Joggers From The Other Side (幽灵跑步者)

People visit a graveyard for some reasons. I normally visit graveyards to perform conjuration rituals or to look for a piece of Feng Shui land for a customer. My pal, Dr Tan however, visits graveyards to jog. He said he likes the quietness and serenity of the cemeteries… well; no one would rise from the graves to bug him for sure. Then and again, the good doc might be wrong…

I met Dr Tan one evening at the center of Farlim cemetery when he was standing under a huge banyan tree. After giving the good doc a cautionary shout, I approached him and we begun to chat:

Me: “Hey doc, what are you out here in the cemetery at this hour?”

Dr: “Oh, I like the quietness of this place especially under this huge tree. It is exceptionally cool out here with occasional breeze…”

Me: “Well, take care doc. This place is not-so-clean if you understood what I meant.”

Dr: “Hahaha! You are too superstitious! I am going to jog around the cemetery. See ye…”

I shrugged and walked towards the hill top which is the highest point in the cemetery as I was supposed to audit the Feng Shui of an old tomb. Ah Kow the funeral service proprietor was already there. From that point, we can survey the periphery and the landscape of the area… and Dr Tan was jogging encircling the cemetery.

Ah Kow and I were at the old tomb for about an hour or so and it was getting dark. So we decided to return home as the cemetery has no lighting and it would be difficult to move about after dark due to old graves scattering about.

As we were walking towards the exit, Dr Tan jogged passed. We customarily shouted at him:

“Hey doc, it is getting dark. Go back and come and jog another day!”

At this point, the good doc yelled back:

“I wanted to stop. THEY don’t let me!”

On hearing the reply, we ran towards Dr Tan and saw though he kept his pace jogging; his body language indicated that the doc was somehow being ‘escorted’ to run along by some invisible force.

So I shouted to Dr Tan again:

“If you want to stop, raise your right hand!”

And the doc did raise his right hand. At this point, I knew ‘something’ has prevented the doc from stopping. So without hesitation, I wrote the word ‘雷’ (Thunder) on my left palm and hold fist.

As soon as Dr Tan ran passed me, I stormed my left foot and opened my fist towards Dr. Tan and said: “Go!”

At this juncture, the doc suddenly dropped onto the ground panting.

We quickly approached Dr Tan and before we could open our mouths, the doc said:

“I was jogging minding my own business suddenly a group of joggers ran along with me and they sandwiched me in the middle. When I wanted to stop, people behind me propped my arms and I had to run along until you came…”

Ah Kow and I shrugged and smiled:

“Hey doc, perhaps you were just overworked and suffered heatstroke. There is no such thing as GHOSTS!”

Dr Tan looked bewildered and he murmured:

“Yes. I do need a break…”