After finishing the treatment, they brought home a healing potion as well as a protective prayer from the healer.
"Honey, forgive me! I feel so filthy," Laras said, tears streaming down her face. The young woman had looked broken ever since they were in the examination room. Guilt and despair were tearing her apart inside.
"Darling, this isn't your fault. It was that spirit who deliberately disturbed you," Raka replied, pulling his wife into a tighter embrace.
"What can I do to cleanse myself of this?"
"The healer told us earlier—perform the ritual purification bath while reciting prayers. Then we'll pray the Tahajjud together and ask Allah for protection," Raka said, trying to sound as calm as possible. Even though inside, his heart was churning with all kinds of emotions.
At first, their journey home felt peaceful. The evening breeze brushed against the newlyweds' faces, carrying the scent of damp earth left behind by the drizzle that had just stopped.
But for some reason, Laras' skin suddenly crawled with intense goosebumps. Not because of the cold, but because she felt an overwhelming sensation of being watched.
"You okay, darling? Are you cold?" Raka asked, breaking the silence. He slowed down his motorcycle slightly.
Laras shook her head gently, hugging her husband's waist tighter as if seeking shelter. "I don't know, honey. All of a sudden I feel like someone's spying on us. Along the road, the shadows on the side look like they're moving on their own. But there's no strong wind at all."
Raka patted her hands wrapped around his waist. "Maybe it's still the effect of the medicine or just your mind playing tricks from what the healer explained earlier. Relax, I'm right here with you."
Yet the moment those words left Raka's mouth, all the streetlights along the road flickered in unison.
Click! Click! Click!
As if welcoming the arrival of something invisible. The loud chirping of crickets that had filled the air fell silent all at once. Instantly, suffocating stillness settled around them.
Raka frowned and sped up his motorcycle. He too started sensing something unnatural in the air.
When they arrived home, the atmosphere was quiet and dim. Even though Raras clearly remembered leaving the porch lights on before they left.
As Raka parked the motorcycle, Laras stepped down carefully. The moment her feet touched the ground, she let out a small scream and quickly jumped back onto the motorcycle seat.
"What's wrong?!" Raka asked, immediately gripping her shoulders.
Laras pointed shakily at the ground, her face pale as a sheet. "F…Footprints, honey! Look!"
On the damp ground from the earlier drizzle, footprints were clearly visible—but they weren't like any human footprints. They were huge, with long, twisted toes, and the tracks moved in a strange way.
It looked as though the owner was hovering above the ground, barely touching it, yet leaving marks behind. Even more eerie, the footprints circled their house over and over. There were even tracks leading up the walls and all the way to the roof.
Raka glared sharply around them, his fists clenched tight as he held back anger and fear. "Let's go inside first, darling. Don't look at it anymore!"
He guided Laras inside. As soon as the door opened, the sweet scent of kasturi mixed with incense smoke—which had faded earlier—wafted through the air again. But this time, the smell was sharper, stinging, and made their chests feel tight.
In the living room, the television that had been turned off suddenly switched on by itself. The channels kept changing randomly.
The screen showed blurry shadows while static noise buzzed in their ears. Abruptly, the static shifted into a deep, raspy voice—one Laras knew all too well.
"You think that old potion can drive me away, darling? I am the air. I exist everywhere."
Laras covered her mouth with her hands, stifling a scream. It was the voice of the "Raka" from the night before.
"Get out! Don't hide like a coward!" Raka shouted into the empty air, his eyes blazing with rage.
But the creature wasn't scared. If anything, it grew even more mischievous.
Suddenly, the buttons on Raka's shirt popped off one by one, as if pulled by invisible hands. Laras screamed in shock, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Honey! It's right behind you!"
Raka spun around quickly, but there was no one—only empty air. Yet as he turned back toward Laras, he saw a tall, dark figure standing directly behind his wife.
The shadow pressed against Laras' back, its long arms coiling around her neck. Its head tilted toward Raka with a terrifying crooked grin.
"Get out!" Raka lunged toward the figure. But the shadow vanished instantly the moment he reached it, leaving only a cold mist behind.
Before Raka could even catch his breath, Laras screamed again—this time from the direction of the kitchen.
"Honey! Look at the mirror!"
In the large mirror on the living room wall, their reflections were gone. Instead, they saw a tall figure cloaked in black, sitting casually on the sofa.
It stared at them with glowing red eyes, waving its hand as if greeting them. Even more horrifying, in the reflection, the creature was holding a beating heart in its hand.
"Ahh!" Raka cried out in pain, clutching his left chest.
"Get lost!" Raka spun around and threw a white cloth inscribed with holy verses—which he'd bought from the healer earlier—straight at the mirror. Thud!
The mirror shook violently, then cracked into a spiderweb pattern. The figure inside disappeared along with a high-pitched scream that hurt their ears. But it wasn't a sign of surrender—it was a sign it was getting annoyed and even more vicious.
Lights all over the house began flickering rapidly, creating an atmosphere straight out of a horror movie. Objects on the shelves fell one by one, as if deliberately knocked over by unseen hands. Books, flower vases, photo frames—everything crashed down in succession.
"You think you can get rid of me that easily?" The voice now came from inside the refrigerator, from the power outlets, from the broken plates—everywhere. "I only want your wife. She is so beautiful and so tempting. It'd be such a waste to just let her go."
Suddenly, Laras felt her cheek kissed by freezing cold air that seeped right into her bones. "Mmm…" She held her breath, her whole body turning stiff.
"Stop it!" Raka pulled Laras into his embrace and backed against the wall, leaving no gap for the creature to approach.
He took out his prayer beads and recited the protective prayer in a loud, firm voice, even as cold sweat soaked his body. "Listen well! She is my wife! And she is under my protection. You will never touch her again! Leave now, or I will make sure you are destroyed from the very roots of your existence!"
Silence fell for a moment. The scent of kasturi vanished instantly, replaced by a sharp stench of blood and sulfur.
Then, a terrifying, echoing laughter rang out from the dark corner of the room.
"We'll see about that, Mr. Husband! This is just the beginning. I'm not taking her by force—I'm just waiting for that door to open again. And I know … one day, she will call me herself."
The laughter faded away, echoing through the corridors of the house, until it finally disappeared with the night wind.
The flickering lights returned to steady, bright glow. The fallen objects lay still on the floor. Silence wrapped the house once more, but this time it felt heavier and far more menacing.
Raka lowered his head, looking at Laras' tear-streaked, pale face. He kissed her forehead, his hands trembling.
"It hasn't left, honey," Laras whispered softly, her eyes darting fearfully toward the corner of the room. "It just stepped back for a little while."
Raka nodded, suppressing his own fear to stay strong for his wife. He carried Laras into their bedroom, locking the door and windows tightly. Then he placed protective charms in every corner of the room.
"As long as we're together, it can never hurt you," Raka promised—even though deep down, he knew the real battle had only just begun.
The creature would not give up that easily. And that night, their peaceful sleep was gone forever. Every shadow, every sound, and every gust of wind now held a terrifying secret.