The night air feels cool on his hot cheeks.

Raf can feel his heart racing in his chest, his wrists, his temples. He is one big pulse of rage. He closes the back door to the kitchen behind him with great care, and heads to the swings that he and Maria had laughed over when they’d moved into the house, three months before.

Not for the first time he wonders if the house is bad luck in some way, if something inside the house is disturbing them. They had done the usual cleansing rituals: they had hired Maria’s uncle to perform them and had a small makan after he had gated the compound and house. Raf has never been very sensitive to these things—he’s glad for it, one world is enough for him to be dealing with—but he believes, profoundly. He can think of no other reason that he and Maria have fallen out of sync since moving to this house, like two gears sparking off each other, everything about the other grinding and irritating instead of the deep, comfortable harmony they usually share.

• Tags: Brunei, fiction, Issue 30, Kathrina Mohd Daud