Vensheartx ♥

Thursday, December 21, 2017 | 2:13 AM | 0 comments

7.30 am.

Beep! Beep !

The first thing that shook me off my conscious was the sound of my alarm clock.

Blaringly loud, mechanical and annoying

Next, yep, that coolness of the air of my room and its familiar loamy fragrance.

Beep! Beep!

In between my grogginess, the cold bit my exposed skin, making me shiver as its iciness crept under my clothes. As if on cue, my thick covers swept me over with warmth and comfort in its inviting soft sheets and I can definitely feel my eyelids drooping, that smooth velvety goodness luring me back into my disturbed slumber.

Beep! Beep!

But I have to wake up, I told myself as my fumbling fingers switched off the alarm clock. I need to always be ready and ace for the upcoming tests, quizzes and those dreadful finals.

Here, exams are important. Well I guess anywhere is important if you’re a student in Uni. Do it right and you’ll save your entire life but if you trip over the edge and that’s it. You’re done for.

There’s also this other option, do it right perfectly and you may be able to get certain people to acknowledge you and if they’re impressed, they’ll give you money to sponsor your whole education.

I needed money. Let’s just say I’m financially challenged to the core.

So, with a newfound resolve, I willingly push back the drowsiness and sit straighter on my bed.

Then, I gaze at my roommate’s empty bed. The purple bedspread neat, smooth and untouched. She was always meticulous over her stuff. Every time she leaves, she’ll make sure her locker is locked, the floor clean and the bed made in tucked perfection.

And her bed still looked smooth in their ironed crispness.

I haven’t seen her for the past seven days. That’s a week. Her clothes are still here though, so I didn’t have the faintest idea of where she could have been. It sucks because every time I look at her bed, a slight guiltiness builds up inside me, one by one until it piled up into one big messy regret.

For two weeks of being her new roommate, I didn’t even bother once trying to know her, or even the least, getting her number. Why? Blame my shyness for it. I was never the one to strike up conversations.

Or breaking the ice. She ignores me on regular basis.

It feels odd sleeping alone without having someone there with you even living with the fact we rarely talked. It was alright for the first two nights but when Wednesday rolls in, I had countless disturbed sleep. Things were getting apprehensive bit by bit, especially after a recent uproar of girls in our block being hysterical out of their wits.

I didn’t like the fact how my roommate disappeared on the same day the hysterics broke out.

‘’Hmm.. maybe she moved out from our apartment’’ I murmured to myself, trying to ease the anxiousness that was building inside me.

I get out of bed and heads straight to my study desk. I grab my pencil case and organic chemistry tutorial and a reference book, as I pondered where I should study. After a few seconds, I decided the counter at our apartment kitchen would be a pleasant place to concentrate on my schoolwork.

I have always been the type not to study in my own room. I hate confined space. I find it small and the air, suffocating. So it served me one purpose ; it’s simply a place for me to sleep.

Walking to the kitchen, I sigh as I give a thought about my room.

And my missing roommate.

‘’Hey’’

Surprised, I almost dropped my books in bewilderment. Instantly, I turn my head to the source of the sound and finds Jessie at the counter of the kitchen, eating snacks with a laptop in front of her. My heartbeat gradually stopped racing. What a close call.

I remind myself, I don’t believe in superstitious things.

‘’You startled me for a minute there, Jess.’’ With a slight chuckle to cover up my nervousness, I said and put my things on the counter, directing facing her. ‘’What are you doing here at this time of morning anyway?’’

Jessie looks at me, and smiled. It’s a weak smile, and too unenthusiastic to be normal. When she speaks, her voice trails slowly, like her words are unwilling to take flight. I notice there is sadness in her eyes, those hazel eyes too glossy. ‘’Sorry for frightening you, I’m just watching movies’’

Then she turns her head downwards to look at my books, and exclaimed how hardworking I was being even though it has only been two weeks since the semester starts.

‘’I just want to be ready’’ I replied. Jessie nods, and again I find her a little bit strange. Now she looks almost sympathetic.

Now that I think about it, this is the first time I hold up a decent conversation with someone in this apartment, other than my roommate. Every semester, six students will be given a resident with 3 rooms each. So, two students will occupy one room.

Jessica and Asian girl, Alana Lee

Becka and Brooklyn, the twins

Me and my roommate.

The six of us should be close to each other obviously, since us girls are living under one roof, but that’s not the case. I feel neglected, in all truthfulness, and even my roommate seems to dislike me. It’s Jessie who makes those brief occasional conversations when bumping into each other, like what she’s doing now.

‘’There’s a fuss lately, in our house ’’

I snapped out of my trains of thoughts and look at Jessie straight in the eyes. ‘’You mean the twins’ room?’’

‘’Yeah, one of them saw some kind of shadowman or something. It must traumatizing cause Brooklyn cried so much after that and she refused staying with us anymore.’’

An ‘’Oh’’ was all I could muster, partly because I don’t know what else to say. I was not used on having conversations, so I rack my brain for anything decent to keep the chat going.

I like talking to someone. It makes a nice change. Even if the topic was not something I’d like to talk about.

Suddenly, a light bulb switched on in my head, ‘’I heard this apartment house itself is haunted, but I’m not so sure’’

Jessie was expressionless. ‘’I have no doubts about that. This place we’re living now has a criminal record. A student was murdered here 7 years ago for failing to return some borrowed cash from a loan sharks syndicate, it’s really a tragic story’’

My eyes enlarged as the hair on the nape of my neck bristled. ‘’I have been living here since last semester; nothing bizarre ever happens to me! You guys are the new ones here. Where did you hear that?’’

‘’My aunt works here for 15 years now. Of course she knows the history of our apartment’’ The brunette retorts. ‘’You don’t seem to know anything, don’t you? I planned to move out from this apartment to another one, but I can’t bring myself to leave you alone…’’

Almost immediately, confusion takes over my conscious and replaces the growing fear inside of me. ‘’What does that supposed to mean?’’

But Jessie responded with a question.

‘’Do you have any idea what happen last week?’’

I shook my head no.

‘’A girl from our apartment house went missing, that’s right, it’s one of us. My aunt told me what they found in the surveillance clip was gruesome. She said that our housemate was pulled by ‘something’ into the deep pond nearby the engineering faculty. When they tried to zoom in, it looked exactly like the black apparition the girls beside our room went crazy about’’

Hearing that, I only could think of my roommate, who went missing exactly last week, a perfect alibi to Jessie’s claims. I can feel myself beginning to worry about her well-being.

‘’Its of one us? My roommate, Natasha, she went missing..who’s the girl?” I stuttered, realisation was surfacing, but I need confirmations on this. ‘’Who was dragged into the pond?’’ I swallowed before I blurted my next sentence. It was too awful ‘’I mean, it can’t be her right?’’

Jessie stared at me blankly. At first, she hesitated, but then she finally spits it out ‘’Amelia. Amelia Ivers’’

The name is definitely not my roommate’s, however the name sounded so familiar. As if there is an attachment to that particular name. Hearing that name itself makes me strangely nostalgic.

But why?

‘’And I want to tell you something’’ I focused back to Jessie. ‘’I’m blessed with gift that makes me exposed to someone like you. I hope you understand that’’

I raised my eyebrow. No, I don’t understand. She was becoming unusual by the second. Even the kitchen started to feel eerily quiet.

‘’You roommate, Natasha, She’s staying in my room for a while. She said she’s scared of sleeping alone, especially after that tragedy last week’’

‘’Huh?’’

Jessie gets up and begins to pack up her things. Before she leaves, she advised me to remember something very important to me. She said it’s very precious and I should hold on to it dearly.

And I was alone in the kitchen counter. Suddenly, I remembered what I had forgotten.

It’s my name.

My name is Amelia Ivers, and I have died drowning in a pond last week.

. . ….. . . . .. .

Percaya tak?

Saturday, November 25, 2017 | 9:03 AM | 0 comments

Percaya Hantu?

Kalau kau tengah tidur, then tetiba kau rasa ada orang ketuk ketuk dari bawah katil kau, apa yang kau rasa?

Takut?

Nak menangis?

Try baca ayat ayat suci?

Aku tak pernah rasa dialami benda benda ghaib macam ni. As a student, banyak juga tempat aku merantau untuk cari ilmu, start dari form 4 di mana aku diterima masuk dalam sekolah SBP. Situ jugalah aku mula hidup sorang sorang. Independant la juga, and kat situ jugalah aku mula jadi aware dengan benda benda ini. Okey, kita specify kan lagi skop. Aku betul betul mula aware when kawan aku tanya soalan macam ini :

''Percaya tak?''

Aku pandang Zahid. ''Percaya what?''

Zahid tepuk dahi. Gaya betul betul dah give up dengan aku sungguh. ''Wei kau ni memang ada masalah nak bagi attention ke hah? matilah kalau aku kena ulang banyak banyak kali''

Aku tergelak kecil. Budak rambut serabai ini mendengus. Buku buku di atas meja ditutup satu persatu dengan cermat; Tak kelam kabut tapi tak berapa nak slow. Bagus budak ini. Memang yang jenis jaga buku.

''Percaya apa?'' Sekali lagi aku tanya. Tak marah pun soalan yang tadi di ignore sebab memang patut di ignore pun. Sungguh aku tak perasan apa yang mamat ni babbling pada aku. Aku memang begitu. Terlalu fokus dengan kerja.

''I said, kau percaya hantu tak?''

Aku consider soalan tu kejap. Soalan yang tak pernah terlintas kat kepala aku, so agak lama aku termangu. Nak kata yer, aku bukannya ada experience kena kacau. Nak kata tak, terasa diri ini bongkak sebab secara asasnya, hantu ini syaitan, dan syaitan ini wujud.

Aku pandang Zahid balik. Sebelum aku buka mulut, terus dia cut aku. ''Wait. Jangan jawab soalan dengan soalan''

Cis.

''Mesti kau dah agak kan aku nak tanya kenapa kau tanya soalan macam tu''

Buku-buku Zahid yang ditutup tadi sekarang dah berada dalam susunan yang tersangat kemas, tinggal nak letak dalam beg sahaja. Seriouslah budak ni..aku berkawan dengan perfectionist ke? ''Haah. Its pretty much predictable. So anyway, apa jawapan kau?''

''Entah'' Aku jawab, jujur. ''Now boleh tak kau jawab soalan yang kau predict aku tanya tadi?'' Entah kenapa aku tiba tiba jadi curious. Mungkin sebab inilah first time aku berkenalan dengan Zahid, dia tanya benda benda paranormal ini.

Kami baru berkawan selama 5 bulan, masing-masing fresh bau straight A PMR, pindah sekolah lama and masuk sekolah asrama. Mula-mula bertegur sapa dalam dorm, as dormmates. Then esoknya, baru perasan kami kelas sama and secara kebetulan, jadi deskmate. Geli pun ada. Macam cerita hindustan pula sebab banyak betul kebetulan. Then lama-lama feeling paranoid merepek aku itu hilang and kami jadi rapat. Bestfriend? yea. Gays? tolong jangan label kami gay.

''Aku tanya sebab sejak menjak ini, senior bilik kita terima text whatsapp pelik pelik''

''Hah? text pelik pelik? Zahid angguk. Bersungguh betul muka. Macam lah betul rumors tu. ''Pelik macam mana tu? entahkan warden nak troll kome la tu sebab bawa henfon balik dorm'' Aku jawab, lepastu gelak sendiri dengan lawakku. Zahid yang muka serious tadi pun turut ketawa.

''SHHHH!'' Budak perempuan berdekatan menegur. Oh lupa, Ini library. Sedap je terbelahak gelak. Aku mengangkat tangan tanda maaf, tapi minah tu buat tak endah je and sambung balik fokusnya pada meja belajarnya (iyer ke study?) Ceh.

''sial lah kau ni. I'm telling you, it's true!'' Tanpa aku sedar, buku-buku dan peralatan tulis aku pun Zahid sapu tolong kemaskan. Aku tersengih sambil berdiri mengikut Zahid yang telah melangkah pergi ke pintu keluar library

''Mana kau tahu? Aku menanya. Saja menduga Zahid.

''Sebab classmate kita pun sama kena. People are talking about it la Raziq, kau tak notice ke''

Yes, sebenarnya aku perubahan dengan perubahan butir bicara classmate aku sejak menjak ini. Semua sibuk berbincang pasal text yang mereka dapat tepat pukul 3.33 pagi. Yang creepynya, text yang diberi adalah dari nombor berkod +333, yang memang tak wujud pun kat mana mana negara. Kalau +60, memang sah sahlah orang malaysia. Or lagi tepat budak sekolah ini yang ingat kelakar jadi prankster hantar text pagi pagi buta.

''So kau nak cakap ini semua hantu yang buat lah?''

Zahid terdiam sebelum menjawab ''Mungkin. Sebab text yang mereka dapat semua pelik-pelik. And part paling seram, memang sama''

''Memang sama? Text macam mana tu?''

Zahid berhenti berjalan, dan secara refleks, aku pun terikut sekali. ''Wei apasal?''

''Kau nak tengok?''

''Huh?''

Sepantas kilat Zahid menarik tangan aku; dan aku pula, terkejut sampai tak bagi apa apa respon selama mungkin dalam jangkaan 10 saat. Aku dipimpin sampai ke belakang blok tandas laki, tempat yang sunyi. Jarang students lalu lalang di sini, kerana kata orang, kawasan ini area 'keras'

''Weh kau dah kenapa Zahid?!'' Aku membentak, sedikit bengang dengan perangai budak ini. Sebelum aku boleh sembur kata kata baran, cepat sahaja Zahid memotong.

''Shh'' Jari yang diletakkan di mulutnya tu sedikit tergetar, then, setelah memandang kiri dan kanan untuk cek line, barulah Zahid mengeluarkan something dari poket seluar sekolahnya. Terbeliak mata aku bila terpandang Zahid mengeluarkan henfon minote 4x.

''Wei..'' Aku try slowkan suara aku, memang susah sebab rasa nak fire budak ini cukup-cukup. Kalau cikgu nampak ni memang nahas, bukan setakat potong merit, tapi banyak lagi punishment yang kena hadap nanti. ''Apa kau buat ini? ni kalau sir Badri nampak ni..''

''Aku nak tunjuk kau satu benda'' Selepas beberapa swipe akhirnya Zahid menunjuk chatroom whatsapp dia dengan nombor unknown.

kekekkekekekekekehasdhbcag 66666 uashda

asergtfhy *&*765580-)(1212@@><+

nk rse mti?

Bulu roma aku menegang "weh serious shit lah? Don't tell me kau pun dapat?'' Aku memandang tepat pada wajah Zahid, yang makin lama aku tengok makin pucat pun ada. Tapi apa yang dia boleh buat pun hanyalah angguk saja dengan soalan aku tadi.

''Kau tengok ayat last tu. Dia cakap nak rasa mati?''

Aku angguk. "Ni prank kot Zahid. Kau janganlah paranoid sangat'' aku cuba menenangkan kawan aku seorang ini. Lenyap terus hajat nak maki Zahid tapi feeling yang ada sekarang is rasa takut pulak. Walaupun aku cakap benda ini prank tapi entah kenapa aku sendiri terasa seramnya dengan text whatsapp ini.

"Aku tak tahulah Fariq, setakat ini orang orang yang dapat text ini semua BBM. Semua balik rumah sebab sakit"

Aku terdiam. Kelas kami dulu semua kecoh apabila Amani, classmate aku, bagitau yang dia ada terima mesej pelik di whatsapp. Then a few days after, minah tu demam panas teruk sampai BBM (ataupun balik bermalam, term yang budak asrama guna untuk refer balik rumah, in other words tak stay kat dorm)

''Entahlah Zahid. Tapi yang aku tahu sekarang ini, Aku nak balik dorm. Nak dekat maghrib dah ni''

''Yeah yeah, jom balik. Aku pun dah rasa lain macam duduk kat sini dengan berdua dengan kau''

''Bodoh lah, kau yang tarik aku kan, laknat!"

Akhirnya, aku mampu buat Zahid gelak walaupun aku juga rasa tak sedap hati.

-----------------------
Written by : Aliaa Sorfina 2017

A FLOOD

Friday, November 24, 2017 | 9:03 PM | 0 comments

Senior citizens loved to share their experience. Some wrote journals for future references for us, the next generations. On 15 Sept 2017 (my birthday Dx) Penang started to rain heavily and a month later, it got worst. As I watch the news with a heart laden with sadness for the victims, I believe there is a hope everything will be alright. Of course it will, it will bear survivors. And what if an old survivor write about this disaster a few years later? - Aliaa

I shall never forget those terrible days when it rained and rained and it seemed

that was not going to be an end to the heavy downpour. Again and again I

thought of ancient times and myths and Quranic stories about floods. It seemed

we were all to be wiped out of existence. Everyone said it had not been like this

for many years; some said thirty one, others said thirty-seven. The rain

continued unabated. The rivers were heavily swollen by now. All of the rivers

overflowed their banks. Thousands of people were rendered homeless and still,

there was no likelihood of the deluge coming to an end.

The first reaction to the rain was a wild one. Everyone hoped it would soon end. After all, this was a heavy rainfall area and it did rain, so, what was there to worry about? But there were no intermittent flecks of sun and the heavy downpour resembled nothing that we had ever seen. Was this a punishment for some lapses? Some sins? Some failures? Prayers were of no avail; the rain continued. By the fifth day it was terrible. Life was very difficult. Everything was badly dislocated. No movement was possible except on boats. The whole town had become like so many houseboats. The ground floor floor of every house had become uninhabitable. People clustered together in safer places, In higher buildings. Earlier there was attempts to salvage something but soon the attempts were abandoned and people scrambled for dear life. The normalcy of life become a long forgotten thing. No milk, no regular meals, no vegetables and no communication with the outside world. No telephone links, and of course no wifi connection! Nothing at all. One only had one’s own tiny self and that was all.

There was reason for concern for by now dead animals floated in the streets and there was no uncontaminated drinking water. A few houses also collapsed resulting in loss of life and property. Food was air dropped on one or two occasions but the continued bad weather hindered this aid also. Poorer people who had to rely on their daily earnings were starving. They had no food and no shelter and no other means of sustenance. The flood was like a scourge of the God.

The heavily laden skies seemed to have shed a great deal of their burden and by the tenth week the skies appeared a little lighter. Gradually it began clearing up, people heaved sighs of relief. The rain stopped and the level of the water started receding. It became possible for rescue team to arrive and to be organised. It also become possible for more food source to be air dropped safely within our reach. I remembered the uproar of stories circulating among us survivors of how other people were collected from very odd places, hovering between life and death. Sitting in limited spaces, sometimes on treetops, and not getting any nourishment, their limbs were cramped and their bodies emaciated.

There was every possibility that there would be an epidemic of cholera. The authorities asked for volunteer medical teams; The Red Cross Society also organised rescue teams and some arrived from neighbouring areas. Inoculations were given. Other help was also rendered. But the epidemic did break out and a few people died. It was soon checked and that itself was an achievement.

As most calamities come and recede, so did this. The town slowly crawled back to normalcy. Many lives had been lost and also a great amount of property. It took time to repair the damage done to machines and to get vehicles on the road again but human effort is capable of doing anything and with me, as a survivor writing this a few years later, it definitely did proved resilient enough to recover from disaster.

---------------------
Written By : Aliaa Sorfina 2017

Philistinism

Thursday, December 21, 2017 | 2:13 AM | 0comments

7.30 am.

Beep! Beep !

The first thing that shook me off my conscious was the sound of my alarm clock.

Blaringly loud, mechanical and annoying

Next, yep, that coolness of the air of my room and its familiar loamy fragrance.

Beep! Beep!

But I have to wake up, I told myself as my fumbling fingers switched off the alarm clock. I need to always be ready and ace for the upcoming tests, quizzes and those dreadful finals.

I needed money. Let’s just say I’m financially challenged to the core.

So, with a newfound resolve, I willingly push back the drowsiness and sit straighter on my bed.

And her bed still looked smooth in their ironed crispness.

Or breaking the ice. She ignores me on regular basis.

I didn’t like the fact how my roommate disappeared on the same day the hysterics broke out.

‘’Hmm.. maybe she moved out from our apartment’’ I murmured to myself, trying to ease the anxiousness that was building inside me.

I have always been the type not to study in my own room. I hate confined space. I find it small and the air, suffocating. So it served me one purpose ; it’s simply a place for me to sleep.

Walking to the kitchen, I sigh as I give a thought about my room.

And my missing roommate.

‘’Hey’’

I remind myself, I don’t believe in superstitious things.

Then she turns her head downwards to look at my books, and exclaimed how hardworking I was being even though it has only been two weeks since the semester starts.

‘’I just want to be ready’’ I replied. Jessie nods, and again I find her a little bit strange. Now she looks almost sympathetic.

Jessica and Asian girl, Alana Lee

Becka and Brooklyn, the twins

Me and my roommate.

‘’There’s a fuss lately, in our house ’’

I snapped out of my trains of thoughts and look at Jessie straight in the eyes. ‘’You mean the twins’ room?’’

‘’Yeah, one of them saw some kind of shadowman or something. It must traumatizing cause Brooklyn cried so much after that and she refused staying with us anymore.’’

An ‘’Oh’’ was all I could muster, partly because I don’t know what else to say. I was not used on having conversations, so I rack my brain for anything decent to keep the chat going.

I like talking to someone. It makes a nice change. Even if the topic was not something I’d like to talk about.

Suddenly, a light bulb switched on in my head, ‘’I heard this apartment house itself is haunted, but I’m not so sure’’

Almost immediately, confusion takes over my conscious and replaces the growing fear inside of me. ‘’What does that supposed to mean?’’

But Jessie responded with a question.

‘’Do you have any idea what happen last week?’’

I shook my head no.

Hearing that, I only could think of my roommate, who went missing exactly last week, a perfect alibi to Jessie’s claims. I can feel myself beginning to worry about her well-being.

Jessie stared at me blankly. At first, she hesitated, but then she finally spits it out ‘’Amelia. Amelia Ivers’’

The name is definitely not my roommate’s, however the name sounded so familiar. As if there is an attachment to that particular name. Hearing that name itself makes me strangely nostalgic.

But why?

‘’And I want to tell you something’’ I focused back to Jessie. ‘’I’m blessed with gift that makes me exposed to someone like you. I hope you understand that’’

I raised my eyebrow. No, I don’t understand. She was becoming unusual by the second. Even the kitchen started to feel eerily quiet.

‘’You roommate, Natasha, She’s staying in my room for a while. She said she’s scared of sleeping alone, especially after that tragedy last week’’

‘’Huh?’’

Jessie gets up and begins to pack up her things. Before she leaves, she advised me to remember something very important to me. She said it’s very precious and I should hold on to it dearly.

And I was alone in the kitchen counter. Suddenly, I remembered what I had forgotten.

It’s my name.

My name is Amelia Ivers, and I have died drowning in a pond last week.

. . ….. . . . .. .