The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 18 : Mother

"Mother... Mother... Mother!"

"Dit! Dit!" Pak Dirga shouted while rushing toward Aditia, who still stood frozen after destroying Marni's spirit.

"What's wrong with you?!" Pak Dirga asked.

"Mom... Sir... Mom!" Aditia cried uncontrollably.

"Come with me. Your sister is with Mrs. RT."

Pak Dirga pulled Aditia into the official vehicle.

Even during the long drive...

Aditia couldn't stop crying.

Their destination was a psychiatric hospital.

...

Two hours later, they arrived.

"Get out."

Aditia remained lost in his thoughts, forcing Pak Dirga to drag him inside.

Holding him firmly by the neck, Pak Dirga led him into a waiting room where visitors usually met their hospitalized relatives.

"Look, your son was possessed!" Pak Dirga called out to someone.

Aditia stood silently behind him.

He hadn't even realized who Pak Dirga was talking to.

"My son..."

"What's wrong?" a familiar woman asked while gently patting his shoulder.

The moment Aditia recognized that warm voice...

Everything went black.

He collapsed.

...

"Dit... Dit..."

The woman gently called his name.

Aditia slowly opened his eyes.

As consciousness returned, he immediately threw his arms around her.

"Mom!"

"Mom!"

He sobbed like a little boy who had finally found his mother again.

"What's wrong with you?" his mother scolded gently. "You're crying like a child. Stop it. People will think you're one of the patients I'm admitting."

"What are you doing here, Mom?" Aditia asked while wiping away his tears. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Dita's sick."

"Dit, calm down first," Pak Dirga interrupted. "When we got home, your mother was gone. Dita became ill, so Aditia searched everywhere for you. We finally found you here. May I ask why you came?"

"What happened to Dita?" his mother asked anxiously.

"She had a high fever," Pak Dirga answered, hiding the truth. "She's much better now."

"Oh my goodness... I should call her."

"Later, Ma," Pak Dirga stopped her gently. "Mrs. RT is watching her. Tell us first... why are you here?"

"Oh..."

"Yesterday morning someone called me."

"They said Mrs. Mirasih had another violent episode."

"When that happens..."

"I usually come here and..."

She suddenly fell silent.

"And then?" Aditia asked.

"It's nothing."

"Mrs. Mirasih is just my friend."

"She only needs someone to stay with her."

Apparently...

His mother still believed Aditia knew nothing about Dita.

"I already know everything, Mom," Aditia said quietly.

"I've seen Dita's birth certificate."

"I know who Mrs. Mirasih really is."

"You don't have to hide anything from me anymore."

"You know?" His mother's expression dimmed.

"So why are you here?" Aditia asked again.

"Whenever Mrs. Mirasih relapses, I bring pictures of Dita and tell her how she's growing."

"She always calms down after seeing them."

"Yesterday was no different."

"But when I was about to leave..."

"She suddenly attacked me."

"I lost consciousness."

"The nurses woke me later."

"They couldn't find Mrs. Mirasih anywhere."

A strange feeling settled inside Aditia.

Something wasn't right.

"Mom, let's have the doctor examine you one more time. Once you're discharged, we'll go home together. Dita must be waiting."

A nurse escorted his mother away.

The moment she disappeared...

Pak Dirga spoke.

"So what really happened?"

"Marni told me that a woman willingly exchanged her life by digging up the cursed object buried in her grave."

"I thought..."

"It was my mother."

"That's why I stabbed Marni."

Pak Dirga looked at him in disbelief.

"You destroyed her spirit?"

"I thought Mom had become the sacrifice."

Pak Dirga fell silent before speaking.

"Your father once destroyed an evil spirit too."

"As punishment..."

"He temporarily lost the ability to see them."

His expression darkened.

"Has the same thing happened to you?"

Aditia froze.

He hurriedly searched for his father's journal.

Then he remembered.

It was still inside the minibus.

"I don't know," he admitted quietly.

"But..."

"I haven't seen a single spirit since then."

Pak Dirga's face immediately turned pale.

"That's dangerous, Dit."

"If you've truly gone blind to the unseen like your father once did..."

"Who will protect your house?"

"And who will guide the lost spirits home?"

"I should've been smarter," Aditia whispered.

"I acted without thinking."

He had no idea what consequences his actions would bring.

...

Pak Dirga drove both Aditia and his mother home.

Throughout the journey, Aditia couldn't stop worrying.

Inside the psychiatric hospital, he hadn't seen a single apparition.

Not one.

Even though evening had already arrived.

A place like that should have been filled with wandering spirits.

He feared...

God had punished him just as He once punished his father.

"When Mrs. Mirasih attacked you..." Pak Dirga asked. "Did she say anything?"

His mother's brow furrowed.

"Not really."

"She slapped me several times."

"Then she hit my head with a thermos from the ward."

"I collapsed."

"Oh..."

"Before I passed out..."

"I heard her talking."

"But I didn't see anyone there."

"Do you remember what she said?"

She closed her eyes, trying to recall.

"Wait..."

"I think she kept saying..."

"'Don't take my daughter... don't take my daughter...'"

"I don't know who she was talking to."

"Then she ran away."

"I wanted to chase her..."

"But everything went dark."

Pak Dirga immediately looked toward Aditia.

"Dit."

"I think we need to find Ki Kusno."

"We have to know whether he survived..."

"Or if..."

"What's going on?" Aditia's mother interrupted anxiously. "Why is Ki Kusno involved?"

"It's nothing, Mom," Aditia answered quickly. "He helped Dita yesterday. We just want to thank him."

"Oh..."

"He's a good man."

"He and your father were close friends."

Aditia silently nodded.

He already knew.

Ki Kusno had told him everything.

Once they arrived home, his mother stayed behind.

After making sure Dita was safe, Aditia and Pak Dirga immediately headed toward Marni's grave.

Pak Dirga feared Mrs. Mirasih had reached it first...

To become the replacement sacrifice.

Only fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the village cemetery.

Night had completely fallen.

The two men split up, searching separately for either Ki Kusno or Mrs. Mirasih.

Aditia suddenly felt something deeply unsettling.

He couldn't see...

Or hear...

Anything supernatural.

Usually, the cemetery became crowded after dark.

Tonight...

It was utterly silent.

That silence frightened him far more than any ghost ever had.

"Hey..."

A voice suddenly whispered.

Aditia turned.

No one was there.

Who had called him?

A chill crawled down his spine.

"So this..."

"This is what ordinary people feel."

Fear.

"Kaseeepp..."

This time, he knew.

The voice wasn't human.

Only spirits called him like that.

"Who's there?!" Aditia shouted.

His attention shifted completely away from his search.

"Me..."

The male voice answered.

Cold air drifted from every word.

Aditia understood.

He truly couldn't see them anymore.

This was dangerous.

They could torment him freely now.

For the first time in his life...

Aditia ran.

Not toward the supernatural.

But away from it.

As he sprinted through the darkness, something swept his legs from beneath him.

He crashed face-first into the damp earth.

Laughter echoed around him.

A man's laughter.

Then a woman's piercing shriek.

More voices followed.

Dozens of them.

Mocking him.

Mocking the man they once feared.

The man who used to send them home.

Now...

He was the one trembling.

"H-help..."

Aditia cried.

It was all he could think to do.

Suddenly...

A freezing hand landed on his shoulder.

Relief washed over him.

Maybe it was Pak Dirga.

He spun around.

No one.

His heart nearly stopped.

He struggled to stand.

But the cold grip remained.

Then more hands appeared.

His legs.

His waist.

His chest.

His neck.

His head.

Countless icy hands clung to his entire body at once.

He fought desperately.

Nothing moved.

A rotten metallic stench filled his lungs.

He couldn't see them.

But dozens of evil spirits had surrounded him.

Ghosts.

Pocongs.

Kuntilanaks.

Tiny tuyuls.

Countless twisted beings clawed at his body, taking revenge for all the times he had driven them away.

His body finally collapsed flat onto the ground.

An unbearable weight crushed him.

The spirits climbed over him...

Laughing.

Jumping.

Pressing harder and harder.

He couldn't breathe.

His chest burned.

His body froze.

Pain spread through every bone.

For the first time...

Aditia believed...

This might truly be the end.

Just like his father.

"H-help..."

The word never escaped.

A freezing hand covered his mouth.

And darkness slowly closed in.