The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 14 : Family

Aditia gripped the steering wheel tighter as the minibus sped through the quiet streets.

His entire body ached with exhaustion.

The battle against Begu Ganjang had drained every ounce of strength he had left, yet all he could think about was the phone call.

Dita.

His younger sister had called him.

But the voice that answered...

It hadn't been hers.

It had belonged to someone he had prayed he would never hear again.

Marni.

She had returned.

Why now?

What had she done to Dita?

Throughout the drive, Aditia repeatedly dialed his sister's number, but every attempt ended the same way.

The phone was switched off. He immediately tried calling his mother, but there was no answer—her phone was off as well. A cold knot tightened in his chest. Without wasting another second, he called someone else.

"Hello, Sir... I'm sorry to bother you. Are you anywhere near my house?"

Pak Dirga answered almost immediately. "I'm at the security post. What's wrong, Dit?"

"Dita called me..." Aditia said, struggling to steady his breathing. "But it wasn't her voice."

A brief silence followed.

"It was... Marni."

"Inna lillahi..." Pak Dirga muttered under his breath. "She's back?"

"I think so."

"Alright. I'm heading to your house now. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way home."

"Drive carefully."

The call ended. Aditia pressed harder on the accelerator, the engine roaring as the minibus cut through the evening traffic. His hands remained steady on the wheel, but his mind did not.

Marni had targeted Dita once before. Even when Dita was still a little girl, she had never stopped watching her. His father had driven her away years ago.

So why had she returned now?

More importantly, how had she managed to reach Dita?

An hour later, Aditia finally turned into the narrow street leading to his home. He barely bothered parking properly—the minibus came to an awkward stop in front of the house, but he didn't care. Before the engine had fully died, he was already out of the driver's seat, sprinting toward the front door.

It wasn't locked.

A terrible feeling settled over him as he pushed it open.

"Dita!"

His voice echoed through the house.

"Dita!"

No answer.

He rushed toward the bedrooms—

Then froze.

Someone was already waiting for him.

Dita sat quietly at the dining table, both elbows resting on the tabletop, her chin propped lazily on her hands. She stared straight at him.

Smiling.

No...

Not smiling.

Grinning.

"Dit..." Aditia called softly, never taking his eyes off his sister. Dita didn't answer. She remained perfectly still, her chin resting on both hands as the grotesque grin lingered across her face. Then she spoke.

"Won't you eat first, Brother?" she asked sweetly. "I cooked dinner just for you."

She lifted the food cover from the table. Aditia's gaze fell to the dishes before him—grilled fish, vegetables, soup, steamed rice, and several side dishes arranged neatly as though someone had prepared a feast. Under any other circumstances, it would have looked like an ordinary family dinner. Tonight, it felt wrong.

"I've already eaten," Aditia replied calmly as he pulled out a chair and sat across from her.

Neither of them touched the food. Neither of them looked away.

After a long silence, Aditia finally spoke. "Since when did you start calling me 'Brother'?" A faint smile crossed his lips. "You've always called me 'Kak.'"

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.

Then laughter erupted.

"Hahahaha..."

The gentle laugh quickly twisted into something shrill and unnatural.

"Hihihihihi..."

The sound grew sharper with every second until it echoed through the entire house, making the windows tremble. It wasn't Dita's laughter. It never was.

Aditia remained seated. His expression didn't change.

The laughter slowly faded.

Then Dita raised her head.

"So... Adit has grown up."

Her voice was different now—hoarse, breathy, almost like a whisper forced through a throat that no longer belonged to the living. The grin on her face stretched impossibly wide, far too wide for any human being.

Aditia met her gaze without flinching.

"What are you doing here..." He paused for only a moment. "...Marni?"

The woman inside Dita smiled even wider.

"I missed her." Her voice dripped with eerie affection. "I missed little Dita so much."

Aditia's eyes narrowed.

"My father told you never to come back. He drove you away."

Marni tilted Dita's head slowly to one side. A dry chuckle escaped her lips.

"Your father is gone."

Another laugh—soft, mocking.

"So who's going to stop me now?"

Aditia let out a long sigh.

"Why today of all days?" he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as though trying to ease the weight pressing against his shoulders. "I'm exhausted... and I'm already on edge."

His gaze hardened.

"So don't blame me if I'm a little rough."

Before Marni could react, Aditia lunged across the table.

He seized Dita's body by the shoulders and yanked her out of the chair.

The chair crashed onto the floor.

A second later, he slammed her onto the living room sofa.

Dita screamed.

Her body twisted violently beneath him as she fought to break free.

Without hesitation, Aditia drove his knee into the center of her abdomen, pinning her firmly against the cushions.

The struggle became even more violent.

He knew exactly where to apply the pressure.

His father had taught him long ago that when an evil spirit possessed a human body, the abdomen became its weakest point. Controlling that point made it far more difficult for the spirit to move its host.

Marni shrieked through Dita's mouth, her voice shifting wildly—one moment like an elderly man, the next an old woman, then a crying child—dozens of voices overlapping, each more disturbing than the last. Yet beneath them all, every breath sounded strained, as though something inside her was suffocating.

The front door burst open.

"Dit! Is it really Marni?" Pak Dirga shouted as he rushed into the house.

Without taking his eyes off Dita, Aditia yelled back, "Pak! The broom! The bidara broom!"

Pak Dirga immediately understood. He sprinted toward the corner beside the entrance and grabbed the unusual broom Aditia's father had made years ago. It looked like an ordinary broom at first glance, but instead of coconut leaf ribs, it had been woven from carefully dried stems of the bidara tree. The family had never used it to clean the house—it had been made for one purpose alone: to drive away evil spirits.

Pak Dirga hurried back and handed it to Aditia.

Meanwhile, Dita continued thrashing beneath his knee, cursing in voices that no longer sounded remotely human.

Crack! The first strike landed across Dita's legs, and a piercing scream erupted from her throat. c***k! Another blow followed, the shriek growing louder as Aditia showed no hesitation.

He swung the bidara broom again and again, each strike landing across Dita's legs while keeping his knee firmly pressed against her abdomen.

"Get out!" he shouted. "Leave her body!"

Dita's entire body convulsed violently as a rasping voice burst from her mouth.

"DEAAATH... DEAAATH... DEAAATH!"

The voice sounded ancient, neither male nor female.

"Your father... your mother... and you... all of you... WILL DIIIE!"

Aditia's jaw tightened.

"The only one dying here is you."

He struck again.

Crack!

Crack!

Red welts quickly appeared across Dita's legs as Aditia continued striking without pause.

"Get out, Marni!"

"I said get out!"

His voice echoed through the house, each shout blending with Dita's screams.

Another strike followed.

Another scream tore through the room.

Pak Dirga quickly grabbed Aditia's shoulder.

"Dit!"

His grip tightened as he tried to pull him back.

"Astaghfirullah..."

"Control yourself."

"Keep remembering Allah," but Aditia didn't answer.

His breathing had grown heavy.

The anger he had buried ever since Alya's betrayal was beginning to surface.

Marni's laughter only poured fuel onto the fire.

"Hihihihihi..."

"You'll all die..."

"I'll kill every last one of you..."

Aditia's eyes darkened as he reached into his pocket, a small keris flashing beneath the living room light, its blade gleaming as he slowly drew it free and raised it, ready to drive it into Marni's abdomen.

"Adit!"

Pak Dirga lunged forward and grabbed his wrist before the blade could fall.

"What are you doing?" His voice thundered through the room. "That's Dita's body!" The words struck Aditia like lightning.

His hand froze.

Only then did he realize what he had almost done, the keris slipping from his trembling fingers and clattering onto the floor as his breathing became uneven, and he slowly stepped back, staring blankly at his own hands, Alya's betrayal, the exhaustion, the endless battles, he hadn't recovered from any of it, and for one terrifying moment, he had nearly stabbed his own sister.

Aditia stood frozen, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths. He could no longer tell whether the rage burning inside him belonged to this moment... or was simply the pain Alya had left behind.

Pak Dirga gently pushed him aside.

"Let me handle this."

Without another word, he dropped to one knee and pressed his own against Dita's abdomen, taking over exactly where Aditia had stopped. He picked up the bidara broom from the floor and began striking Dita's legs with measured force while reciting verses from the Holy Qur'an without pause.

Crack!

Crack!

Each recitation grew louder.

Each strike came with unwavering conviction.

Dita writhed violently beneath him.

Then another scream erupted.

"It hurts! It hurts!" The voice no longer belonged to Dita.

It changed again.

This time, it sounded like an old woman gasping for air.

Pak Dirga didn't stop.

"Get out!" he shouted in Sundanese.

"Kaluar maneh! Kaluar!"

Marni hissed furiously through Dita's lips.

"Aing hayang kopi... hayang kembang tujuh rupa... hayang getih hayam hideung..."

She laughed between every sentence, her voice cracking unnaturally.

Pak Dirga's expression remained firm.

"Ari maneh saha maréntah aing? Kaluar sia! Kaluar!"

The broom struck again as the Qur'anic verses never ceased, the room itself seeming to vibrate beneath the relentless struggle. Suddenly, Dita's body went limp, her head slumping to one side. Silence fell, broken only by the sound of everyone's breathing. Pak Dirga slowly lowered the broom before placing two fingers against Dita's neck.

"She fainted."

Aditia immediately looked up.

"No," he said calmly. "Marni's still inside her. We need to tie Dita up."

Pak Dirga nodded without question. Together they carried Dita into her bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. Using a thick length of rope, Pak Dirga bound both her wrists and ankles behind her back with secure knots, making sure she wouldn't be able to hurt herself—or anyone else—if Marni regained control.

Once he finished, he turned toward Aditia.

"Go drink some water first. You need to calm down."

Aditia silently obeyed. He walked into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it in one long swallow before preparing a cup of black coffee for Pak Dirga. When he returned, he handed over the steaming mug.

"Thank you, Dit."

Pak Dirga accepted it with a tired smile before taking a slow sip. After a brief silence, he finally spoke.

"Ayi already told me about Alya. They've secured her at Malik's headquarters."

Aditia lowered his head.

"I know," he said quietly, shame still weighing heavily on him.

Pak Dirga rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Ayi will take care of everything. Don't carry this burden forever."

He smiled gently.

"Life is harsh, Son. That's exactly why your father entrusted you with this path—so you could learn, so you could understand that this world is neither completely beautiful nor completely cruel. There will come a day when you'll realize that everything unfolds according to Allah's will."

Aditia remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.

"I'm sorry, Pak. I shouldn't have trusted Alya. I fell in love with the wrong woman."

Pak Dirga sighed softly.

"No one can blame you. You've always been drawn to strong people. Alya was extraordinary. Unfortunately, she chose to use her strength for the wrong reasons."

He paused briefly.

"If someone like her had been raised by the right people, she might have become an extraordinary woman. Instead, she was raised in a family consumed by black magic."

Aditia slowly closed his eyes.

"I still can't forgive what she chose. She knew what fear felt like. She knew what it meant to spend years running. So why would she willingly become someone just like her father?"

Neither of them spoke again. The silence lasted only a few seconds before Pak Dirga suddenly frowned.

"Dit..."

He looked around the house.

"Where's your mother?"

The question struck Aditia like a bolt of lightning, his eyes widening as he whispered, "My mother..." He immediately looked toward the kitchen—no one there—then hurried to the back of the house, finding the bathroom empty and the laundry room just as deserted. His breathing quickened. "Mom!" he called out, rushing from one room to another, throwing open every door he could find—the bedrooms, the prayer room, the storage room—but finding nothing.

She was nowhere inside the house, and Pak Dirga followed close behind.

"Is she usually out at this hour?"

Aditia shook his head. "Never. She always tells Dita before leaving."

His chest tightened. "But Dita was already possessed... so who did she tell?"

Neither of them spoke as a heavy silence settled over the house. Then Aditia suddenly remembered something and hurried back to the dining table, his eyes sweeping across the untouched dishes one by one.

Then he froze.

There were three plates. One had clearly been used. The other two remained untouched.

His face slowly paled.

"Pak..."

Pak Dirga stepped beside him. "What is it?"

Aditia pointed silently at the table. "My mother..." He swallowed hard. "She had dinner with Dita."

Pak Dirga's expression changed instantly. "If Marni was already inside Dita..."

He never finished the sentence. He didn't need to. Both of them understood exactly what it meant.

Aditia immediately grabbed his phone and dialed his mother's number again. The mechanical voice answered once more.

The number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable.

He ended the call, his hands trembling. "She's missing."

Pak Dirga nodded grimly. "We don't have much time."

He glanced toward Dita's bedroom before looking back at Aditia. "We leave her here. Tomorrow morning, we'll ask Ayi for help. And tonight..."

He paused.

"We find your mother."

Without another word, Aditia snatched the car keys from the table. The exhaustion from the battle with Begu Ganjang no longer mattered—the betrayal, the heartbreak, the endless fighting—none of it mattered anymore.

Right now, there was only one thing left on his mind.

He had to find his mother.

Before Marni found her first.