MYFATHER
Episode 32
Yudi's truck finally left the forest half an hour later, Yudi breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the silhouette of the row of city buildings in front of him. The truck drove awkwardly through the city silence and only stopped after reaching the door of the emergency room of a nearby hospital.
”We need help,” Yudi exclaimed as he jumped out before the truck stopped perfectly.
The truck driver curses at Yudi, ”Be careful fool! You want your leg broken?”
Two male nurses ran away in a hurry with a push-bed and took out Wayan assisted by Yudi and the driver. Wayan was already on the verge of unconsciousness. One of the nurses asked Yudi, ”What happened?”
”Animal attacks in the forest,” Yudi replied.
”She's out of blood. A transfusion must be made. You know his blood type?”
”Unfortunately, no!” yudi answered with a head.
”Alright, we will check it first.”
”It didn't take long, did it?” Yudi asked worriedly.
”Don't worry, sir. Leave it to us,” the female nurse replied.
The two injected tranquilizers into Wayan's body that still did not stop shaking. Yudi held the old man's shoulder to win, ”Tench, you will definitely be safe!”
Suddenly Wayan snatched Yudi's shirt and pulled it down so that the young man could hear her soft words, ”Be careful with Kuyang.”.
”What?” Yudi frowned in confusion.
”Go from here...quickly.he chased you...” from Wayan's hand that infiltrated Yudi's jacket pocket there was Yudi's plane ticket, the plane ticket he used to return to Jakarta. ”Go to airport now..”
”Where..” Yudi was about to ask further but suddenly Wayan vomited blood, vomited his own clothes, then to the floor, and also the bed.
The man's head slammed into the thrust bed pad as the man held onto his stomach. He stared at Yudi with a glare, ”Go to the airport to see the evidence..be careful with kuyang.”.
”Away from him..” the male nurse shouted warning while half dragging Yudi. The young man stared pushyly as Wayan was led down the hall by two other nurses and still remained stunned after the emergency room door was closed from inside.
***
It may sound unwise to leave Wayan in the hospital while the man is getting treatment to escape the sacred death...everyone in their right mind would surely tell how stupid Yudi's decision was but he could not deny how much he wanted to know the meaning of Wayan's words.
He had stayed in the hospital for about two hours, in order to maintain the norm of decency, but Wayan's increasingly powerful words in his head made Yudi finally decide to go to the airport, and the, and when he arrived there, he couldn't wait to find out about it.
”Take the change..” Yudi said as he slammed the car door after giving a considerable amount of money and the driver was left stunned because he did not have time to give change.
After passing through the examination door Yudi headed for the counter table while holding his ticket. The officer there was not the woman who served when she checked in three days earlier. The woman was busy in front of the computer before looking up and gave her sweetest smile, ”Good morning, can I help?”
”Yes, I'm going to Jakarta. Flights for this morning.”
The girl smiled and received the ticket that Yudi was brandishing, opened it and then checked for a bit, seconds later the girl frowned while the smile disappeared from her face. He seemed confused looking at Yudi with a half-amused face, ”You really want to go with this ticket?”
”What's the matter, mbak?” Yudi asked back.
”Soal father ticket is no longer valid.”
”Means?” Yudi frowned.
”Papak expired ticket. It's a flight ticket for three months ago.”
Yudi was surprised to hear it, ”Three months ago? What did it mean three months ago?”
“This gaffer ticket is valid in April while now it is August.”
Yudi like being struck by lightning in broad daylight hearing it, “How could this be August? I just left three days ago and...”.
The officer's face turned impatient, ”Bapak please look in the newspaper in the airport lobby. And if there is no need for the father, may you step aside for a while because the queue behind the father is waiting.”
The young man left the counter and went to the shelf of the newspaper in question. Take one copy and open it. His breath was restrained when he found the date on the left corner of the paper was August 19, 1999.
***
”Come, Danu! You should be here. If you go too I do not know where else to look,” Yudi grumbled in his heart.
It was not until five minutes that the door was opened from the inside and his friend came out with a matted face. He looked at Yudi with a half-disbelieving expression to find his friend standing on the porch of his house, ”Yudi?” Danu asked doubtfully. ”This is really you?”
Yudi did not need to give an answer because Danu then hugged him tightly, as if his friend had just recovered his lost valuables. After that Yudi bombarded Danu with stories, ranging from when he was late to take a plane to Jakarta, staying at the mysterious Mirna house, to strange events at the airport. Finally Yudi asked, ”What's true now in August?”
Only then did Yudi realize Danu's tired-looking face, his friend replied without passion ”How about we go in and the story inside.”
The living room of Danu's house looks different from usual. The furniture and furniture in the place looks messy as if it is in the stage of packing. Yudi's eyes were fixed on the baby cot that could be assembled-despite being in a neatly stacked state, when it was remembered a strange dream at Mirna's house. He turned to Danu, ”Kok looks like you also want to go like Felds? What happened to Indri?”
Danu was surprised to hear Yudi's words, ”Where did you know?”
Yudi just shrugged, ”Gue experienced many strange things at Mirna's house, and the dream about Indri who miscarried was one of them.”
The young man realized he did not need to wait for an answer from Danu because the look on his friend's face had given a clear response. Danu looks pale, tired, with watery red eyes that seem to object propped up by eye bags on the bottom that are swollen gray. Yudi repeated his words in a soft manner and
slowly, ”So right?”
Danu cupped her face with a pair of palms, seemingly trying to hold back the crying that was about to break. Yudi immediately understood that what was in his dream was not just a dream.maybe it was a kind of vision he did not realize earlier.and the anger in Yudi's chest overflowed.
So it was true that the monster had done something evil to his best friend. He did not know how until Yudi just silently stared, letting Danu dissolve in sadness until his friend calmed down and found the strength to tell everything.
Starting from the night that his friend left his wife, Indri, sleeping alone in the room to finish the pile of reports and in the midst of his busyness suddenly heard the screams of the wife. Without a second thought Danu ran to the room and found Indri's bedsheet covered with blood, while the owner of the middle room cried out in unison, some times hissing weakly as if trying to say something was taking their baby.
Yudi's heart felt empty once he found that Indri's miscarriage really happened in real life. It's just different from him, Danu thinks the tragedy experienced by Indri due to fatigue, which strengthened the diagnosis of obstetricians who said the content of Indri in a weak condition so that doctors are not sure whether the baby can last more than two months. The doctor gave the drug for the recovery process after miscarriage with the advice of rest for three days in the hospital, which was rejected outright by Indri and instead packed the goods to leave Bontang.
Every detail of Danu's story corresponds to what Yudi saw in his dream. No more and no less. Maybe Danu missed the cat thing.or the figure of an old granny with her ball of green light...something was natural because the man had not been in the room when it happened but what happened after Indri screamed everything was exactly the same. Even Yudi still remembers how Danu carried the poor woman to the car to be taken to the hospital.
”Herannya Indri insisted on saying the monster who took our baby on one occasion, then on another occasion he called the cat as the ringleader. Maybe you don't believe it but Indri also so often screams in fear every time he sees the animal,” Danu stopped for a moment to catch his breath. ”...psychiatrist says such trauma is common when a person loses the most valuable thing in his life.”
”In other words his soul is disturbed?” Yudi could not accept that the psychiatrist could draw the wrong conclusion. On the other hand Indri was right about the cat because the girl knew exactly what was happening, and the trauma was something natural as a negative effect.
”Ya..” Danu answered softly.
”Then what did they do to Indri?”
”Treatment in hospital in Yogya.”
”Elu send him home?”
”Indri insists on asking for it.”
”Gue is concerned..”.
”No matter what the doctor says.” Danu responded softly. ”If you want to be honest, actually our lives both end even though life goes on. I submitted my resignation from the company last week, that counts today.”.
”Not mean you have to go from here, right?” sela Yudi at once opened a confrontation.
”What can I do after Indri insists on not coming back? It's impossible for me to stay here with such sad memories. I must accompany Indri. Next you already know..”.
Yudi looked at Danu's face and nodded slowly, ”Yeah, I know.and I'm sure you make personnel confused after the Felds.” family thing.
Danu smiled blandly, ”Not only am I making personnel confused, you know. All I heard was personnel even calling your mother to Jakarta. The answer is even confusing because it says you are not in Jakarta.”
”They did that?” ask Yudi in shock.
”What do you expect from a person who disappeared for three months? Waiting phone? I wish I could call your mother if I knew her number. Everyone doesn't know where you are. nobody...”.
This means that Yudi's secret has been revealed. His company already knew he was not coming back to Jakarta, and that his father was not as ill or dying as he was used as an excuse, so it feels useless if he hopes to work again as usual at the place because the management must have made a letter of PHK and can not wait to give it to him when he returned.
***