Thien woke up in the middle of a chanting in a room full of incense’s scent. He was still dizzy as his head hurt like hell. The rain had stopped and the wind was howling against the closed windows. Inside, he saw someone laying in the middle with a small, white blanket covering the face and big, white blanket covered the body. Under that person feet, there was a table with an incensory filled with burning incense sticks. Thien’s mom noticed he had woken up. She came to him and asked if he was alright. Thien lightly nodded and put on a confusing look. His mom first scolded him for his previous actions and then informed him that his grandpa had passed away yesterday so they had to do the ceremony.
Thien saw the adults and his cousins standing around grandpa. They were all looking down with closed eyes, some of them were shaking. Thien wondered if that was because of their hatred toward grandpa or perhaps, he was not the only one heard that repeating whisper yesterday. He asked his mom why the cousins seemed to hate grandpa horribly. His mom told him that might be because grandpa used to keep turning them away from the house violently whenever they came to visit. She asked if Thien remembered anything about the time he visited grandpa. He said that he was too young at that time so he could not remember much.
Thien asked if his mom knew about the “ma-da.” His mom turned terrified a little. She then calmed down and said that he did not need to worry about that because it was just grandpa’s made-up story to scare the kids away. Thien wanted to know more but his mom ordered him to rest more. How could he relax if people kept chanting loudly?
Khuong opened a window as the room got hotter. A big breeze rushed in and knocked down some incense sticks so one of the aunts quickly closed the window. All of a sudden, people started to hear a strange noise like someone trying to utter words out while choking. People looked at each other, they could see that none of them was making that sound. The adults all jumped back and froze as they noticed the white blanket cover grandpa’s face moving like something was alive under. Thien realized that was the same with the faint whisper, “ma-da” he heard under the rain, only this time, it became louder and sharper like an uncomfortably airless hiss. The cousins were terrified, they were trying to get out of the house while screaming. When they opened the door, the flood flowed in rapidly toppling them onto the ground. Thien wanted to run, too, however, he could not as his mom was stunned and held him tightly.
Another breeze got in striking down the white blanket on grandpa’s face, showing the face of the dead person with his eyes and his mouth wide open, too wide that his mouth was about to be torn into two pieces. The face got more distorted as the “ma-da” sound got queasier – his eyes were popped out, and his upper and lower jaws were moving into the opposite directions. The cousins were on the ground so they could not see anything, only covered their ears. On the other hand, Thien was on the nearby bed with his mom, he saw everything. He tried to close his eyes, but the horrific image had burned into his mind and the creepy sound kept reminding him of what was happening.
Thien could not hold it anymore. He burst into tears screaming for help from his parents. He then heard the door slammed shut and everything went silent. Thien was still crying, but he could not make a sound. Soon after, he felt dizzy and went unconscious.
Everyone had been stuck in grandpa’s house for a while because of the flood. However, Thien was too frightened to stay any longer and also, his health condition was not allowed him to so his parents had to hire some people to rescue the whole family out by boat. The cousins also wanted to leave but their parents decided to stay and completed the ceremony so that grandpa might rest in peace, or that they hoped to get more percentage of the inheritance.
Thien woke up when he was already on the taxi moving back to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. He asked his parents if they could tell him more about the “ma-da” story. His mom looked at his dad as he gave her a nod.
“Years ago, there was an accident on the river nearby the house around the flooding season,” started his mom with doubtful eyes.
“Don’t worry, mom. I really want to know.”
“Two boats collided in the middle of the river – your grandpa was also on one of the boat,” his mom breathed slowly. “He was with one of your uncles who was 15 at that time.”
“Did something happen to him?” asked Thien nervously. His mom stayed silent a little.
“All people survived except for the uncle … Grandpa said he tried to save your uncle but something was pulling the boy down and he lost the boy. He called that something, ‘ma-da’” His mom tried to wipe the tears off. “No one believed him, including me. I thought he was careless and tried to make an excuse for it – ”
“Are you alright? I can help you with the rest of the story,” his dad gave his mom a tap on her shoulder. His mom shook her head then continued.
“After three days of missing, your uncle’s body was found floating on the canal nearby the house. Grandpa was shocked, then became sick – after that, he kept yelling and warning others about “ma-da” chasing them away from the canal … I believed that because grandpa believed in “ma-da” existence, he acted violently to protect others, especially his grandchildren.” His mom suddenly looked straight at him. “Don’t you remember? Grandpa did save you when you were little.”
“I can’t … maybe, just a little.”
“When you were younger, somehow, you fell down to the canal. But because you made no sound, no one noticed anything … no one except grandpa – I was with him inside the house and he suddenly shouted and ran out to the canal. The canal surface was still so I didn’t think that you or anyone had fallen in,” his mom sighed.
“It’s not your fault, mom.” Thien smiled at his mom.
“I thought grandpa went insane again. But it was grandpa who reached and pulled you up from the canal.”
Thien wanted to ask his mom what “ma-da” really was but he suddenly had a glimpse of the memory from that incident. He remembered something cold like a hand kept pulling him down, he could not struggle nor made any sound. Maybe it was just his imagination. The memory was too impactful, it made him afraid to ask for more about it.
“Mom, I think it is enough for today. I feel sleepy now.”
A week later, Thien had the courage to search for it in the library. Squirming around, book after book, he had not been able to find anything related to “ma-da”. Even when he asked the librarians, they did not know. Why did he make it harder for himself? He should have asked his parents instead. Eventually, Thien found an old, friendly-looking lady sitting and reading a book about ghosts. He asked if the lady knew about the “ma-da.” The lady replied nothing, handed the book over to him and left – maybe, she was busy.
The book was a collection of ghost-related articles and there was only one article mentioning “ma-da”. Thien found out that “ma-da” was a ghost or a spirit of a drowned victim who could not cross over so it was stuck in the cold bottom of the river forever. Some believed “ma-da” could only escape the tragedy by pulling another down to switch place with that person. Others said “ma-da” refused to cross over because it enjoyed drowning people. It usually looked for people who swam alone or in an abandoned river. No one actually knew what “ma-da” looked like. Ones who survived said they saw a cold, green and slimy hand, or face pulling them down. Some even said “ma-da” looked like a kid. “Ma-da” could hide the drown bodies so some drowned people went missing and could never be found. The article ended with a stern warning:
“Beware of ma-da, do not swim if you suddenly feel hot when you came near an abandoned river or lake. It can lure people down if it find a match for its spirit.”
Thien was certain that the thing he saw lurking in the canal was a “ma-da.” Now that his grandpa was gone. Thien wondered who would be the next victim for it. He did not know how to warn his cousins and he did not want to come back to Cai Lay. Thien wrote letters with copies of the article and sent to his cousins. He got no reply from them.
A year later, Khuong’s family inherited grandpa’s house. Khuong went missing after living there for a day. He had never been found. Although the authority did not declare of his death, after five years, his parents had to hold a funeral without his body to make sure he would be rest in peace.
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