Secret Alit

Grandma's Story 4: Ghost Crossroads

The appearance of ghostly figures is often believed to be an act of 'fad' or as a warning for mistakes made by humans. As in the village where the grandmother lived as a child, for example, there is a ghost that is quite often disturbing. The surrounding people named him as the Ghost Crossroads.

One twilight as a teenager, Grandma was walking home from her cousin's house. The streets were quiet by then and the time showed at 5pm. The sky was getting dark, covered in cloudy clouds.

At that time, motorized vehicles were still rarely encountered. Grandma lives in the village. Most people there usually ride a bike or walk to travel. So, even though it was only 5 pm, the state of the streets was already very quiet.

Grandma walked down the side of the road so she could stop by for a while to a small market near her home. Even though it was almost dark, grandma still relaxed walking slowly while washing her eyes looking for snacks for people at home. There are many traditional cakes such as klepon, banana gite, porridge, and many more.

"The cake was just delivered this afternoon, Ma'am. So it's still good to eat until later tonight" said the seller at the market offering his merchandise.

Grandma listened to the merchant offer her a cake while looking at the crossroads across the market. There, there was a woman who was laying flowers of various colors. Grandmother guessed that the red flower was a rose, while the other flowers cantile and chrysalis. The container is made of banana leaves that are formed into a square box. Since the road is quiet, the woman can easily put it in the middle of a crossroads.

The baker also saw the grandmother who was daydreaming about the woman. He explained that it was common for people living around here. They were used to treating all the fine beings well in order to no longer disturb humans. One way is to put offerings in areas that are believed to be haunted.

Grandma listened to the story of the cake merchant carefully while reaching into his bag to take the money. After that, Grandma paid for the cake and continued on her way home.

"Thank you for the cake and the story is yes, sir," the grandmother told the cake dealer with a smile.

The market is right at the end of the T-junction. People refer to the location as 'puncture'. To get home, grandma had to go through the street of the T-junction. Just intending to cross the road, grandma saw three creatures crouching in the middle of the fork.

The creature has one big eye but its pupils are white like blind. The magnitude was not just an ordinary 'big', but until it almost covered his face. There was no nose and no mouth, there were only two eyes as wide as from his forehead to his chin. The creature next to him only had a mouth that was no less large and wide covering the face. While the third creature, his face flat, there are only two large earlobes - but without holes - on the left right side of his head.

From the opposite direction, grandma saw a man who was crossing the road, passing right in the area of the ghosts were located. The man did not see them. He then walked normally, without any fear, and then hit a large-eyed ghost figure. The big-eyed ghost immediately turned to look at the man and pushed him down. Then, the ghost crouched back in its original position. Fortunately, the fallen man was fine and resumed his steps.

Not long after the incident, there was another person who passed by the fork using a bicycle. This time, the three ghosts were hit by his bike until it fell. The three ghostly figures looked angry like they were about to chase and pounce on the cyclist. However, the cyclist continued to wiggle his bike casually and managed to escape their grip. Seeing their 'prey' escape, the three ghosts looked increasingly angry. Their bodies squirm. Moreover, the wide-mouthed figure opened its mouth wide and revealed its large teeth. It was inconceivable that the mouth would bite human skin. It would be torn by him immediately.

Meanwhile, the blind ghost moved his hand forward like he wanted to reach something. While the deaf ghost is putting both palms on the earlobe like they want to hear something to make it clearer.

Grandma, who originally wanted to walk home, was glued to stand on the side of the road watching the three ghostly figures. Apparently, the space of the three ghosts is limited, only in the junction only. So, they can not pursue humans to far away. They could only move freely in that area and were unable to get out of its territory. The three figures began to bring themselves closer together and turned to each other, the back meeting the back. It was as if they were preparing to defend themselves from various directions.

After a while, the ghosts began to appear calm and crouched back in their original positions. Grandma also realized that the sky was getting darker and continued the journey to the house. Of course, grandma avoided the T-junction area. Seeing the incident, Grandma only knew if there was a ghost who inhabited a region, then only there was where she could move. Apparently, a person's ignorance of ghost sightings is an advantage as well. As experienced by the two men who hit the three creatures. Because they can not see it, they can just continue the journey like nothing, without any fear.

"From now on I have to be more careful not to disturb the ghosts" the grandmother said in her heart.

***

Grandma told me this experience of her teenage years so that I would be more alert when I was in a quiet place. I was horrified at the same time to hear that story. From the many experiences I saw the apparition, only this time I heard there is a creature shaped like that. Just imagine it horrified. But, I was also curious, why could their shapes be like that?

I also thought, right now the streets in my grandmother's childhood village must have been crowded and more densely populated. What happened to that Ghost Crossroads now? Did they move? Or do they stay there and begin to make peace with humans? Maybe someday I will take my grandmother, papa, mama, and Kak Luni to take a walk to the village.