Shroud: Jinn

25 - Hapless

I always thought that it was bizarre that there were many others like me visiting their loved ones at the graveyard in the middle of the night. My mind had been too distraught to take notice when I was there the first few nights after my family's burial. But now that my mind was much clearer, I discovered that these were no ordinary visitors. They were figures cloaked in white prowling the area in an eerie manner.

Strangely, I was unperturbed by their presence for they did not bother me in the slightest. Most of them were frolicking from tree to tree, whispering their ghastly haunts. However, their nightmarish giggles still made me explode in chilling goosebumps. I had checked myself out in the rear-view mirror of my car earlier. My cheeks had sunken in and were slightly bony. My hair was a miserable mess. My frail form looked dishevelled down to my attire. In all honesty, I smelled like human excrement. For all I know, they thought I was one of them.

I had stayed into the night for I missed my family so and hoped they would appear right before me. But they had not done such.

I looked down at Saleha's postcard in my hands. My heart felt too heavy to part with it for it was the only memory of Saleha that I had left. But it was still rightfully hers. I had read it aloud over Saleha's grave numerous times since I got here earlier in the afternoon.

But the postcard was not the only thing that I had read aloud. I had purchased a miniature pocketbook earlier entitled, 'Surah Yassin, Tahlil, Doa Dan Ayat Kursi' (Ya Sin Chapter, Dhikr, Prayers And The Throne Verse). It was the only Romanised copy with dual translation in Malay and English. I was embarrassed with my illiteracy in Arabic. But my earnestness in wanting to give prayers as a charity to my family had perhaps, gained God's mercy and led me to find the Romanised book. Maybe my wife and daughters were sulky that I had not offered them any prayers recently and hence, did not come and visit me. I had recited the prayers over their graves before sunset, including Intan's and Jalil's for they had no one left in this world. As dawn turned to dusk, whisperings in my ears prompted me to stop. I had no idea why I felt dreadfully uneasy and stopped reciting the prayers just as sunset approached. But I knew it had something to do with the white figures at the graveyard that were now increasing in numbers.

I felt an ominous presence behind me on my left. Something deep within me told me that I was not safe. A strong smell of fire surrounded me. But it was different from the one that I detected at the cave. It was thick and far more sinister.

I was afraid to look behind me, so I flipped open the pocketbook of prayers in my hand and started reciting Ayat Kursi (The Throne Verse). When Melati was still alive, she shared that this particular verse was a powerful prayer to ward off evils. 

I looked up from the book for a brief second and was surprised to find the graveyard almost empty. That made me more determined to continue reciting. I focused my attention on the book and read each word with utmost care. My voice was now loud and clear, far from the soft mumblings earlier.

Instead of going away, it grew bolder and let out a laugh so deep that it could have been from the Hellfire itself.

"Go on. That doesn't scare me," it growled.

I did not want it to smell my fear, but it did.

The heat on my back near my left shoulder grew intense that it was almost scorching. Was it because I had somehow mispronounced the words in Arabic?

"Why did you stop?" it growled again.

"I never disturbed you. Please, let me visit my family in peace," I pleaded softly, without turning around.

"I want to disturb you. You look like fun."

I sucked in my breath as the menacing figure appeared before my eyes. It was cocooned from head to toe in a white burial shroud. Its uncovered face was badly charred. Slimy maggots slithered out between its rotten teeth and into the dark crevices of its empty eye sockets as it gave me a horrid smile.