John, the manager, looked impatiently at the workers who had gathered around him. He spoke slowly but in a firm tone with authority. “I don’t want to see blood spilt for whatever reason. This is a logging site not a temple”. He said and looked at the faces around him with a mildly tensed up expression. Mani stepped forward, looked at John and said to him, loudly as if he was making an announcement. “Mr John, this sacrifice is for the Penunggu Hutan . We have to do this every time before our logging work in the jungle to please the Datuk. So he wouldn’t disturb us and let us finish our work and leave in peace.” Mani looked around and lower his voice to a mere whisper, “The kampong folks told me the Datuk here is a Tiger spirit who is very bad tempered and ferocious. We don’t want to anger him.” John understood well that the workers were mainly from the nearby villages which had been devoted believers in all sorts of spirits and mythical beings. Not being a believer in any religion, John was known for his critical comments and skeptical attitude towards certain factions of religions. Trained as an engineer, he had his trusts in science and logical thinking. He just couldn’t let them slaughter the poor little white goat brutally. The little creature was about few weeks old and walked with a slight gait. It would come to John whenever he was around and licked his hand as if it was a little puppy. John had liked it the moment he saw the little fellow and the feeling was somewhat mutual.
He fell down but quickly got back on his feet. “Have to get out of here” He could sense it. It was gaining on him slowly but steadily. The forest looked the same in the moonlight. He knew if he turned around now, he would see it and he wouldn’t have the courage to run anymore. He could smell the distinctive pungent odor getting stronger. A low hanging branch hit his forehead and knocked him down on his back. The forest floor was soft with a thick layer of moist composed vegetation. He got back to his feet but froze on the spot. A low but powerful growl behind him made him stunt. A sudden surge of adrenalin in his body has caused his heart beat raced to an audible level. He could feel the cold sweat bursting out from his skin but he remained still. The jungle was very quite even the insects were not heard. A second growl was longer and much nearer to him now. The pungent odor was so strong as if the air in the jungle had turned into rotting meat mixed with animal waste. He knew it was just behind him, probably just at arm length. He turned and gave out a loud scream when he saw what he was facing.
John jerked up from his bed with cold sweat all over. He looked around and found himself still in his cabin. “Its just a dream” he said to himself with a relief. He looked at his wrist watch which showed 4:30pm. Still too early for dinner although the folks at the logging site usually have early dinner since their day started early. The dream was so real and John found himself still shaky from it. The residue images were still clear and real in his head. Needing some fresh air, he decided to take a walk to the nearby stream to clear his mind. The stream was located about 500 meter from the main tent and the workers usually hanged around the clear water to bathe and to fish for fresh water prawns.
Those prawns had a big head and two intimidating pinchers. Fried with garlic and salt, they were delicious. The best part would be to peel off the shell and suck on the juicy head. John was glad that the thought of food had distracted his mind from the bad dream. There were three workers bathing in the icy cold water when he got there. “did you catch any udang galah?” John asked them, referring to the fresh water prawns. “No Mr John, not much luck today” replied Malik, a short but solid built man in his late twenties.
“You might have more luck upstream, Mr. John” Muk shouted from the middle of the stream. Muk came from a remote village and he knew the jungle like his back yard.
The thought of udang galah made his mouth watered and John decided to catch a few for dinner and he knew he had about 2 hours before sunset. “enough time to get at least a dozen or more” he said to himself. He waved at them and walked upstream along the bank. The early evening jungle was cool and pleasant. He walked under the huge trunk of trees that grew up to hundred meters, often amazed by the gigantic woods around him. “They surely don’t like us. We come here to cut them down. What a shame, these trees might have lived a thousand years but felled within hours with a powerful chain saw.” The occasional chirps from birds and insects were so soothing and peaceful. John’s mind was drifting into the thoughts of trees and birds while he walked on, passing between the huge tree trunks.
A sharp cry of a monkey alerted him and he realized he had walked away from the stream and was in an unfamiliar part of the jungle. The trees were even bigger than the primary rain forest he was familiar with. Some of the trunks were at least 5 meters in diameter and they grew closer to each other which left much smaller gaps between them. John checked his wrist watch. “6:30pm? I was jay walking in the jungle for almost 2 hours!” He was shocked as well as puzzled. It was like sleep walking while awake. The sun was almost set and the fog was starting to build up in the jungle. John was panic because he knew the jungle at night wasn't a place where a man could walk out just like that. He heard some many stories and real life incidents about people who got lost in the jungle. None of them were pleasant.
“Its funny to think about it because human supposed to come from the African rain forest a few million years ago. Yet deep inside we are so afraid of the darkness of the night and feel so alien in a jungle.” John didn’t ponder on these but he was trying to figure out his where about and the direction to get back to the site as soon as possible. The setting sun gave him the bearing and he knew he had to walk east to get back to the stream. If he could find the stream, the rest would be easy. He started walking but as the last ray of sun light was beyond the horizon and the forest fog is thickening, he knew he was in trouble.
“Should’ve taken a portable radio with me. Johnny, you an idiot” He blamed himself.
Having spent more than 2 years with the logging company, he heard enough stories about the jungle and most of them were scary and chilly when he recalled them now. He had disregarded these stories as merely folks tales and occasionally laughed at the illogical part of it. One of the stories was about a jungle spirit who didn’t leave the medium during a ceremony and actually bitten off all the fingers with his own teeth. Another was about a young man from a village who befriended a lady and was later found dead in the jungle with bite mark on the neck and loss of blood without any open wounds. John didn’t find these stories laughable anymore. He longed for the warm lights and comfort of the noise in the camp site.
“I have to stay calm. The worst that could happen is I spend a night in the jungle”. He felt his pocket and glad he still had his cigarette and lighter with him.
He felt a sudden jolt of alert. The jungle was quiet and not a single sound was heard but he sensed a sudden approach of threat. He turned and looked around him. The jungle was dark but he could still make the outlines of the huge tree trunks in the star lights above the tree canopy. Then he felt a chill deep in his spine that made his whole body goose bump. The pungent smell was filling the air. He remembered his bad dream in the afternoon. It was the same smell. John was panic. The bad dream came back to him and made his legs feeling weak.
”HELP” he yelled and started running, not knowing exactly where to run to.
The adrenalin surge had powered him to run fast. He tripped a few time but got up and ran on. He knew what he was facing and it was really more than life and death. He didn’t know how long he had run but he finally had to stop and rested against a big tree trunk, panting and feeling fatigue from the exhaustion. There was one thing on his mind, get out of there. Then he sensed it again. The jungle had been too quiet, not even the creaking of insects were present. It was as if he was entirely isolated in a land of the trees and facing the thing that was on his heel alone.
John lifted his head in alarm by a distant dull crack of a dried twig. The pungent smell was sipping through the foggy jungle air, stronger and more distinct this time. It was coming from his left. The smell was a distinctive mixture of rotting meat and animal urine, which reminded John of the foul smell of the zoo and the back lane of a wet market blended together. He lowered his body and picked up a thick branch under the tree he was resting. He knew it was useless against what was coming his way but like a drowning man, he tried to hold on to whatever he could get his hands on. He could hear the low growls as the foul smell is thickening around him. It was approaching John slowly as if a hunter would to a cornered prey, to enjoy the fear and useless struggles the prey would put up. John sensed it too. His pursuer was circling him from a distance while making fearful low growls. Backed against the trunk and a branch in his hands, John was trying to put up a last fight while yelling at the top of voice for help.
“Tolong! Tolong!” his yell sounded like a yip of a puppy in the vast forest of gigantic trees.
Suddenly, a loud growl was behind him. Before he could turn, something powerful hit him and sent him rolling in the jungle floor. The power of the swipe could have broken his neck and killed him had it landed on his head. The blow was instead a push to instill more fear in the prey. John knew it was hopeless and was lying on the ground waiting for the final attacks.
“Ting”… a soft chime of a bell awaken John, it was like a sight of land to a ship wreaked crew. A surge of hope had brought him up in a flash and dashed towards the source of the bell. He saw a dim yellow light just ahead of him and ran as fast as he could to it. Under a huge tree, in the dim glow of a yellow light, he saw an old monk in yellow robe. The old man had a small bell and a metal hammer in his hands. He gave the bell a chime with the hammer and looked up at John with a smile.
“Please help me. Please take me out of here. It is behind me” John held the monks arm and pleaded.
“calm down. Come with me”. He took John’s hand and led him through the jungle, passing between trees effortlessly.
John found he could breath more slowly and noticed that the light in the old man’s hand was a dim yellow glow that was bright enough but yet didn’t cast any shadows. It was as if the light could go around the tress and filled up the darkness with a dim yellow color. The growls and pungent smell were constantly catching up with them. The old monk would change direction if it seemed too close. They got to a part of the jungle where the trees were less dense and John could see more with the moonlight penetrating from above. He could hear his pursuer was speeding up and gaining on them. The old monk led him to a small wooden temple which was built on long stilts. He heard a loud and scary roar when they started to climb the long stair case up the temple.
The old monk stopped him from looking back. “don’t look back, keep going” he said in a soft voice.
They reached the small temple and there were 2 other old monks dressed in yellow robes inside it. They nodded and smiled at John but didn’t say anything. The temple suddenly shook and John almost dropped on the floor from the violent force.
This reminded John about a childhood experience. He was walking back from school and saw a cute puppy outside a wooden fence. The puppy was about few weeks old, cute rounded creature, yipping helplessly. He bent down and tried to touch it. He was almost knocked aback by a sudden loud bang on the fence preceded by a fearful growl. He saw a huge black Rottweiler threw herself against the wooden fence with a formidable force, again and again. No barks. Just a low yet deep, powerful and fearful growls. She was probably the mother of the puppy that wandered out through a small crack in the fence. Little John ran home and had felt shaken for a few days and avoided that path for a long time.
“It is trying to get at me” he said to the first monk with a shaken voice. His knees were trebbling in fear.
He knew the thing that was shaking the wooden temple was far more powerful and fearful than the Rottweiler he met many years ago.
“Don’t worry, you are safe here. Have some water and get some rest” said the monk and offered him some water.
John drank and sat down to rest. He felt so drained as if he had run a full marathon. Another monk came over and put a yellow robe on his shoulders. He put his palm on John’s head and recited something softly.
He said to John “May you be free from harm and danger. Now go to sleep”.
John closed his eyes and began to drift into sleep. He heard the monks chanting, chimes of bell and the occasional growls from below the temple. Everything seemed far away and detached from where he was and finally he shut down and went into a deep sleep.
“Hey, Mr John”. John was awaken by the noise and slowly opened his eyes.
He yawned and tried to stretch his back. “Don’t move. John. Just DON’T move” he heard Liluk’s voice from far and below. He looked down and saw a few workers were looking up at him with alarmed faces. Only then he realized he was sitting on a branch up in a huge tree, at least 100 feet above ground. He was wrapped in a long yellow robe which was strapped to three other branches. This formed a three-legged star that held him on the branch without falling.
The workers brought a long ladder and got him back on the ground safely. “How did you get up there? The lowest branch is at least 50 feet off the ground and the tree trunk is straight and almost smooth.” John didn’t say anything but followed them back to the camp site.
Back in the camp site, Mani came to him alone and asked quietly “I saw huge Tiger foot print on the ground around the tree and also deep claw marks on the tree trunk. It was angry and was after your blood. How did you get away?”
“Good Karma. I guess”. said John softly.
1 comment:
not bad
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