Panah Asih

At Soekarno-Hatta airport

At 7:40 a.m. GMT+7, Soekarno-Hatta domestic airport was very busy with the presence of many passengers. Gilang and Nadine were sitting in a Lunch Café, waiting for their departure. They were surrounded by passengers who had similar destinations.

Gilang held his forehead and said, "It's cold." Gilang muttered, and beads of sweat began to emerge from the pores of his forehead, gradually increasing and covering almost his entire forehead.

Gilang's vision went blank, and he hurriedly blinked his eyes and said, "Oh my God, they're trying again." Gilang said to himself as he turned his face in the other direction, pretending to look at the group of rich ladies who were taking selfies in a very tacky style, perhaps more appropriate to be called haughty.

"I can't make Nadine worry; I have to solve it myself." Gilang thought while reciting verses from the Quran in his heart.

Nadine saw that there was black smoke coming out of Gilang's head, but even so, Gilang remained silent, and his eyes were closed tightly. Around Gilang, the noise from people began to add to the tension in the Lunch Café room. The visitors focused their attention on Gilang, some capturing the interesting moment that happened in his head.

Nadine's face expressed anxiety as she looked at her husband's head. "Honey, is there smoke coming out of your head?" She held Gilang's shoulder as she asked. "Au!" Nadine suddenly screamed as she waved her hand. "It's hot!" she said as she saw her hand instantly turn red after touching Romero's shoulder. She stood up from her seat as she asked with concern, "What's wrong with you, honey?"

Even though Nadine was crying, Gilang ignored his wife's worries and remained focused on dispelling the black magic that attacked his body.

After passing through the bad influence of the black magic, Gilang finally opened his eyelids. His eyebrows jerked together as he looked around. The Lunch Café patrons noticed him, and he gently developed a smile to calm their attention from being drawn to him again.

"Are you having another breakdown?" asked Nadine while wiping her tears. Gilang put his arm around Nadine's waist and said, "You don't have to worry." Gilang replied as he sat Nadine's butt back on the seat. Gilang's words could not reduce Nadine's facial expression, which still looked tense.

"I can handle it," Gilang said with a smile. Then he reached for the handle of the coffee cup, and with a calm face, Gilang inhaled the aroma of the coffee before he drank it.

"Back home from Bali, I'm going to find mom. What does she want?" Nadine exclaimed in a snappy tone.

"Never mind, let it go," Gilang said as he hugged his wife. "Don't let yourself do anything sinful; believe me, bad people will definitely get the punishment they deserve," said Gilang to calm Nadine's anger.

"Even though you can take care of yourself, I'm very worried." Nadine said as she shed tears and put her face on Gilang's chest.

"Shh… don't cry in this place; there are many people watching." Gilang said this while caressing his wife's back.

Gilang looked at the watch on his wrist and said, "Let's move to the waiting room." Gilang said while lifting Nadine's face with puffy eyes. She nodded her head slowly, and they moved from the Lunch Café to the passenger lounge.

At Nike's parents' house at the same time.

Nyi Laras and Ki Arya lay limp next to each other. Their faces were blistered, and thin black smoke was coming out of their faces. They looked into each other's eyes and said, "I can't take it anymore, Abah." Nyi Laras said, while holding her chest, that it was clear that Nyi Laras was having trouble breathing normally.

"Hold on, focus your energy on one point." Ki Arya replied with a gasp. He tried to get up but ended up falling again.

Nyi Laras squeezed Ki Arya's hand tightly while trying to breathe normally. "Continue… my revenge… if… I die…, Abah." Nyi Laras' speech was disjointed, and her corneas were twisted upward; her eyes were all white. Ki Arya immediately placed his palm on Nyi Laras' chest as black smoke billowed out of Nyi Laras' face, and slowly Nyi Laras' face returned to normal.

"Ambu! Abah!" screamed a girl when she came out of her room; she immediately ran a little to Nyi Laras and Ki Arya. The 24-year-old girl named Endah was the 14th child of 14 siblings, but there were only two of them alive: Nike and Endah.

She knelt down next to Nyi Laras and Ki Arya, tears in her eyes and a worried face, then she asked, "Ambu and Abah, why?"

"Ambu and Abah…" not finished answering, Ki Arya had drooped with his eyes closed. "ABAH!" screeched Endah while shaking Ki Arya's body, which was no longer moving. "ABAH!" screeched the girl many times, hysterically trying to wake Ki Arya, but unfortunately, he had died.

Nyi Laras could not utter another word as her tears flowed, her breathing returning to normal after her husband sacrificed his remaining energy to save her. Although Nyi Laras survived, her husband had to leave the world quickly.

Endah sat leaning against the bamboo booth; she felt very tired after trying to wake Ki Arya. Her face was full of streaming tears, and she had no voice left to try to scream. Ki Arya and Nyi have 14 daughters. Nike was the first, but since she was a child, Nike had been taken to Jakarta by Nyi Laras' younger sister to work as a maid.

Of Nike's 13 siblings, only Endah was left, while her 12 younger siblings would die suddenly at the age of 2 and be buried next to their parents' house. Only Endah managed to survive until now, with no desire to marry or have a relationship with a man.

Two hours later…

Nyi Laras had recovered. She and Endah walked out of the house while carrying a hoe; their steps stopped under a banyan tree. Nyi Laras saw 40 graves lined up without headstones; only a stone became a grave marker.

The atmosphere was very quiet, and only the sound of owls could be heard in unison with the sound of forest monkeys. Nyi Laras's house is in the middle of a protected forest, far from the crowd, so no one knows if there is an unfortunate incident in her house.

"Let's dig the grave together." Nyi Laras said to Endah:

"Yes, Ambu," Endah replied.

Nyi Laras and Endah began digging, while several women dressed in white with long hair sat on the branches of a Beringin tree. They casually swung their dangling legs down while watching Nyi Laras and Endah, who were not tired of digging the grave.

"Hi hi…" A cheer went up when they saw a man coming out of Nyi Laras' house.

Endah looked up to find out the source of the sound, but she didn't see any form on the banyan tree branch. "Keep digging; your sister's voice is joking." Said Nyi Laras and Endah went back to digging.

Endah wiped her sweat while looking up at the sky. She didn't realize that a man was walking above her head, and the man approached some women wearing white clothes. He then joined them and sat on a tree branch. They seemed to be communicating without saying a word.

Despite their exhaustion, Endah and Nyi Laras were eager to continue digging graves. In two hours, they managed to form a gravel pit that was one and a half meters deep and two meters long.

"Let's get Abah's body," said Nyi Laras as she wiped her sweat.

"Yes Ambu." Endah spoke without opposition as she followed Nyi Laras to the house. Sometime later, they carried Ki Arya's body with limited effort, as the two women's strength was not enough to move the stiff body.

In the end, Ki Arya's body could be buried, although not according to religion. Arya's body was buried without a bath and still wearing full clothes.

Nyi Laras took Endah's hand and led her to a tamarind tree. Under the tree was a bamboo bale to rest on. They sat down to rest and wiped their sweat.

"Tonight, you must perform a ritual in the cave to avenge Abah's death." Nyi Laras said.

Endah's forehead wrinkled at Nyi Laras' words, then she said, "Endah doesn't understand Ambu yet."

"You will become Nadine." Nyi Laras said, making Endah's face look even more confused, "Who is Nadine?" Endah asked.

"Nadine is Nike's daughter; she is the cause of Abah's death; your job is to win her husband; you are still a virgin, so it is very easy to learn the knowledge of Panah Asih." Nyi Laras explained.

Yes, Ambu, Endah will do well." Endah replied, and Nyi Laras smiled widely at that: "Let Nike be angry; I think Endah is more suitable to be that young man's wife." Nyi Laras said in her heart:

They stayed silent as the cool breeze blew the sweat off their bodies, letting the silence of the forest drown their minds in endless reverie.