Secret Denis
Eighteen

The sound of birds chirping down on the branches. Desau wind blew on the leaves accompanied by the rumbling sound of river water at the bottom of the valley. Occasionally the sound of bamboo trees rubbing against each other with their ends winding in the wind.

Denis stared at the real beauty of nature before his eyes. From the cliff near Darman's stilt house, he can see to the cliff across. The green color covers a wide panorama. The thick trees made him unable to see what was behind it. Maybe also if there are people in other places who look at it, then they will not be able to see the existence of the house or more precisely the saung belonging to Darman.

Denis admired the creation of the Nature Owner. The river runs down there. Trees lined up along it. The green leaves are like a carpet that stretches across the valley. His clear eyes continued to browse every affordable place with his neutrality. So fresh in view.

A faint moaning sound rang out from within Darman's house obscuring his daydream. He immediately turned his body into a simple room that kept a helpless body figure that had only been lying dormant for the past few days.

Denis sat down next to Alex. His eyes sparkled to see the frowning motion on Alex's face that began to be overgrown with fine fur on the side.

"Alex." Call slowly. His eyes can not be separated from the face of the man who since a few days ago he treated painstakingly without being known by the owner of the body.

Those eyes are still closed. But the clenching of his lips and tongue that moved weakly made Denis immediately take a cup of water that was not far from where the body was lying. Scooping a little water and attached to the lips that look dry. For a moment he saw the man move. Signs there's a response from Alex's body.

Denis smiled happily. In spirit he returned to scooping a little water and repeating what he had done earlier.

"A little bit, Den. Don't be too much." Darman's voice made Denis turn towards the entrance. Darman stood there watching Alex.

"It looks like he's conscious, Mr. Darman." Denis's eyes sparkled.

"It looks so." Darman's approaching. Sit opposite Denis. His attention was on Alex. Her hand touched Alex's wrist. He lifted his eyes towards Denis.

"He seems to be fine. We're just waiting for him to be fully conscious."

"Surely sure?"

"We have to be sure. Alex will get through this."

Denis nodded. Look at Darman examining Alex's chest wound. It seems to have dried up and does not require the addition of drugs anymore. Every day the man made herbs that he concocted from the leaves that he could in the woods around his house. Denis helped the man stick his concoction drugs on a nested bullet scar.

It turns out that the drug Darman concocted works well.

"Where do you know this herbal remedy?" Denis asked Darman that. "The father also managed to get a bullet out of Alex's chest. How could you do this?"

"Who is the real father? Why stay in this remote place alone? Where's the father's family?"

There were a lot of questions in Denis's mind. He reveals to the man on the sidelines that they are taking care of Alex.

Then the story flowed from the old man. Turns out he's a surgeon at a top hospital in town. One day he had an operation to remove a bullet from a child who had suffered a gunshot wound. The boy was shot by a stray bullet unknown where it came from. That's according to the boy's father's story.

The child's parents were very hopeful for Darman who played the role of the head doctor who handled the operation at that time. Too bad, fate willed another. The boy died on the operating table. The father of the boy was very hysterical and angry at Darman. He blamed Darman for his son's death.

He's very vengeful. He reported Darman to the police. Turns out he's a powerful man. In an instant Darman had lost his job and moved into an iron trellis. He was imprisoned for a long time without being able to defend himself.

In prison he gets various violence from fellow inmates. Darman has to go through his days so hard. Once he almost died when he got a stab wound on his stomach in a fight. But God still protects her. He could have survived the event. He was later transferred to another prison after the incident.

His suffering is not just that. The wife who was expected to be an encouragement for her life even asked for a divorce at that time. Darman is at the lowest point of his life.

When he gets out of prison, he can't find his wife and a son. He must also continue to avoid the men of the man who had put him in prison. Looks like that guy still holds a grudge against Darman. He continues to hunt Darman through his men.

Darman keeps avoiding people who intend to harm him. So he finally chose to isolate himself in a remote place and alone.

He built a saung for him to live on a cliff far from the reach of people. Protected in the thick foliage. He began his activity by looking for fish in the river. Initially he sought fish for his own consumption as a means to survive. But over time, he sold it to the people and exchanged it for his other needs.

That's the story Darman told Denis. Only a whisper and a headband accompanies Denis when he hears a speech from a man who appears older than his actual age. With a beard left to cover his jaw, and long, shabby hair, he covered up his true identity. Denis doesn't even know if Darman is his real name.

Regarding the herbal treatment he mastered, Darman said that he had indeed studied it. And he actually prefers herbal medicine over chemical medicine.

*****

That morning, as usual, Darman went to the village of people in the upper part of the valley. He set up a fish trap in the afternoon yesterday and picked it up in the morning. When he gets a lot of results, he will bring it to be sold and the result will be that he will buy rice or things that if he needs to survive.

Denis sat on the doorstep staring at the river below from the sidelines of the trees.

"Dennis." A faint faint voice pierced his ear drum. Denis jerks. He sharpened his hearing. Fear is just a hallucination.

"Dennis." The voice was heard again.

Denis turned his body. Look at Alex lying behind him. Those eyes, eyes that have been closed for several days, appear to be glittering under the light from outside. Denis immediately dragged his body closer to Alex.

"Alex?"

A faint smile loomed over Alex's dry lips. Denis immediately gave him a drink using a spoon as he usually did. Alex refused it. He's trying to get up. Denis grabbed the man by the shoulder, helping him get out of position. Leaning his body at the door of the house, Alex closed his eyes for a moment.

He opened it again and found Denis who did not take his eyes off the man's face.

"Where are you feeling? What do you feel?" Denis immediately flocked him with a question when Alex's eyes opened.

"I feel better." Alex with a weak voice. "Am I still alive?" The question that made Denis smile.

"Dearly enough. You're still alive, you should be dead, right? So am I."

Alex smiled weakly at Denis. His eyes circled where he was now.

"You're sober?" darman's voice interrupted Alex's question. He came in and sat down in front of Alex.

Alex looked at the man then with a questionable look at Denis.

"This is Mr. Darman. He helped us both." Denis answered Alex's unspoken curiosity.

"Thank you very much Mr. Darman. I don't know, how to return my father's favor to me." Alex looked at the old man. Heartfelt words came from his lips.

"Not to think about. Now the important thing is that you have to recover first. Rest."

*****

Alex fed the rice to his mouth with trembling hands. Some days his body does not move making his muscles feel stiff and powerless. His hands fell to his side. Seeing that Denis felt unbearable.

"Gue will bribe you."

Denis took over the plastic plate in front of Alex. He started to take a little rice and feed it into Alex's mouth. Slowly Alex chewed the rice that went into his mouth. Staring at Denis who seemed uncomfortable for bribing him using his hands directly. Their close distance allows Alex to see a reddish hue on Denis' face. Only then did Alex realize that Denis's face was too smooth for a man.

"Let me just." Alex pulls the plate from Denis's hand. Back trying to activate his limbs. He should recover soon. There are many things he needs to finish immediately.

Denis leaves Alex and returns with drinking water for Alex. Put it next to the man and choose to sit on the side of the door facing out back to Alex. His increasingly elongated hair fluttered in the wind of the valley.

Without realizing it, Alex watched Denis from behind. There was a question Alex had never thought of. Who is Denis? Why is she.at a glance like..someone.women?

Alex shook his head with his eyes closed. Extinguishing the crazy thoughts that suddenly flashed just like that.

Am I out of my mind, why imagine Denis being a woman? Have I turned into a same-sex guy for taking too long with Denis?

Alex spends his rice slowly. He forced the food into his stomach even though it still felt very strange in his tongue. The desire to recover immediately made him ignore all that.

"Thank God you can eat. I hope you recover soon." Darman passed through Denis' body at the door.

"This is your outfit. Sorry just old clothes. But I think it'll be appropriate if you wear it." Darman puts a shirt and trousers near Alex.

"thank you. You have done a lot of good for me."

"Bad is glad to be able to help you. Nothing is happier than seeing the benefits of what we do."

Darman smiled sincerely. A smile rubbed against Alex's face.

*****

With a limp step Alex out of a place that became a bathhouse behind the Darman stage house. A place covered with flat mountain stones and black. Water gushed incessantly from a shower from the cliff wall. The color is clear and very cold when touching the skin falls on the mountain rock.

The bath was covered in a wall of coconut leaves arranged around it. Not too close, but not too open.

Denis was hesitant when going to use the bath for the first time. But Darman assures her that it's safe because no one else will peek inside the bath. After all, Darman thinks that Denis is a man so it does not matter if you take a bath in the open.

Alex looked fresher after bathing in mountain water. He slightly shivered as his body was blown by the wind coming from the direction of the valley. The clothes given by Darman turned out to be very fitting with his body.

He sits on the doorstep. Denis was there. While Darman appears to be burning fish in the furnace in front of his house.

"Did Mr Darman live here alone?" Alex asked while watching the man.

"That's how." Darman again recounted a short history of himself so that he was in the same place as he told Denis. Deftly his hands flipped the fish over the charcoal while his left hand fanned the charcoal to keep it smoldering.

"Are you not afraid to be alone here?" Alex asked again after Darman finished telling the story.

"No. It feels very peaceful here. There is only serenity and natural beauty that calms the soul." The man smiled.

"Has no one ever come to this place?"

"So far there is none. If under the river sometimes there are people from the village who come to fish. Over there is the rice field of the people." Darman pointed downwards. Alex and Denis follow Darman's lead. That place is far from where they are at the moment. "He used to be cut down these are the gardens of the population. But now no one wants to take care of him so left abandoned like this. A wilderness. Fortunately, there are no wild animals. Most pythons or **** lost forest."

Darman at length gave information to two of his guests. They did not feel their conversation so that the fish had been burned. Darman tells Denis to lift the place used to cook the rice. While he brought the fish that had been burned to the bale in front of his stilt house.

They sat on a bamboo bale with rice steaming in their midst. The smell of grilled fish entering the sense of smell signals to the brain to make the stomach wrapped around asking to be filled immediately.

Not waiting for long, the three people immediately ate the food in front of them. Alex seems to have started eating with normal portions. Darman seemed happy when he saw Alex who was greedy eating his food. The voices of Darman and Alex alternated between their mouthfuls. Denis only chimed in occasionally. He is more of a listener than a speaker.

The twilight wind brought a coldness that began to feel piercing the skin. A burst of sunlight broke through the leaves and sank further behind the towering cliffs. The night beast began to come out of hiding, waiting its turn to wander in the untouched wilderness of man.

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*****