Lost world

The Other Side

Anak-anak  means children

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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 serenity.

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?" I must have knocked my head hard when she pulled me inside the hollow.

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 where we were," 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..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," argued Raju trying to find reason to everything. 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.

The villagers didn't show any interest to us, they continued ploughing on their paddy field. It was as if it was a natural thing to have strangers passing by their village. 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.

The old woman was very chatty and nimble for her age. Regardless of the cane, she jumped through from one narrow muddy walkway to another like a little girl, bearing her cute toothless smile as both Raju and Rafique , fell countless times in the mud. 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,dipping our feet in the blessed clean , refreshing 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.