43

The first day returning to CGTSS after the year-end break. The first day of senior year for Gibbs, Ray, Troll and KJ.

The first day returning to CGTSS after Deepa’s suicide case.

But the four musketeers had promised to net let Deepa’s case haunt them. For what? The girl committed suicide so that’s her problem! No one among them killed her.

The atmosphere in Gibbs’ room was merry – as usual, they would gather in Gibbs’ room. Troll brought food like he was going to feed a whole battalion while KJ brought various devices to prank people. Ray became the cigarette provider while Gibbs was the coffee provider from Bintang Coffee Shop.

“This… what is it, KJ?” asked Troll while picking up an object that looked like…

Ray and Gibbs were already laughing while KJ grinned proudly. The object Troll took from KJ’s bag looked like a bra that was made into a slingshot.

“It’s for that Wanda girl. She asked for a La Senza bra, elastic version. So I combined a bra with a slingshot. Explained KJ.[1]

“That’s just tasteless, KJ,” commented Ray.

“No matter whether it’s tasteless or not. Bitches ask for expensive gifts. They’re just asking for it, you know?”

Gibbs shook his head while moving towards his table where hi put his coffee. Just as he arrived there, the door was knocked on. Gibbs looked at the others.

“Did anyone invite a ‘meal’ today?”

They looked at each other. “Nope,” said KJ.

Gibbs shrugged while opening the door.

“That’s weird,” commented Azman while standing next to Jeremy.

Jeremy was preparing for the next scene. The scene of Deepa hanging herself had just finished.

“What’s weird?”

“I thought that there would be a problem during the suicide scene. Yeah, ‘cause during rehearsal, that scene was the one that got the most disturbances. But it’s somehow okay tonight,” answered Azman.

Maybe that’s what Jeremy was thinking too. Everything was fine even until the last scene. Where did those that disturbed them go to?

“Did you call a teacher[2] to read anything, My?” Azman asked again.

“Nope…”

“It’s me. I did…” a voice suddenly interrupted them.

Slowly, Jeremy and Azman turned to their left – and they saw a bloodied woman there.

“Aaaahhh!!!”

“Hoi! What’s with you guys? It’s me!” said Lina who was still in a Deepa costume.

“Damn you! At least give a greeting!” scolded Azman.

“When did you call the teacher?” asked Jeremy.

“This evening. You want me to act as someone who hanged herself – you’re crazy, of course, I have to make some preparation!” said Lina.

“You’re quite smart, eh?” praised Jeremy with a smile.

Lina returned the smile while raising her eyebrows. Though she wore make-up making her look pale, she still looked cute.

“Eh, now now. Wait first before you have sex. We need to finish the last scene first!” Azman spoiled the mood.

“Eh! But, wait…” said Jeremy. “Where did you tell the teacher to read those things?”

“On the stage, duh,” replied Lina.

“He didn’t do it at the audience area, right?”

“Of course not! I remember,” replied Lina.

“Weyh, what are you talking about?” interjected Azman.

Lina and Jeremy looked at each other. Only they knew why they audience area needed to be left alone without reading any holy scripture or to be put some amulets.

Gibbs opened the door. KJ and Troll took a peak, wanting to know who came. Ray was the only one who was relaxed while his heart thought in jealousy – it must be Fara.

But the one standing there wasn’t Fara, but an Indian man who looked to be in his early twenties that they had never seen before.

“Gibran Mohd. Zahim?” the man asked.

“Me?”

A gunshot was released right at Gibbs’ left abdomen.

KJ and Troll jumped from their position because of shock. Blood started flooding out from Gibbs’ body that was lying on the floor. The man closed the door with his legs and moved to KJ while aiming the gun at his head.

“Khairil Jalaluddin?” questioned the man.

KJ trembled without being able to answer. In a blink of an eye, Troll tackled the man. He fell down but then aimed the gun at Troll’s head.

Another shot was heard.

The bullet was buried in Troll’s right abdomen and without any delay, the man released another shot at KJ’s head. It disintegrated.

And Ray watched everything from a corner of the room. Stunned – without being able to do anything. The man then closed towards him and aimed the gun at his head.

“Bro… please, bro… don’t…”

The man’s finger was already on the trigger. In only a few seconds, the bullet would be released. The man stared at Ray and then looked around: KJ was lifeless and troll and Gibbs were already at the brink of death.

The man returned to look at Ray.

And he suddenly ran out of the room – leaving Ray in a trauma that he could never forget for the rest of his life.

The man involved in the shooting was arrested not far from CGTSS. The man named Thangkaliswaran was Deepa Somasundram’s step-brother who wanted to take revenge for her death. He had been following Gibran the moment he stepped into CGTSS and waited for the right moment to launch his vendetta.

Khairil was confirmed dead at the scene because of a shot to his head while Jailani and Gibran had a serious internal bleeding.

Gibran died in the ambulance because the shot broke his lymph. Jailani was successfully rushed to the hospital and was placed in the intensive care unit, but still died after a few days because of a serious damage to his liver.

Raymond, the only survivor of the incident, was placed under a psychiatrist’s observation for months. For a few weeks, he did not even utter a word.

And when Raymond finally spoke, out came a request, “I want to meet him.”

Raymond was brought to meet Thangkalisawaran ho was placed in a high-security prison. Raymond only wanted to ask one question that had been haunting his mind for weeks…

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

Thangkalisawaran smiled. “If I kill you, you die. End of story, right?”

Raymond was silent. He understood. “I was not the one who sinned the most towards your step-sister but why am I the one who had to bear the heaviest punishment?”

“I don’t know who did was the worst, who’s not. Your mistake is that you’re the last person in the room. That’s your luck,” replied Thangkalisawaran nonchalantly.

“Fuck you!” cried Raymond while standing up and punching the mirror separating him and Thangkalisawaran.

The man laughed cruelly on the other side. A police tried calming Raymond while a warden on the other side pulled Thangkalisawaran back into his cell.

And as Thangkalisawaran planned, Raymond was shrouded by the tragedy in CGTSS. The tragedy where his friends were murdered right in front of his eyes, because of a mistake they made in the name of youth.

[1] It’s a  pun . Elastic=elastik. Slingshot=lastik. So elastic bra became bra on a ‘lastik’.
[2] Again, teacher here is the Islamic Studies teacher called ‘ustaz’. They’re pretty much synonymous to ‘knowing how to handle paranormal things’ though it’s not necessarily true.