Ghosts of Newlyweds

Currently I am in between jobs so I have a bit of time to spend with my friends.  Being 20 years of age, I don’t really feel the urge to land on a new job soon.  So what I do now is relax.  I love singing and playing the guitar, so most nights I prefer hanging out with some of the dudes my age.  

 

I still recall a scary incident that happened a month ago.  If you’ve been to my village, you’ll get to see that there’s a lane at the front area right before the entrance.  The lane is usually busy during the day and night.  At night, hawkers fill the sides of the lane – you can find all sorts of food there and to a person with limited financial means like me it’s almost like a food paradise.   It’s also the perfect chill out area for me and my friends.  Usually, we would only call it a day when the time tells 1:00 a.m.

One night, a fatal accident occurred at the lane and it involved a newlywed couple.  They got hit by a motorbike when they were crossing the lane.  Some people said they had just bought something to eat from one of the food stalls before heading home.  

In the middle of crossing the lane, suddenly a speeding motorbike appeared and ran over the couple.  The rider only got some bruises here and there but the bride couldn’t survive the momentum of the hit as she had a severe injury on the head.  She died on the spot.  The bridegroom made it to the E.R., but he also died two days later.

Just about three or four days after the accident, one night, as usual, most of the dudes including myself couldn’t find other useful things to do except hanging out at the hawker’s lane.  We ate, chatted and drank coffee.  It was a common night.  However, around 11:00 p.m. it was drizzling and many hawkers decided to settle their business early and go home.  It’s not common for them to leave that early, as most of the nights they would only leave when it’s already midnight or a bit later than that. 

I still remember that moment.  It was around 1:00 a.m. and there were only five of us sitting at the shoulder of the lane.  It was still drizzling but we found a warm shed to continue with our normal routine – playing the guitar.  After a while the temperature dropped down, most probably due to the drizzle.  So we intended to part our ways and head home.  

Unfortunately, there was a sudden power failure and our whole neighbourhood became pit dark.  Although we had intended to go home, we didn’t dare looking at the absolute darkness surrounding the whole neighbourhood.  Left with no options, we waited for the lights to return.  We could actually see some lights coming from some major departmental stores but the illumination was rather useless as it was too far away.  At the same moment, the lane was totally deserted and there were no passing cars. 

So we acted cool and sang some more to cheer up the uneasiness that had started to crawl into our mind.  And then we could smell the scent of flowers typically used in wedding ceremonies.  All of us stood still in silence. I saw everybody’s facial expression and I believed they were thinking of the same thing - the accident that happened a few days back.  And… we were actually standing right in front of the crash site.  Well, at least a couple of feet away, I told myself to ease up on the pressure.

One of the dudes said, “Don’t you think it’s time to go home now?”  Another dude replied, “I think we should wait for the lights to return.”  I looked at the answering dude, but his facial expression looked unconvincing.  Immediately, I knew everyone was scared.

Well, dudes are dudes.  Oh boy.  We still had the guts to wait.  We tried to chat with one another but obviously our minds were already half insane.  My hair stood on ends, man!

Five minutes later the same dude who suggested that we wait ran faster than the wind blowing.  He was yelling and running at the same time.  I heard him – he said, “Look what’s coming from the west!”

We did as we were told; we looked to the west and… 

What I saw were a dude and his girl and they were holding hands.  The dude was wearing his wedding suit and his girl the wedding gown.  Both were walking towards us.  Up to that point everything was quite normal except…

Their eyes were entirely black and their skin appeared very pale.  And the scale of the scent increased rapidly.

At that moment, nobody had the guts to wait.  In the dark of the night, we all ran into our village and spent the night at Johnny’s as his house was the nearest. 

I didn’t dare hanging out at the lane for at least a whole week after the scary incident.