Horror Story
Mount Pulosari Part 1 - #7

“Nek way home in which direction huh?” I asked very carefully.

He grinned as if he wanted to say something. His hand pointed towards the East with a friendly smile. But, suddenly his face turned extremely frightened when he saw a fireball hovering in the sky.

“O... ocos, ocos,” said stammering.

He's very panicked. The grandmother then looked back at me. This time he approached. His steps were heavy because his back was carrying firewood.

“I.. follow. i.. follow. That's ocos,” he's always stammered.

Maybe it was because he was old, so he had a breakdown in speech. The grandmother pulled my arm. It seems like he's taking me somewhere. Sometimes he looked up at the sky looking at the fireball that kept following me.

“Where to go, Nek.”

“Em. To. sana. Home...,” he said as he patted his own chest.

I knew I might be taken to his house. I don't think this grandma is a genie. There was no evil man on his face. What crime can a grandmother do like her? I better not suspect him anymore. Who knows if he can help me.

Not long after, I arrived at a stilt house. That house looks neater than the one I met a few days ago. There are two glass windows on the front. I didn't expect there to be a house in the middle of a forest like this.

The dim light from the canting lamp was seen from the window. The grandmother knocked on the door. There were footsteps approaching. The door moves, the door opens. An old man wearing a black jacket and a sarong stood before me.

“Who is this?” asked the grandfather while pointing to my face.

“O..person. His... stray,” said the grandmother.

“Ngapain bring stray people here, Sapinah?” grandpa looks upset.

The grandmother pointed to the sky, “Ocos. There's tuh.”.

Grandpa looked up at the sky. He was shocked when he saw a fireball floating up there.

“Come quickly log in!” pinta the grandfather.

Grandma and I hurried into the house. Firewood is just placed in the yard. The door was tightly locked, the window curtain closed, I was led into the grandfather's room.

The room smells of dry tobacco. Maybe the old man kept the tobacco in his room. There is a canting lamp hanging on the wall of the room.

“My name is Abah Sarta and this is my wife Sapinah. What happened so you could be followed ocos, huh?”

“My name is Ori, Bah. At first me and three of my friends wanted to camp in the crater of the mountain. But, on the way, one by one my friends are missing. They all digondol jin.”

Abah Sarta shook her head, “What's your mistake?”

“My friends dirty the Curug Princess with blood to stabilize her,” I said.

Abah Sarta looked very surprised to hear my explanation.

“Agne, that's bad! You know it's been decades since Pulosari was safe and there were no fatalities. Because of your friends, it could be other climbers also go to harm.”

Abah Sarta was angry. His neck until it protrudes.

“What should I do, Bah?”

“Difficult. It's hard,” he turned to the grandmother.

“Antar I'll just go home, Bah. Please me.”

“You can't go home,” he said as he looked at me with an anxious look.

“Ke... why, Bah?”

“Because you already belong to them.”

"Yes, the jinn of this mountain."

Abah Sarta's words surprised me.

“But, said Mr. Jaro, me and my friends can still be saved.”

“He lied. No one can survive the quality of Mount Pulosari. He must have deliberately handed you to this mountain genie so that other climbers can survive.”

“That's your mistake. And, you who have to bear your own consequences,” he added.

I bowed listlessly. I honestly don't want to die on this mountain. Without me knowing, my tears were dripping. I cry because I am afraid. There are still many things I want to do and I don't want to die silly like this.

“Have not cried,” Abah Sarta patted me on the shoulder.

“Please take me home, Bah. I beg.”

From the bedroom window appeared a shadow of a passing fireball. He's really after me. Abah Sarta and his wife were shocked. They shuddered in horror as they watched the fireball pass by their bedroom window.

“You must go from here now,” Abah Sarta kicked me out.

“Ja... don't, don't...,” the grandmother holds my shoulder. He seems to be defending me.

“Ngi. Here... here, yes ngi... nginep,” she stroked my hair.

“Danger, Sapinah. We can die killed ocos,” Abah Sarta snapped.

He opened the door to the room. He then told me to leave his house. I still don't move. Because I know it's more dangerous out there.

“Well, can I stay here first?” I close both palms, pleading with her.

Abah Sarta seems to have been destroyed. He breathed a heavy breath.

“One night only. Tomorrow morning you have to leave here.”

Finally Abah Sarta was kind enough to let me stay at her house. He showed me a room. There's a cotton mattress and pillows in that room. Also the wooden cabinets that look worn out.

I closed the door to the room. I took off my backpack and laid myself on the bed. The dim light of the canting lights illuminated the room, making me drowsy quickly.

Outside the fireball was still waiting for me. I don't know what will happen to me tomorrow. Will I live or die like Eldi or be taken by a genie like Mira. Or, it turns out to be weird like Riki. I might be lost forever on this mountain.

The night is falling. At midnight I woke up. There are a lot of mosquitoes that disturb my sleep. I heard Abah Sarta's voice talking to someone in the middle room. Obviously, the interlocutor is not his wife. It sounded like a young woman.

Out of curiosity, I slowly peeked at him from the hole of the wall of the room. Abah Sarta was talking to a beautiful woman. They sit facing each other. The woman's clothes were like a royal princess. He was wearing a red kebaya and a golden batik glove patterned with flowers. Her hair is in the kondek. Lots of gold in her hair.

“Sumuhun, New..” Abah Sarta nodded. He did not dare to look at the woman's face.

“Entong ngaganguan cocoan kula,” said the woman in Sundanese.

I understand the meaning, 'don't wait for my toys'.

“Sumuhun, New, hampura kula.” Abah Sarta nodded.

I'm getting scared. The woman looked at me. He smiled coldly. His face was white, unnatural like a wax statue. I got away from the wall and went back to bed.

Not long after, the door was knocked without any sound calling. I pretended not to hear, the door to the room kept getting knocked even harder. Suddenly there was a light of fire emanating from the window. The ocos appeared again. This time he floated quietly in the bedroom window.

I noticed that the fireball had two human-like eyes. He glanced at me with a flat look. The night was long and horrible.

SERIATE...