The Devil's Legs Upside
Bloody Footprints

“Lim .. Still wake?” (Lim ... Still up?)

“Huh?”

I got up from the bed and glanced at Lim's bed which was on top of my bed. Lim seemed to respond indifferently to my words, while continuing to focus on the game on his smartphone.

“Do you understand Hindi?” (You know Indian, don't you?)

“Not even a word” (No idea) he said indifferently

I hissed disappointed, not because of Lim's indifferent attitude to me, but because none of us understood Hindi (in Indian). A few moments later Lim appeared to be upset, with the Chinese I did not understand the meaning. He then turned off his smartphone with emotion, and let out a long sigh.

“Lose huh?” (Yes, yeah?)

“You bet ... The signal here is absurd! Gaaahh!” (Obviously .. The signal here is very strange! Ohhhh!) Lim was upset.

“Don’t play online game” (Don't play online games) Said me while bending over, then back lying on my mattress.

“What’s that for?” (What was that for?) Ask Lim

“What?” (What?)

“That Hindi things” (India earlier)

“Ohh ... You remember Gagan, Lim?” (Ohh ... You remember Gagan, Lim?)

I started to tell Lim the incident this afternoon. If I didn't hear wrong, the word ‘Pretni’ spoken by Gagan at that time, must be Indian. I was really curious about the meaning of the word, whether something insignificant (a dirty word or a prayer to a God) or something else. I think the word is related to the disappearance of an old European worker carrying a cardboard bulb.

“That kid is a weirdo” (That kid is weird) Lim said.

The words were harsh, but I agreed with him. Lim thinks it's possible the worker returned to the Generator-Compressor Platform. Although I told him that I had only been looking at Gagan for a few seconds, Lim still convinced me not to worry. The discussion tonight ended with both of our eyes closed.

……………………………………………………………………………………..

This morning the weather was so cloudy. The blowing sea breeze makes the temperature cooler, because there is no warm sunlight. I walked down the Well-head Platform bridge in Lim's thick coat. And Lim himself, seems to have gotten used to the cold air. He laughed as I began to shiver in the cold.

The Well-head Platform gate was already visible, I could even vaguely see the stairs of the Well-head monitor room where we worked. Suddenly, from the stairs came down several people in droves. Just now I was going to ask Lim what happened –because he walked a little ahead of me - he already pulled me to the edge of the bridge. Suddenly, another group of workers came from behind us running. What the hell's going on? In the blink of an eye, the entire Well-head Platform room was crowded with people.

Lim immediately pulled me running through the crowd, into the Well-head Platform. With great difficulty we managed to break through the crowd to get inside. On the porch of the monitor room stairs, I saw Mr.Teigl and some of his staff - who always followed him - coming down and breaking through the crowd. They then head towards the Generator-Compressor Platform bridge. Their faces looked serious and scared. I could see sweat drenching his face, before a sea of clustered workers swallowed them out of my sight. This morning the air was so cold.

Lim and I were wondering what was going on. We then ventured through the crowd of workers, to the mouth of the Generator-Compressor Platform bridge. This time I was sweating. Not because of the stuffy crowd, but because of my memory of what happened last afternoon. Does this have anything to do with what happened yesterday?

“The hell are you doing here, kid?!”(What are you doing here, boy?!)

Snapped by one of the workers whose bodies were accidentally elbowed by Lim, as we tried to break through the crowd. Lim glared at his cynical solids, but I smiled to melt the atmosphere.

“Sir, what’s going on?” (Sir, what's going on?)

“Some workers found some bloody footsteps” (Some workers found bloody footprints)

“Blood-what?!” (Bloody-What?!) Jengit Lim was shocked.

“Where?!” (Where?!) I said more frantically, cutting off Lim's words.

“At bridge, Near Generator-Compressor gate” (On bridge, near Generator-Compressor gate)

My heart was pounding so hard, I immediately pulled Lim's hand and ran through the crowd. I who initially was not too interested in finding out, actually ran the front right now.

With great difficulty, we finally reached the center of the crowd. As the worker said, the crowd was driving around the corner of the bridge near the Generator-Compressor gate, right where I hit an old European worker yesterday afternoon. My heart is pounding faster.

“Did he, or she? Jump?” (Is it a man, or a woman? Jumping)

“With that bloody foot?” (With bleeding feet?)

Mr. Teigl was there too, chatting with some of his staff. I looked up my head a little to find out what they were looking at. My blood rippled fiercely flowing into the crown, my eyes widened in shock in disbelief. I saw some bloody footprints on the bridge floor, right where I swept the shards of the bulb yesterday. The footprints led to the edge of the bridge and disappeared. As if the owner of the palm was walking and jumping ... into the high seas?

“We should check all workers! Find who is missing today, or some women” (We have to check all the workers! Find who's missing today, or an eyewitness?) Mr.Teigl's orders to his staff.

“I Think I know, Sir” (Looks like I know, Sir) I said quietly.

Although it was slow, even half-whispering, that remark was enough to make everyone there turn their heads. And all eyes were on me.

“It? Umm ... I think, Sir” (That? Umm .. It seems, Sir)

“What do you mean ‘I Think’ kids!” (What do you mean, boy? Seems like?) Sindir one of Mr. Teigl's fat staff.

Lim immediately squinted at the staff, he was deeply offended by the remark.

“I think the one who is missing is .. I dunno his name but, I met him yesterday” (In my opinion, the missing worker is, but yesterday I met him) I said a little stammering.

“A man?” (Male?) sahut staff Mr. Other teigl.

“He is a worker from Generator-Compressor Platform, an old man with a short-whited hair, and .. umm … he brought a box full of bulbs” (He was a worker of the Generator-Compressor Platform, an old Father with short gray hair .. umm .. he carried a box full of bulb lights)

“Bulbs? You’gotta be kidding me!” (bulb? You are kidding me!) The staff that mocked me earlier.

“I think, Sir ..” (I think like that, Sir)

“Again, this stupid ‘I Think’ ... Darn Kid!”  (‘Looks’ again ... basic boy!)

Lim grabbed the staff shirt and lifted it up. He was about to throw a punch from the hand that he had clenched so strongly since. But me and some other staff quickly broke them both. Then there was a commotion between us.

“Calm down! Calm down's! Everybody please hold your emotion, we got some serious problem here” (Patience! Be patient! Everyone please hold your emotions, we have a serious problem here) Mr. Teigl immediately broke up Lim and the staff. Instantly the commotion subsided as Mr.Teigl spoke.

“Sir I’m not one hundred percent sure but .. I crashed with him” (Master, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but ..

“So you the one who push him!” (So you pushed him down!)  Shout that asshole again.

“MY FRIEND IS NOT A KILLER YOU PIG!” (MY FRIEND IS NOT A KILLER, BA**!) Snap Lim.

He then broke away from the clutches of some of the workers who had run through it earlier, and immediately grabbed the fat staff. Several other staffers got in the way, but Lim's kung-fu movement caused the staff to collapse immediately.

“LIM! STOP!” I screamed loudly.

Knowing that Lim was so emotional, I quickly withdrew his hand. Immediately I calmed him down, with such a move, I was sure, Lim could knock everyone off this bridge.

“You two!! Don’t mess around!” (Both of you!! Don't screw up!!) snapped Mr.Teigl.

The person I knew all along was always smiling, now showing his fierce face in front of me. It really gave me horrified goosebumps, and it seemed, the whole person there was also instantly speechless in fear.

“*This is a situation gentlemen! I need you to understand, this is another missing person in this month!” (It's a precarious situation gentlemen! I want you to understand, this is the case of the umpteenth missing person for this month)

WHAY?? ANOTHER??? My eyes were shocked. So this isn't the first incident? The entire gathered workers instantly roared noisily. They argue with each other, raising their concerns.

“Sir! There is another witness, beside me” (Master! There were other eyewitnesses, besides me) I said courageously.

“It’s Gagan, The Helper!” (That's Gagan.. Si Helper) Lim added firmly.

“Gagan? That Hindi boy?” (Gagan's? The Indian boy?) said Mr.Teigl astonished.

“Yes, Sir .. I think we should ask hi..” (True Mr... Looks like we have to ask ..)

“Enough Mr's. Dimas ... You’re joking” (Enough, Mr.Dimas .. You are joking) hiss Mr. Disappointed teigl.

I was so surprised to hear that. Mr. Teigl suddenly didn't believe me right away. He even threw a cynical look at me.

“BAH! Hahahaha!” Laughter of that fat staff.

I just bowed silently, clutching Lim's shoulder hard. Either because I wanted to block his explosive emotions, or I was actually trying to hold back my own emotions. What's wrong with my words?

“Mr.Teigl!!!”

Suddenly two workers came over panting. One of them is Hah! Julia?! Julia looked at me with a face so puffy, like she was crying. An old blond European man who shouted earlier then started talking to us.

“I think this Asian boy is right, Sir!” (It looks like this Asian kid is right, Mister!)