One night in 1987, Suhada and her parents visited Uncle Elyas’s house for dinner. She was very excited to go as she would meet her cousin, Mawarni. She was a beautiful teenager who spent her most adolescence in a boarding school and wearing hijab since she was 9 years old. Mawarni was the pride and joy for Elyas family, as she was their only daughter who had wonderful dreams for her future like any other children. However, reality spoke differently. Her life became alive of living corpse.
Right after Suhada reached Uncle Elyas’ house, she rushed to Mawarni’s room and eagerly asked if she wanted to do some activities. But Suhada surprised when Mawarni didn’t greet her and paid no attention for her presence. There was an emptiness which she could see through her eyes. Not knowing what else she could offer to make her feel better, Suhada then left the room.
Suhada joined the adults and her other cousins in the living room. From their conversation, she learnt that Mawarni was emotionally in balance lately as she trying to get over from heart breaking. Mawarni loved her boyfriend very much but unfortunately they had different religion. Thereby, she had to betray her own feeling and left her boyfriend. She found a way through reading Qur’an as her asylum from her misery. Days and nights all she did was singing of prayer, reading and memorizing Qur’an.
While everybody was laughing and talking about nothing, they suddenly stopped when they heard Mawarni was groaning in her room. Aunty Elyas ran inside, gave her a cuddle and patted her head. She was sobbing uncontrollably on her mother’s arms. Soon after Mawarni sedated, Aunty Elyas lead her to her bed. She looked helpless and worried for her daughter’s condition.
One by one, the families left the room. But before long Mawarni was groaning again, it was lauder than before. Her eyes were widely open, both her hands pulling her scraft from her head as now and then she savagely flinging herself against the wall. The adults tried to stop her but she struggled five of them, stronger than ever. It looked like, there was a mighty power controlled her body. Aunty Elyas was panicked and commanded Suhada’s father to call a priest nearby to calm Mawarni down.
Few minutes later, Suhada’s father came back with an old man in his sixties. He approached Mawarni and then began to exorcize her, taking the bad evil away from her body with various mantras but Mawarni never gave him any chance to come near her. The priest asked the family to tiedher body on the bed to make easier for him to do the ritual. It seemed, he succeed. Mawarni then woke up, able to speak and recognized everyone. The family finally relieved and they had a good night slept.
In the next morning, Suhada went to Mawarni’s room to check on her but she wasn’t there. Suhada looked out from the window and she was stunned when she saw Mawarni was running around down the alley, laughing, crying and without any clothes on her. Suhada was crying and screaming bitterly, looking for her uncle to get Mawarni to come back. That day, Mawarni’s condition was no longer secret in the neighbourhood. The beautiful girl was a mad girl.
Since that day onward, Mawarni spending her life in and out from mental‘s hospital. Sometime, the family had to lock and tie her up on her bed. Poor Mawarni!
By Hayati Samsudin
