"The Others"

..."you are her granddaughter, whether you believe it or not, it is part of you"...that's what my late mum said to me once when I complained to one of the ritual my late grandma wanted to perform to appease the annoyance of the "others"...they are those who we cannot see...they are those that we cannot touch...they are those that we cannot hear...creeeeepyyyy...period...

...I for one never said I did not believe in them...I do believe they exist...I just couldn't be bothered about it...my late grandma had what we call in Malay gimbaran, the not-of-this-world-being that helped her to communicate with the spiritual world...she was not the only one with this ability...so did my late grandfather...so did my ancestors be it from my paternal and maternal side...dad also possesses this ability though not as intense as his parents which does not offer any comfort at all...it is said that these beings sometimes will be passed down to the next generation to which I vehemently told dad not to take them should it is offered to him...well all goes well...nothing seems to happen since either grandfather or grandma's passing...that is until today...

...I was unceremoniously told that grandma's gimbaran is following me...in order words, wants me to be its caretaker...just my luck and would you believe it not any one of my brothers is being followed...I told the informer that I have not been experiencing anything of the extraordinary or out of this world kind of incident to indicate its presence...it is just that of late I am feeling lethargic most of the time...besides that nothing out of the ordinary...she told me not to worry...if I don't want it there are a few things that I have to do to tell this being that its presence is not wanted...talk about excorcism!!!...well I will darn well do something about it!!!

...then I recalled something that I sometimes said to my friends whenever this sort of topic cropped up...I told them how good my late grandma is when it comes to curing things the traditional ways...and I told them why I did not take the opportunity to learn some of the trade from her...little that I knew...me and by BIG MOUTH!!!