The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 52

"You've been suspended for dead, haven't you?"

The question of the girl behind him made Magisna choke on her own saliva.

"You actually have a third eye" the girl added. "You didn't realize it?"

Magisna fell silent. Caught while remembering. "That school," he realized. "Yesterday cave saw your dilapidated school. But today looks new. Does it have the same thing to do…"

"The school is new!" The girl in Magisna's bonnet interrupts. "We used to hitchhike in SLT., SMU only had its own building for one year."

Magisna gulped. "So what exactly did the cave see yesterday?" Magisna asked half a screech.

"Destruction!" The girl answered briefly. Suddenly he acted mysteriously.

Magisna glanced at him. "What does destruction mean?"

"The school is on the verge of collapse."

"That's your school!" Magisna reminded the girl.

"I have no power to prevent it!" get the girl. "The school is as dilapidated as Van Til's house" he murmured wryly.

"What does it mean to be equally dilapidated?" Magisna asked raucously.

"I'm talking about the system!" The girl answered almost whispering. Suddenly so dramatic. "The Van Til House is a symbol of colonial civilization. The culture of colonization that evolved into a parameter over customary law, then gave birth to a cult. And the bell substation is one of them!"

Magisna was stunned and listened.

"The bell substation has been incarnated as the Court of Prohibition! Everyone is waiting for his decision. And every decision is obeyed by everyone. Without exception." The girl continued to get more dramatic. Sounds like someone reading a poem.

Instantly the feathers of Magisna bristled.

"In the meantime, history only records narrative pieces without evidence. It then becomes a stigma. The legend of Van Til's house is the story of the oppressors who were adopted by the inhabitants for generations but the law is still obeyed, for generations. Van Til's house is just one of a cultured history. The rest of the colonization that became history is peppered."

Magisna remained unmoved. Not understanding the direction of the girl's conversation, but her words struck her heart.

"Our SMU building is new, but the education system is dilapidated" the girl sizzled, sounding like a threat.

Magisna gulped.

"The school was on the verge of collapse," repeated the girl grimly.

Is this the "big problem" Agustin meant?

It sounded like this matter was not as simple as he thought.

The rest of the journey they went through in silence. Awkward silence, thought Magisna. He glanced back one more time, and found the girl in his bollard just downcast. Like a mother who has a lot of burdens.

The young are already thinking too much, the inner Magisna is concerned.

Entering the grounds of Van Til Hogeschool, Magisna again opened the conversation.

The school had no gate, no guardrail, the school grounds were a public road to the settlement of plantation residents, along the highway.

So Magisna began to ask, "Your house is still far away? The cave is the destination!"

"My house is not far away anymore" the girl replied. "Just two houses away from school."

"Your house next to Ais's?"

"Yes!"

Why so coincidental? thought Magisna. Suddenly his hair bristled again. He braked his motorcycle suddenly, right in the yard of Ais house.

The girl stepped down from the splotch and grinned. "Thank you," he said with a childish expression. "Sorry it's been a hassle."

"No problem" answered Magisna.

"Because you're so good, I'll tell you a secret!" The girl bowed with both hands crossed behind her body. Then bring his mouth closer to Magisna's ear. "Actually, I've been dead twice!" whispered while giggling.

Magisna simultaneously froze with a pale face, looking at the girl with round eyes and mouth.

The girl grinned once more, then walked away and turned her back, then disappeared behind the door of a bamboo-walled house with a rumbia roof.

"Magishna!" The shout behind him tugged at Magisna.

Magisna looked up and looked back.

Ais and Agustin approached her hurriedly.

Magisna was still frozen, gulping with difficulty. Then he pointed towards the bamboo house with a roof of rumbia in front of him as he stuttered.

Ais and Agustin exchanged glances with the interlocked eyebrows.

Magisna turned to the house and choked.

There is no home!

There's nothing there except thatch.

"Imust be!" his screams are a bit choked. "There's a house there!"

And that kid…

Where did the boy go?

Magisna is horrified.

Ais and Agustin's faces stiffened immediately.

Magisna is still frozen. At first glance he heard the sound of girls giggling. Just like the time in Doolhof.

Nah!

Magisna smothered her ears with her palms and screamed. I really can't take it anymore, she lamented inwardly.

Ais and Agustin simultaneously rushed towards him and pulled him down.

Agustin took her into Ais's house, while Ais secured her motorcycle.

Magisna was still screaming with unstable emotions, crying hysterically half unconscious.

Ais' father rushed out to them. "What's this?" the hardic.

"It looks like he saw.. Su Si!" Agustin answered doubtfully.

Ais' father squinted his eyes, then poured into the side yard and examined it. "Call Tibi!" his order was on Ais who was parking Magisna's motorcycle.

Magisna was still crying, growing hysterical and unstable.

"Quiet, Magisna! Relax!" Agustin shook the girl's shoulder, trying to calm her down. But Magisna's cry became more and more.

The whole house spilled out to them and swarmed. Even the neighbors.

One of Ais's older sisters ran into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water. "Give him a drink" he said quickly.

The older sister Ais who could not speak, said something in sign language.

Agustin watched her while nodding and forcing a smile. Agustin understood what he was trying to say, but did not want to talk about it.

He talks about Suzy, their neighbor, Ais's close friend and Agustin's deceased.

The spirit of the girl was delivered home by Magisna. So did the spirit of the little girl he met at Doolhof. The two ghostly figures are the same girl's spirit. Suzy Yan's.

Suzy Yan had already passed through two deaths, and in her third life she evolved into a spiritual guardian of the plantation land that came to be known as Nyi Ageng.

The girl had three different spiritual figures.

The first, a pitiful child pretending to be happy is known as the ghost of Su Si or the Fucking Eldest. His nature is nosy and likes to giggle. Some people call him the Son of Terror.

The second, the figure of a short-haired girl in school uniform, Junior High or High School. He is gregarious but his emotions are unstable. This figure is known as the ghost of Suzy as her real name.

And lastly, the most respected figure called Nyi Ageng. Her nature is like a goddess exalted like the gods in mythology. Believed to be both a demigod and a panther demon.

No one knows if his third life ended in death or moksha.

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Note: Moksa is a concept in Hinduism and Buddhism that means release or freedom from worldly ties and also escape from the reincarnation cycle or the birth of life.

For more on Suzy, see "Serial the Van Til House: 13TH BELL"