The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 14 : Family

Aditia drove his angkot through the quiet streets. His exhausted body begged for rest, but he had no intention of stopping. Dita had called him... yet the voice that answered hadn't been hers.

It had belonged to that thing.

The creature that had vanished from his family's life years ago.

Why had it returned?

What had it done to Dita?

It had always wanted her.

Ever since she was a little girl.

That thought alone made Aditia tighten his grip on the steering wheel.

Throughout the drive, he kept calling Dita over and over.

Nothing.

Her phone was switched off.

His mother's phone...

Also unreachable.

"[Hello, Sir. Sorry to bother you. Are you anywhere near my house?]" Aditia finally called Pak Dirga.

"[I'm still at the station. What's wrong, Dit?]" Pak Dirga replied.

"[Dita called me... but the voice... it wasn't hers. It was... Marni!]"

"[Astaghfirullah... She's back? Alright, I'm heading to your place now. Where are you?]"

"[On my way home, Sir.]"

After ending the call, Aditia pushed the angkot faster through the traffic.

Fear tightened around his chest.

What if Dita had relapsed?

...

More than an hour later, Aditia finally reached home. He parked carelessly in the yard, barely bothering to straighten the vehicle.

Finding his sister mattered far more.

He jumped out, rushed toward the front door, and pushed it open.

Unlocked.

"Dit! Dita!" Aditia shouted as he ran toward the bedrooms, but before reaching them, he stopped abruptly.

Dita was sitting at the dining table.

Facing him.

"Dit..." Aditia whispered carefully.

She rested her chin on both hands while staring straight at him with an unnaturally sharp gaze.

Smiling.

No...

Not smiling.

Grinning.

"Come eat first, Brother," Dita said as she lifted the food covers. The table was suddenly filled with delicious dishes.

Strange.

"I've already eaten." Aditia sat across from her.

The siblings faced each other in silence.

"I cooked all this for you. Come on... eat." Dita insisted.

"Dit... since when have you started calling me Brother?" Aditia asked with a faint smile while locking eyes with her.

"Hahaha... hihihihiiii..."

Dita burst into laughter.

The sound shifted from normal laughter into a shrill, ear-piercing cackle that sent chills through the room.

Aditia never moved.

"You've grown up now, Adit," Dita said, her voice becoming hoarse, almost like a whisper. Her grin stretched impossibly wide.

Too wide.

No human smiled like that.

"What are you doing here, Sis?" Aditia asked calmly.

"I missed Dita," the woman inside Dita's body answered.

"Father already told you never to come back. So why are you here again?"

"Because your father is gone."

She giggled again.

"But..."

"Now..."

"...there's Adit."

Without another word, Aditia lunged forward. He grabbed his possessed sister, dragged her across the room, and slammed her onto the sofa before pinning her down with one knee pressed firmly against her stomach.

"Why today, Sis?" he muttered. "I'm exhausted. My emotions are a mess. So don't be surprised if I'm a little more ruthless than usual."

Dita's body writhed violently beneath him, screaming as she struggled to escape. A malicious spirit's weakest point was always the stomach of the body it possessed. By applying pressure there, Aditia could suppress the entity controlling his sister.

"Dit... is that really Marni?" Pak Dirga asked as he rushed inside without knocking.

He was too late.

Reasonably so.

Aditia had called him nearly thirty minutes earlier.

"Sir... the broom. The bidara broom."

Near the entrance stood an unusual broom made not from coconut fronds but from thick stems of the bidara tree. The leaves had been stripped away before the stems were dried under the sun and bound together like an ordinary broom. Softer than normal brooms, it was never used for cleaning.

Aditia's father had crafted it solely to neutralize evil jinn.

Pak Dirga hurried over, grabbed it, and handed it to Aditia while Dita continued screaming and cursing.

Smack!

Smack!

The broom struck Dita's legs.

Her screams became even louder.

Her voice changed constantly.

An old man.

An old woman.

A child.

Jinn could imitate countless voices and appearances, yet every voice carried the same wheezing breath.

"Get out!" Aditia commanded.

"DEAAAATH! DEAAAATH! DEAAAATH! Your father! Your mother! You! You'll all diiiieee!!!" Marni shrieked through Dita's mouth with the rasping voice of an elderly woman.

"You're the one who's dying, demon!"

Smack!

Smack!

Aditia continued striking Dita's legs until angry red welts appeared.

"Dit! Astaghfirullah! Calm yourself!" Pak Dirga grabbed his shoulder.

Aditia had gone too far.

"Get out, Marni! Get out!"

Still he refused to stop.

"Hehehehe... hehehehe... You and your whole family will diiiieee..."

Fury finally overwhelmed him.

Aditia pulled out his tiny, razor-sharp keris.

He raised it.

Ready to stab Marni through the stomach.

"Adit! Astaghfirullah! Remember yourself, son!" Pak Dirga shouted as he caught Aditia's wrist.

Only then...

Aditia froze.

He suddenly remembered.

That wasn't Marni's body.

It was Dita's.

His vision cleared as the rage drained away. The betrayal by Alya still consumed his thoughts. Deep inside...

He was still heartbroken.

Pak Dirga immediately took over. He pressed his knee against Dita's stomach, took the bidara broom from Aditia, and repeatedly struck her legs while reciting verses from the Holy Qur'an.

He never stopped.

"Sakit, you fool! It hurts!!!" the jinn screamed, causing nearby furniture to tremble.

"Get out! Get out now!!!" Pak Dirga shouted even louder.

"I want coffee! I want seven kinds of flowers! I want black chicken blood!" the demon demanded.

"Who do you think you are to command me? Get out! Get out!!!"

Pak Dirga continued reciting sacred verses while striking Dita's legs.

Moments later...

She lost consciousness.

"Tie her up first, Sir. It hasn't left yet," Aditia said quietly from where he sat behind Pak Dirga, trying to steady his breathing.

Pak Dirga tied Dita securely with thick rope, binding both her hands and feet behind her back before laying her carefully on the bed.

"Go drink some water, Dit."

Aditia silently obeyed.

He walked into the kitchen, drank a glass of water, then brewed a cup of black coffee for Pak Dirga.

"Here, Sir."

"Thanks, Dit." Pak Dirga accepted the cup before asking softly, "I heard about Alya from Ayi. She said Alya has been secured at Malik's headquarters?"

"Yes."

Aditia lowered his head.

The shame returned.

"So Ayi will take care of everything. Don't be too discouraged, son. Life is harsh. That's exactly why your father entrusted you with such an honorable duty. He wanted you to learn that this world isn't always beautiful... but it isn't always dark either. One day you'll understand that everything has already been arranged by Ku Gusti Allah."

Pak Dirga gently patted his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I never should've trusted Alya. Just because she was beautiful... and independent... I fell in love with the wrong woman."

"I can't blame you, Dit. A strong person naturally recognizes strength in someone else. That's why you were drawn to Alya. But no one truly knows what's hidden inside another person's heart. She was extraordinary, yes... but she chose to become extraordinary through darkness. With her intelligence, courage, and remarkable strategy, had the right people guided her, she might have become a wonderful woman."

He sighed.

"Instead..."

"She was raised by her mother and grandmother."

"Followers of black magic."

"I don't want to justify what she became," Aditia replied quietly. "She knew exactly how painful fear was. She spent her life running from terror. So why choose to become just like her father... all for money?"

His chest still felt unbearably heavy.

"Keep living your life, son. Keep doing your work. You'll heal little by little. Someday you'll meet the right woman. Hardship will make you wiser. Just as I promised your father..."

"I'll keep watching over you."

"Insha'Allah, Sir."

Aditia never lifted his head.

"Dit... why do you think Marni came back?" Pak Dirga suddenly remembered the spirit still hiding inside Dita.

"I don't know. But when Father drove her away years ago, she kept saying she'd come back for Dita. She threatened that if she couldn't take Dita, she'd kill all of us. Father managed to drive her away."

"She's the jinn that resembles a Kuntilanak, right?"

"Yes."

"Should we investigate? Find out what she really wants?"

"If she refuses to leave..."

"We'll have to."

"When did she last appear?"

"Recently. But she only stayed outside the gate. She couldn't get through the barrier Father created."

"Then how did she get inside today?"

"I don't know, Sir."

"I wasn't home."

"...Dit."

"Where's your mother?"

"Astaghfirullah!"

Aditia sprang to his feet and rushed toward the back of the house. She wasn't in her room.

Only Dita remained there.

Still tied up.

"Mom!!!"

He shouted into the backyard. Beyond the rear wall stretched the neighbor's large garden, filled with banana trees and towering bamboo. In the fading light of Maghrib, the place looked unsettling.

No answer.

Panic spread through him.

What had happened to her?

Where was she?

Without hesitation, Aditia climbed over the wall separating the yard from the garden.

"Mom!!!"

He kept calling.

His voice trembled.

"I'm here! Mom!"

Still...

Nothing.

"Oh Allah... please protect her."

He pushed deeper into the dense grove of bamboo and banana trees.

Then—

"Mom..."

Someone stood near the far end of the garden, close to the exit leading toward the neighboring house and the river behind it.

"Mom..."

Aditia ran toward the figure.

It looked like a woman dressed entirely in black.

He wasn't certain it was his mother.

But he desperately hoped it was.

Only then did he remember his phone. He hurriedly called her number once more.

Switched off.

Meanwhile, the woman continued walking away.

"Mom..."

He chased after her.

By the time he reached the garden's exit, she was already moving toward the river.

Her pace was unnaturally fast.

She never looked back.

The way she walked was strange...

Almost as though something were dragging her forward.

Yet she moved impossibly quickly.

"Mom!!!"