In the small town of Stull, Kansas, there once stood an old one room chapel on top of a hill, surrounded by graves. Beside the church was a cellar that was very difficult to find, as its doors had grass grown upon them. In front of it church was great tree that was always bare. None of the towns members could recall ever having seen a leaf upon its branches.
In the towns earliest years, well before the civil war, there were several farming families that lived there.The minister's daughter had fallen madly in love with a boy from nearby, but had her heart broken when that young man was discovered to have impregnated a certain flirtatious towns girl. The two were married and all the while the reverend's daughter saw them, happy together, and her hatred brewed until 9 moths of painful endurance that despise boiled over. Shortly after the young couples child was born, the minister's daughter went to their house.
They greeted her cheerfully but noticed, all too late, how she eyed the child blood-thirstily. She slit the throats of those two who'd made her life so miserable and then dragged their bodies, along with newborn child, up the hill to the church. She put the bodies in the cellar and left the baby there, between their bodies, to starve to death. She locked the cellar shut and hung herself on the tree in front of the church. The bodies in the cellar were not found for three weeks.
From that day on, leaves never grew on that tree. If you walk the graveyard late at night you can just hear the sound of a baby's chilling cry. The towns people burnt down the tree many years ago, in the hope of putting the minster's daughter's spirit to rest. And more recently the church collapsed onto itself, burying the already difficult to find cellar.
Many have looked for its door, but the few who have found them and ventured beneath its depths have seldom returned, with the exception of a few who came back to the sunlight after three weeks beneath-starved nearly to death and covered in blood that was not their own.
Indonesian:
Di kota kecil Stull, Kansas, pernah berdiri sebuah gereja kecil diatas bukit yang dikelilingi makam. Disamping gereja itu terdapat sebuah jalan masuk ke arah ruangan bawah tanah yang sangat sulit dicari. Pintunya ditutupi oleh rumput tinggi. Di depan gereja itu terdapat sebuah pohon yang gundul. Tak seorangpun pernah melihat daun di dahannya.
Beberapa tahun sebelumnya, tepat sebelum perang sipil, terdapat beberapa keluarga petani yang menetap disana. Anak perempuan pendeta disitu pernah jatuh cinta pada pemuda setempat. Tetapi gadis itu patah hati karena pemuda itu menghamili gadis genit di kota itu. Mereka menikah, dan sepanjang pengetahuan gadis anak pendeta itu, mereka berbahagia sehingga kebenciannya semakin tumbuh selama 9 bulan setelahnya. Tak lama kemudian bayi itu lahir dan anak pendeta itu pergi ke rumah mereka.
Mereka menyambutnya dengan gembira dan terlambat menyadari bahwa gadis itu memandang bayi itu dengan haus darah. Ia menyembelih pasangan itu dan menyeret mereka menuju gereja di puncak bukit beserta bayi itu. Gadis itu meletakkan mayat pasangan bayi itu di gudang bawah tanah dan meninggalkan bayi itu di tengah-tengah mayat orangtuanya. Ia berharap bayi itu kelaparan dan mati. Gadis itu lantas mengunci ruang bawah tanah dan menggantung dirinya sendiri pada pohon di depan gereja. Mayat pasangan itu diketemukan setelah tiga minggu sejak peristiwa itu.
Sejak saat itu, tak ada daun yang tumbuh di pohon itu. Apabila Anda berjalan di pemakaman gereja saat malam hari, Anda akan mendengar suara tangis bayi yang membuat bulu kuduk berdiri. Orang-orang di kota itu mencoba membakar pohon itu beberapa tahun yang lalu dengan harapan agar jiwa gadis anak pendeta itu tenang di alamnya. Baru-baru ini gereja itu telah runtuh. Reruntuhannya membuat pencarian pintu masuk ke gudang bertambah sulit.
Beberapa orang mencoba mencari pintu itu. Namun sedikit yang menemukannya dan kembali setelah menjelajah sedemikian dalam ruangannya, kecuali beberapa orang yang berhasil melihat sinar matahari lagi setelah tiga minggu di kedalaman ruang bawah tanah. Mereka hampir mati karena kelaparan. Tubuh mereka diselimuti oleh darah yang bukan milik mereka.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar