unknown.

Chapter 2 - The Progeny

Part 1

The lunch that she brought from home was thrown to her. She frowned, bringing her head down as the curry spilt all over her school uniform. She looks miserable.
"HAHA! Why don't you eat that!" The girls said as they threw her the food. She slowly rubbed out the veggies that were on her right arm sleeve.
"Ah, so pathetic." One of the girls," Dahlia said, disgusted. She looks at Dahlia with a frown. Dahlia raised her eyebrows as a reaction.
"Wah, you got some nerve." Dahlia got on her knee, pulling Khatijah's school hijab aggressively. Khatijah felt the pain and held her hand.
"Careful, loser. You don't wanna lose your eyes, right?" She smirked. Khatijah felt scared.
"No.." She mumbles.
"That's what I thought." Dahlia says as she lets go and pushes her head to the wall. The bullies laughed and walked out from the school alley. Khatijah was left there. She groaned out of pain. She squinted her eyes, trying to get up. Her vision was blurry when she saw a woman stand in front of her. The woman wears emerald green baju kurung with long black kain batik covering her hair. The woman's lips were red as blood. She was confused. She closed her eyes and shook her head. She opened her eyes and there's no one but her. She picked up the lunch box and walked out of the school alley.
Khatijah went to the toilet to wash up her school uniform and the lunch box. She felt useless. She tries to hold her tears while washing her arm sleeve.

The school was dismissed. Khatijah went home safely this time. Before this, other students from school always messed with her while they were walking home. People keep calling her a 'witch' because of how quiet and smart she is. They were envious of her. Then, Dahlia and her minion started to bully her since 7th grade. At first, Khatijah tried to ignore it. But then it became worse, making her respond to their bullying. They stole and threw away the shoes that were given by her late father into the river near their school, leaving her barefoot with only her socks on.
"Assalamualaikum.." Khatijah said as she came inside her house and closed back the door. Her face lit up as she saw her brother playing with his toys.
"Waalaikumussalam Miss Khatijah.." Her maid, Mak Esah, replied. Her mom is working. Hence, she didn't spend much time with her mom.
Mak Esah frowned as she saw Khatijah's school uniform. "Oh my, what happened to your school uniform?"
"No, it's nothing. I accidentally spilt the curry, sorry." She lied.
"It's okay, I'll wash it clean later." Mak Esah said, and she nodded.
"I cooked your favourite dish. Do you want to eat now, Miss?" The maid asked.
"Oh, yeah, okay, I'll eat later. Imma head upstairs first." She responded with a smile, then walked towards her little brother and kissed him on his forehead. She went upstairs. Mak Esah was worried if something had happened to her. Yes, she never told her mom about her getting bullied. She doesn't want to burden her mom. She knows that telling her was the right thing to do, but she just.. couldn't. She got into her room and placed her bag pack on the chair. She took off her school uniform and put them in the laundry bag. She washed herself and wore something comfortable at home. Then, she sits at her study table. bringing out her homework. While bringing out the books, her lunch box slipped out from the bag and fell to the floor. She looked at 'em. She sighed and remembered what had happened earlier. She leaned down to pick it up.
"I don't know how much longer I need to face this. Yes, I am getting tired. But, I'll try my best." She monologued, tried to motivate herself with positivity. She continues to do her homework. It was math and physics. She ace in all subjects and become the top student. Others who need help with their homework will come to her class. Some of them just mock her for being smart.

..

Year 1917, 7th July

"Daniel! No.." She screamed as she saw her husband was impaled on the chest by one of the villagers. He's wide-eyed, got on his knees, and fell. She's on the floor, reaching for her husband's hand. They held hands, despite both of them being in so much pain. She was pregnant with their second child while being attacked by the villagers. She was pushed and lots of blood dripping on her thighs. Their eldest son was peaking from inside the room, crying as he watched his parents being murdered. She looked at him peaking. She placed her index finger on her mouth, secretly telling her son to keep quiet or someone could find and kill him, too. Daniel was still in pain, looking at the love of his life. He gave her a warm, last smile. She smiled as tears came out from her eyes. He died, closing his eyes slowly. She's sobbing.
The villagers got out of the house as a woman, and her servants came inside the house. There is blood everywhere. She then looked at her dying best friend.
Cempaka was disbelief when she found out the person who did this to her family. She glared at her best friend who betrayed her, Orkid. Orkid was wearing the red kebaya Cempaka gave on her 15th birthday. Meanwhile, Cempaka was wearing an emerald green baju kurung her husband bought for her with kain batik. She's standing in front of Cempaka.
"Why did you do this to me..?" Cempaka asked, slowly trying to sit but couldn't.
"Well, darling. Simply because i hate watching you being happy with your life." She laughed as she took off her right glove and stood up.
"You know I won't do sins like that." She frowned.
"Oh, I know. I'm the one who spreads the lies." She smirked, walking towards her slowly. Cempaka was speechless as she still glared at her. One of the servants gave a knife to Orkid. She's slowly got on her knees. She grabbed and pulled Cempaka's head. Her hands were still on the floor and on her stomach.
"I loved you like a sister. " She said while holding her tears.
"Ugh, and I don't. I just want you dead. " Orkid replied, giving her an evil cheeky smile and stabbing her deep in the stomach, making the fetus die, too. They look into each others' eyes. She's wide-eyed and gasped. Orkid let go of the knife and her head. Cempaka spurts out lots of blood.

..

Khatijah opened her eyes. Her neck hurts. Looks like she slept at her desk after she did her homework. It's 6:30 p.m. She walked downstairs to the kitchen, feeling hungry. Her mom was in the kitchen. Her little brother was sitting at the diner table. She raised her eyebrows, and lowkey was happy her mom came home early.
"Oh hey honey. Sit down. I'm making your favourite dessert." Her mom, Aisyah, gave her a warm smile.
"Really?!" She feels happy. Khatijah goes and hugs her mom. Aisyah hugged her back, smiling.
"So, anything you wanted to share about school?" Aisyah asked while eating the bread pudding with her daughter. "Oh, uhm.. Our teacher gave the physics result. I got an A+ again." She's chewing. Her mom was impressed.
"Oh wow, that's good. Congratulations, darling." She smirked.
"Thank you, mom." She said.
"Anything else?" Aisyah asked, wanted to know more.
"Uhm.." She feels like telling her what happened at school. But decided not to, yet. "No, nothing much."
"Okay.. okay." Aisyah replied. They talked and laughed together. The only time Khatijah felt happy was when she's with her family. And that is enough for her.
A few minutes went by, and she headed back upstairs and got into her room. She sat at her study desk to pack the books for tomorrow's class and she her school uniform. Then, she goes to the bathroom before going to bed. She stares into the ceiling while laying down on the bed. Thinking what might happen tomorrow. "I'm sure it'll be okay." She thought. She recited a du'a and slept.

The next day

She's in her history class. The teacher will be giving out the exam result today. The students knew who would get the highest mark. They already got used to it.
"As usual, congratulations, Khatijah." The teacher smiled as she gave her the paper. Some of the students clap their hands to support her success in academic validation. Khatijah slightly smile, she's a shy person. Not softie kind of shy, but she's awkwardly shy. Thus, no matter how good she is, she will never have a friend and someone who will be with her for a long time. Sometimes, she feels like it's a curse for her. Dahlia glared at her and smirked as she got an idea.

It's time for the next period, but the teacher couldn't attend since he was sick. So, they're just in the class. Khatijah was sitting at her desk, minding her own business. She was organizing all her study materials. She's quite strict and perfectionist when it comes to organizing her own stuff. She organized all the important notes and was going to keep them in a file. A girl came and kicked her desk. Khatijah was stunned as she looked down. Her books and other stuff were on the floor. The other students in the class were also stunned but didn't do anything to help her. Khatijah looked at the girl who kicked it. It was Dahlia. Dahlia and two other girls were laughing, looking at each other. Some of the others were laughing, too. Khatijah sighed as she got down on her knees to pick up her stuff. She's being patient while she can. Dahlia kicked her from behind, and she fell down. All of them started to laugh very loud, making her feel something she didn't want to. As the entire were laughing, she closed her eyes, losing her patience. "Pain." She thought as she glared at Dahlia. Dahlia unexpectedly stopped laughing when both her legs broke, and she fell in front of them. She screamed out of pain and also didn't understand what had happened to her legs. She was panic. The entire class was freaked out. Two of them ran out of the class to tell the teacher about Dahlia. She's still screaming, trying to speak but couldn't. Her lips are twisted. Her body was paralysed. It was like she suddenly fell sick.
Yes, that was her curse. And she knew about it. The real reason she tried so hard to be patience and ignore them;