full of baby stuff, but she never told me anything.
I escaped a few times, hoping to find my dad and brother, but I never knew the way back home; all the roads I followed led back to that abandoned hotel. My dad heard rumors that a few people had seen me inside that hotel, but whoever he sent in there never came back out. My dad went on to hire many shamans and spiritualists to try and get me back, even promising them many rewards. The closest they came to getting me was this one time when one shaman managed to grab my dress inside the building. However, 'mom' grabbed him and tossed him out the window from the thirteenth floor all the way down, and he died. Mom even destroyed the elevator and the stairs from the 12th to the 13th floor to make sure no one came to take me away, until you came. I have escaped a few times after knowing about my father's whereabouts, and I saw where he lived; his house is amazing and new. He is very wealthy, and he even has a grave where he buried my favorite dress and my dolls. He made it next to mom's grave; that, however, doesn't justify the wrongs that he did." She finished and began to sob in Ethan's hands.
"We can free you can't we? I'm sure there is a way" Ethan said trying to sooth her.
"No, don't! "She said sharply. "She will kill you; curiosity always kills the cat. You are the cat in this case, and you need to be extra careful," said Adhwa .
She then stopped talking and stood up. "What's wrong?" asked Ethan. "Mom is almost home; I should hurry back before she finds out that I'm missing." Before Ethan could talk more, she kissed his hands and forehead. "I will be back," she said before disappearing before his eyes.