Hantu Gunung [On Hold]

Chapter - 9

Kahfi entered the cave and started following Mayeng. The passageway was narrow and the place looked old. Kahfi looked at Mayeng and asked about the place, how old it was and why he couldn't ever see it before. "The mountain keeps changing. Every now and then you will find new places, new path, new beings. But what else can we expect, this isn't any ordinary mountain"

"How do you know about this place? You seemed to be knowing full well where you were going." Kahfi asked him.

"These places appear whenever the mountain feels the need for them and disappear when the tasks are fulfilled."

Afterwards, Kahfi silently followed Mayeng. He threw a glance at the cave walls. They were old and damp, with barren surface. A particular stink was in the air, something that reminded him of rotting water. They moved forward deeper and deeper inside the cave. The smell of water kept getting stronger until the narrow passage opened into a wider area. It was dim, almost dark for Kahfi to see anything much farther from him.

As they moved ahead, he finally felt it. That rotting water. The stink was unbearable. It seemed shallow as only his feet dipped into it. The other end was too dark for him to see anything, he was only able to see the things near to him. He kept following Mayeng until he realized a movement inside the water. He looked in the direction, it was something white. He went near it to see clearly. It wasn't something white but something wrapped in white. A strip of white cloth covering something like a cocoon.

From the shape and size of it, he could tell it was a person. A person maybe struggling to be free. He looked at Mayeng, and asked what is all this?but he simply said that they are not here for that one. So no need to pay any heed. Kahfi started to have a bad feeling about it. They went further inside the water. as they moved ahead, the water level started to rise. There were people cocooned in white, all around them, in the dim light, Kahfi hit a few while moving and everytime a wail came out of it. As if they were in pain.

Kahfi couldn't see how far the water went and how many were exactly cocooned there, but all that he had seen was more than enough to give him a chill. Suddenly Mayeng stopped in front of one of them. It wasn't just draped, but chained as well. Chains tied to it at one end, and disappearing into water at another. Kahfi stopped behind at a distance too. Mayeng took his arm forward and touched the cocoon. The wrappings started to open little by little and fall out. Kahfi could now see the person inside it, a woman.

He looked at Mayeng with confusion. Mayeng didn't pay attention to him, he was too busy looking at her, deep in thoughts. As soon as the last peices of that drape fell, he quickly moved towards her, dipped his hand in water, and held her hair near her head tight, and turned her inwards. Kahfi could swear when he turned her, he saw her eyes open. His suspicion was confirmed when the woman started to struggle inside water. It took Kahfi a few seconds to process what was happening. Mayeng was drowning her. She was alive and he was drowning her.

He tried to move ahead to stop him, but it felt as if the water had frozen around his legs. He could see it was fluid, but he couldn't move himself. He started screaming, asking Mayeng to stop, and what was he thinking. As he began to scream, the others cocooned started to wail again. The cave was echoing the screams and cries but Mayeng ignored all of it, he had submerged her head inside water. She kept struggling to come out but he didn't let her go. Soon she stopped her struggle. Mayeng let go of her. Soon the corpse came floating upwards, with her face down.

Kahfi was finally able to move. "What is all this? Why would you do that? Who was she?" He started asking questions one after another. Mayeng didn't reply to any of his questions. "Let's go", saying Mayeng turned towards Kahfi and started to walk back, out of the water. Kahfi was in utter shock with what he had witnessed. Instead of following Mayeng, he went to the corpse. He turned her in water, face upward now. He looked at her, she was indeed dead. "Why did you do this?" He shouted again.