Kesian

Ada cerita sedih ni…. Really sad.

On Monday my sister Ita called me up at 4. She is sooo like my mother who loves to create suspense when she has something important to tell.

“A, aku rasa something happened kat akwasan rumah ko ni lah…..”

Eh ? What ?

“I think something bad happened here….. Ko tahu tak nak masuk rumah ko….”

Ya Rabbi !! Tell me the story already !! Don’t mind the location first lah !

“Tak… ada van forensic, polis and krew TV3 kat sini….”

Okay now you tell me where exactly this is happening already !

I was scared. Because it is a house just across the street, 3 houses away to the left. Basically a neighbour. I raced home because I was scared for my family’s safety. In my head I expected the same thing that happened to that poor lady in Sek 13.

When I got home, the street was empty. It didn’t look like anything had happened. It was peaceful. I rang the bell of a neighbour but no answer. As I was about to go back home, I saw Aunty Intan who lives a door away parked her car near the scene.

I waved at her and she waited for me. My question of apa jadi, aunty was promptly answered and it was sad indeed.

Apparently Aunty Katherine (I think) who lived alone had died. The thing is she had passed away for 2-3 days before her next door neighbour smelt something foul from her house. She dared not break the door so she called the cops and they made the sad discovery.

Her husband passed away years ago and her only child is in the States. She only has her stepchildren from her husband’s first wife in Malaysia.

It is not just the fact that she died alone and remained undiscovered for a few days that saddens me, also the fact that the house is quiet, devoid from any activity. Aunty Intan said probably her stepchildren are handling it from where they live but the thing is we don’t even know where she is buried or more distressingly if her body was even claimed.

I have been looking at the house, waiting for any sign of her relatives and friends but there is none. Hopefully they came while I was at work.

The question people asked was how come the neighbours didn’t know ? Well.. because she is a recluse. She did go to the surau once in a while but she kept much to herself. Maybe that is the culture of mat sallehs, I don’t know. Maybe neighbours pun tak perasan that they haven’t seen her for a few days already. Maybe she preferred to stay indoors so her neighbours thought all is normal.

She did come for my kenduri though when we first moved in. My husband and I went knocking at all the houses on our street to extend our invititation for the kenduri. When we called on her, there was no answer but when we were about to leave I saw her peering from a window upstairs. I waited but she didn’t come out, neither did she when I called again.

But she came to grace our kenduri with apologies. She explained that since she lives alone, she is scared of strangers, something that I readily accept. Kesian dia.

Al-Fatihah for her.