I was scrolling on a shopping website ti find for anything that would keep my family, especially my 4 younger siblings off the screens, and at the same time entertaining them. Like a board game or something. Then i saw it. A rectangular-ish board with curved edges. It had 14 holes in rows of 2 and 2 big ones at the edges. There was a bag of marbles at the side. It was a congkak, a malay traditional game. It was simple, yet oddly entertaining, at least that was what i remembered. Why wouldn’t I buy it? So i got it and it came in a week. My parents were ecstatic! They had grown up playing this game in their small village with other kids while their parents mingle about. They were the first ones to play, and honestly its quite cute seeing them reminice their childhood. My siblings werent to keen at first, but once they start, they couldnt stop. Even my 5 year old sister was hooked. The game was simple. Heres a guide on how to play congkak
One night, i was awoken by the laughter of my younger sister, you know the 5 year old. I looked at the clock, 2.38AM. What the hell is she doing at this hour? I thought to myself. I got up and went to her room. There she was, on the ground her back facing towards me. She was…playing with the congkak? Weird. I went up to her and asked,
“Amelia, what are you doing?”
“Im playing with my friend”
A chill ran down my spine. There was no one infront of her
“Whos your friend, sayang(malay for darling)?”
“Laila”
I swallowed my terror and i said
“We can play again tomorrow, Lets sleep first”
Reluctantly, she agreed. I was scared shitless at this point. I wouldnt have thought so much of it if i hadn’t placed the board at the top of the almost 2 metre high shelf the night before. No way could Amelia have gotten it, even with the help of a chair, which her room didnt have. And it is quite common for young children to have imaginary friends, but not Amelia. She never told me about Laila before. Nor about anyone else. And we were very close. So for the rest of the night, i made her sleep in my room. Half to keep her away from whatever is in her room, and half to keep me company.
The next morning, we awoken to the screams of my mother. Im pretty sure the whole house heard cause they were all there when i came with Amelia. The marbles for the congkak was thrown everywhere. The board was thrown at one corner. The whole room was a mess. Mattress flipped, clothes thrown onto the floor and Amelia’s toys were everywhere, some broken. Thank god i made her sleep with me.
“What happened here?” Mum asked.
No one answered. I broke the silence by telling them what i had saw last night, about this Laila,half expecting them to believe me. My parents went pale. My dad said
“Alyssa, when you stored the board, was it upside down?”
“Um no? Why, do i have to?” I asked
My dad sighed, “You have to store it upside down or else it invites spirits to play”
I was terrifed. My mum bent down to reach eye level with Amelia.
“Sayang, how long have you played with Laila” my mum asked
“Umm for a week!” She said cheerfully. No signs of terror at all. It was like Laila was her real friend. My dad called the local ustaz, like a islamic version of a priest. After examining Amelia’s room and talking with Amelia, he spoke to my parents in private in a room. I pressed my ears to door and i heard,
“Your daughter has been interacting with a jinn. it is disguised as a young girl to harm your daughter. If you have waited any longer, it could have harmed her severely, could be even fatal”
The ustaz blessed the house and told the jinn to leave my family alone. He told us to keep the recording of the quran playing continously, and it should be heard at all corners of the house. We did just that. The next morning, my sister told me Laila didnt call her to play. And it stayed like that. About 2 weeks later, we heard the tragic news of our neighbour’s son. He was about Amelia’s age. He had fell out of his room window in the middle of the night. Could it be Laila? I shuddered at the thought of what would happen if i didnt wake up that night. We threw the congkak away after that. Nope not again not today.