Today is Monday. Monday comes after Sunday. On Sunday I don't need to go to tadika. I like Sunday better.
Ayah combed my hair today. He puts some cream between his hands and rub rub rub rubs them and then puts it on my hair. He combed it to one side. The cream makes my hair shiny. I like shiny.
Today is Monday. Monday means Donat Day. Ibu and me go to her school cantine and go get donats. Donats are my favourite food. I got two donats today. That's one more than last week. Ibu doesn't have to pay Makcik Kantin. Makcik Kantin smiles as I wave bye bye.
Today is Monday. So Ibu drives me to tadika. I am late for class but Ibu talks to Teacher. Teacher doesn't get angry. But Teacher always looks angry. He always makes other kids cry.
After learning Alif Ba Ta I get to go outside. I like going outside. I get to talk with my friends Apis and his brother. Apis and Alif have the same face but are different people. I wish I had an Alif.
Alif wants to show us something today. Apis says he had seen it already. I hope it's a worm. I like worms. Alif says we have to wait for Apis to finish peeing first. Apis like to pee behind the tadika. I don't think Teacher lets us do that.
Apis is finished so get to see the big surprise. Alif opens his zip and holds out his pee pee. Alif has a different pee pee than mine. So I take mine out and show Alif mine too. Apis takes put his pee pee too. Apis and Alif have the same face but different pee pee. I like Alif's pee pee better because it looks like mine. Apis' pee pee is weird.
The bell is ringing. That means we have to go inside. I don't like going inside.
I can't wait to go back and tell Ibu about what I saw today.
He sat in the corner of the classroom. On the table before him were files and papers with new words he had learned in the previous class. Out of boredom he took his friend's snowcap and wore it.
The break had almost come to an end, and his classmates entered the classroom. One of his classmates noticed how dumb he looked with wearing a snowcap in the warm classroom and said
"Hey, why are you wearing that thing? You look like a cancer patient or something!"
His classmates laughed at him as he smiled politely. Like a cancer patient. It was just a joke. He knew is was just a joke, but he couldn't help it.
He remembered the time he visited the hospital after class a year ago or maybe two. The hallways smelled of disinfectant and were brightly lit. He took the elevator to the third floor and looked for room 305. He sanitized his hands and entered the room.
The room had a good view of the city
and was lit with dim yellow lights. In the corner of the room was a television and a small table.
"Adik makan dah?"
Asked his sister. That's how they say hello in his family. He replied and sat himself beside the bed on which lied a woman in her fourties, bald, and without eyebrows. She smiled and took his hand, and asked
"Anak belajar okay?"
He answered and smiled politely, gently squeezing his mother's hand.
"Kalau anak sibuk, tak payah lawat Ibu. Ibu faham."
He said that it was okay and that he enjoyed being with his mother. He couldn't imagine his life without her. The idea of losing her made him want to cry, but he held the tears back, knowing that if he cried, his mother and sister would too.
He tried to act natural, as though everything was normal. But looking at his mother in her condition made him sad and helpless. All he could do was be there.
He and his sister sat there, talking to their mum on what could be her deathbed. Not talking about the future nor the past, but all the little things in life.
Sixteen beds could fit in his dorm. Some dorms were larger than others, and this was one if them. At the moment it accomodated fifteen Juniors and one Senior.
His dorm was on the third of four floors. When he looked outside the window, he could see the oil palm plantation nearby. The area was still undeveloped or poorly planned. He stared at the swaying trees until someone called his name from the other end of the dorm: it was the Senior.
Today was his turn to make his senior feel at ease. On the concrete floor there was lubricant
– for massaging. His name got around the Seniors that he was a good masseuse. Usually it was the boys from the kampungs who were good at massaging, due to traditional upbringing.
He dripped on the Senior's hairy leg before untying the knots in his stressed muscles. The Senior remained quiet, which was good. Like during a good meal, silence during a massage usually means pleasure.
The Senior shifted his body slightly before beginning to talk, feeling uneasy with the silence
"Kau tahu kisah Bilik sebelah?"
The Junior cum masseuse shook his head.
The Senior began to tell an age old story that was perhaps known in every boarding school in the country:
According to him, last year there was an incident in the neighbouring dorm. A Junior came back late from Band Practice to his room. Although the Junior was tired, he couldn't seem to fall asleep.
At first he took a book, but realizing it was too dark to read, he stashed it away. He decided to just lie on his bed, underneath his blanket hoping to doze off.
That was when he saw something perching on the cupboards at the other end of his dorm. At first he thought of it as a mere illusion. But after several minutes - which to him felt like hours, he knew it was real. And the reason he believed it was real was because it was slowly climbing down the cupboard towards one of the beds.
The Creature, or Thing seemed to have a hunched figure and the voice of an old lady.
"Cucu..."
She croaked.
"Cucu di Katil nombor satu... Tidur.."
She moved from the first bed to the second, and second to third, and so on and so forth. The Junior awake was at Katil 15.
"Cucu di Katil nombor Empat Belas..."
There she or it was, at bed number 14. Its big eyes staring at his sleeping dormmate. She pinched the blanket and raised it, peering underneath, saying:
"Tidur..."
"Cucu di katil Terakhir..."
The Thing was at its victim's feet. As it slowly lifted the blanket, the boy passed out pin his own puddle of piss.
That was how the story ended.
Before the massaging Junior could tell how stupid the story was, the Senior had already fallen asleep. Hands not oily anymore after all the oil had been absorbed by the leghairs, the Junior walked to his bed at the end of the dorm.
He was never one to believe ghost stories. That was until he saw the dark figure crouching on the cupboard beside him, staring at him from above.
