Tuesday 24 September 2013

Possessed

Chunmei and her sister, Chunyin, were two beautiful girls who worked on a farm in Malaysia. Many people on the farm were envious of the sister's beauty. One of them was Lianhua. Every time they see one another, they would argue over small matters, and sometimes, these petty quarrels would escalate into a full scale fight. The Chinese believed that if two people could not get along, it was due to a mismatch in their ba zhi (8 characters). One day, the shortsighted Lianhua accidentally saw Chunmei talking to someone who looked familiar. Going closer, she realized that the tall familiar 'someone' was her boyfriend. Both Chunmei and Lianhua's boyfriend were chatting away excitedly, oblivious to Lianhua looking on from the background.

Jealousy was eating at her from the insides, and Lianhua did have a thought that Chunmei might be more attractive to her boyfriend. 'Chunmei, here. I've bought some durians for you. I think its time we made peace. We cannot keep fighting like this all the time, right?' Lianhua said, apparently deciding to be friendly. 'Why, Lianhua, thank you so much. So nice of you,' Chunmei thanked Lianhua. 'Chunyin! Look what Lianhua had bought for us. Lianhua, come in and join us!' 'I can't take durians now because I've got a sore throat, but I'll sit with you for a while.' Lianhua sat down with the two sisters. The durians were thick and succulent, and the flesh was sweet to the taste. With that, relations between Lianhua, Chunmei and Cunyin improved tremendously. The villagers were puzzled to see them shopping together. Little did they know that Lianhua had something up her sleeves.

One week later, the fishes under Chunmei's care died suddenly. As a result, Chunmei was nearly sacked by her boss. Seeing Chunmei so depressed, Lianhua was secretly happy. However, that was not enough for her as she wanted Chunmei to suffer even more. Deep in her heart, she knew that things were far from over. It happened two days after the dead fish's incident. As usual Chunmei and Chunyin left their house for work at around nine in the morning. The bright morning rays dissipated suddenly as dark storm clouds moved in to block the sun. 'Chunmei, bring an umbrella. I think its going to rain.' Her sister told her. 'Why are these people burning paper this time of the month?' Chunmei asked her sister curiously, as she saw a lot of people burning hellnotes. 'Maybe they are just burning 'money' for their relatives.' Chunyin replied. When they reached the outskirts of their village, an old lady burning hose papers was burning a big pile of incense papers there. The wind, brought in by the incoming storm, blew in and sent the ashes all over the place.

'Chunyin! Watch out!' Chunmei shoved the preoccupied Chunyin aside as her sister was about to step on a large clump of burnt ashes that was blown into their path. The Chinese believed that bad luck would befall those who stepped on the ashes. Unfortunately, Chunmei had also accidentally knocked over the old lady and slipped. While falling, Chunmei fell against the burner, tipping the burning paper onto her body. Chunmei let out an agonizing scream of pain as she felt her body on fire. The burning paper offerings were all over her, setting fire to her garments. With the hungry flames licking at her tender skin, the stunned Chunmei could only scream in terror. 'Help! Help!' Chunyin looked around, trying to look for help. Strangely, the old woman whom Chunmei had knocked into was nowhere in sight. Quickly, she grabbed a large fallen palm leaf, and tried to put out the flames on Chunmei. After a moment of futile effort, she quickly rolled Chunmei around in the dirt, hoping to put out more fire.


In the meantime, the storm had broken. Large drops of rain began to fall, striking the ground with impact. In no time, there was a steady downpour. When the flames had been put out completely, Chunmei fainted and laid motionless in the mud. Chunyin, seeing that her sister was safe now, ran back into the village to call for help. Lianhua who has been following them secretly was so delighted. She was laughing when she saw Chunmei fall. As Chunmei laid there motionless on the ground, Lianhua was overwhelmed with glee. The 'spell' has worked, and had disfigured Chunmei. Walking off, she went back to work. Hearing that a priest in the neighboring state was known for providing black magic solutions for a fee, Lianhua had gone in search for him. After she had told him of her intention, the priest warned Lianhua that such powerful magic would be expensive.

Set on punishing Chunmei and her sister, Lianhua insisted anyway, without even bothering to find out what the price was. The evil plan was set into motion. Meanwhile, Chunyin had returned with help. A few men picked the unconscious Chunmei up and brought her home, Chunyin left her alone and went off to seek the help of the village doctor. The village doctor knew something was wrong the moment he saw Chunyin. He could tell from the aura of the person. After hearing Chunyin's story, he took his medicine bag together with some talismans, and followed Chunyin home. Reaching home, Chunyin found that the door was locked. Remembering that she did not lock the door earlier, Chunyin knocked frantically, yelling for Chunmei to let her in. She knew that Chunmei was unconscious but then who else could have bolted the door from inside. In the meantime, the village doctor, a deeply spiritual man, had spotted the aura of evil and took out a few talismans. Giving one to Chunyin for protection, he muttered some powerful incantations. Strangely, the door to the hut flew open.

The hut was dark inside, and as she entered, Chunyin realized that Chunmei was not in her bed. Instead, to her horror, Chunmei was suspended like a rag doll, hanging in a corner of the room. Chunmei's head rested at an awkward angle around her shoulders, and some strange words were coming from her unmoving lips. Her burnt clothing hung loosely on her. As the village doctor and Chunyin entered the room, Chunmei's head snapped up suddenly. 'Yin, where were you? I was in so much pain, and you abandoned me!; a shrill voice spoke. It was not her sister's voice. 'Mei, I'm so sorry. I went to get the doctor. Oh, are you alright? I was so worried.' Guilt was eating into Chunyin, as she was trying to appease her sister. 'You worried? Oh please, spare me that.' Chunmei's body turned to face the doctor. 'Ah yes, the doctor. Hello, doctor. What can you do to make me go to hell?'

'Get out of her immediately! And you shall reincarnate!' The village doctor thundered in a booming voice. Laughter. 'Reincarnate? Into what? When I have this beautiful shell? NO!' Chunmei shrieked at the village doctor. Suddenly, like a berserk woman, she flew at the doctor with her outstretched hands charging at him. Chunyin realized that her nails were long and red. Prepared, the doctor fished out a talisman. Holding it to his lips, he started to chant. Chunmei who was trying to attack the doctor, was hurled backwards as she hit an invisible barrier surrounding the doctor. Strangely enough to Chunyin, the doctor's chant seemed to be getting louder. In no time, it sounded like many people were chanting together. The village doctor and chunyin were the only ones in the room but the vibration of the harmonious voices made the room calmer. Chunmei started to scream in terrible pain, as the boils began to appear on her flesh. growing and growing, they eventually erupted into bloody pus. 'No! I'm not leaving! Noooo!'

Chunyin couldn't bear to see her sister in such terrible pain, and tried to stop the village doctor. 'This is not your sister speaking! It's the demon in her playing with your emotions! Don't get tricked by him. If you do, we will lose, and he will kill us!' Chunmei reached out her bloody hand towards her Chunyin. 'Sister, please help me! Don't let him do this to me. Help me please!' The pleading showed the fear in Chunmei's eyes. Involuntarily, Chunyin made a step towards her sister, but found that she was blocked by the doctor. He looked at her sternly and said, 'Remember! She in not your sister now! Close your eyes and chant with me!' Frightened, Chunyin closed her eyes and chanted the same incantation with the village doctor. Chunmei kept screaming at her sister's betrayal, promising vengeance. All the while, Chunyin kept telling herself that Chunmei was a sweet tempered girl, and not this demon shrieking obscenities. As the screams got louder and louder, Chunyin started to chant louder and more fervently, clinging on to the image of her sister.

 The village doctor knew that the demon could not hurt Chunyin, not as long as she had the talisman on her. In the meantime, the doctor had pasted the talisman in a circle around Chunmei, who had started babbling in tongue. Her body had contorted into an inhuman form, and only the whites of her eyes were showing, as she shrieked and babbled away. Taking a octagonal shaped mirror from his bag, the doctor lit a talisman in front of it and directed the light into Chunmei's face. Unable to take the torment any further, the demon shrieked and materialized in the area above Chunmei's head, he glared at the village doctor with hatred in his eyes. Snaring at the village doctor, he vanished into thin air. 'Thud.' The silence that followed was broken only by the sound of Chunmei's limp body hitting the ground. Chunyin opened her eyes, and noticed that that room looked brighter. The oppressive atmosphere was gone. Looking around, she noticed that Chunmei was lying on the floor. She was shivering profusely.

Together, they moved Chunmei to the bed. After examination, the doctor assured Chunyin that her sister's injuries were not serious, and she would be fine after a few weeks of care. he gave Chunyin some medicinal herbs and salve for the burns, and also two talismans for the two sisters to wear. Before he left, he also hung the octagonal shaped mirror above the door. Elsewhere, Lianhua was having the day of her life. She was still gloating about what happened to her neighbors that morning, especially Chunmei, when a shadow fell in front of her at home. 'Hi Lianhua.' Lianhua looked up, but found no one in her room. 'Do you like what I did to Chunmei and Chunyin? Well, anyway, it's payback time. Did the priest tell you that once a black magic spell is broken, the demon would collect payment from his patron?' 'Shouldn't you be looking for the priest instead?' Linhua asked, feeling very hot suddenly. 'No, you are my patron, not the priest. Now pay the price.' Lianhua could only scream, for in front of her eyes, her garments started bursting into flames.

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