BLACK BIRDS IN MAHLA'S EYES
Magdalene Josiah (2)

Since her mother's death, Magdalene has turned into a moody, unapproachable girl. Her father had taken her to that secret back room, and showed her strange, nonsensical things there. In the dark room that only displays the dim red incandescent lamp, his father spreads a lot of small papers containing pictures taken from an old analog camera.

Little Magdalene did not understand the drawings her father had hung on a thread of hemp rope with a wooden clamp on it. Magda only remembered a picture of a firecracker on one of the papers his father had hung. “There is something wrong with our family, Magda.” Whisper his father at that time. “You must be careful.”

Not long after her mother's departure, her father is known to have left the house, leaving Magdalene with the house and its contents. Leaving the dark room that had long been her life. There were only a few servants left who had pity on Magdalene, and one faithful nanny.

*

The days of Magdalene passed by gloomily and by little. The jolly girl became increasingly quiet and sullen. He refused to be approached, even his nanny could only approach him to ask him to eat, clean himself, and go to sleep. In addition to these times, Magdalene locked herself in her father's darkroom and locked the door. The girl who started to move five years was getting pale and thin. His pair of gray eyes seemed to be getting colder and more distant.

“That's a pity, our young Miss.” A butler who chose to stay in the house, after the second year of their master's disappearance, made most of the servants and gardeners leave the residence of Josiah. The Magdalene's nanny nodded at the butler's words. “And the air in this house is getting longer it is getting colder and dreary.” The nanny complained while pouring hot water in the teapot.

They were in the kitchen preparing dinner for Magdalene and themselves. After most of the servants left the house, their common kitchen was closed, leaving the mansion always quiet and gloomy. The clove plantations that stretched across the land of the Josiah family and the farms left by Magdalene's father became their source of income today. Other than the butler and caretaker of Magdalene, there was only a gardener named Jed who guarded the fragrant trees, along with the livestock.

“Why do you think the Big Master left?” ask the butler to investigate. Nanny Magdalena who is now her body shriveled, with a few skin waves here and there due to her weight that dropped drastically it looked at her colleague with one eyebrow raised high “Then you just asked now, you just asked, Ravenna.” Her mouth was astonished.

The butler who was a tall woman, with black hair that was always curled up shrugged his shoulders at a glance. “Now, Sage, many things bother me, but I can't reveal it.” Reply Ravenna, the butler grimly.

The woman then sliced the carrot with large pieces and began to plunge it into a boiling pot containing cow bones. He was cooking beef soup with a broth of Magdalene's favorite. “It feels unbearable to be here, but I can't bear to leave Miss

also.” Connect Ravenna with the same grim voice.

Sage, Magdalene's loyal nanny nodded again. The leather bobble hanging from his arm swayed as his hand stirred the sugar in the milk cup of Magdalene. “You're right, just look at me until it's this wrinkled.” Sage complained sadly. “And I used to crave a thin body, but after

all my flesh disappeared and left only this wrinkled skin, I think I'd better be fat.” Connect Sage again. He inhaled deeply the fragrant aroma of bubbling beef soup in the Ravenna pan.

“I'm not talking about changing your body, Sage.” Sergey Ravenna sharp. He observed the Sage who now looked like a skeleton clad only in a very loose skin before him while shaking in annoyance. Sage's looks were indeed quite pitiful, but that was not what he was worried about now. The rooms in Josiah's house turned gripping and cold. Even the fireplaces had to keep burning all day, or they would be crushed by the freezing cold wind that was continuously blowing.

Although the air outside is very bright and stinging, the rooms there still look dull and shadowy. There is no more cheerfulness like when his two masters were still there. Ravenna still shuddered to think that the body of the female master they buried in the backyard felt so light and empty. It was as if the body was just an outer shell casing that lost all of its contents.

He could not decide whether Marlene was born without an eyeball, so he was blind, or was it because of the strange flames that scorched him without a remnant?

“Eat a lot, Sage.” Ravenna said as she served a bowl full of thick soup in front of Sage who was still busy struggling with a cup of Magdalene milk. “After all this time you make warm milk only!” Ravenna is angry. The sage who blushed softly found Ravenna's angry gaze then placed the milk on the table. “I made it too sweet earlier, Miss will not like.”

Ravenna sighed softly, “Have eaten just yet, Non Magda won't drink it now, right? He must eat first.”Ravenna said as she poured more soup into a smaller bowl for Magdalena. He then prepared a plate of rice, and a glass of warm tea for his young master.

“You can eat first, let me take this food to Miss.” Ravenna said while lifting the silver tray which is the remnants of the glory of the family of Josiah. He does not usually do that, but he wants to meet the poor little girl who always locked herself in her father's dark room.

Ravenna wanted to make sure her young employer was okay, something was bothering her that day, and she wanted to make sure Magdalena was okay.

*

Magdalene opened the door of the dark room gloomily, she was very hungry and cold.

Ayanhya's dark room was no different than usual, still containing odd pictures immortalized by her father. He had seen portraits of the corners of their house in a very strange position. Her father may have photographed her in a variety of absurd poses, but Magdalene thinks it might just be something her father had liked for a long time.

He also often found portraits of firecrackers both large and small which he found in many pictures. Magdalene realized that her father had sorted the pictures he was displaying, starting from a small hut house on the edge of the forest, which she recognized as the house she lived in now. The more the pictures displayed by his father, the more it became clear that their family was not rich at all, and he realized that his mother was not blind.

Magdalene found that her mother had a pair of large, beautiful eyes that she was not sure what color, because everything in the room was only a color of blood, due to the dim red light that was placed there. “Perhaps I should ask Jed to replace the light with a regular yellow one.” Magdalene opened the door of the room. An uncomfortable squeaking sound accompanied his steps as he opened the door leaf.

He felt so hungry as soon as his body came out of the room, he shivered as a cold wind directly blew towards him. “Sage?” Call her. It was night, and he wondered why his nanny had not called him to dinner. Magdalene began to walk in search of her nanny, as the sight before her stopped her steps.

A few feet from her tiny body trembling withstanding the cold, Magdalene saw her servant's head lying with her eyes widened upwards. Ravenna was already lifeless with the contents of the bowl she was carrying scattered over her cold body.

Magdalene remembered she could only shout until hoarse, and again locked herself in the dark room of her father.