2006-08-27 - 7:09 p.m.
Hehe, I'm free of Saturday night blues today!:D :P Finally, but you know what? I'm doing something else much more important than just mourning for love like I...uh, kind of did last night.*rolls eyes* Come on, you know I still have much better things to do than that! I'm not exactly a desperate, close-to-suicidal Juliet, thank you very much.*scoffs* I still have lots of other goals to accomplish...
*giggles*
Uh, but it's still normal to wonder about love like that once in a while, isn't it?:|
Right. Anyway, I'm sure you can already tell what I'm doing again lately.;) Yup, I'm trying out another writing contest again.:D It's an online short-story/poem contest (uh, since I'm still not that good in poetry, I'm sure you can already tell which cathegory I simply picked.:P) I've already started a few paragraphs last night, and it's sort of a thriller story. It was actually inspired by a real event that had happened when I was a kid. The setting was actually right about a block away from where I work today. It's still there, in Panglima Polim, South Jakarta. I am so not kidding you.
My Grandpa Bagus (Dad's uncle) used to live in that big, two-story house in Panglima Polim III (before he and his entire family moved to Pondok Indah and live there still.:D) There was an empty area (and still is, I think, the last time I checked :P) right next to his old house, surrounded by tall, plaques of iron as the so-called fence/barricade --- with a tightly bolted wooden door on the front. There was not an "On Sale" sign, unlike most empty areas in Jakarta usually have.
One night, when most of our family members were hanging out together in the back porch (with the view of the beautiful back garden), The Almost Twins and I started playing --- chasing each other and giggling. (We were still little kids back then.:P) I'd always had the loudest, most shrilling giggle until Mom had to warn me overtime that it was not nice for a girl to laugh that loud --- especially at night. (Trust me, I still personally dislike it when people say, "Don't do this...don't do that..." only because I'm a girl.*scoffs* Well, at least I always got a part as a witch in school-plays.*giggles*)
Anyway, The Almost Twins and I had been chasing each other and giggling loudly in Grandpa Bagus' back garden, when suddenly...another strange, faint giggle joined in.:O The three of us instantly stopped and strained our ears. That giggle had obviously come from the top of a tall, dense tree lurking up from the iron fence next-door (where the empty area is) --- but nothing particular was seen there. Just darkness.*shivers*
Then silence for a while. The Almost Twins and I had stopped playing completely. My sister was almost in tears as she ran to Mom, while my brother's face had turned pale as the moon. Mom had practically scolded me again for laughing extremely loud and shrilly --- and scaring my siblings off.:(
Me? Never in my entire life had I ever felt my blood run that icy-cold. Worst of all, Uncle Iwan Bagus --- Grandpa Bagus' mischievous son --- started teasing me, "Perhaps that was just the voice of a kuntilanak*."
(*Kuntilanak: a legendary, mystical figure in my country --- often shown in local horror flicks here. It's a woman in extremely long, bushy dark hair that usually covers her pale face. She's also always wearing a long white dress, almost like your regular wedding gowns for the church. Some of them are actually considered pretty --- 'though in a grotesque way.:O But trust me, you won't ever want to deal with these female creatures --- once you discover they actually have holes on their backs you can see their insides.*cringes* I'm not sure about the urbanists, but villagers still believe they exist to kidnap every first newborn child --- possibly a daughter. And what for?*shrugs* That's as far as the legend goes, and don't expect the infant to ever be returned. I don't even want to know.*shudders* In native tongue, kuntil means 'steal' --- if I'm not mistaken :P --- and anak means 'child'. These creatures can fly around and laugh like hyenas.:P If Irish have banshees and you're more familiar with witches with brooms, my country has the mythical and mystical legends of kuntilanak.)
Anyway, since that scary night with the mysterious giggle, nobody ever talks about it. Maybe they just forget. Big deal. But I still remember, 'though that wasn't the reason why I barely laugh for real these days. I don't know.*shrugs* Perhaps it's just the curse of being a grown-up.:|
Have we all realised that we've only been living here with the unknown --- all our lives? We think we're so smart, spending all those years in schools and reading all the books we can find. But the truth is, we just don't have all the answers. We think we know everything, but there's always mystery unsolved around us. There are always new questions, new problems everyday. New miracles? New answers?? Who knows???
I guess that's why we (should) never stop wanting to learn, 'though we may not always understand the lessons. We know we're not always in schools, but that doesn't mean it's enough. That's what makes our lives less stagnated and us feel more alive everyday.:)
Enjoy your curiousity. Challenge your skepticism.
The Curious Cat (*meows*)
