Eleanor Roosevelt was quoted to have said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent”. That’s a very good quote, isn’t it?

Aaaanyway, I’ve been wanting to tell this ghost story to my JJmates but kept forgetting as we are all busy doing last minute studying before the papers and too busy sulking or rejoicing after said event.

Therefore I think I shall just share it with all of you la horrr. The story I’m sharing today happened to my friend’s uncle a few years back. Lets just give him the name Ali (since that the stereotype ‘Malay’ name, next to Ahmad haha), for easy storytelling purposes.

Ali was in his late teens when he met the first love of his life - Aminah. Since then, they had dated for a few years before Ali decided to pop THE question and succeeded in getting the response he needed to hear.

So they made preparations for the wedding; it was to be a grand affair as both sides were rather well off. Everyone was in high spririts, preparing for the event together in the spirit of ‘gotong-royong’. Then one night while preparing the dais, roughly around 3 days from the big wedding itself, Aminah collapsed.

Of course, everyone left their duties and rushed towards her. The ambulance was called, panic was in the air and Ali was informed. As they watched the ambulance take off, they concluded that maybe she was just experience fatigue and was probably having wedding jitters.

As how real life tragedies go, things were not that easy. At the hospital, Aminah was slapped with the news that she was having cancer and that the doctors cannot really do anything to improve the situation. She would have to tide it out, pray to God and just wait, although the ‘waiting’ part may not be for long.

The couple was crushed. 3 days to the big day, and this came up. Aminah made a decision that night on the hospital bed, that the wedding was to be called off. She didn’t want to trouble Ali with the responsibility of caring for a cancer patient like her. She got out of bed, painstakingly took out the tubes that were attached to her and reached out to her belongings.

Her fingers touched a soft white cloth which she had held all this years as a symbol of their love. She was trying on a baju kurung made from that same white cloth when Ali had first approached her. Gingerly holding a pen, she wrote a note, pleading him to keep that white cloth clean and with him at all times, as a remembrance of her and of the love they shared.

Aminah tucked the cloth and note into Ali’s palm whilst he was sleeping, opened the hospital windows and jumped to her death that night.

* * * * *

A few years had passed and Ali had found the second love of his life. During their wedding whilst they were in the bridal car, his beautiful bride spilled some drinks they were sharing on her wedding gown. Panicking, Ali used the white cloth he kept in his wallet at all times, as the stupid car didn’t have any tissue papers. Ali thought, well, he could just pop it into the washing machine later at night.

Which he did, of course. But to no avail. The stain on the cloth refused to go off. Since that day, Ali was haunted by Aminah to no end. During the nights, he would hear Aminah’s voice ringing in the house, as if wanting to tell him something. He would constantly feel that he was being shadowed by her spirit. The situation got so bad that Ali became very paranoid and it caused a rift between him and his new bride, who thought that he still was not ‘over’ Aminah.

Ali finally decided to try and seek forgiveness from Aminah, as he realised how important that white cloth was to his first love. He visited her grave and crying, he seeked forgiveness for all the mistakes he had done; for tarnishing the white cloth, for marrying another.

Out of the blue, a cold wind enveloped Ali and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Aminah. She was walking towards him, her face full of serenity and warmth, just like it had always been. Ali shivered and closed his eyes as he felt her come nearer to him.

She stopped in her tracks next to him and whispered in his ears, “Use Vanish 02 Powder.”