
Maharani awakens and finds himself bedridden with a blanket covering half of his body. He looks weak, his hands look not so powerful when massaging the forehead because of pain.
Maharani turned to the left side of the bed. Ninik Rempik sat there while his mouth sounded faintly saying sentences that were not understood. Behind his niniknya, Mr. Sarmidi stood with his side and just silent with his face down and hands hooked under the stomach.
The room is still illuminated by the yellowish light from the lamp because the electricity is not yet on. Sontak Maharani pulled his body back until his back rested on the headboard of the bed. It was clear that his chest was hunting the air in panic.
"Rani wants to go home ... Rani's going home!" he said as he continued to pull his body backwards to squeeze the bed rest.
"Why are you, Maharani? Your uncle heard the sound of a falling object in the room, and he shouted to Ninik, "repeated Ninik Rempik.
"That painting, huh-hah, that painting his eyes fell off!" said Maharani again. His body trembled in fear.
Ninik Rempik turned towards Mr. Sarmidi. His face hinted that he did not understand the Maharani's words, then looked back at his grandson.
"Drawing? What do you mean, Rani? Ninik never had a painting. There are no paintings in this house." Ninik Rempik tried to convince his grandson.
Immediately, both eyes of the Empress looked towards the wall before her, the last place she saw the painting, then pointed in the direction she believed.
"There, Nik. There was a large painting, similar to Ninik's!"
"Maybe you're tired, Rani. There's nothing installed there at all. It's, right, just an empty wall."
Mr. Sarmidi looked at his nephew who was still panicking, then interrupted, "Betul, Rani. Maybe it's because of your unhealed pain that you see that weird."
Ninik Rempik nodded. "Patience .. You must be healed, Rani. Ninik will help you heal."
Maharani began to look rather calm after hearing the explanation of Ninik Rempik and Mr. Sarmidi.
"Yes, already. Now, continue your sleep. It's almost two o'clock in the morning, tomorrow morning accompany Ninik looking for ferns in the forest for us to eat." Ninik Rempik's voice sounded friendly.
Ninik Rempik also rose from his seat after making sure the Empress was calm, then came out accompanied by Mr. Sarmidi. Simultaneously, the sound of rain spots was again heard hitting the surface of the zinc roof. Maharani tried to calm himself even though there was still a fear of haunting..
"O Allah, I take refuge in You from all the sicknesses that I suffer" said the Empress in prayer, then pulled a blanket over her body. He hoped the night would change by morning.
***
In the morning, the gray sky was still dropping drizzling rain accompanied by a gust of wind that shook the branches of trees since last night. No other sounds were heard, just the sound of friction and drizzling leaves hitting the zinc roof out there, creating a shahdu and soothing rhythm.
Maharani was awake since last night, lying to his left side staring at the pale yellow light from the lamp clamped on the table. Feeling bored, the teenager with curly hair hung up, then sat on the bed with the blanket still wrapped around his lower body due to the cold.
Maharani breathed a long breath. "Hmmh .. What, yes, last night was not real? What's my pain exactly?" ask him to yourself.
Maharani turned to the wall where she saw the painting last night, then moved down from the bed. His feet stepped over to convince himself once again that the wall was completely empty and there was no painting last night.
In front of the dull white wall, Maharani's steps stopped, then looked up narrowed his eyes so that his vision was more focused. His mouth was agape as his eyes found a nail stuck exactly to the point where the painting hung last night.
Maharani stepped back slowly, then immediately returned to the top of the bed. "No, the painting is not real!" he said he reassured himself while hugging both knees.
'Has anyone taken the painting off? No, it's not real!'
Maharani threw a glance out the window, staring at the strands of fog passing by out there. He tried to cast the shadow of the painting out of his mind.
Suddenly, in the distance, his eyes caught someone approaching through the morning mist under a cold drizzle, then stopped right in front of the window of the room the Maharani was occupying.
The round-eyed woman was a little confused as to why her ninik was standing there. "Son, where has the rain been?" tanyakanya.
I didn't hear the answer from outside. Maharani increasingly observed his ninik face. However, suddenly, the old woman put her face on the window glass with a slight banging on it. The sound of the impact suddenly made the Empress surprised because of the behavior of Ninik Rempik who observed it from behind the glass. A line of mysterious smiles spread on his wrinkled lips. The white-haired old woman stared with a glare of sharp eyes.
Maharani screamed, then immediately buried his face between his knees. The two teenage hands tightly knitted each other in fear.
"Mr ... Mr ... Rani's going home!" the screams of the Maharani are becoming.
Before long, the sound of the door handle crackling was played many times accompanied by the voice of another Ninik Rempik call from behind the door.
"Rani, open the door, Ran!" Ninik Rempik's voice rang out from behind the door.
"Rani open the window!" welcome another Ninik Rempik interjecting from behind the glass with sharp eyes and a cold smile.
Maharani did not dare to raise his face and continued to cry because there were two Ninik Rempik now.
"Rani .. Why are you? Conscious, Ran. There's Ninik here," said someone sounding soothing after successfully opening the door.
Maharani felt a hand embrace her body, then she tried to raise her face there immediately hugged Ninik Rempik.
"Rani's scared, Nik. Please Rani," he said, hugging tightly.
Maharani now realized that his ninik body felt rather cold in his arms. Then, hesitantly he took off the hug.
"Aargha!" Maharani screamed more and more, shouting as she saw Ninik Rempik's face bruised and slightly bluish green.
Maharani jumped from the bed, then crawled into a narrow corner of the room. Both of his legs continued to push his body against the narrowest corner of the room wall.
"Maharani .. This is Ninik" said Ninik Rempik as he approached the Maharani with a lamp on his right hand. "Don't be afraid, it's Ninik, Ran."
The Maharani's body was wet from the sweat. She screamed in the corner and cried in fear.
As Ninik Rempik drew nearer, the Empress could more clearly see his face and his two ninik eyeballs had shrunk, releasing a liquid that had dripped like a broken yolk. Not only that, there was something moving inside those two eye holes. Maggots moving there.
Both legs of the Maharani were unable to support his body. He just cried and kept shaking asking for mercy.
"They are gathered here, Maharani," said Ninik Rempik in a cold tone.
*****