Was this going too far, Rosalind pondered as she wrote down the name of her best friend Lucy on a small piece of yellow paper she bought at the entrance to the temple courtyard. She folded it into the size of a dime and slipped it into a crack in the black surface of the Bo tree. She stood there for a moment, unsure of what was supposed to happen next.
Rosalind giggled. What did she expect, she asked herself. It was so silly of her to think that something would happen. A little ashamed of what she just did and feeling that her Chinese face stood out like a beacon, she turned away as hurried past a small group of elderly Indian devotees on the white side of the same Bo tree.
How could she have believed the story of the guide of the Kuala Lumpur Paranormal Tour she took last weekend. He had called the tree the Wish Granter, and said, “If you want something good to happen, you pray to the white side of the tree. But if you want something bad, then you write down the name of the person you hate on a piece of yellow paper, fold it and slip it inside a crack on the black side of the Bo tree. It is said that the tree will eat up that person’s soul.”
Rosalind remembered asking, “Was the tree deliberately painted black and white?”
“Oh no, it occurs naturally. Some believers say how white or black the tree becomes depends on the fervency of the people who pray to it. The stronger the need for good, the whiter it becomes. But the stronger the need for evil, the blacker it becomes.”
As she crossed the narrow street, Rosalind again chuckled at herself for believing the superstition. She guessed she was just angry that morning when she heard that Lucy got the promotion right after she was called in for a one-on-one meeting with their manager. If only Lucy had played fair and not gone behind her back, she might have been happy for her best friend. Guiltily she admitted to herself that putting a curse on Lucy might have been a little too far. After all, they were friends, and if Lucy felt that she needed to be better than her on everything then so be it.
During the three blocks walk back from the temple, regret coursed through her veins. So much so that she couldn’t stop thinking about that black mildewed crack for the next two hours. After rereading the same customer complain report for the third time, she finally admitted that Lucy did deserve the promotion because she sacrificed more time and effort to her work than anyone else. At about 3.30 pm Lucy knocked on her desk and held up a bag of still-warm banana fritters with a flourish, before making her way to the office pantry. Rosalind could feel the blood drain out of her face and at that very moment she didn’t give a damn about being passed over for that promotion.
She got up, followed Lucy into the pantry and cracked a smile when her friend turned to grin at her.
“What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.
“I am going to miss you.”
“Oh… that is so sweet. But we will still have e-mail,” Lucy said as she placed a cup of coffee in front of Rosalind.
“Yeh, that’s right.” Rosalind picked up the cup and sipped. “Do you know where they are sending you?”
“Yes!” Lucy beamed. “To a small town in Sarawak, called Sarikei.”
“Omigosh. That is terrible. How could the firm have planned for a promotion and then send people to these remote places.”
“I don’t mind at all. Jackson is working in Sibu. It is only an hour’s drive away. Now we can finally think about settling down for good.” Lucy giggled. “You should have seen the boss yesterday when he was trying to find out if I was still with Jackson.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I told him that it was rather difficult because of the long distance. So he told me that the new branch manager post is actually for a new office in Sarikei. When he asked if I was interested, I jumped at it. I would have been happy just to get an officer’s post there.” Lucy bit into a fritter with a wide grin.
“Oh,” Rosalind said, and she paled. She knew that if she had been offered the posting, she would have rejected it.
“Why didn’t the boss tell us from the start about Sarikei?”
“Management was adamant that the branch manager has to come from his department because they needed someone who is familiar with the customer service policy and procedure. But boss knew that if he were to tell us where the posting would be, nobody would want to apply for it. Somehow or other he found out about me and Jackson, so he asked if I was interested to relocate.” Lucy spread out both arms and sang tada.
The remorse that Rosalind felt was so heavy that by the time she returned to her desk fifteen minutes later, her feelings were in tatters. Superstition or not, she had done a terrible thing, she decided. She stayed back for a little while after work then went out for dinner with a few colleagues, who were waiting for the rush hour to let up before hitting the road.
At after 7.30 pm when everyone had made their way home, Rosalind returned to the temple. Although the area about the tree was empty and shrouded in darkness, a handful of elderly devotees could be seen praying inside the temple. She slipped in through the open gate like a thief and hurried to the tree. It took some time for her to find the crack and another minute to pry the paper out. She opened it, shone her mobile phone light on it and read the name. It was Lucy’s – she heaved a sigh of relief. After tearing the paper into shreds, she hurried out the way she came then threw the pieces into a public bin on the sidewalk.
Keeping her head bowed, she turned away and bumped into a tall Indian man dressed in a polo shirt and khaki pants. “Oh, excuse me,” he said.
Rosalind looked up and thought that he was the most magnificent man she had ever come face to face with. She blushed. “Oh, that’s alright.”
“Are you lost?” he asked.
“No, I’m not.”
“I am though.”
“Oh dear.” Her heart skipped a beat. “Do you need help to go somewhere?”
“Yes, I am supposed to go to the large public park near this area. But I can’t seem to find it. Is there any kind of landmark?”
“No,” she giggled, “It’s a park. You will only see it when it is right in front of you.” Then she lied, “I will be passing by that way.”
He grinned a perfect cupid’s bow smile then said, “That would be most helpful. My name is Pipal.”
“I’m Rosalind. Your name sounds familiar.”
He chuckled. “It is a common Indian name.”
They walked for a short distance to her car, which was parked along the road facing away from the temple. The old car’s absorber groaned as Pipal took his seat.
Rosalind smiled at the apologetic look he gave her. The drive only lasted 3 minutes and as Rosalind signaled to slow, he asked her to park in one of the empty bays.
“Let me at least buy you a glass of coconut juice. I am early and thirsty anyway. The company would be nice.”
Rosalind beamed, yes, she would like some juice – it was a stressful day after all. The supposedly one glass turned to three and Pipal’s friends never showed up.
Rosalind said, “I can drive you back to the hotel.”
“Don’t worry about it. I can take a cab from here. It is getting late and I shouldn’t keep you.”
“Oh,” Rosalind sighed disappointedly.
Pipal smiled. “Let me walk you back to the car.”
“Alright,” she said and wondered if she should give him her contact number. Finally she fished into her purse and passed him her business card. “Do keep in touch.”
He smiled as he took it from her trembling fingers and put it into his shirt pocket. Then he reached out for her hand. The whole area suddenly went dark, and Rosalind could see nothing but the silhouette of trees against the star filled sky. She was thankful for Pipal’s hand? This was not a hand she realized then struggled to free herself from its grasp.
“You gave and then you take away,” a genderless voice said. “I cannot allow that.”
“I am so sorry,” Rosalind screamed to the dark. “I didn’t mean to, I am sorry.”
“You are so frivolous. You decide without thinking of how your decisions affect me. By taking that name away, you weakened my darkness. I need my darkness back.”
“I will put her name back. I promise, I promise!” Rosalind screamed.
The voice purred. “No, that is not good enough. I will take you in her place.”
Lucy stared at the bruised, open-eyed face of her best friend with horror and grief.
“Is this Rosalind Fong?” a police officer asked.
Lucy nodded. Her voice cracked into sobs as she said, “Yes, that is her.”
He told her that a jogger had found Rosalind’s arm jutting out from under a tree root that morning. It took the forensic and rescue team two hours to dig her remains out from the piercing and wrapping black roots.
After watching a news broadcast of Rosalind’s death that afternoon, an elderly devotee went to the temple, crossed over to the black side of the Bo tree and found Rosalind’s business card jutting out from one of the many cracks. She pushed it all the way into the tree, where it could never be dislodged, then shuffled to the white side of the Pipal tree and lay down flat on her face before it, supplicating for love, grace, mercy and blessings.
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