SURREPTITIOUS
The Part 41

The path they walked along was covered in wild grass. Amadhea stopped her steps. He looks confused.

"I can't see the way, I'm afraid we're lost" said Amadhea.

They also had to stop for a while. Amadhea opened her phone and saw a screenshot of a house in a mangrove forest. He looked around.

"There's no signal here. It's free to find a location" Elan said.

"It's a screenshot, not Google Maps" Amadhea said.

"Oh."

Suddenly a shadow figure flashed not far in front of them making them startled.

Amadhea took a long breath. He closed his eyes.

"Dhea, what's wrong with you?"

"Why do you close your eyes at a time like this?"

Just this once, I want to see the way to that house, the inner Amadhea.

"Dhea?"

"Dhea?"

"Amadhea... Amadhea...."

His friends' voices are no longer heard. Only the sound of waves and night animals could be heard. Slowly Amadhea opened her eyes.

The atmosphere of the forest became morning. Amadhea saw clearly the path she was treading, no weeds at all. Of course the girl still remembered the direction to go to the old house in the mangrove forest if the path looked like that.

Amadhea tore off some of her skirt and split it into pieces and tied it to mangrove tree branches along the path.

Amadhea in front of the abandoned house. She tied the last part of her skirt to the front tree branch of the house.

Amadhea closed her eyes again.

"Dhea? Dhea?"

Slowly Amadhea opened her eyes. He saw his friends staring anxiously at him.

"Why did you suddenly sleep standing up?"

"I'm fine." Amadhea put her feet up. He shines his cell phone flashlight into a tree branch. Sure enough, the torn fabric of Amadhea's skirt seemed to tie a branch in one of the trees.

"What is blue? It's like the color of the skirt fabric you wear, Dhea," Alinda said with her eyes fixed on the skirt worn by Amadhea.

Zahra was surprised to see some of the skirts Amadhea wore torn. "Your skirt was torn, but since when? That feeling of your skirt wasn't torn. You didn't fall, did you?"

Amadhea. "It's okay. We follow these instructions, yeah."

They also arrived in front of an abandoned house in the middle of a mangrove forest. Amadhea touched the last cloth she had tied up in the front tree of the house while in another dimension.

Amadhea touched the doorknob and pushed it. "It's not locked."

"It's creepy" said Greeta, hugging Elan's arm.

"I'll stand guard outside" Arnold said.

"Me too" said Zayn.

Other than Zayn and Arnold, the others went inside. The room is very dark. There is no illumination of any kind. They use cell phone flashlights to look around.

"Yeah!!!" alinda shouted her flashlight unintentionally highlighting the frightening figure.

Amadhea fumbled against the wall looking for a switch. When the light switch is turned on, the dim light illuminates the room.

It's like in my dream, inner Amadhea. He looked around. The position of the objects in the room was still the same as in his dream. It's just that his couch, desk, and closet are dusty. There were even a lot of cobwebs decorating the room.

"Where's the electricity from? Isn't there only one house here?" ask Elan.

"Of course." Xaga pressed his shoulders.

There was a hoarse voice of a woman reciting a spell. They spread their eyes around. Suddenly Zahra's body was dragged away by something invisible.

"Zahrah!!!" Alinda and Elan run they pull Zahra's hand.

As Xaga and Greeta want to help, Amadhea's body is suddenly drawn to the other side.

"Dhea!" Xaga and Greeta withdraw Amadhea's hand.

Alinda and Elan are not strong enough. As a result they were interested in entering one of the rooms with Zahra. The door slammed and locked.

"Dragon!" Greeta who was still pulling Amadhea's hand turned to Xaga.

Amadhea saw that the head of a deer taped to the wall would fall. He immediately pushed Greeta away.

The deer's head fell, but it was fortunate not to hit Amadhea, as the girl immediately rolled to the right side.

"Are you okay?" Greeta cupped Amadhea's face. Amadhea.

They both approached Xaga. Amadhea helped Xaga stand up. Greeta tries to open the door that traps Zahra, Alinda, and Elan.

"Alinda?! Zahras! Elan?! You guys in there?!" call Greeta. He banged on the door.

In the room, there were Zahra, Alinda, and Elan.

Zahra held onto her aching arm. "Ooh."

Alinda rubbed Zahra's arm. "It hurts so much, huh?"

"Why is it so dark in here?" Elan searched the light switch by fumbling against the wall. Found her. The lights were dim in the room.

"What's that?" Zahra pointed at the offerings and incense on the table.

"Alinda, do you understand what this is?" Elan asked Alinda.

"It's like an offering for devil worship. Look, all the number of offerings is odd" Alinda said.

There was a bang on the door with Greeta, "Alinda?! Zahras! Elan?! You guys in there?!"

Elan turned the door knob, but it was locked. "I'm here, Greeta."

"You guys okay? How's Zahra doing?" ask Greeta from out there.

"Zahra's arm is sprained, Alinda is giving handling" replied Elan. "What about you guys? You guys okay?"

"Zahra sprained?!" Greeta looks worried. He looked at Xaga who was sitting leaning against the wall while Amadhea was crouching in front of him. "Xaga was thrown and hit the wall,"

"Is he bleeding? She's unconscious?" ask Elan.

"He didn't bleed, nor did he faint, but he was in pain" Greeta replied.

Zayn and Arnold heard nothing. They spread their eyes around watching the situation.

"The signal here is ugly, but I'll call the police just in case" Arnold said, looking at his phone screen.

"How is it?" ask Zayn.

"I sent out an emergency signal. Once connected to the radar, the police will receive my signal and come to our location" Arnold said.

"Well, you're so cool" Zayn said.

"I learned from my friend who was in IPS class, he was involved in extracurricular geography."

Amadhea looked at the living room. There's a big painting covered by a spider's nest. The girl cleaned it.

Like in his dream. It was a painting of seven wealthy women. There was a face similar to her.

Greeta and Xaga approach him.

"Well, this one looks a lot like you, Dhea" said Greeta.

Amadhea looked at the beautiful woman sitting in the middle. None other than that was a pitch-black-eyed female ghost. "She's the mother of all these women, but I don't see any difference between them at all."

"Yes, they all look like they're the same age" Greeta said.

"What year was this painting made, huh? It looks very old and has faded the paint" murmured Xaga.

"This painting was more or less made in the 1890s" Amadhea said.

"Well, you know what?" ask Greeta.

Amadhea nodded. "Usually there is the date and name of the painter in the back or front corner of the painting."

Xaga looked curious. He tried to lift up a bit of his painting to look at the back of the corner.

Without them realizing the figure of the old woman was watching them. "What are you doing in my house?!"

...👻👻👻...

^^^16.16 | 1 September 2021^^^

^^By Ucu Irna Marhamah ^^^