Sunday, October 14, 2007

9th Anniversary

Title: 9th Anniversary

After seeing the scene, he did not feel anything at all. Soon, he together with young cousins, was instructed to leave the room. There, they were all in their grandmother's bedroom with the door closed. 7 cousins were all together, including him. Meanwhile, the living room and that room were filled with adults only. The initial neutral feeling changed as they all lay down on the mattresses and bed. He broke into tears and sadness, after all, settled down in the bedroom. So all the little cousins with age gap of 1-2 years between themselves recalled, so did he. For him, he could remember how his paternal grandfather (aka Ah Gong) had doted him. Ah Gong had the habit of taking him and cousins to the nearby coffeehouse for some simple meals. Chee-cheong fun would be a regular dish ordered. There would be frequent mahjong sessions on weekends when he witnessed his Ah Gong playing, and once he remembered, his back was facing him. To him, it was all too familiar and that could happen again if only time could be reversed. In his deepest memory, he would keep in his mind. As emotions built up, he could feel the pain of loss as they all experienced it together by crying it out and loud for their dearest.

9 years on, 13 oct was the date for Ah Gong's anniversary. The feeling came back. It was as though he experienced some bits of the past. The weather of yesterday seemed to have a little consensus with his feeling. It started raining in the morning briefly. On top of that, the gloom was compounded by recent events that had confronted him the night before.

He then made his prayer to Ah Gong. He told his senior what he felt and hoped for a clear direction. Moreover, he donated $2 for a joss paper, on behalf of his mother - a routine done by his mother when she visited.

After that, he left and departed with his relatives at one of the local MRT stations. When one was alone, he had all the thoughts in the world for him to reminisce of happenings related to his Ah Gong. To enhance his gloomy mood, he decided to listen to some sad songs that suited very much to the emotions he had. At the platform, he decided not to board a train and instead walk slowly past each door. In a few seconds, the train was departing. He was still walking in the similar direction the train was in as the train outpaced him. Sometimes, there was wind howling into the platforms through the big gaps as spotted:



Then a thought came by. It was a premonition experienced 3 years back.

He saw his Ah Gong and his great grandmother (still around) in his dreams. But they all looked very stern. He noticed that Ah Gong's hair was so much longer like those characters in periodical drama, without tying their pigtail and Ah Gong was in a white clothes like the ones that souls wore. There was so much mist in the air surrounding them and he was wondering what that stare could mean. Were they offended? Was he asked to do something? Right after, he was scared out of his dream. It was later found that he was one of the 2 relatives, who managed to see Ah Gong in their dreams. So he supposed to be considered lucky. His aunt who saw Ah Gong, was asked to burn more paper money for him as he was spotted shivering in another dimension. For his dream, he might be asked to do more than just buying paper notes.

For years, the meaning of them staring at him was not solved. The meaning was deciphered a few times. But those were only personal guesses and might not be accurate.

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