The Devil's Legs Upside
The Jumping Worker
We all came out of Mr. Teigl's room with pale faces. More so Julia, her eyes looked so puffy. Actually I was going to say hello and calm him down, but he went to go by with the Chief Divisor. Looks like Julia's avoiding me, does she really think I'm the one who pushed down Mr. Dennis?
“Just give the rest to police ..” (Make this matter to the Police ..) Lim said as he patted me on the shoulder. It seems he realized the turmoil of my heart when he saw Julia walking away earlier. I could only look at my best friend while snorting in annoyance.
Lim and I then returned to our study as usual. No one seems to be suspicious of our delay. Abeba looks busy with his work, he is like a robot that continues to type in front of a laptop. Then some of Mr.Teigl's staff came in after us. They immediately glared, as if giving a code so as not to tell what happened today. I looked down, taking my eyes off them. Of course I know what to keep secret.
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I have to interrogate Gagan, I murmured in my heart. He must know something! Gagan must have noticed when Mr. Dennis jumped off the bridge when I was off guard with a flake of a bulb. How could Mr. Teigl and the other workers ignore his words? She was a child, and her English was not very good. But he was a key witness to yesterday afternoon, I think. What is he yelling? What was he afraid of running? I have to question him.
When our working hours were coming to an end, I used that time to drive around to the desks of other employees. I asked them one by one about Gagan. I wonder where he lives in this Bridge. Lim watched me from a distance, he immediately understood and rushed to help me, by asking other workers I had not had time to ask. We both ended up going around this monitor room. From a distance, Abeba was seen observing our strange motions.
“What’s wrong with you guys? Suddenly looking for that Hindi boy ..” (You guys why the hell? Suddenly looking for the Indian boy.).
“We miss his coffee .. Hahaha!” (We miss his coffee .. Hahaha!) kelit Lim relaxed.
We both ignored Abeba and went back to questioning the workers in the monitor room. In the end, our efforts were not in vain. There was one of the workers who knew where Gagan lived. The worker was also one of the workers in Mr. Teigl's room this afternoon. He slightly mocked us, because he bothered to believe Gagan's words. The worker later told me that when the two workers went missing, Gagan said the same thing 'Pretni'. Oh yes, I had an idea for a search on google what is 'Pretni'. Soon I took out my Smartphone from my pants pocket and started surfing the Internet.
“So that means, Gagan was also there when that two dissap ..” (So, Gagan was also there when the two men went crazy ...)
“SSSSSHHHHHH!!” The worker's whisper, stopped Lim's sentence.
Almost all the employees in the room looked at the three of us because of Lim's loud voice. I looked at them all clumsily with a smile, then kicked Lim's leg, making him smile.
“Watch your mouth, Kid! Not all people here know the missing case of Mr Brad and Miss Dunn!” (So your mouth, Asia! Not everyone here knows about Mr.Brad's disappearance!)
Oho! I finally know the name of the engineer I replaced, Mr.Brad! Not only that, I now know, that the disappearance of the two men is unknown to all workers. According to him, other workers thought Mr.Brad ran away with Miss Dunn by using an oil carrier from the Production Platform. All thanks to the words of Mr.Teigl, when in fact he did not know where the two Engineers disappeared to this day. Their case will be investigated by the police later.
“If you look for that Hindi boy.. Take a look at Generator-Compressor Platform” (If you are looking for that Indian boy... Take a look at the Generator-Compressor Platform).
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“Hindi’s Myhtical Ghost ..” (Host of Indian Mythology ..)
“Hindi .. what?” (India ... what?)
“Pretni... The thing that Gagan said .. The one that I mention before” (Pretni.... Yang Gagan said yesterday.
“A Ghost?” (Ghost?)
“A Female .. ummm” (Female ... umm) I scroll down the website I browse it “Long-haired and ..” (Long hair and..)
“Hah .. You believe in such thing, Dima?” (Hah ... Do you believe that, Dima?)
The two of us discussed, all the way to the Generator-Compressor Platform. We did not waste time, after knowing where Gagan lived, that afternoon after work we rushed to go there.
To get to the Generator-Compressor Platform, we had to rotate far past our Living Platform. That's because the bridge connecting the Well-head Platform with the Generator-Compressor Platform was temporarily closed, of course to secure the bloody footprints, authentic evidence that will be seen by the police tomorrow. I'm sure not many people know the reason for the bridge closure, only people who know about this terrible case know the reason.
The thick fog blocked the view when we reached the Living Platform bridge. The lighting on the bridge is immediately turned on, because it is indeed the day starting in the afternoon. All this day, the sun did not appear at all, as if afraid of something. So does everyone who knows about this case, what exactly is going on?
“Sigh .. My brain is twisted” (Duh..
“Hah .. whatever it is, only Gagan can answer” (Hah ... Whatever it is, only Gagan can answer)
Lim's words were right, only he knew.
Our move finally came to the bridge between Living Platform and Generator-Compressor Platform. From a distance, I could see a beautiful woman standing staring blankly at the ocean.
“Julia!”
Responding to my greeting, Julia immediately turned her head. I thought he was still angry with me, but he seemed to respond to my greeting and even approached us. But the scale stopped, when there was an African man who suddenly passed from the direction of the Generator-Compressor Platform. The man was a big body, so big that Julia had to pull over a little as she passed by. The man was black, black-faced and thin-haired, like an American or African negro. The man walked slowly and continued to bow his head to the bridge. Lim and I pulled over, waiting for the man to pass.
The man walked so slowly. He stepped so stiffly, because he wore his shoes upside down with the hood facing the back. The three of us observed his strange behavior closely. The man's face was so pale and blue, he kept looking down at the floor. It seems that he is not healthy. For some reason, that sick pale face reminded me of someone. Oho!
“Hey sir! Are you okay?” (Hey Sir! You all right?) Greet Julia from behind. He even took a few steps forward, about to touch the body of the African man, but did not.
“Hey ... You got a lot of bruises down there, Bro” (Hey .. Lots of bruises on your feet, Bro.) Lim said spontaneously as the man approached.
The bruise? (Leham?) Responding to lim's remark, my eyes that were staring at his pale face immediately glanced back at the man's feet. I saw the skin of his slightly tattered foot was –because it was wearing shoes without socks-filled bruises. Then I glanced back at his face. Instantly I realized that the pale blue color on his face was also a bruise, his face was covered with bruises?
His gaze, which daritadi looked down on it, then looked straight at Lim. He glared at us both. Naturally, Lim responded fiercely to the plot, as if challenging him to a fight. Then the African looked down again, looking at the bruises on his feet. He leaned over and began to take off his shoes.
The shoe flipped slowly, with the shape of his legs that were also upside down. Both of his legs twisted backwards. The soles of the feet that should be in front of it, turn back, following the fingers. It is precisely his heels that are in front, as well as the eyes of the feet whose bones protrude. The soles of the feet are upside down…
Julia cried out hysterically, while closing both her eyes with her hands. Lim who had been putting up fierce horses immediately took a few steps back and almost fell down. Unlike them, I rushed to the African man.
“What the hell! The sir! You’re Injured!” (Wire! The master! You're hurt!)
The man just stared at me blankly. This time I could clearly see bruises all over his face. Quickly, I immediately withdrew his hand, I intend to take him to the wellness room on the Living Platform. Apparently, the man's hand was also covered with bruises.
“WAAAAA!!!! PRETNII!!”
From the direction of the Generator-Compressor Platform gate suddenly appeared Gagan. He screamed loudly, exactly as he yelled at me yesterday afternoon. We all looked at him, including the man.
However, the man turned towards Gagan with his body still facing me. His head rotated 180 degrees with a twisted neck. The sound of a broken ‘krek’ bone was clearly heard from his neck. The first time I saw it, it fell backwards. My hands shook violently, trying to hold my body, while my heart was like being electrocuted. My mouth can't scream even if I want to, instead of the ones who scream are Gagan and Julia.
The twisted head turned towards making the crack on his neck increasingly become. Julia screamed louder. I crawled back and forth, realizing that this was not human in front of me. The head then turned back towards me, for a moment it looked back to normal.
The man got up and then started laughing screeching. His upturned legs tried to stack his large body with great difficulty. Back, the sound of ‘krek-krek’ broken bones sounded every foot was moving. The four of us could only grin and scream, our bodies stiffened with fear. Then, surprisingly, the man jumped off the bridge, and free-falled the sea.
We all couldn't believe what was happening, nor could I believe what I just saw. But Lim, hurrying to glance towards the sea to make sure that what we saw was real. He looked so frightened, cold sweat pouring down his temple. Lim then turned back towards us.
“What the FCK was that?!*” (What was that just?!)