ghosts do not use umbrellas...

Quiero un impermeable = I would like a raincoat.

the little girl always remembered her grandmother's raspy voice shouting out at her, laughingly when it rained. warning her about the undead and signs of how to recognize them in the rain. she could see the old woman crouched over in her usual squat, near the back door of her kitchen, smoking her illegal cigarettes, unfiltered. she could almost smell the wisps of smoke floating out into the wet gardens and the little girl always remembered achingly how she had come home from school one day, running through the rains for yet another story from Amah... only to find her dead, sitting in her famous squat, with the ash built up at the end of her cigarette, waiting to be found. the police said she had been dead for almost 48 hours and they had to carry her out squatting as the rigor mortise had stiffened her limbs and they had dislocated a shoulder trying to straighten her out.

now a nondescript young woman in her early 30s, Alex stood shivering under the crowded bus-stop on Jalan Raja Chulan. she dragged herself into the present, wondering why she was back to thinking about her grandmother in this reality of pouring rain. it had been too many years now and that little girl had long since died inside of her. she was next in line for a taxi, and exhaled, watching the Kuala Lumpur rakyat scuttle through the rain with their numerous styles of umbrellas. you could almost tell the person from the umbrella, she thought smiling wryly to herself, hearing Amah's raspy voice once again on what colors and shapes went with what types of people. those with little slips of gaudy colored umbrellas that turned up in the rain letting more rain in than keeping it out. those with conventional black and blue umbrellas that looked store bought, and doing a respectable enough job if the rain fell flat. those with the silver golf umbrellas that were sturdy in any condition and kept their bags and laptops completely dry. and of course, those that were caught in the rain with only their bare hands feebly turned out, palm up, to protect what little they could.

she heard the taxi door slam, and inched up to the top of the line gingerly. she still found it difficult to walk, and swore internally at her choice of clothes. she had worn the drabbest pair of overalls she could find. intended to cover her bandages, she grimaced thinking that if she managed to keep herself standing straight up, no one would guess that her ribs were bandaged, or that she was still reeling with the pain of just having them set back into place. she had forgotten to roll up the legs of her overalls however, and now her ankles were sopping wet from the heavy rain-sodden material. she hadn't the conviction to bend over when the rains started, afraid that she would have passed out from the effort, and so made do with the uncomfortable draggy heaviness. she was suddenly struck by this waif of a girl, crossing the busy streets. unconcerned with the snarly traffic around her, and the multitude of zig-zagging motorbikes. she made a straight line across the road and seemed to glide, making no attempts to either hurry in her journey, or to move her arms protectively up against the elements. she was suddenly in front of Alex, and their eyes locked.

"may i share your taxi?" she said. Alex was quite startled and moved back instinctively. the girl seemed to just glide closer and asked again "may i share your taxi?" her lips didn't seem to move and Alex surprised herself by agreeing. she was beginning to find it difficult to focus, and had to remind herself not to slouch against her bandages. a taxi pulled up almost instantly, and Alex crawled in after the girl. it was one of those new Perdana cabs, and Alex found herself sinking back into wide, clean, leather upholstered seats. "nak ke mana? going where?" the stout taxi man asked. the girl gave him her address, which was coincidentally, the same as Alex's condominium. the girl seemed to hover on the top of the back seat, and despite being drenched, seemed to be quite comfortable. her face was heart-shaped and very slight. she was very pale and her black kohl lined eyes retained their perfect pencilled in lines, with no sign of wear and tear from the storm she had literally just walked through. rivulets of rain dripped into her collar from her long hair.

"hmm, you live in Mont' Kiara as well?" Alex shook herself out of her stupor long enough to find her voice. the girl had a subtle scent on her skin that seemed to deepen in the confines of the back seat. "what a coincidence."
the girl looked directly at Alex and was in an instant sitting right next to her. "what makes you think this is a coincidence Alex, hmm?"
Alex reeled backwards, to find herself up against the edge of her seat and the car door. "how.. how do you know my name?"
"i have always known your name Alex. it's what i do." again, she seemed to speak with her lips unmoving.
Alex tried to pull her arms together, to either cross them or to hold them out against the girl. desperate to create some personal space, Alex tried. but the girl had moved into almost a semi-hug with Alex, and her scent was now becoming quite oppressing. Alex could see the taxi man's eyes look at them through his rear mirror, and he was frowning quite disapprovingly at the sudden apparent intimacy.

"what.. what do you mean.. it's what you do??" she looked down to find the girl's fingers uncurling around a syringe. it was in her side before she could blink, and the girl's eyes flashed menacingly above Alex's now. Alex could feel her head droop forward and struggled to keep her eyes open. she started to feel a flash of blinding pain rush through her veins, and started to convulse slightly, she felt her eyes rolling back into her skull, and heard herself croak "why?" the girl rearranged Alex slightly, holding her arms down as she shook. "because Alex, you left a fingerprint at the last hit... and when he broke your ribs, you bled. and so now, you need to cease to exist. nothing personal you understand?"
Alex fluttered her eye-lids trying desperately to stay awake. "shhh... just relax... you have 5 minutes, and then it will all be over.." the girl's voice droned into a welcoming haze of whispers, and Alex convulsed backwards to find herself sitting in her grandmother's lap. Amah was smiling, toothless, holding her infamous cigarette... "Alexia, come... come girl. why are you playing in the rain? you know it's no good for you..."

the taxi driver cursed as the waif stepped out of his taxi unannounced at the next set of traffic lights. she almost got hit by a motorbike fast weaving its way through the heavy traffic, in near zero visibility, and he almost lost his back door.

~a fictional piece by amreeth~