The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 15 : Marni

Aditia stumbled over a large rock and crashed hard onto the ground. Night had already begun to settle, and in his desperation, he hadn't noticed the boulder lying directly in his path. There were no streetlights along the riverbank, only darkness stretching endlessly ahead. He had been chasing the woman dressed in black without enough light to guide him, so it was hardly surprising that he tripped and fell.

He slowly pushed himself upright, his heart pounding as he searched the darkness.

She was gone.

The mysterious figure had vanished into the night, leaving behind nothing but the gentle murmur of the river and an unsettling silence that seemed to swallow everything around him.

With no other choice, Aditia returned home by taking the longer route instead of cutting through the garden. Climbing over the wall in the dark would only waste more time. The front road, though farther, was brighter... and perhaps, if fate was kind, he might still find his mother somewhere along the way.

"Dit, I've already asked the neighbors on both sides of the house," Pak Dirga said the moment Aditia stepped inside. "No one has seen your mother. They said the last time anyone saw her was last night during the neighborhood prayer gathering at Pak RT's house. Since this morning, neither your mother nor Dita has come outside. Your mother always buys vegetables from the traveling vendor every morning, but yesterday she never came out. The front door stayed shut all day."

"I think... I saw Mom earlier," Aditia replied quietly. "But when I called out to her, she just kept running. I chased after her... then she disappeared."

"We'll wait until tomorrow morning," Pak Dirga said calmly. "If she still hasn't returned, I'll assign several officers to help search for her. For now, we need to focus on getting Marni out of your sister's body. The poor girl probably hasn't eaten or had anything to drink for who knows how long. Oh, and I've already contacted Pak RT and asked him to inform Pak RW. I'm afraid this situation could get much worse, so I asked them to come here."

"Yes, Pak. We really do need everyone's help."

"Assalamualaikum, Adit," someone called from outside.

It sounded like Pak RT and Pak RW.

Aditia hurried outside to greet them before inviting them into the house.

"Pak, this is Pak RT and Pak RW," he said. "They've also brought Ki Kusno."

Three men entered together. Among them, Ki Kusno immediately stood out. His frail body and deeply lined face suggested he was around eighty years old, perhaps even older.

"Please, have a seat. I'm sorry for troubling all of you," Pak Dirga said politely while Aditia disappeared into the kitchen to prepare coffee. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing he could offer his guests.

"I'm sorry, Pak," Aditia said as he placed five cups of coffee on the table. "This is all I have."

The modest living room held only a long sofa and three single chairs, just enough to accommodate everyone.

"Dit, where's your mother?" Pak RT asked.

"I don't know, Pak. According to the neighbors, the last time anyone saw her was during last night's prayer gathering at your house. After that, no one saw her again. She didn't even come outside to buy vegetables this morning like she always does."

"Oh, right," Pak RT replied thoughtfully. "My wife told me your mother left the gathering early. She looked unusually pale and excused herself. My wife even walked her to the front gate, but once they got outside, your mother suddenly seemed to be in a hurry. She didn't even say goodbye properly—she simply ran off. Since everyone was still busy with the gathering, my wife didn't think much of it afterward."

"Was she wearing a black dress?" Aditia asked immediately.

"I don't think so," Pak RT answered. "She was wearing a purple dress, the same one my wife and the other women were wearing."

So...

The woman Aditia had chased earlier wasn't his mother after all.

"Alright," Pak RT continued, gesturing toward the elderly man beside him. "This is Ki Kusno. He's the oldest and most respected person in this area. He knows the history of this place better than anyone, so perhaps he'll be able to help your family. Would it be alright if he sees Dita first?"

"Of course, Pak. Please."

Aditia led everyone to Dita's bedroom. She was still tied securely to the bed. Her back faced the door, but the moment they entered, she rolled her eyes upward and burst into eerie laughter.

"Assalamualaikum, Dita," Pak RT greeted gently.

She gave no reply.

Instead, her laughter grew even louder.

"Marni," Ki Kusno called softly.

At the sound of that name, Dita's body slowly turned toward them. Shock flashed across her face the instant she recognized the old man standing before her.

"Kusno!!! How dare you come here!" Dita hissed, her voice impossibly deep and inhuman.

"Marni, why have you returned?" Ki Kusno asked, standing calmly before her.

"I want this child! I want this child!" Dita snarled, every word dripping with a terrifying hiss.

"What exactly happened, Pak?" Pak Dirga asked, unable to hide his confusion.

"It all began... back in 1997," Ki Kusno said quietly.

...

1997

There was once a young woman named Marni.

She was known as the kindest, most beautiful, and warmest girl in the village where Aditia's parents lived. At the time, Aditia's father and mother had only recently gotten married, and Aditia was still growing inside his mother's womb. The newlyweds had never intended to postpone having children.

Marni was eighteen years old.

An age when youth shines at its brightest.

She was intelligent, well-educated, deeply religious, and, as far as anyone could tell, utterly flawless...

At least, that was what everyone believed.

"I don't want anything else, Father. I only want to become a civil servant, so please let me go to college," Marni pleaded. Her father was nothing more than a shoe factory laborer. There was no way he could afford university tuition.

"I can't, Marni. College is expensive. Find a job first. Once you've saved enough money, then you can continue your education," her sickly father explained patiently.

"No, Father. We still have this house. Let's mortgage the land certificate. That way I can enroll in college right after graduating from high school. I promise I'll redeem the house once I graduate."

She refused to back down.

"But putting this house up as collateral is terrifying, Nak. The interest keeps growing, and if we fail to pay it back, we'll lose our home. Where would we live? This is the only inheritance your mother's family left us. I have no right to mortgage it... let alone sell it."

"You're a coward! You only have one daughter, yet you can't even support her dream! I want to become a civil servant!" Marni shouted before running into her bedroom, sobbing uncontrollably.

Her mother could only cry silently in the kitchen.

She knew there was another reason why her daughter was so desperate to become a civil servant.

It wasn't simply a dream.

There was something else behind it.

Something so shameful that she could never bring herself to tell her husband.

"What if... we mortgage the house after all?" Marni's father finally whispered after watching his daughter spend the entire day crying without eating or drinking. "She's our only child. We waited five years before she was finally born."

He still remembered how difficult those years had been.

His wife had suffered several miscarriages before Marni finally came into their lives.

"But what if we can't repay the loan?" his wife asked softly. "We'll become homeless."

"I'd rather lose this house than lose our daughter," he replied, lowering his head. His love for Marni ran far too deep. She was the child they had waited five long years to hold in their arms.

...

Marni finally got what she wanted.

She enrolled at one of the country's most prestigious universities. During her first semester, she consistently earned outstanding grades. Her beauty, combined with her remarkable intelligence, quickly made her well known. Back in her village, she was everyone's pride.

On campus...

It was no different.

Yet the admiration she received stood in painful contrast to the poverty waiting for her at home.

Still, Marni never complained.

She endured everything for the sake of her dream.

Until one day...

"What's happening to my face?" Marni gasped as she jolted awake. Her skin appeared horribly blistered, wrinkled like that of an old woman.

She rushed out of her room toward the kitchen where her mother was preparing breakfast.

"Mom! What's wrong with my face?" she cried, trembling.

"Your face?" her mother asked in confusion. "It's perfectly fine. Nothing's wrong."

"Look at me! My skin is blistering! It hurts! It's all wrinkled!" Marni cried as she stumbled toward the bathroom mirror beside the kitchen.

The reflection staring back at her was horrifying.

She saw someone hideous.

Someone she no longer recognized.

"Pak! Pak! Something's wrong with Marni!" her mother called frantically. She couldn't see anything unusual, yet her daughter insisted her face had been ruined.

"Come here, Nak," her father said gently as he examined her face himself.

Nothing.

There wasn't a single abnormality.

"Look! My face is destroyed!" Marni screamed hysterically.

Her father believed her.

Not because he saw it...

But because Marni had never been someone who lied, exaggerated, or sought attention. She had always been honest.

He immediately took her to countless spiritual healers.

None of them could help.

Within three months, he had exhausted every bit of money and strength he had searching for a cure. Marni stopped attending university out of shame.

Everyone else still saw the same beautiful young woman.

But Marni didn't.

She saw only a ruined face.

And the pain felt terrifyingly real.

The illness slowly shattered her mind.

She refused to eat.

She refused to drink.

Eventually...

She even refused to sleep.

Within only a few months, her once healthy body became frighteningly thin. The beauty that had once captivated everyone vanished beneath severe malnutrition and endless despair.

Her parents eventually lost all hope.

They no longer had enough money to seek treatment.

Sometimes they couldn't even afford food and survived only because kind neighbors shared what little they had.

Meanwhile, the bank prepared to seize their home after months of unpaid mortgage interest.

At last...

They surrendered everything to God's will.

Exactly six months after her illness began, Marni passed away.

Her body was little more than skin stretched over bones. Before her death, she had stopped wearing clothes altogether. They found her lifeless inside her filthy bedroom, surrounded by the stench of waste she no longer had the strength to clean away.

She was completely n***d.

Her eyes remained wide open.

Her mouth frozen in silent terror.

Even in death...

Her face still reflected the horror she had spent months seeing in herself.

...

Marni's death shook the entire village.

Those who helped prepare her body for burial could barely endure the overwhelming stench. Her corpse was filthy beyond words.

Now...

Everyone finally saw exactly what Marni had been describing all those months.

Blistered skin.

Deep wrinkles.

A face ruined beyond recognition.

But none of it had been caused by a curse.

It was the tragic consequence of severe malnutrition after refusing food and water for months.

In the end, Marni had transformed herself into the very nightmare she believed she saw every day.

Life eventually returned to normal after her funeral.

The village continued moving forward.

Only one thing had changed.

The beautiful, brilliant girl everyone admired was gone forever.

No one truly cared to understand what had happened to Marni.

Only her aging parents remained...

Alone.

Without the daughter they had hoped would one day care for them.

Seven days after Marni's burial, the village fell into panic once again.

It was Friday night.

The air felt colder than usual, and even the insects had fallen strangely silent.

Three neighborhood watchmen were making their usual rounds before deciding to rest at the security post.

It was one o'clock in the morning.

"Good evening, gentlemen..." a sweet-smelling young woman greeted them softly.

All three men turned toward the voice.

"Evening. Heading home, Marni?" one of the guards asked, recognizing her immediately.

"I'm going home..." Marni answered with a dreamy voice while wearing a strange smile.

"It's already so late. Want me to walk you home?" another offered.

"Yeah, let us escort you," another teased playfully.

Eventually...

One of the young men volunteered to accompany her.

After Marni and the young man disappeared into the darkness, one of the remaining guards suddenly broke into a cold sweat.

"W-Wait... wasn't Marni... already dead?" he whispered, his face draining of color.

"Astaghfirullah..." the other guard gasped as the horrifying realization finally struck him.

The sweet fragrance lingering moments earlier instantly turned into the overwhelming stench of decay.

Marni was already gone.

So was the young man who had walked away with her.

Terrified, the two remaining guards rushed toward Pak RT's house to report what they had just witnessed.

Meanwhile...

The young man continued walking beside Marni.

He found it odd that she was wearing a long black dress and that her steps dragged unnaturally across the road. Normally she dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt.

Still...

He didn't think much about it.

After all, escorting the most beautiful girl in the village felt like a blessing.

"Where are you coming from, Mar? It's awfully late."

"From over there," Marni answered, pointing behind her.

The young man frowned.

Wasn't that...

...the cemetery?

"From campus?" he asked again.

This time he had fallen slightly behind her. He stopped walking altogether when he realized she was pointing directly toward the graves.

Marni slowly shook her head.

No.

She hadn't come from campus.

Growing increasingly uneasy, he continued following her until they reached a crossroads.

Marni kept walking straight ahead.

"Mar, your house is to the left."

She ignored him completely.

"Mar!"

He called again.

Still nothing.

The distance between them grew wider.

Finally, he sprinted toward her.

"Mar!"

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

The instant his fingers touched her...

He froze.

Her body was freezing.

Colder than solid ice.

Marni stopped walking.

Her body remained facing forward.

Only then did she slowly turn her head...

Until it twisted all the way around to face him.

"Walk me home..." Marni whispered sweetly.

Her face stared directly into his eyes.

But her body...

Never moved.

The young man instantly released her shoulder and collapsed unconscious. Just before darkness consumed him completely, he felt Marni lean close and whisper into his ear...

"Lurrrraaahhh..."