03. Suspicion

I walked on the humus-covered ground and dried leaves, after walking along the sidewalk on the edge of the empty paved road. I was going to take a shortcut to the place the old man had told me about, but there wasn't a single vehicle passing by, and it was quite normal in a remote area like this.

 I skipped school today, asking permission to visit my sick cousin, but of course, it was all a lie. Besides, my father's younger brother Surya isn't married yet, and it's a good thing that the teachers at my school didn't really know my family.

 Furthermore, I had never been absent from school, so it was easy for me to convince the teachers without being plagued with annoying questions.

 Where I was now was ten kilometers away from the city center, there was no public transportation that passed through this area, as this route was only used as an alternative route when the streets were crowded due to public holidays.

 Without public transportation, I was nothing. Without a driver's license or a motorcycle, I was forced to walk another three kilometers. Through a hilly path shaded by a dense forest of oak trees.

 I had to meet the old man. Because if I didn't, the kuntilanak girl's life wouldn't be saved.

 My memories flashed back to what happened this morning. Aya almost killed herself with the razor blade she found in my pencil case, trying to sever her head off her body. Luckily she was too weak, the razor blade only scratched her neck and made her flow black blood along with maggots. I didn't really understand her condition, but there was one thing I did understand.

 Her body is starting to decompose, which shouldn't happen. The Puntianak nail given to her by that old man should not fail to transform her into a fully human form. I remembered Aya's bitterly smiling face when she said that what if the Puntianak Nail inside her head was fake, but there was no way I could pull it out. That might endanger her even more.

 Before leaving I had to lock Aya in my room and take away things that she might use to kill herself. I had to take precautions even though I couldn't get rid of my guilt for leaving her alone.

 "Honk... Honk..."

 I woke up from my reverie, I don't know how far I walked but suddenly a car stopped on the side of the road. I tried to ignore the car, until the car window opened, revealing a middle-aged man with a mustache and facial hair.

 "Sorry, excuse me, kid, are you going to Slamet old man's place?"

 My eyebrows frowned suspiciously, where did this guy know that I was going there? Did the old man tell him to pick me up? The prediction of death that made Old Man Slamet saved me should have been enough evidence of his supernatural abilities. But even so, I still had to be careful.

 "Yes, I want to go there. What's up?"

 "Just come with me, if you walk it's still far. There are about two hours and the road is going uphill."

 I fell silent, my suspicions still not gone. What is the purpose of this guy going there?

 Sensing my suspicious gaze, the gentleman hurriedly opened his car door. I saw his shiny clean black shoes made of leather, a shirt that covered his pot belly and also his suit looked clean, neat, and looked expensive. This gentleman must be a city person, so why would he come to a place like this?

 "Ah, my name is Arman, just call me Mr. Arman."

 Stocky fingers adorned with agate rings extended to me and I greeted them clumsily.

 "I'm Aji."

 "So this is how it goes, Aji. Just like you, I also have a need with Old Man Slamet. However, he will only allow me to visit him if I bring along a boy who is also heading to his place.

 I have been going around and can't find the old man's place. It seems that if it's not with you, Old Man Slamet won't allow me."

 After listening to him, I agreed to get into Mr. Arman's car, on the condition that he wouldn't ask me why I was going to Old Man Slamet's place. After Mr. Arman agreed, I sat in the front seat and let the sweat glands all over my body rest.

 The ride, full of ups and downs on broken roads, took almost two hours. There was no conversation between us, just silence with the sound of the air conditioner hissing. I could have enjoyed the view of the valley with rubber trees, but my mind was full of worries about Aya.

 "We'll be there soon."

 My gaze, which had been focused on the side window, turned to the windshield of the car. We began to enter the dense oak forest with the sound of East Javan langurs chirping.

 Dark and gloomy, the car took a turn onto an unpaved rural road. The path is just a flat ground full of dry leaves that can only be passed by one car.

 A few minutes after passing through the winding road, an old Traditional Javanese House came into view with a large Javanese pavilion beside it. Meanwhile, a large grassy lawn stretched to the road.

 Mr. Arman parked the car at one corner of the yard, and without saying a word he hurriedly opened the car door for me. I glimpsed a hazy look in his eyes, perhaps because the problem he wanted to solve with the help of Old Man Slamet was very complicated, I thought.

 When I set my foot on the grass, my nose suddenly picked up the scent of candlenut in the air, and my eyes began to search for the sources of the scent that pierced my nostrils. Before I could get over my curiosity about the strong scent that I had no idea where it came from, a voice suddenly sounded softly in my ear.

 "Please come in. "

 The voice must have belonged to a little girl. Mr. Arman and I looked at each other trying to confirm if we were both listening to the same voice. Leading me, Mr. Arman walked straight up the wooden steps to the joglo house, which was designed like a house on stilts with stone pillars supporting it.

 As we approached the open door of the house, a little girl in a blood-red kebaya combined with a light brown batik jarik-a cloth wrapped from belly to toe, greeted us. It was from the little girl's reddish-black hair that I realized where the hazelnut smell had come from.

 Judging from her face and height, I felt that the little girl was probably around ten to twelve years old. At this time of day, a girl her age should be in elementary school. But I was getting tired of wondering, and seemed to be beginning to understand the oddity in my surroundings.

 The little girl invited us to sit in the living room, which looked more like a clinic waiting room with long chairs where sick people waited to be treated.

 After making sure we were seated comfortably, the little girl went back into another room that was only covered by a red curtain. This was probably where Old Man Slamet served his guests.

 After waiting for a while, the curtain opened again. But this time it was not the little girl who came out. Instead, it was an old mother and her shirtless son.

 Their appearance was followed by the figure we were waiting for. Dressed in traditional Javanese attire of black beskap and dark trousers, not to mention his blangkon headdress, the old man escorted his two guests to the door.

 Acting as if they were indifferent, Old Man Slamet and his guests spoke in the Javanese language that I did not understand. From the look in the two guests' eyes, it appeared that they respected the old man very much and felt truly grateful to him.

 Before saying goodbye, the two guests knelt down, then quickly left after smiling and saying excuse us in Javanese to us before.

 The curtain opened a second time, this time it was the little girl who came, carrying a wooden tray and a clay teapot on top.

 The girl didn't look like a little girl her age, she looked like an adult woman in my eyes. Her gestures, the way she looked at us, and the way she spoke, all made me feel that I wasn't facing a little girl, but a grown woman in the form of a child. Around her, for some reason, I couldn't let my guard down and my body muscles tensed up as if I wanted to leave this place immediately.

 "Excuse me, old man, I would like to ask for your help"

 Before I knew it, Mr. Arman, who had been sitting next to me, was already standing near Old Man Slamet. He walked over while bowing, and kissed the wrinkles on the back of Old Man Slamet's hand.

 "Agnia! Please give me that."

 "Yes, grandfather."

 Speeding up her previous walking pace like a palace princess, the little girl named Agnia returned to the room behind the curtain after finishing pouring the drink into the clay cup.

 In less than a minute the girl reappeared carrying an old paper tied with a shabby brown thread.

 "Use this item, place it near the door of your house and don't forget to practice what I taught you before."

 The old man took the item from Agnia's hand and handed it to Mr. Arman. Believing that he had solved the middle-aged man's problem, Old Man Slamet suddenly walked over to me while looking at me with a cold gaze.

 "Sorry old man, but how much do I owe you?"

 Mr. Arman was still standing there even though Old Man Slamet seemed unwilling to talk to him anymore.

 "Just give the right price. City folks like you know more about this kind of thing than people like me."

 "Of course, thank you."

 Behind old man Slamet's back, I saw Agnia tug at the hem of Mr. Arman's coat and then signaled him to leave me alone with the host.

 "And you young man, come in!"

 With a hand gesture, Old Man Slamet ordered me to enter the room behind the curtain. I quickly stepped up from my seat leaving the warm drink slowly cooling down. The room behind the curtain looked spacious, despite being dimly lit, with the smell of incense smoke smelling everywhere.

 In the middle of the room was a wooden seating platform with a carpet. Objects such as incense, dried plants, and preserved animals were lined up in a row around the seat.

 From the room, I faintly heard Mr. Arman's conversation about giving Agnia, who was apparently the grandchild of Old Man Slamet, a down payment.

 While I was looking at the ornate traditional Javanese Wayang doll in the shape of a giant that appeared to be eating the moon, Old Man Slamet walked into the room silently. He ordered me to sit in front of him while his hands were busy putting spices into the incense. The tensed muscles in my body slowly relaxed and it made me sigh deeply.

 "You're doing a futile act Aji Saputra, I never ordered you to turn that kuntilanak into a human didn't I?"

 Hearing those words my muscles tightened again, and that's when I started to question my decision to come to this place.

 "The reason I gave you that nail was to give you the courage to approach that kuntilanak. I didn't expect you to survive and turn that girl into a human, you son of a bitch!"

 My heart suddenly stopped. So this old man wanted me to die at Aya's hands? But why?

 "It's all grandfather's fault, isn't it? If only grandfather would let Agnia keep an eye on that boy, things wouldn't have ended up like this."

 Agnia suddenly walked in with a brown envelope in her hand, and her friendly and graceful smile turned into an annoying mocking smile.

 "Ah, I haven't introduced myself to you have I boy? My name is Agnia, Agnia Ifrit. Grandpa Slamet's only granddaughter."

 The pair of brown eyes slowly lit up like fire with a cynical look at me. And from those eyes, I could feel the same odd aura as when I saw Aya's eyes.

 The look in those eyes was definitely not belonging to a human.