The Van Til House: STRAF SABBAT
Chapiter 5's

Hendra guided his way out and into the main room again. So far the situation is safe.

"Where are we?" ask Dika.

"Please choose a direction" Hendra offered.

"Dam!" hiss Magisna. "During horror!"

All speechless. Footsteps ticking on the tiles.

Magisna's heart began to thump. This time it's not afraid of tomato-sauce-this is real. "The head of the school is coming!" he whispered.

"Road of the road" cried Hendra. He pushed Dika towards the exit to their left.

"Don't!" novi Protest. "He's there now!"

"No, he's not there" Dika said. He pointed at the exit on the right. "He's here."

Footsteps echoed in the walls and ceiling of the canteen.

Magisna felt tense, but could not tell where the voice was coming from.

"Splash," whispered Magisna. "He's coming."

"Back to class" Novi ordered.

"Don't" Hendra replied. "He's gonna knock us out. Tau gua street. Come on."

He returned to the kitchen.

Magishna followed.

As they walked past the enormous stainless steel cabinets, his heart beat in his ears.

What if Isa caught them?

Punishment again?

Or worse than that?

Magisna took a deep breath and continued walking.

Hendra led them towards the door on the other side of the kitchen. They stopped and listened.

The footsteps were not heard.

For the time being.

Magisna sighed in relief.

Carefully Hendra pulled out the shotgun that locked the door. He turned the door knob until it made a loud clicking sound like the sound of a shot in silence.

Still no footsteps heard.

Hendra pulled the door open. Behind the door was a long corridor with rows of lockers-and almost pitch-dark. There are no windows in this corridor.

Hendra hinted them to move forward. One by one, they stepped into the alley. The kitchen door closed behind them.

Magisna could see nothing.

Thud. Thud.

That foot step!

Getting louder now.

Magisna tried to determine its direction in the darkness.

The footsteps were so close!

It was as if from the stairs right next to the kitchen.

"Road," snarled Hendra. It's streaking along the alley.

Magisna chased after him, doing a half-run, half-toed movement. He did not look back to see if others followed him.

Those steps are getting harder. Magisna tried to run faster, but it was useless. The alley is too long. Isa will come out of the stairs, look up at the end of the alley, and see them running. Heard their feet on the floor.

And the game will be over.

They reached the end of the alley and Hendra stopped.

"Lu's crazy, huh?" novi was angry. "Road, b e g o!"

"Dengerin," sergeant Hendra.

The sound of footsteps vanished.

Hendra looked at her for a moment, as if considering what she was saying. After their gaze adjusted to the darkness, the place was not too dark anymore now. Magisna's cheeks were getting hotter, and she was standing uncomfortably. He was annoyed that Hendra looked at him like that.

"He really is" Hendra finally said. "You know, if we stay here, Isa will be our mergokin, for sure."

"Kirain you don't care" said Novi rudely.

"Emang no," argued Hendra.

"Gua knows where we can go" Magisna offered. He didn't know if it was a good choice, but living in this alley was too noisy. "Come on."

He moved forward a few steps, then looked back.

The four of them looked at him.

"You want to have a debate about this, do you want to join the cave?" ask Magisna.

He walked back and told himself he didn't care if they came or not. But in fact he can't not care. He doesn't want to be alone in a dark alley.

As he glanced back, he was shocked to see another close behind him.

Magisna could not help her smile. Hendra is not the only person who can be a leader.

He just hopes his escape route doesn't get them caught.

"Where are we going?" ask Dika.

"Let's see later" said Magisna.

"Wait!" exclaim Hendra. "It's cool, tau."

Magisna nodded happily. They were now in the fertilizer warehouse that became the territory of the plantation administration office, while looking at the pile of fertilizer sacks that were lined up in the dark. Their voices echoed in that large room.

"Where are you given a little lighting?" proposal Novi.

"Gosah macem-macem, Shucks," Hendra warned.

"Well-it could ruin Hendra's next joke" Alexza grumbled.

Hendra laughed a little. "Lu's still mad about that?"

"It's not funny" Alexza replied.

"Make the cave funny" Hendra debated.

"Lu is a dick," Alexza grumbled. "The cave shouldn't talk to you."

"Where there is," Hendra told him. "Gua knows you can't be mad for long at the cave."

"Oh, huh?" sergeant Alexza. But the little grin on his face showed Magisna that Hendra was right.

"This is the ugliest warehouse the cave has ever seen" Dika interrupted.

Magisna looked up to see. Strangely patterned graffiti images filled the entire wall. Similar mysterious images on the reliefs of ancient Egyptian buildings.

"Well," muttered Dika reproachfully. "Anything can make a better picture."

"Yes, Nyet," Hendra said.

Suddenly Dika grinned.

He moved towards the open cupboard in the corner of the room. He pulled out a wooden box filled with paint cans. Dika chose a black-color acrylic paint-pick bottle-and sprayed it on the wall. Then he opened the bottle of blue paint. Then orange.

Magisna felt a tremor of shame. Dika has crossed the boundaries of pleasure with outrageous arbitrariness. He could not imagine how the plantation workers and even their foremen would react on Monday morning.

"People may take years to make the graffiti" Novi murmured, as if echoing Magisna's thoughts. "It could be that the picture has a special meaning."

"The storm destroyed everything" Dika replied. "They should be naro guards."

A shrill sound made Magisna jump.

He turned and saw Hendra sitting cross-legged on a pile of fertilizer with a traditional bamboo flute in his hand. He blew the bamboo flute with all his might to test if it was still working and finally a shrill scream was heard throughout the room.

"Ashik," Hendra commented while grinning. He made another shrill sound. "The cave thinks it's broken!"

"That's a flute to call a herd of panthers, b e g o," Novi shouted over the noise, half-joking half-scaring. But of course it had no effect on Hendra.

Hendra blew the flute even tighter.

"Whispering, demon," cried Magisna at Hendra. "Why don't you call Mr. Is!"

But Hendra still blew the flute without technique and the sound it produced was very annoying.

Magisna stepped to the back of the pile of fertilizers, passing the sacks of fertilizers arranged high up to the ceiling.

At the back, away from the screeching sound of Hendra's flute, Magisna found black curtains. It hangs so high that Magisna can't see the end of it. Someone had nailed the curtain against the wall with a very small sharp nail.