The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 39

Finally we were going home, Magisna cheered in her heart. We'll be home.

The house!

Magisna just realized she wasn't thinking about her parents all day.

Yeah, God! How happy to meet them, he thought glad. If I could meet them again, he added bitterly.

The rain had stopped, but time had gone by. Outside the window, the back of the house lay in the darkness.

I can't believe I've been here two days, Magisna thought. Doesn't anyone care about us?

Peering out the window, Magisna tiptoed to the phone table and grabbed the phone handle. Hopefully the phone is connected, he thought.

It still seems broken. No dial tone. Just a rustling sound.

Sighing in despair, Magisna put the phone back on and followed Hendra across the room to the small jacket storage room.

The stairs crackling. Gabe stepped down after turning off all the lights and tightly closing his jacket. Dusk followed behind him without speaking.

Magisna hurriedly turned her face away, unwilling to interact with the ghost.

Across the room, the fire began to extinguish into a lump of gray coals that were weeping. The lights on the phone table are now the only light in the room in the form of a yellow cone.

Gabe grabbed the front door handle and started opening the door. Then it suddenly stopped and turned into the room. His eyes stared at the glass box in the corner of the room near the fireplace.

Oh, naw! Magisna. He'll carry a gun. The thought made his back goosebumps. He froze in the middle of the room, watching Gabe overcome with fear. His heart seemed to stop beating. Can't breathe.

Hendra glued to Gabe without saying a word. Then look at Magisna. In silence, their eyes spoke to each other, as if they had found a new way of communicating in silence.

Gabe rushed across the room. Magisna chased after him and grabbed the shoulder of his jacket.

"We don't need weapons" Magisna said.

"We're not going to use it. Just in case!" Gabe is flat. Then rushed towards the gun rack, opened the glass door, took out a gun, and approached Hendra. "Hold the gun until I can start the car, I'll get it!"

"Gosah was worried" said Hendra, then checked his barrel. "Gua has never used a gun."

Magisna buyak sebal. I hate firearms, her mind. I hate being in a room with guns. I hate to see Hendra walking towards me with a loaded gun. And I hate seeing his looks. Looks like saying, Nih, my style is cool. Funky gayaku.

Hendra grinning.

Magisna believes Hendra is just a shrewd, self-confident pretender. But fool, he thought. Just a few minutes and we'll be outside. The sooner we get outside, the better.

Somehow Magisna felt that coming out of the cottage was ninety percent of the struggle.

"Come on!" Gabe opened the front door and they all stepped out into the darkness of the night.

The cold air that suddenly invaded made Magisna gasp for breath. Temperatures must have dropped ten degrees compared to when it was raining.

The wind has stopped. Everything seemed frozen. Even their breath was misty as they followed Gabe around the side of the cottage.

The dim atmosphere makes Magisna's eyes feel a little sore and watery. He felt as if he saw everything through broken glass, dark glass that made things look strange.

The ground level in the back yard was still wet and their shoes made a clucking sound as they walked hand in hand through the puddles, crossing the grassy field towards the shed.

None of them spoke. Even Dusk. It was as if their voices were frozen as well.

Stayed a few meters away from the warehouse when Magisna turned her head towards the cottage. A yellowish glow shimmered from one of the bedrooms upstairs. The shadow looks gloomy.

Magisna could not confirm whether the light was coming from Gabe's room or from the guest room he had originally occupied.

Hendra and Dusk had arrived first and tried to open the door of the warehouse, pulling a large latch made of iron.

A strong wind suddenly blew, swirling towards them from the direction of the cottage as if it was revolting against them and holding the barn door closed.

Magisna shivered as she sped up her pace towards the warehouse, catching up with Hendra and the others.

Hendra and Dusk pulled him again, forcing him to his full strength. The door swung open a few inches, then stopped. Hendra finally managed to remove the door latch, then pressed both hands on the doorstep and pulled it.

Then it jammed again.

With a gargle, Hendra pulled him even stronger, leaning his body far back as if he was about to fall.

Gabe eventually intervenes and helps Hendra pull him off.

The door finally opened wide enough for the Jeep to pass through.

Gabe and Hendra gasped for breath, their frozen breaths evaporating the gray mist in the pitch-black sky.

The Magisna realized. Dusk is not helpful!

He could move the doors of the cottage that was not too big, move light items, but not powerful enough to move the warehouse door whose hinges were already rusted.

"Let's go in!" Gabe stepped up first.

Hendra and Magisna followed him, huddling into a dark warehouse.

When they entered, Magisna heard the sound of small animals running fast. Probably rats. Inside the warehouse was even darker than in the backyard, but Gabe didn't seem to bother turning on the lights.

"Let's ride!" gabe's orders are in the dark.

It's dark here, Magisna thought. He could barely step to the other end of the warehouse.

Magisna walked a few steps while clutching Hendra's jacket sleeve, crossing the hard, cold ground floor frozen as strong winds slammed the door shut behind them.

Magisna screamed in surprise and turned away, terrified.

"There's nobody here" Gabe scolded him. "It's just the wind!"

The pile of straw creaked on his feet, followed by a cursory squeaking sound like a giggle.

Any more? Magisna groaned inwardly, scolding herself. It's just a rat!

Magisna stared at the door.

Hendra pushed him again until the door opened and got caught in a haystack that was strewn across the floor.

Magisna's heart was pounding. His whole body was shivering, the cold was mixed with fear. Now I just know what it's like to "shiver to the bone" Magisna thought.

"Why are there no lights?" Hendra protest.

"No need," said Gabe flatly. "The car keys are in my hands. I can start a Jeep in the dark."

"It's bad now!" shouted Hendra.

Behind him, the wind blew fiercely against the open barn door.

Magisna approached Hendra, close enough to see that he looked terrified.

Hendra led his way through the darkness.

They had almost reached the middle of the barn, Hendra's boots making a loud crackle on the hard floor. Something flew over his head.

Magisna screamed again. "What is a bat?"

"No. It's butterflies!" kelakar Hendra's.

"Let's get inside the Jeep!" Gabe urged impatiently. Dusk had already slipped in the passenger seat next to him.

Magisna squinted her eyes, forcing her to see what was flying over their heads. But when he lowered his eyes, he saw a figure right in front of them.

A man, standing on a pole…

Stare at them!