The House 1937's
4. Knocking Sound

The clock shows at half-twelve in the evening, one of my aunt who is my sister papa is holding her sick stomach and is currently lying on her bedroom bed. This abdominal pain resulted in him not being able to sleep because this was the second day of his menstrual period. Every time he had a menstrual period like this, the pain was unbearable even to the point of making him unable to move much. It should have been when everyone had not gone to sleep and there was still a passerby to the kitchen, he should have prepared a warm water compress for his stomach which was already painful since this afternoon, he should have prepared a warm water compress for his stomach, it's just that for tonight the pain has doubled. He took a heavy breath and wiped his sweat with the handkerchief under his pillow. This pain was really stabbing until it made him sweat quite a lot. He got out of his bed and looked at himself at the dresser with the traditional design and holding his cheeks, he looked pale and looked sick.

He wanted to go to the bathroom to replace the cloth he used for menstruation with a new cloth. At that time while menstruating, the women had not known modern sanitary pads for their "monthly guests. He opened the wardrobe and took one of the clean cloths, he put it in his skirt pocket and stepped towards the door of the room. But before he opened the lock of the room, he hesitated to leave the room and stepped into the bathroom. Grandma's bathroom is close to the kitchen and quite far from her room. But what makes him doubt is that the bathroom is quite creepy at night, even though there are petromak lights as a source of lighting. Understandably, the design of the bathroom in the past can be said to be still simple and perfunctory. But if he doesn't go to the bathroom to change his cloth, maybe tomorrow morning he'll see the back of his skirt and bed sheet stained with his menstrual blood.

Finally, he ventured to open the door of his room. And stepping towards the bathroom, he had to pass through at least two room doors and one multipurpose room door that was used to store items to get to the bathroom. He was already in front of the kitchen door that was still in the closet and slowly opened the door, then walked slowly into the spacious kitchen space without a partition and also without a roof ceiling. He looked around the kitchen vigilantly and saw some kitchen utensils that still look traditional, kerosene stoves, cauldrons that are hung with the bottom that looks black, blackened, clay jugs for drinking water, jugs that are also made of clay, and, old wooden cabinets and the remnants of the short and black axis of the oil stove are near the old cabinets with the paper. 'It's okay to change the stove?' my inner tant was looking towards the rest of the axis. But he thought back to his original goal and quickly stepped towards the bathroom.

My aunt was immediately goosebumps in fear and astonishment, who knocked on the bathroom wall like that? it's already midnight, right?. He knew that behind the walls of this bathroom was a vast wasteland that was grown by many trees and wild plants that were indeed left unattended. Most only occasionally my grandmother to the back of the house to take the plants that are needed that grow wild in the back, such as suji leaves, pandan leaves, saga leaves, or key findings for cooking. My aunt could only quietly hold back her fear, the loud knocking sound was still heard right in front of her. He closed his mouth timidly he reflexively shouted. With all the remaining courage he opened the bathroom door, he threw the wet cloth he had washed into the dirty clothes and quickly entered his room and even forgot to lock the kitchen door.

In the morning, before going to the bathroom again to take a shower, with a face that was still frightened he told my grandmother who was now sitting in a corner, with a face that was still scared, a small, short chair made of wood and my grandmother was cutting vegetables near the kitchen door. Hearing her daughter's story, my grandmother simply sighed and reminded her to be more careful.

"The rich is the recipe for the smell of blood, be careful next time....",,