Soul Asylum chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

 

Rafiq slowly opened his eyes.

 

     “Welcome back, Rafiq,” said a soft sweet voice at the side of his bed. Rafiq turned his head and smiled.

 

Rozita was sitting closely at the side holding his hand.

 

     “How long have I been out?” asked Rafiq gently. His head still hurts, he tried to sit up but Rozita gently pushed him down.

 

     “Easy there, you’re not fully recovered. Mak and Abah has gone home..” Rafiq laid back and looked at his fiancé. Rozita gently wiped his forehead with a wet towel.

 

     “You were unconscious for almost a month now. You got everyone very worried.” Rafiq didn’t say a word. He was just happy to be with her. The sun shone into the room. It was a beautiful day for a walk. How he wished that he could take Rozita out, just the two of them. He missed her dearly.

 

Rozita turned to get a glass of water for Rafiq, when she turned back to the bed she saw that he was still watching her.

 

     “What?” asked Rozita. Rafiq shook his head and smiled.

 

     “I just missed you that’s all.”  Rozita took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

 

     “I was so worried for you Rafiq. The doctors said that there was swelling in your  brain, it wasn’t serious and there was nothing to worry but you just lay there. It seems like forever, we wanted to do another CT scan just to make sure.” Rozita’s lips quivered and tears welled in her eyes.

 

Rafiq kissed her hand to comfort her and said gently and surely,

 

     “I’m here aren’t I?”  The two of them talked and laughed, touching each other’s hands to reassure that they were together again. Rozitas hair fell on her face. Raiq brushed it aside. Her hazel brown eyes sparkle when she smiled.

 

There was a gentle knock on the door. Rafiq’s eyes brighten up when he saw who it was. Standing at the doorway was his parents. His mother looked tired and thin but there was no mistaken how happy she was that he was awake. His father also looked tired and old. Rafiq felt guilty at causing his parents pain.

 

His mother rushed to his bed and gave him a long warm hug. It felt good. Everything felt good. He and his father shook hands.

 

A lot had happened that Rafiq was not aware. They had caught the person who had hit him. It was a teenager. He was racing with another friend that fateful night. He was almost going 170km per hour when he lost control of the car. He tried to maneuver the car to the side of the road and he didn’t see Rafiq. It was when he heard the loud thumping sound that he realized what had happened. Frighten, the teenager fled the scene. Rafiq was lucky that there were a lot of cars on the road. A number of them stopped to assist him and one of them drove him to the hospital. A passerby saw the incident and managed to catch the license plat of the runaway car. A police report was lodged; the teenager was brought to the police station and was release until a hearing was made.

 

Rafiq should feel satisfied that the teenager was caught, after all he did this to him but he somehow felt sorry for thee boy. It wasn’t easy to know that you had almost killed someone.

 

     “We have some good news for you,” said his father smiling broadly.

 

     “What?” asked Rafiq feeling nervous, he looked at his mother and Rozita. Both of them were also grinning.

 

     “What?”

 

     “Telekom, called a week after the accident. They said that they have approve your application and wanted you to work for them.”

 

     “Me?”asked Rafiq feeling overwhelmed. He felt so happy but a question crossed his mind.

 

     “But my leg, can I go into work immediately? Surely they won’t wait for me?” His father shook his head.

 

     “We all thought the same thing. We told the Telekom people what had happened.

Surprise…surprise they still want you, son. They were willing to wait and wished you a fast recovery so that you can start work as soon as you get well.”

 

     “Isn’t that wonderful,” said Rozita beside him.Rafiq smiled and reached for his hand. This was the best way to wake up from a coma. Now he could plan for his future.

 

Rafiq felt his head hurt. He looked up at Rozita but his vision was getting blurry. There were sudden flashes- him at a grave site- him shouldering a coffin wrapped on top with green clothe and Al-Quran wording on it. He could hear voices, strang unfamiliar voices. He felt like the worl was spinnig around him. Bright flashes….loud voices. His vision was getting unfocused. He shook his head trying to shake all the voices and flashes away. Through his hazy vision he could see Rozita clenching his hand.

 

     “What’s wrong Rafiq?” he could only hear her voice. He looked at his parents and

saw their concern expression. Then there was darkness.

 

 

 

     “No!NO!” shouted Rafiq. He could feel himself back in his old vegetable state. This was not fair. Everything was going so well. Why was he back here? Back to the darkness, back to being alone.

 

He must get back to his parent . He must get back to Rozita. Rafiq forced himself to open his eyes but nothing happen. He NEEDS to wakeup HE NEEDS to get back to them.

 

Rafiq was angry. He was where he wanted to be and to be snatch away from it was enough to make him furious.

 

     “Help me!” shouted Rafiq in frustration.

 

 

The EKG was beeping madly. Nurses and doctors rushed to his bed. Rafiq was trudging violently. His eyes were still closed but his body was shaking. The nurses and attendants were trying to hold him down on the bed.

 

     “He’s having a seizure,” shouted one of the nurses trying to hold Rafiq down.

 

     “His heart rate is increasing!”  The EKG was going mad. The lines were going into rapid zigzags.

 

     “We have to sedate him. If he keeps up he’s going into cardiac arrest,” shouted one of the doctors. Attendants held Rafiq as a doctor injected Rafiq to calm him down.

 

Slowly Rafiq stopped struggling and went back into unconsciousness

 

 

 

 

 

Soul asylum (Chapter 2)

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Sharifah flipped through the pages of the thick economic textbook.

 

She yawned. The words in the book were dancing around.

‘I need a haircut,’ she thought running her hand through her short curly hair. Sharifah or Ifa for short, shook her head and slap her cheeks with both hands. ‘There she goes again, concentrate on your text,’  a voice scolded in her head. For someone who was fast approaching the big 21, she had a concentration span of an eight year old. Her mind would be everywhere except study. One minute it was on the economics equilibrium chart; the next it would wander to a movie scene she had recently watched or to some handsome guy she had bumped into at the campus.

Sharifah sighed and walked across the room to the balcony; carefully watching her steps so that she would not step on her housemates sleeping peacefully in the living room. There were eight of them. They were all sprawled all over the room, kicking their blankets and sleeping on the cold marble floor to get some cool comfort from the heatwave.

 

 The living room was lengthy and spacious, with only a run-down sofa at one end of the room and a small television at the left hand corner; it was enough to fit all eight of them.

 

 . Sharifah stepped onto the balcony.  Sharifah squeezed underneath the row of clothing lines. Seated, legs cross, she leaned against the wall and stared at the stars. 

 

 

Ring!!!

Sharifah was jolted to reality by the  telephone. She wasn’t the only one…..Aida and Rina nearly bolted up from their mattress. Who would call them at 2.00 o’clock in the morning? Drowsily, Aida got up and answered the telephone.

 

Sharifah didn’t hear  anything nor could she see Aida’s expression. It was dark inside the flat.  Rina had already gone back to sleep.

 

 

Aida put down the phone and crept back to her mattress. She didn’t go back to sleep, she just sat there hugging her knees.

 

     “Is everything alright?” whispered Sofia walking carefully towards her friend. She sat beside Aida.

 

Aida didn’t answer her. She just shook her head. Sharifah put her arm gently on her friend’s shoulder. She wasn’t the huggy feely person. A mere pat on the shoulder or a gentle squeeze on the shoulder was the only emotion that she knew. Aida took a deep breath and slowly released it.

 

“It’s, Rafiq,” answered back Aida.

 

“Who’s Rafiq?”

 

“He’s my cousin.”  Aida didn’t continue. Her voice was shaking with emotion and she wiped the tears trickling down her cheeks.

 

     “What’s wrong with him?” asked Sharifah gently. She felt sad for her Aida, out of all the seven girls, the two of them are more comfortable with each other.

 

     “He was in an accident  a few weeks back. He was hit by a car and flung off his motorcycle. It was a hit and run case. His left leg was shattered but the worst part is ….,” said Aida softly “He never gained consciousness. He has been in a coma for a month now.”

 

     “I’m sorry. You must’ve been close with him?” said Sharifah sympathetically.

 

     “We were….but somehow we lost touch” Aida twirled her blanket. Sharifah didn’t say anything, Aida was clearly upset.

     “That phone was from Pak Ngah. He wanted the whole family to gather at his house this Thursday. They want to do a  prayers for Rafiq. I’m just worried. It wouldn’t be nothing if my uncle called so early in the morning. I’ve never visited him since the accident but I have a bad feeling about this. I just feel that I should go and visit him tomorrow morning,” said Aida nervously.  Sharifah looked at her International Economic book and looked back at her friend. Aida didn’t have to say anything, the state that she was in at that time showed that she didn’t want to see Rafiq alone.

 

     “I could follow you. I don’t have any classes tomorrow,” said Sharifah. Aida nodded, mumbled a ‘thank you’ and laid her head on the pillow, pretending to  sleep. Sharifah went to the balcony and opened the book. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, she might as well try to get something into her head. Sharifah managed to get to the third chapter before falling asleep dreaming of flow charts and gigantic telephones.

Rina found her the next morning, with the book tuck as a pillow under her head, sleeping peacefully at the balcony. It was almost 10.00 o'clock.

Aida was already getting ready to go to Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. Sharifah rushed into the bathroom and grabbed any clothes to wear; ignoring the fact that her dark blue head scarf (tudong) didn’t match her pink blouse.

 

The two girls got on an IntraKota bus headed towards Silang Street in KL. There, they

 

took a Metro bus to the hospital.  It wasn’t hard to find  Rafiq’s ward, there were signs at every corner of the hospital. Rafiq was located on the third floor. A long white curtain was drawn around his bed.

Aida pulled the curtain and looked at the bed. Sharifah was standing behind her and couldn’t see Rafiq’s face.

     “Sharifah, I’d like you to meet my cousin Rafiq,” said Aida stepping aside so that Sharifah had a clear view of Rafiq. Aida noticed the frown on her friend’s face.

 

     “What’s the matter?” asked Aida. Sharifah shrugged her shoulder but she was still frowning, trying to remember….

     ‘I’ve seen him before, where have I seen him ?’ thought Sharifah to herself.

     “What?” asked Aida unsatisfied with her friend’s reply..

     “It’s just that he looks familiar,” said Sharifah not taking her eyes off Rafiq. He was a strikingly handsome young man. His face and eyes looked swollen, Aida told her that it was caused by the medication and water pump into his blood stream. The first thing that anyone would notice of him was his frame. It was big. He looked like a masculine version of Snow White sleeping on the tiny dwarves bed. There were faint signs of bruises and cuts on his face. His right leg was cemented. Sharifah looked at his chart’s pretending to understand what was written on it but could only see scribbles.

     “What’s wrong with him?’ asked Sharifah looking at Aida who sat beside Rafiq.

     “He had head injury, the doctors said he had a concussion, his left leg was shattered.”

     “Concussion doesn’t take almost four weeks to wake up from. Brain damage perhaps?” asked Sharifah.

     “The doctor did a CT scan. We haven’t got the result yet.”

 

Sharifah looked around the ward.

     “What are you looking for?” asked Aida.

     “Isn’t his family supposed to be here? Where are they?”Aida didn’t answer her friend. Sharifah left Aida and her cousin alone and wandered off by herself. They stayed with Rafiq for 30 minutes and then headed back to Shah Alam. Aida was quiet and didn’t talk all the way home. That was fine with Sharifah, she was trying to memorize what she had read last night, trying to remember the charts and examples for the essay section for tomorrow’s Economic test. She couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that she had met Rafiq before. Where did she see him?

 

Hi Ho A merry O a Hill Top We will Go Part 2

Hi there, continuation of my story.

Above are the pictures that I took at the  Boh Tea Plantation. My friend and I went down to the valley to take some pictures , scrambling down happily like little kids pretending that we were in a Hindustan movie, imaginary music playing in our heads.....That was until the tour guide called us to come back up the valley, he was afraid we might slip and get tangle in the tea bushes. You could see the plantation workers plucking the leaves and putting it in a woven bag on their back.

The teas will be processed at the processing area.

Here's the pictures folks:

The grinding

The drying ....

 The seperation and the packing

They have a cool cafe platform that has a fantastic view of the whole plantation acres and acres of land. I finally got to fulfill one of my wish, to drink hot tea and eat scones with cream and jam. It was lovely (hehe turning British) the scones just melt in your mouth , blissful :)

Afterwards went strawberry hunting  at some of the Strawberry Agro Farm there.

On our final night in Cameron, we ate steamboat (sorry didn't take any pictures though)


That's all for now folks.

Hi Ho A merry O a Hill Top We will Go

After a few weeks of planning, postponing, delaying and planning again, I finally set off to Cameron Highland last Thursday with my friend GM. .

(For those who are wondering what's Cameron Highland , you can view the information in this website :

http://www.cameronhighland.net/)

It is located in Pahang about 4 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. It is a center of attraction not only for tourist but also locals, who would like to get away from hustle and bustle of the city. Disappear in the cold hill top atmosphere surrounded by lucious greeneries, vegetables and tea plantation with enchanted forests. It is  literally 'far from the maddening crowd'.

Hmmmmm back to my story :

23/5/2013 - Thursday .
Started the day by picking up my friend at the office  (I can't believe that she was doing work when I drove in!I really need to get the girl out of HERE!)

I dropped off my car at my apartment and took the express bus to Cameron Highlands at Pudu Raya, Kuala Lumpur(KL). (http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/things-to-do/puduraya-bus-terminal/kuala-lumpur).

We moved out off KL around 10.20am, the best part was that the bus wasn't full, I could choose any seats I like :) (Although I have to caution you that  we were going on a weekday and it wasn't a school holiday, hence the flexibility, so don't go up to the bus conductor at any other days and say this blogger says I can seat anywhere I like :P)  
We stopped for 20 minutes at Slim River (in Ipoh,) for lunch and stretch our legs a bit. Funny thing was that the rest area didn't look like a rest area. First , it was located in a middle of no where surrounded by rubber trees, second,it looked like a long two storey motel with a food court in ground floor.

We didn't follow the highway route to Camerons, we followed the village road. We passed villages, rubber trees , forest, I could give more details but I believe I would bore you to sleep. Plus I was half drifting off myself. All I remembered were the endless bend when we ascend up the hill. . Wide bends, small bends, tight bends ...no bends (trust me if your sensitive and get quizzy easily buy pepermints or hacks sweets to reduce the nausea)

But if you love nature then here are some of the scenes that you can see :

We reached the top around 2.30pm. The tour company that we booked our holiday package , TJ NUr Travel was located in a small town called Tanah Rata. ( I know, I kmow , your saying , geez your staying in Malaysia and you still need a tour guide?!But in my defense, the following day would be the school holidays (jam, jam and more jam!) so I had to think fast and grab anything that came our way)

View of our lodge. Not bad I would say.....

 

After unloading our bags in our room , we set out, all geared up to do some activity since we missed the 2pm sight seeing group.

 

Tanah Rata

 

 

1km from our lodging  there was a garden and also MARDI ( a research center agriculture and plants) where there are  not only flowers but also  agro vegetables, cactus and even rabbit.

 

 

 

We wandered around the Tanah Rata. We were contemplating whether to go to the other town known as Brinchang where it is popular for it's night market.

 

 

 

We asked for direction from a fedex guy (confident that we won't get it wrong) He mention that it will be 20 minutes from Tanah Rata . Easy Peesy......but what he failed to tell us ...Was whether it was 20 minutes walk or 20 minutes drive from where we were.

 

It was already 7.30pm when we set out to go to Brinchang. Walking out of  Tanah Rata, into windy roads, we walked and walked,.......There were trees on our left and right, it was getting darker and fewer street light. The mist was setting up behind us. We walked for more than 20 minutes when we saw a stone that marked Brinchang 4 km. WHAT! another 4km. That is not 20 minutes, fumed GM. We finally stopped walking and looked at each other.

 

"What are we going to do now?" asked GM. We looked in front, windy street roads leading into the darkness. We looked behind us, mist was getting thicker and we could hear a dog howling repeatedly.

 

Totally a scene from a horror film.

 

 Both GM and myself decided to head back. Funny thing was when we started walking back the dog stopped howling. I guess it was trying to warn us that it wasn't safe for two ladies to walk that road at night. Anyway there was too few cars on the road.

 

Reached the lodge and took a bath. Poor me, the warm water took its on sweet time to reach the pipe, that I had to take a bath in cold water.....BRRRRRRRRRR..........

 

 

The next day, we followed our tour guide to Mnt Brinchang, Mossy forest and Boh Tea Plantation.

 

From look-out tower

 

 

 

 

We rode on a 4x4 (4 wheel drive) up to Mnt Brinchang (6,666 ft) where I took these pictures on a look- out tower on top of Mnt Brinchang.

 

Next would be Mossy Forest, I love this forest, there's something magical about the trees blanketed by moss. It give an out of the world, Narnia feel to it. We learned how we can get water from moss, and bamboo shoots. We hiked up vines, tree trunks, firest class panaromic view of the forest. I really cannot explain how much I loved this forest.

 

 

Show the moist on the tree.

 

Moss growing on the branch.

 

Monkey trap :)

 

Beautiful isn't it ?

 

Breath taking view.

 

 

I have to go to bed now, I'll continue Part 2 of the story tomorrow. .....

 

Nite nite.....