Chapter 152 - The Most Wicked Mind (1/2)

(Tom's PoV)

I watched as both of the women were hiding in the corner, and somehow there were two children with them. I guessed they were Arum's children. All of them were shaking badly while hiding their faces. The pound on the door was getting louder and louder, but Jaka had not returned.

Where did he go to get those items?

Actually, I was more than enough to take care of that Kuyang. I had the power as the Guardian of Death Volcano, dealing with the Kuyang should be easy. I didn't need those items to deal with it, but I remembered my task was to stabilize the situation.

If I were to take care of it without teaching them how to do it by themselves, by the time I returned to Satu Village, the same thing would happen to them over and over again. I needed to teach them how to defend themselves against Kuyang.

The methods of dealing with them were varied based on the origins of people. Even the name was different in some provinces in Indonesia. Where I lived, Kuyang was called 'Pokpok' or 'Ponggo'. My childhood was filled with the memory of my mother forbade me to play until dusk because she said Pokpok was going around to catch children and eat them.

Well, it was true. At that time, people were scared to get out of home after dusk. Doors and windows were tightly closed and onions and garlics would be found in some spots in my house. My mother even prepared broomsticks near her. Luckily, the men were not useless. They all agreed to search for the culprit when she was out looking for victims.

All men who had pregnant wife at home would stay at home and guard their wife, while the others would go out and search every house for the headless body. When they couldn't find the culprit in the houses, they searched among the woods, especially under banana trees. It took them three days to finally had a clue about who the Pokpok was.

So, they watched her activity closely and secretly, observed any weird behaviour she might show during the day, and when the dusk came around, some men followed her.

Their suspicion became stronger when they saw her didn't head to her house, but to her small cottage in the middle of her family's garden, surrounded by many crop plants and vegetables. There were even a huge area of banana trees behind the cottage.

The men hid themselves behind the castor trees that were arranged in neat position as hedgerow. They waited and waited, and finally a head with its inner organs flew out from the house. They clenched their fists as they waited until the head went far away. After that, they went inside the house.

Indeed, there was a headless body inside. Anger and disgusts mixed inside their mind but they managed to control themselves. What they did made me speechless, though. If I had not known that the one they were doing it was Kuyang, Pokpok, or whatever she was called, that had committed crimes by killing some poor pregnant women out there, I would say these men had the most wicked mind ever. Cruel, ruthless, and sadistic were the right words to describe them.

What did they do? They put sand, broken glasses, limes' juices, and broomsticks inside the body. Then, they put the body inside a sack and brought it with them.

The end result, every body could guess it.

Anyway, to protect one's self against Kuyang, the basic ingredients were the same, but the method was probably a bit different. I had heard about how pregnant women would carry garlic and lime with them whenever they went out. Also, some of them would put onions and garlics in several spots in their houses. They said ghosts and Kuyangs hated the smell. Anything pungent would drive them away.

Some said to put broomstick across the door before we went to sleep. Some said to put mirror in front of the door because Kuntilanak and Kuyang didn't like to see their own faces in the mirror.

There were many ghost stories that I had heard from my friends and people around my house when I was younger. But, regarding Kuyang, what the people in my village did left an impression in me.

Cruel, indeed, but towards human who practiced dark arts, I wouldn't feel pity for them.

”Here you are. I tried to gather anything I could find.” Jaka finally came with salt, garlics, and onions in his hands.

”Cut them.” I ordered him as I started to cut open the onions and garlics. The spicy smell invaded my senses and I put some near those women and children. After those onions and garlics were cut, I walked towards the door with salt in my hand and onions and garlics in my other hands.

”Open it.” I nodded towards the door. The pounding had stopped for a while, I guessed she had noticed the smell, huh?

Jaka hesitated but under my gaze, he put away the chairs and opened the door. The Kuyang was still hovering in front of the house, looking disturbed and it was probably because of the smell of these items in my hands.