The ground beneath Janu keeps growing colder and wet.He groaned slowly while touching his nape. His head is still ringing because of the loud gong boom previously heard before the world turns dark.
Forest.
Tall trees standing closely to each other like a dark wall, thin yet firmly hanging between each of its branches. No more metallic sounds echoing but instead changed into harmonic humming of nocturnal insects. A curious smell of burnt iron lingered in the air, suffocating Janu's lungs.
"What in tarnation was that dream…"
Spontaneously, Janu ran a hand down his back. The backpack is still there: flashlight, folding knife, water bottle, thermal blanket, first aid box, fire starter. All intact.
"Ah, fuck," he hissed. "Why the hell do I have to take this stupid portering job?"
Janu sighed deeply. His knees are still weak. He roughly ran his hand through his hair.
"Agra…" he murmured softly. "Shit. We got separated."
No more response.
Janu then starts moving through the bushes and tree roots. His eyes were observing and sweeping the surroundings, hoping for some kind of hiking trail or shining everything with his flashlight. But the further he's walking, the more surreal it feels. The trees are standing too tightly, so suffocating. But the fogs stay still, and for who knows how long... the insects sound gone.
Janu's steps become sloppy. Beneath the rows of the trees, a stone standing sideways under the moonlight.
Cemetery.
Old tombstones filled the small open field. Some of it broke, half of it sunk, swallowed by the earth. Grasses are growing from the cracks in the ground that look like they have been freshly dug up.
"Nope, not in a million years…."
A nameless cemetery right in the middle of a forest is not a good sign. Even for skeptics.
He looked back, his chest tightened.
The road that he previously had just passed was gone. Only tall grass stands close like a wall.
Janu gulping. "... I was just passing from there right?"
Just before he turned around, something existed in those tall grasses. Something big, and it's moving slow.
"Nope, nope, not a chance." Janu retreated quickly. "Not everything needed to be known."
His steps were slow yet hurried among the tombstones. Wet ground mixed with something smells rancid filled the air. The pale shine of moon light cast out long shadows on the old stones surface. All of the name is written the same:
X.
"Okay, this is so bizarre," he said, until he stopped at one of the tombs—
CRACK.
The ground in front of the tombstone slowly swelled, then split open. A wisp of smoke rose from within. A figure slowly rose to its feet. Its face was half-destroyed. Its body was wrapped in a shroud.
In a worse way imaginable, that is not the only thing that was raised.
One by one, the others follow along, rising from the ground. Foul stench striking the air surround immediately.
Janu instinctively stepped back.
Those Pocong stood still. Not moving or jumping. They facing different direction, like they searching something, until one of them, their head spinning dramatically and facing its gaze directly at janu
CRACK.
Sounds of bones cracking echoing in the midst of the cemetery.
"... Fuck me."
Their heads turned around facing Janu.
And all of them immediately jumped harmonically.
"RUN!"
Without thinking twice, Janu suddenly turned and ran as fast as he could. A root almost makes him stumble a couple of times. From behind, sound shroud scraping the ground can be heard.
"LEFT!"
Janu hitting the left direction hard.
BRAKK.
Something crashed into the tree from his previous position. Janu couldn't dare to see it.
"Into the grasses!"
"Are you nuts!?" said Janu while running. "There's something in there!"
"And the "something" on your back is starving also."
Janu then dared to turn his gaze back for a brief moment. Those Pocong still chasing. But weirdly, they didn't look angry. Almost like following him. Their faces are like an empty void that forget why they're being raised. Even one of them stopped in front of its tombstone.
"QUICK! Into it!"
Janu cussed and then rushed into the tall grasses. The leaves immediately slicing Janu's face and his hands. His vision darkened, obstructed by the grasses branch. The sounds of footsteps become noisier and intense. He could even faintly hear his name being called. But he kept pressing on until finally quiet…
No more chased, or figure of the pocong.
Janu fell flat hard. Rubbing his chest while breathless.
"You are always fast like a stag chased by a predator."
Janu became tense again. Looking around clueless. There is no one with him.
"But indeed, you always run after causing a scene."
Janu sit. "Who are you?"
A brief moment of silence. Then followed by a low chuckle.
"Finally, you could hear me," whispered that sound. "I am always with you since you are just a baby."
Janu wiped his face, still struggling to control his breath. "Oke, then? Who are you?"
The voice still gives a little chuckle, as if certain.
"I am… what your mother called 'Curse'."
***
Janu is still sitting on the ground, his breath not yet stabilized.
The grass thorns still left a stinging sensation on his face, neck, and hands. His shirt is sticky because of the cold sweats. He is still stuck in the middle of a forest, surrounded by creatures that shouldn't exist.
"You are still shaking."
"Well, duh…" Janu wipes his face hard. "I just got chased by whole cemetery full of pocong for fuck sake…"
Laughter like a child can be heard, but still not clear whether it's a male or female.
"You always mocked the circumstances, Janu."
Janu gulping, "No, dammit. Who are you anyway?"
"I am… a guardian," answered by the sound. "I am inherited by your family from generation to generation."
Janu frowned. "Inheritance from who?"
"Your father knows me."
Janu fell silent.
"But your mother likes to call me a curse," continued the sound. "She said that I am more often a disturbance than protection."
"No wonder, I guess," replied Janu, forcing himself to stand up. "So now I have a family ghost–or what are you called again?"
"Jantaka."
Janu snorted. "Okay, Jantaka or whatever."
The sound of laughing softly. "You are more calm than I expected."
"If I'm panicking, can you get me the hell out of here?"
"No."
"It's pointless then."
Jantaka laughed again, then stopped suddenly.
"Quiet."
Janu's body tensed.
Beneath the tall grasses, something moving. Not a footstep, more like a wet fabric dragged on the ground. And right between the grasses branches, white pocong barely visible standing still outside. They kneel, facing the same direction toward something, like waiting for something.
"What the hell are they doing?" Janu's whisper.
Jantaka not answering. Then—
CRACK.
Fogs from afar turning red. Then the smell of burning slowly creeping accompanied by the night air. It's not a smell of burned wood, that is… meat.
Janu closed his nose. "What is it now—"
Suddenly the grass in front of them moved, leaving a small gap, Janu could see the cemetery before more clearly. Something appears in the middle of it.
At first, Janu thought it was a tree, but it wasn't. It was too tall. A long red cloth hung from its body like skin that had been burned and then left hanging. Its head was tilted to one side, as if broken. There were no eyes to be seen, just two large, empty black holes.
But Janu still knew that it could see.
All the pocongs remained silent with their heads bowed as the tall figure passed among them. And when the cloth touched one of the pocongs, the creature's body immediately stirred. Then it slowly collapsed to the ground and writhed like a wet worm.
Janu feels his guts hardened. "... What is that?"
"Punishment.", replied Jantaka faintly.
DUK.
The red fogs pulsing slowly.
Its head moving slowly, gaze straight into the grasses.
Janu tried holding his breath, but a gentle breeze still louder in a quiet forest.
All pocong in the cemetery lifting their heads suddenly in an instant at once—CRACK—sound of bone cracking fills the night air.
All of them staring Janu.
"Run!"
Janu rushed into the grasses without a second glance again.
The grasses' branches slice his hands when he forces his body pressing onward. Ground beneath his feet feels slippery, the tree's roots feel like a frail hand trying to stumble on him.
Behind him, the sound of wet fabric starts filling the forest. Wrapping the night together along with the dense fogs that keep growing thicker.
"Do not be so noisy," whispered Jantaka in his head.
"I got chased by the whole cemetery here!"
"A panicked stag keeps attracting more forest predators."
"Get rid of those riddles. Tell me what you mean!"
No answers. Only his own messy breath.
He keeps running, piercing the darkness. Branches keep whipping his shoulders. The red fogs creep in between dark trees, thin like smoke from a burned forest.
Janu didn't dare to glance again from the last time that red fabric figure collapsed in the cemetery. But he could still sense it or the others that follow behind, not rushing.
As if those creatures know: sooner or later, Janu will exhaust himself.
"Left."
Janu swinging his body to the side.
BRAKK.
Something hit the tree trunks right in his head before, shaping a deep crack in the middle.
Janu was speechless.
One of the pocong standing a couple meters from him in an absurdly tilted position. Its head spinning slowly like an owl, its shroud wet and muddy from the ground. But before the creature moving again—
That red figure passing by.
Not jumping or walking. Its tall frame shifted slowly between the fogs, like a shadow changing place. The burned hanging red fabric touched the pocong before.
That pocong fell silent immediately, then its body stiffened. Slowly the skin of its face peeling of bit by bit without blood. Its mouth wide open, but no sound came out. Even its human form changed—melting like a melted wax.
In a second, only an empty shroud fell on the ground.
Janu turned away, he almost threw up "... What is that?"
"Punishment."
"What do you mean? Torment of the grave?"
The red fogs pulsing again. Janu mustered the courage and turned his straight glaze into the red figure, standing between the trees. Its head tilted to the left. Two empty hollows in its face facing towards Janu.
And suddenly all pocong lifted their heads simultaneously behind that red figure.
CRACK.
"RUN!"
Janu ran with all his might.
Now the sound of the chase is different, it's not a wet fabric scrubbing ground anymore. The sound of splashing. All of the body slamming the ground. The sound of something dragging itself through the roots and grasses. Accompanied by the sound of tree branches cracking and falling to the ground.
Red fogs keep filling the tree's gap. Janu almost could not see the way in front of him. His breath became more heavy. His lungs feel burning. Forests keep growing more suffocating.
"How far is it!?"
"There's a river in front."
"I hope there's no crocodile in it."
"But crocodiles have a strong smell towards humans in the water."
"WHAT THE FU—?!"
Jantaka not answering.
"Shit!" Janu keeps forcing his body to move. His feets almost numb when the ground plummeted. Sound of water can finally be heard from a distance.
A river.
"Jump," Jantaka demanded.
"You crazy!?"
"If you insist on the ground, you are dead."
Janu clenched his teeth. He fastened his steps, but the ground beneath him suddenly gave away.
"FU—"
SPLASH.
The river water crashed against his body like ice, and the current immediately swept him without mercy. Janu kicking in panic, trying to resurface to take a breath. Until finally his head was out of the water, he was coughing hard.
Janu grabbed a big rock on the other side of the river. He tried to get up, shivering. He took off his backpack and threw it on the rocks. Both of his knees were shaking hysterically. His ears hurt like hell because of the strong current. His vision was blurry for a second. He glanced toward the cliff.
The red figures stopped there.
Not coming down or even getting close. Just looking out at the river view. The red fogs surrounding him stopped slowly like a long breath.
"It… stopped?" Janu hesitated, but there's a glimmer of hope.
"It will not chase anymore."
Red fogs faintly pulsating around that tall figures.
"It tries to get to know you."
Janu fell silent.
Up there, its tilted head moved a bit. Then slowly turned around, vanishing beneath the trees, swallowed by the red fog that grew thinner becoming more dark like the night.
Janu is still gasping for breath. He was coughing hard while rubbing his body. The coldness of the river seeped inside into his bones, but his thoughts kept burning.
"I can't keep running from those creatures."
Jantaka is quiet for a brief moment. "No. You cannot."
Janu exhaled sharply. The river current is still strong. Some of its drops splashed onto his boots.
Slowly, his vision became blurry.