Melor 1

“Hold it, hold!” I said looking up from Rafique and Raju. These two knuckles heads were my closest friends in college. All three of us were business majors.

 

            “What?” asked Raju sipping his ice lemon tea.

 

            “You cannot pause there. What happen next?” I asked leaning closely towards them. Waiting for them to continue...

 

            “He fainted,” said Raju nodding his head towards a flushed Rafique.

 

 Ok, that was anti-climatic..

 

           

“What?”

            “He fainted. After screaming Abang he fainted.” Rafique’s face was getting bright red. He could barely look at me.

 

 

 

 

I was trying my hardest not to laugh. Rafique, BIG masculine Rafique. The adoration of many girls in college, you could hear the trail of girls sighing as he passed them by. Rafique with his dimples, short crew cut hair and Caucasian features (he swore that he was a true blue Malay). Ehhmmmmm….. I shook my head. Back to the story..

            “What happened to the girl?”  I asked. Raju shrugged his head. “His brother and I were paying attention to Rafique, when we turned to the woman, she was gone.”

 

            “Gone?” I asked dumbfounded.

            “Hilang….puff,” said Raju waving his hands in the air.

            “Maybe she is a [1]Pontianak,” said Rafique taking a spoonful of nasi lemak. Raju shrugged his shoulder.

            “Maybe…..” he said thoughtfully. I knew Raju all my life, when he was deep in thought ,(which was not often, he was a carefree, happy-go-lucky fella and hardly takes anything seriously) it means that he was going to do ‘something’ and  that ‘something’ normally includes both me and  Rafique.

 

 

            “Can you tell me, why are we here?” asked Rafique crouching beside me in the bushes. We were at the area where Rafique and Raju had their accident. My wristwatch was showing 9 o’clock.

 

            “I have no idea, “replied Raju crouching on my left side. All of us had our torchlights in our hands. We had been in that position for the past half an hour.My knee was getting numb; I looked nervously at my watch. Mom would be expecting me to be home by 10pm. I told her that I was going to study at my cousin’s house.

 

            “Then why did you bring us! “ I said loudly but was shushed by Raju. I glared at him.

 

Another half an hour passed by, nothing happened. I was getting really nervous. Rafique had already fallen asleep.Fifteen minutes….mom was going to kill me if she caught me with two guys late at night. I got up quickly startling Rafique from his slumber.

 

            “What are you doing? “hissed Raju.

 

            “I’m going home,” I hissed back and would have stock off if I hadn’t bump into something. Something soft, and warm.I turned; there face to face with me was the woman in Raju’s story. Long hair, pale skinned, bloodshot eyes were looking back at me. She was wearing a long bajukurung, I didn’t see whether her feet were touching the ground.

 

            “Ggggggggghhhhooost!!……”Rafique shrieked.

I could hear Rafique and Raju run…..traitors! I turned to run, but the woman grabbed my arm.

 

            “Help me,” she hissed. I tried to yank my arm away from her, but her grasp was strong...“Help me…” She was pleading to me. I looked at her eyes and somehow the eerie bloodshot eyes were gone and all that I can see was tears.  The young women grabbed my wrist and pulled me along with her. She ran towards the forest, passed Raju and Rafique , who were hiding behind a large rubber tree. I didn’t have to turn around to know that they  ran after us..We zigzag through the forest.We were going so fast, at one point I didn’t feel like I was touching the ground. The young woman didn’t say anything, her cold hand was holding tightly to my wrist.

 

We stopped infront of a large [2]Sena tree. The gigantic tree loomed down at us, with its massive trunk and its peeling barks. The branches were in a strange upward sideway formation as if it was blown that way by a storm.

            “Where ….Are ….We …..Going?” I asked out of breath from our sprint.(Mental note, I really need to exercise more)

 

The young woman didn’t answer me. She just looked at the tree, searching for something.

 

            “Come,” she said grabbing my wrist again and pulled me after her. She pushed some dead vines away. Hidden by the thick vines was a small hollow hole in the middle of the trunk.It was big to fit the both of us. I could feel her grasp tightly to my wrist forcing me to follow her.

 

            “It looks dark in there, maybe we should find some matches. I’m claustrophobic,” I said hoping to delay her until Raju and Rafique arrived. God knows, what would happen if they did catch up with us. None of us were prepared for a confrontation.

 

The woman ignored me and stepped into the hole pulling me with her. It was cold inside the trunk; I could feel a gust of wind from above as if the whole interior of the tree was hollow. From outside, the tree didn’t look that large but inside ….I had expected to be cramped against the woman but surprisingly it was spacious and pitched dark. I couldn’t see the woman in front of me but I could feel her pulling my hand, urging me to walk. I walked and walked, it was like the trunk of the tree had expended, I could only sense spaces around me like I was walking into an open area. Had we not entered a tree? Why was I not bumping into something? Surely the trunk wasn’t this big?

 

It felt like a few minutes when she stopped walking. She let go of my hand and through the dark I heard her voice clearly.

 

            “Cover your eyes, “she said. I didn’t know what she meant until I was blinded by a blast of light. I quickly closed my eyes tightly as I felt the light scorching my eyes.

 

I didn’t know how long I was standing there with my eyes closed. Five minutes, ten minutes…..I couldn’t hear anything except soft gentle breeze brushing past me. I couldn’t feel the heat anymore and my eyes didn’t feel like it was going to burn. Slowly, ever so slowly I opened my eyes.

 

            Wow….I gasped…

 

            It was daytime.

 

I was standing on top of a hill. Stretching in front of me, were acres and acres of paddy fields. I could see water buffalos plowing away and I could see villagers wearing straw hats, knee deep in mud planting new paddies. The sun was way above us, but I didn’t feel hot at all.  The gentle wind blowing on top of the hill was very calming giving serenity to the scene in front of me.

 

            “Beautiful isn’t it,” said a voice, almost startling me from my state of mental calmness.

 

It was the young woman that had pulled me inside the tree. She didn’t look gothic and ghostly anymore, her skin had color and her bloodshot eyes were gone, instead it showed sparkling hazel brown eyes, full of life.

 

            “You don’t see this anymore…..unless you go in Farmville, “I said still dazed.

 

The woman looked at me curiously.

 

            “Facebook, “I said as if it was a natural answer.

 

            There was no response.

 

            Ok, might as well skip the chat.

 

            “Where are we? And why did you bring me here?”

 

            “You’re in my village.”

 

            “And where is that? Inside a tree?”

 

She laughed.

 

            “No silly, at the other side of the tree,” said the young woman, she was smiling and swaying along with the wind. I felt like swaying along with her. It was so calm. I shook my head; there was no time for that.

 

            “Oh, right. Silly me, the other side of the tree has a different time zone compared to when we entered the tree,” I said sarcastically to get her attention back to me.

 

 

            “Melor……Melor. There you are.” An old woman came up the hill. She was small and plump.  She had a cane to support her.  The old woman frowned at me, increasing the wrinkles on her face.  She eyed me from head to toe, literally giving me a body scan.Once satisfied, she gave a big toothless grin.

            “Assalamualaikum, I see you have company.” The old lady smiled and looked behind me. I turned and saw Rafique and Raju standing not far from us, looking at their surroundings.

 

            “Sof, what is going on here?” asked Raju shakily.

The two of them had managed to catch up when they saw the woman and I disappeared into the tree.  Figuring that they had gotten us trap, Rafique and Raju waited outside for us to come out.

 

After a few minutes gone by and no us, the two young men stepped into the hole and stumbled through the darkness, leading them to where everyone was now. Raju didn’t look as shock as Rafique , who looked paler than usual.

 

            “Are we dead?”

 

            “How can we be dead, we didn’t hit anything unless those head bumps in the dark must have given us a severe concussion, causing us to be delusional,  “ argued Raju trying to find reason. I raised my eyebrows at him. Really, sometimes Raju amazed me, he can conjure a scientific reason to a ridiculous situation.

 

            “It’s possible we could have knocked ourselves out.”

            “And everyone had the same dream?” I couldn’t help chipping in.

 

Raju was about to open his mouth but stopped.

 

            “*Anak-anak,I think it is best that you follow us back to our house,” said the old woman seeing the glare that Raju gave me and turned to go back down the hill.

 

Melor smiled and gestured us to follow them.

 

We walked down the hill and walked past the paddy fields. If the villagers working in the field noticed us with our strange clothes, they didn’t show any interest. It was as if it was a natural thing to have strangers passing by their village. Men and women were busy harvesting the paddy and I could see children playing near a dam which channels the water into the fields.

 

Rafique couldn’t help dipping his feet in the paddy field and would have stayed longer, playing with the water, had not the old woman warned of leeches hidden in the mud. Rafique quickly scrambled out.

 

 We walked on the narrow borders, with the old woman leading the way.

We found out that her name was Mak Limah, and that Melor was her daughter.

 

 

It was a long walk to Mak Limah’s house. We passed orchards, graveyards; we went up hill and down hills. We past a few streams, the three of us couldn’t resist stopping for a while to drink and splash our faces with cooling natural water. I marvel at both Melor and her mother’s stamina, especially the mother, she didn’t seem out of breath.

As for us, I was ready to past out, Rafique was wheezing and Raju was limping.

 

Their house was in a forest far from the other villagers. There were coconut trees everywhere. The house itself was made of wood supported with four strong pillars made of timber. The roof and the window shutters were made of nipah leaves.

 

Chickens were clucking and roasting below the house.

 

Inside the house was bare, except for a few oil lamps and a nipah mat where, Raju, Rafique and I sat as Mak Limah and Melor busied themselves in the kitchen.

 

            “Why are we here?” Rafique asked as Melor served us tea. MakLimah was leaning against a wall munching on betel leaf. She offered to us but we declined politely.

 

            “Most importantly where are we?” asked Raju.

 

            “You are in our village,” said MakLimah.

 

            “Where is your village?”

 

            “Same place where you live”

 

            “But our home does not have paddy fields, even the nearest village has only dried up paddy fields,” said Rafqiue helping himself to tea.

 

            “You could say we are neighbors,” said Mak Limah lazily, there were red stains on her mouth from the betel leaves. Raju and I exchanged looks, this wasn’t going anywhere.

 

            “You do know that god creates other living things that coexist with your kind, do you?” Melor asked gently.

 

            ‘You mean………ALIENS?” asked Rafique. I couldn’t help shaking my head, aliens…really….Aliens. Rafique sometimes amazed me.

 

Mak Limah nearly choked on her betel leaves trying to stifle a laugh.

 

            “You mean fairies, bunians, toyol?” asked Raju.

 

            Melor nodded her head.

 

            “So what you’re saying is that your orang Bunian?” I asked trying to calm myself. If it was a normal situation I would have thought Melor was mad, but all three of us were sitting in her living room, sipping a cup of tea.

 

            “You got to be kidding!“

 

            “Says the guy who thought she was a Pontianak,” whispered Raju to me. I giggled.

            “Why not, my people have coexisted with you for centuries. We don’t bother anyone; we just live happily and worship Allah. We meant no harm, “said Melor. She was touching her stomach. I had forgotten that she was pregnant.

 

            “How do you travel from your world to our world?” asked Raju.

 

            “We have certain portals or doorways from your world to ours, but it sometimes changes location. Your people sometimes mistakenly wandered into our world by mistake, either to end up staying here or to return back. We, of course welcomes them here into our homes as one of us.”

 

            “You mention that you need my help. What is that help?”

 

            “Melor is trying to find her husband,” said Mak Limah quietly. Melor didn’t say anything, she merely looked down.

 

            “What happened to her husband?” asked Raju.

 

            “We don’t know. He never returned.”

 

            “Returned from where?”

 

            “He was one of you. He accidently stumbled into our world, bleeding and injured with no memories of who he is. Melor found him in the forest, unconscious. The two of us helped him the best we can. When he woke up he couldn’t remember anything. We knew where he was, from the clothes that he was wearing. He was a nice young man Very polite and respectable to everyone. He helped out with the chores. Month past and both him and Melor fell in love.”

 

            “We married. One day he mentioned that he missed his mother and would like to go and see her. He never returned,” said Melor gently, she didn’t cry but her voice was trembling. I felt pretty bad, my mother was a single mother, and it wasn’t easy to raise a child without a father figure.

 

            “Have you tried searching for him?”

 

            “We have but we can’t stay in your world too long.”

 

            “Why?” asked Raju.

 

            “Bunian people are nice people. Some people like to associate us with jins or elves but we’re a creation of Allah to worship god and to leave on our own community. We don’t have corruption here. Nobody is talking bad of each other. We don’t know the word back stabbing. Here, everyone is equal. There is enough food, wealth to go around. We don’t have to steal, everyone is family and we take care of each other. We are cocoon in our own environment protected from anything bad. All we do is work in harmony and devote ourselves to god. But your world is a polar opposite from us. Bad feelings, stealing, corruptions, we can feel all that and it feeds inside us causing us to be sick. You can stay in our world but we won’t last long in yours.”

 

            “What about your husband, what will happen to him? Since he’s actually human?” I asked. Melor glanced worriedly at Mak Limah.

 

            “We are not too sure; we never had an actual human that stayed too long from the community. But Abang Malek is a good man and he was excited to have this baby. He would have never missed the child’s birth.  Something terrible must have happen to him, I know it!” There was an awkward silence at Melor’s outburst.

 

 

            “Then we have to help,” said Rafique.” Do you have any pictures?” Melor shook her head.

 

            “Do you know his name?”

 

            “Malek. We called him Malek but I don’t think that is his real name.”

 

            We have no actual names, no pictures……this won’t be easy……….

 

 

 

            “There they are!” shouted a voice as the three of us clambered out of the hole.  Lights from all directions were shown at us.

 

---

[1]Vampire

[2]Casuarina trees

Melor (first part of the untitled story)

“Look out, Raju, look out!” cried Rafique as he grabbed Raju’s seat with both hands. He was hanging on to dear life as Raju’s old rusty bicycle went out of control. They were going down a dark hill at full speed. Rafique grunted at every pothole that the bicycle thrashes through! Raju tried to press the breaks, there was a loud clank as the bicycle chain broke. Rafique yelped from behind. To hell with machoism! He bear hugged his friend’s waist, ignoring his cries,

 

            “Ayo, ayoo,Fique, let go! I’m ticklish laa!”

 

The old bicycle lamp in front flickered on and off as it sped down. Through the dim light Rafique could make out a figure, long hair and terrified eyes. It didn’t move or run, it just stood there paralyzed.

 

            Rafique closed his eyes and prayed.

 

            “Please let it not be a ghost, please let it not be a ghost. I’ll never miss my prayers ever again” said Rafique cowardly in his heart. The two boys were returning from a football match. They had played far after the sun had set and the cry of azan Maghrib[1] had long finished from the nearby mosque. It wasn’t proper for a Muslim to be outside during the fourth period of prayers as it was during that time that ‘syaitan’ or evil spirits roam the streets.

 

            “Argggh!” cried both the boys as their bicycle lamps flickered out. Raju managed to turn a little of the handle to the right but it wasn’t enough to avoid the figure in front. He could feel his body hit the figure hard as they pass through it. Raju lost control of the bicycle.

 

            “Arrrrggghh!” cried the boys a second time as the bicycle wobbled and plunge into a rubber estate, heading directly towards a large rubber tree!

 

            With all his strength Raju jerked the handle and the bicycle moved away from the tree and into a bush of sharp ferns. The boys toppled off the bicycle onto the [2]pokok semalu’ growing wildly on the ferns!

 

There were cuts and bruises on both of the boys but they were alive. Raju’s poor bicycle was a complete rack. The crossbar was badly dented; the bicycle looked like it was broken in to pieces.

 

Painfully, the two boys walked to the street, towards the scene of the accident. There was no streetlight and all that could guide them to the still figure in the middle of the street was the light from the full moon above them.

 

Shivering both the boys approached slowly, feet trembling and hearts thumping. The two of them could see that the figure was a woman; wearing a flowery [3]baju kurung. She was lying on her side, with her long hair covering her face. Gently Raju turned her around.

 

            It was a young woman, around 20 to 23, predicted Rafique. Not much older from the both of them. Her eyes were closed tight. Raju put his finger underneath her nostril. He couldn’t feel any air. He tried to find her pulse. He looked up at Rafique and shook his head.

 

            “Did we kill her?” asked Rafique worriedly. Raju didn’t answer.

 

            “What is that?” asked Rafique pointing to her abdomen. Raju looked at where Rafique was pointing. There was a bulge at her abdomen. Shakily, Raju put his hand on the bulge and like someone putting his hand in fire he quickly withdrew it.

 

Rafique was shaking like a leaf.

           

            “She’s pregnant isn’t she? We killed a pregnant woman! She’s going to comeback from the dead and become a [4]Pontianak and will hunt us for the rest of our lives!” cried Rafique, hysterically. Raju looked up at his friend and wished that he could shake him. He loved Rafique like a brother but his wild imagination wasn’t helping them. Raju was thinking what they were supposed to do when a car came down the steep hill. Before either one of them could move, a honk bellowed and the car stopped beside them. A man came out of the car.

 

            “What have you done?” asked the man.

 

            “Abang!” There was a scream. ……………….

 

---

*Fourth of five formal daily prayers for Muslim

 

 

[2]Pudica plant

[3]A two piece Malay traditional clothing worn by the women.

[4]A vampire- the story goes that a pregnant woman was murdered and her soul roams the earth hungry for revenge and blood.

Untitled part 2

"Singapore!" cried all three of us.

 

" Don't worry everything is covered.  Check under yourpillow when you wake up," said Melor giving us a mischevious smile.

 

 

 Sure enough when we woke up , there underneath our pillow were our passports and plane tickets.

 

Now you would be asking us how

they did that? We learn that these naive peace loving bunians had a few tricks up their sleeves and they had Malek who knew how things work in our world.

 

What we couldn't figure out was why the hassle of a passport when we could easily used one of their portals in Singapore?

 

Changi Airport was swarming with people. December must be the right time to visit  Singapore.

 

 

 

" Raju! Sofia! Rafiqu!" A female voice called to us. We were going down the excalator. All three of us turned and saw a young woman waving franticly at the three of us.

 

 

" Hi, I' m Amanda Lim. You're Raju, Rafique and Sofia, so nice to meet you," said Amanda grinning widely.

 

" How did you know us?" Asked  Raju curiously.

 

                “Melor told me to expect you. She said to watch out for a young Malay woman wearing head scarf accompanied by  two young gentleman , one Indian and one  fair Malay. You’re the only one that I see fits the description, “ said Amanda grinning happily. She helped us to get our bags and ushered us to an awaiting taxi at the entrance.  The three of us sat at the back while Amanda sat the front passenger seat , directing the taxi driver where to go .

 

                “So how did you know about Melor?” asked Raju.

                “Her father is a family friend, “ said Amanda looking  at us through the rearview.

 

" My family had known about the existence of the Bunian people since my great grandfather. He stumbled into them by accident. My great grandfather followed an expedition back then into the jungle, which is now famously known as GunungLedang in Malacca. Fascinated by nature he had wandered off from the group. When great grandfather realized that he was alone, he had wandered too deep and couldn’t track back to the group. He was lost for hours and it was getting dark. He stumbled onto a stream and that was when he heard voices and laughter. Curious he had followed the sound and saw a group of people camping near the stream. They looked like royalty, complete with baju melayu, tanjak ,keris and all.  The leader was sitting lazily against a huge bolder. Everyone looked up when they heard my great grandfather approaching and they were alert,  poised to attack with their keris drawn out.

Scared and thinking that they were ghost, great grandfather ran into the jungle. Out of breath, great grandfather leaned against a tree not noticing a snake slithering down to him. When great grandfather turned and saw the snake, it was ready to strike him……..”

 

We were passing by a traffic light into town. All three of us crammed at the window to see the iconic Merilion statue. The symbol of Singpore, a lion head and a fish tale.

 

                “What happened next?”

 

                “Great grandfather didn’t have time to move.   Everything happened so fast. The moment the snake strike towards him a flash long object struck the snake. The snake was thrown back, embedded into the tree trunk. That long object was an arrow released from the Sultan’s bow. He had saved my grandfather’s life and not only that his warriors helped him to find the way out of the jungle. And that was the start of great grandfathers contact with the Sultan. A week after that he had dreams about a mythical kingdom with warriors and the sultan. He dreamt about a Euphoric place where  there was no crime , it was as if the seven sins does not exist in that place. The sultan greeted great grandfather and showed him his kingdom and the portal that could lead him to the bunian world. Our family were very worried about great grandfather after his escapade at the jungle, talking and laughing by himself and he would disappear for hours. Great grandfather would bring back these strange artifacts back with him, like the sultan’s official stamp and a carved keris. We started to believe him when we had these artifacts to be checked out by a historian at the Singapore Museum. The wording and carvings were way before our time and the artifacts should be in an Arcadian. The historian wanted to know where we got the item but great grandfather had made us all swore that we can never tell anyone where he got the items.  When great grandfather passed away , strange things begin to happen. Gold coins could be found around the house. Grandfather could hear whisperings but could not see anyone. Things that we thought we lost were put back at their original place. “

 

The taxi driver drove into Orchard road. I loved Orchard Road, you can see a lot of foreigners and the landscape  trees and the skyscrapers gave a feeling that we were overseas a far cry from the Indian street that we passed by as well. The driver drove into Hilton Hotel. We looked at each other. This was too posh for three village people that hadn’t finished their studies yet.

 

                ‘It’s ok, courtesy of Melor and Malek. I’m sorry I couldn’t put you in our apartment , I believe it will be too crowded for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mother and child

untitled

      I looked at the ocean beneath us. Itwas a clear blue sky. The clouds formation was so beautiful like small clusters of candyfloss. I looked at the two young men sitting across from me. One malay caucasian and another indian. Raju smiled back at me, motioning towards Rafique sleeping soundly.I giggled. That boy can sleep through anything! Just almost an hour ago he had a panicked attack at the klia airport. Rafique was petrified of flying. Both his parents died in a plane crash when he was small, this , and further enforced through watching final destination. He had this notion that something bad would happen on a plane.

What had caused him to agree to this trip?
A lot and a lot of persuasion from raju and myself .

A call for help from a friend. Rafique was always a big softy if someone asked him for help. Plus, we asked for a sleeping pill from his doctor brother for precautionary measures. It took a lot of cajoling him when the plane took off from the ground!


I need to backtrack first to explain how this story began.

It started almost a year ago. The three of us was chasing after what we persumed at that time a pontianak in the forest near our village. That is how we met Melur and was literally  transported into the world of bunian. She asked our help in finding her husband. Turned out her husband was human like us and that we weren't as different as them.

  Well ok, if you minus out our greed for money, power , hate , envy , beauty and anger we could be the same as them.

The bunian, were peaceful people and they lived in their community in harmony.

And they were mischevous as well as they liked to wander into our world and they liked to tell stories.We met with pak pandir on our first adventure while searching for clues on Malek's where abouts.While trying to  question him, pak pandir gave us the slip and jumped out the window, pretty agile for an old man.

Needless to say,we found Malek and reunited him and Melor.Like any feel good movie the two of them went back into the Bunian world through a portal . They left a thank you note for the  three of us at the bark of a tree, signed Melor,Malik and baby Tajol.

Sad, and somewhat happy non the less we thought that would be the less time that we bumped into Melor.

A few says ago, Melor had came to the three of us through a dream.

She told us that one of her had entered into our world and had not returned for almost a week.

" Thats normal right? Your people do go into our world. Why are you concern?" asked Raju curioused.

"they never stay away too long. Remember i once told you that if we stay too long we can fall sick.our soul cannot absorb the negativity in your world."

   "Who are we looking for this time?" asked Rafique .


   " Badang ."

     " BADANG?!" The three of us cried in unison.

    " The strongest  man alive, equal strength to Hercules himself! Of course we have heard of him! He's one of the popular fairytales that I read when I was a child!" cried Rafique excitedly.  We all had read Badang story when we were small, how we squirmed when we knew that he had to eat what the genie had threw up to get his supernatural strength. How he  had defeated the indian warrior Wadi Bijaya in a rock throwing contest.

But Rafique was the one that loves all this folk stories, from Nujum Pak Belalang, Si Tanggang , Puteri Gunung Ledang to Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup.

    " that is why i need you guys to be in singapore"

scribbles

All adventure at Eifel tower

“Don’t forget to wear your jackets,” abang had warned us before my little brother and I had stepped out of our hotel. The sky was crystal clear, warm and sunny. Sure it wasn’t Malaysian weather, but why ruin a perfectly beautiful day by wearing layers of clothes.

We didn’t take heed to abang’s warning. Both of us took the metro from Bibliothèque station to Champ de Mars. We had been in Paris for three days now, and every time we past the magnificent structure it just took my breath away.

I was delighted to see that there wasn’t a long queue to go up Eiffel Tower. At a price of € 12 to reach the peak( I found that pretty reasonable) and joined the small crowd. I watched at the people in the line. They were from  all over the world. There were the three Japanese old ladies in front of us, chattering away, sometimes glancing around , nodding and grinning as our eyes met. The group of Russian boys, whoopping and talking loudly, the French couples cuddling to each other. All of them had one thing in common. All of them were wearing coats! I looked at my white long sleeve T-shirt and my brother’s short sleeve. It was getting breezy but surely it would be warmer as we go up the peak.

After we had passed the tight security (mental note please check your pockets before you passed the metal detectors. And no the metal detector will not breakdown no matter how many times it beeps when you passed by!)

 

We took the elevator which led us to the second level of the tower. There we had to queue up again to go on the elevator that will take us all the way to the summit. It was a loooooooong wait. That was the time when we felt the cold. The wind was blowing strongly. My hands were numb and my nose was turning pink. My brother was starting to do a little jiggle to keep himself warm.

 The minute the elevator open its door, I was hit by the blast of the wind. It was really, really cold! We tried to channel the cold by focusing on our surrounding. And WHAT a surrounding it was! We could see the whole of France. WE saw a mini Notre Dame, Louvre and Champ De Mars. It was heaven to amateur photographers like the two of us ! We were snapping away like mad, either taking picture of one of us or helping to take picture of others. We even got our pictures taken ! But our excitement lasted for fifteen minutes as the cold got the best of us. And we head down.

 I had a sore throat even before we reached the hotel and had a full blown fever as we drove out of Paris I didn’t even dare to tell abang as I know I wouldn’t be able to escape an ‘I told you so’. Goodbye Paris , Goodbye Eiffel Tower, I would never take your weather for granted if I ever come back.

 

 

 

 

Soul asylum (part 12)

“Aargh!!!” shouted Sharifah bolting up. Something wet and cold was on her face. Panicked she pulled it away. She stared at the thing, disoriented. It was a small wet towel. Sharifah looked around her. She was in a room, with a stack of mattress laying in one corner and a long study table in front of her. She could feel her clothes wet and sticking to her.  Even the mattress beneath her was wet. Where was she? Where was Rafiq?

She was startled by a presence at the door.

 

            “Your awake!” screamed a hysterical Sofia and flung her arms around Shairfah. Sharifah gave a weak smile.

 

            “Who long have I been asleep?” she asked in pure Malay.

            “ Three hours the longest three  hours ever. You were delirious ma... Talking and sleep walking. Wanted to call 999 tadi,” said Sofia kneeling beside her. Sharifah tried to get up and fell back down. Her legs were still weak.

 

            “ Ha, be careful , tengah demam nak pergi mana,” said Sofia feeling her forehead. It was even warm. Sofia moved her hand to Sharifah’s cheeks and then under her chin. She felt beneath her chin.

 

            “Peliknye… your fevers gone,” said Sofia with a frown. Three hours ago her friend was blazing hot and now she was normal. Not even a single temperature. Sharifah tried to get up again. She had to go see Rafiq. She had to go see wether he was ok. Slowly she got up and started towards her the bathroom.

 

            “Jom gi hospital, I need to see Rafiq,” said Sharifah to the still confused Sofia.

 

            “Rafiq? Michael and Aida ada sama dia. He had another a seizure. Their monitoring him,” said Sofia. Sharifah stopped midway to the bathroom.

 

            “Micheal?” asked Sharifah, when was he called so informally?

 

            “You tak ingat? What happened at the clinic and that he sent us back here,” said Sofia.

 

Sharifah looked confused and shook her head.

 

            “Fill me in on the way to the hospital,” she said and turned back towards the bathroom.

 

            Half an hour later the two girls were in the bus towards Kuala Lumpur. Sofia told her what had happened when they went to the clinic, her talk with Michael and while she was sick. In returned Sharifah told her what had happened in her dreams.

Sofia took it really well, she didn’t make fun of her instead she was excited. This would confirmed her theory. Sharifah didn’t say anything and looked at the orange color surrounding the sky as the sun was setting and night emerging.

 

It was dark when they reached the hospital. There wasn’t anybody outside the ICU. Sharifah’s heart was pounding. Normally Aida’s family would be waiting outside the room, waiting anxiously. There was no one. Sharifah felt  scared, for herself and also for Rafiq. Had she failed?

            Sofia saw her anxiety and put a hand on her arm.

 

            “Relaks, it’s just 7.00. Visitors are not aloud inside the ICU so I think they have all gone home.” Sharifah shrugged. The two of them sat on the bench facing the ICU door hoping that either the nurse or even Michael would come out.

 

 

 

They sat there for almost an hour. It was the longest hour that she felt. Both Sofia and Sharifah had fallen a sleep. Sharifah woke up when she felt a hand shaking her. Sharifah opened one eye and saw that it was Aida.

 

            “Hey,” said Sharifah shortly. Aida smiled at her. Was she forgiven?

            “Hi, what are young doing here?” she asked.

            “I heard Rafiq had a seizure so thought of checking up on him”

            “He’s not in the ICU, they moved him.” Sharifah looked at her surprised. Wasn’t he in a critical condition. Why move him? Sofia stirred beside her and woke up. Lazily she smiled at Aida.

 

            “Come on, I’ll take you to him,” said Aida helping Shairfah up. Sharifah looked at her friend trying to search her eyes, wanting to say the words ‘I’m sorry’ and to be forgiven. Aida smiled back at her friend and squeezed her arm gently as if to say that everything between them was okay.

 

            “Are you ok?” asked Aida worriedly. Sharifah just nodded. Aida took them into  a ward full of patients. Aida walk.ed on passing each row of beds until she stopped at the end.

There was a lot of people surrounding the bed, talking excitedly. Shairfah saw Aida’s mother and father. There was some that Sharifah didn’t recognized. All of them looking towards the bed. Aida pulled Sharifah nearer to the bed. The people there parted and gave way for them to walk through. There sitting up straight with a pillow prompt at his back was……..Rafiq, alive, awake…a bit pale but he looked healthy.

 

            Sofia had held back when Aida pulled Shairfah near the bed but she saw Rafiq clearly. Her mouth dropped.

 

            “Exciting isn’t it,” said a voice behind her. Sofia turned and saw Michael standing right behind her, smiling happily.

 

 

            “When did he wake up?” asked Sofia

 

            “Almost two hours ago. Suddenly he bolted up like he’s been electrocuted or something,” said Micahel . “It’s a miracle no signs of brain damage and yet he had three seizures.”

 

            “Yeah  miracle,” said Sofia thoughtfully. She watched as Sharifah approached Rafiq and her gazed dropped at Aida. She looked so happy, there was no sign of jealousy seeing Sharifah near Rafiq.

 

Sharifah walked cautiously towards Rafiq. He was eyeing her even when he was talking to Anita at the other side of his bed. She reached his side and smiled. He smiled back, a bit confused. He looked like he was trying to remember her.

            “Sharifah, my friend,” whispered Aida behind her.  Rafiq nodded and smiled but Sharifah noticed something……something else in his eyes. Was it recognition? Did he remember what had happened? But it was gone and he looked and smiled warmly at Aida behind her. Sharifah’s heart dropped…. He didn’t remember…Sharifah walked away from the crowed and went to Sofia and Michael. Sofia saw her downcast face and put an arm around her shoulder.

            “You know, I could use  an ABC now. Who wants to follow? My treat,  I’m still off today,” said Michael looking at the two girls.

 

            “I’m in,” said Sofia cheerfully. “Teh tarik for Sharifah. She just recovered from a fever” she added cheekily.

 

            “ Tak achi,” said Sharifah punching playfully at her friend.

 

The three of them went to the ICU entrance, the automatic door opened and as they walked out, the door closed behind them……………