White Payung

Chapter 8

The three colleagues sharing the house with Ken came down the wooden stairway, collecting books and pieces of paper all the way down. They looked annoyed, but at the same time afraid. For all their things had been neatly placed on the table before they went to bed.

"Good morning," said Ken. "What happened here?

They told him that the house was haunted, and that the ghost had mischievously placed all their papers and books on the stairs. That was why, they said, they had all moved into the room upstairs because they were too scared to be alone.

Ken didn't want to tell them about his ghost. She had spoken to him and not to them, so he felt rather proud to be chosen. She was his ghost and he wasn't going to share her with anyone.

There was a nagging feeling at the back of his mind. If he was so infatuated with the mystery girl, why did he feel like this about his ghost? Surely it cannot be possible for a man like himself, to be in love with two girls at the same time. A man who had always been shy when it came to the opposite sex. A man who could not even pick up the courage to speak to a girl.

Ken entered the tiny police station. The building was painted white and blue, with a large sign outside. He didn't know what he was going to say. Why would the police believe him, when all he had to go by was information from a ghost? Even he himself felt ridiculous.

Chop Goh Mei, was the last of the fifteen days of Chinese New Year celebration, and it was also an important day, especially for unmarried girls. This was the day these girls threw mandarin oranges into the river and make a wish to get married.

Ken was standing by the river banks watching all the pretty girls up on the bridge, throwing oranges when he recognized the mystery girl. She was wearing a kebaya of a different color today. it was strange because she was carrying a white umbrella, not the green one that she had always carried.