Trapped in Ramadhan
Part 6 - The Wise Old Man

...The Wise Old Man...

4 Ramadan. Early morning.

The sky is still dark. But the lights from the houses were already lit up a lot. The time for Muslims to worship is still about half an hour away. So, the streets were still deserted from the human presence. It's not that the existence of so many humans will make a difference to my condition.

This time I went to another place where I had met another Jin before they disappeared in Ramadan, the city park. Since there was no hooded Jin intercepting at the entrance, I was able to freely roam around the park. I found a large tree that thrived behind one of the park benches, and sat on a branch that towered right above it. From my position I could see the entire garden clearly. It was quiet, just like my world in the last three days.

I don't want to sound like a crybaby. Being alone among humans is sad. I felt so weak that I did not realize there was a human sitting on the bench below me.

"The park is still quiet, huh?" The old man opened his voice.

Okay, from up here I can't see his face because of the hat he's wearing. But his voice sounded like a person who was already quite old. Maybe a little too old.

"You waiting for someone?" Say again.

I've noticed. There are no other humans nearby, and this old man is clearly not talking through cellphones, earphones, microphones, or saxophones. That meant... Maybe he was talking to me. Well.. after I thought again, what would a human come to the park at this early time? Maybe this old man is not sane and talks to himself. So, I ignored it.

"Hey... I'm talking to you!" The old man spoke again, this time in a high tone. "You're the one up there in the tree!" He continued while pointing upwards with the long stick he carried.

I'm watching him again. His wand was indeed aimed at me who was sitting on a tree branch. Is this man really talking to me?

"Can't you talk?" Said the old man again. Still with the stick pointed at me.

"Ah... You talk to me?" Ask me to make sure.

"Son..! I'm just a sane person talking to myself!" Ketus reply.

I kept quiet because I didn't know what to say.

"Obviously I'm talking to you!" Snatch that man.

"You can hear me, old man?"

"I might not be able to see you... But I can feel your presence and obviously I can hear you too, young man."

Honestly, that's kind of confusing for me. So, I repeat for clarity. "You can hear me, but you can't see me?"

The old man sighed impatiently as he lifted his hat and placed it on his lap. Then he looked up, "Have you heard the Blind, Young man?" He said as he moved his palm in front of his face wearing sunglasses.

Blind. Sunglasses. Long stick. Okay, I get it now. "So you can't see me. But can you hear me, old man?"

"Know what else could this old man be? Accept apologies from those who are less sensitive." The Man said.

Why would he say that? Less sensitive? Ah... I-i know. "You want me to apologize, old man?"

"Oh... You want to apologize?" Said the old man in a clearly made-up tone of wonder. "Why should you apologize? I'm very curious."

Yep, this old man is too sensitive. You can't blame me for trying to make sure I'm not overconfident and hoping a human is talking to me. But it seems I do owe an apology to this old connoisseur. So, with sincere sincerity I said, "I'm sorry, old man!"

The old man put on his hat again in a contrived slow motion and said in a deep voice, "You're forgiven, young man!"

"OK..." I said because I didn't know what to react to his cool-ass act. And he even laughed with spirit in a body position that sat upright. His attitude that seemed as if he had just defeated me in a dragon race with absolute victory was a little annoying.

"So, don't you want to tell me, young man?" The old man asked after his crazy laughter stopped.

"What do you mean, old man?"

"You know the smell of the************ that the rat brought and found a month later in the corner of the room in the form of sad tearing?"

"Stop that..."

"You smell like that."

"Oh..." The old man let out a dramatic voice and continued, "You challenge the old man who can't see and walk with a cane? What a shame on you, young man!"

"What's? You started it! Ah... Whatever. I'm out of here." I jumped down right in front of the old man and started to step.

"Wait!" He held me in a firm voice.

I turned. "What else, old man?"

"You're just like when my granddaughter was having a big problem."

"yeah? You're my problem. And maybe your grandson's problem too." I said as I continued to step. But only three steps I stopped because the old man said,

"Tunanetra can sometimes cause problems for others. Maybe I'm a lot of trouble for my granddaughter."

"You can't make me feel guilty, old man." I said without turning back.

The man softly said, "Because of my condition, I am used to maximizing my other senses. For example hearing. So, I'm a good listener."

Still without turning around I said, "You will not understand the solitude I feel, old man."

"What is solitude?" He asks. "A place where you can't communicate with others? Or being in the middle of a crowd, but all you see is darkness? Full isolation or getting lost in the crowd?"

"Both.." My solute.

I know the old man was talking about himself when referring to the second option. But be it full isolation or getting lost in the crowd, I feel it. I felt lost without direction in the midst of the human crowd. And since none of them could communicate with me, I was isolated as well.

"Do you know how to get rid of loneliness?" Ask the old man. Without waiting for my response, he continued, "Involve yourself in another life. No matter how stubborn my grandson is and how big the problem is, I will always try to involve myself."

Involved in another life. That's her! That's what I had to do all this time. That is the life of Jin. Involved in human life.

I turned and bowed. "Thank you, old man! I feel helped."

The man stood up and said, "If you need a friend to talk to, we can meet at this place at the same time." After saying that, he then said his farewell and began to step while stomping his staff.

--

After parting ways with the sensitive wise old man, I was stopped in front of the abandoned mansion. The two-story building must have looked magnificent. But now it is damaged and worn due to inedible age. The wall of soot-filled bricks looked fragile. The glass of the window framed with wood is now cracked and broken. Two large wooden doors on the front only one remains, and even then it is not shaped like a door. Even its sprawling lawn is now filled with unkempt weeds and some trashy plastic. I'm sure that house has not been inhabited by humans for a long time. And that reason makes the building a suitable place to be the arena of the clash of two groups of humans.

Remember the black aura of the negative emotions that humans put out? If there were many humans gathered to give off black auras, Jin would be able to track them from a certain distance. And since I'm the only Jin left on this Earth, I can feel it as clearly as the old Pak's satirical words in the park earlier.

By the time I reached the empty house, a fight had already occurred. There were more than twenty people beating each other in the house. They were separated in small groups fighting in the rooms on the first floor. I have decided to get involved in human life. And I'll start from this place. I will whisper the strongest among them to win this fight resplendently. But I want to ascertain the situation first before choosing a party.

I moved from one room to another while watching the humans. I noticed their movements, how they attacked the opponent. Their fists and kicks, how they dodge an attack or hold it, also their speed and strength. But the most important thing is their intelligence. How they utilize a combination of strength and speed to attack opponents effectively.

I also captured their black aura to find out the reason that motivated the hatred and anger within them. But it turns out that I captured more than that, not only emotions but I also captured the memory pieces of the black aura of a human. More than ten people were motivated for the same special reason. They intend to avenge their friend who was treated at the Clinic for bleeding in the head from a brawl a few days earlier. That's when the pieces of their memory went into my head.

They are high school students who come from two different community groups and have often attacked each other. But they never use weapons, only their limbs are used to attack the opponent. They never attacked with knives or stones. But one day before Ramadan, they were involved in large-scale brawls on the ground while joining their seniors. That day one of the humans who participated in it attacked his opponent with stones several times which caused his opponent to be sprawled with blood pouring from the head. And the fight this time is a long tail of growing hatred for revenge.

I was in the back room, watching two young men fighting. One of them was tall with short hair of a jigrak whose strands were as thick as a broomstick. This young Ijuk belongs to the group that wants revenge, even he is the leader of this small group and most eager to beat his opponent. After successfully cornering his opponent against the wall, the Ijuk Youth stuck his foot into his opponent's stomach hard until his opponent fell to his knees while holding his stomach. His attack was not over yet, the Ijuk Youth further kicked the head of his opponent, who despite having protected with one arm raised, but the force of the kick managed to knock him down. The Ijuk youth continued kicking and stomping his opponent several times before turning and stepping away.

"Wooy!!"

Just a few steps away, the Ijuk Youth came to a halt and looked back. With great difficulty his opponent tried to stand with one hand that was creeping on the wall and succeeded. The Ijuk youth turned around and was ready to face his opponent again. But suddenly another young man appeared and stabbed the right side of his opponent's stomach with a knife. The piercer was wearing a hooded jacket and scarf that covered part of his face. After the young man he stabbed fell to his knees, the Piercer ran through the open door to the backyard. The young Ijuk who started running to chase stopped after hearing the moans of his opponent who now fell down.

I chased after that familiar-looking Piercer. As he reached his motorbike, his gloved hand pulled the scarf until his face was visible as he exhaled heavily. I know him, that Penusuk is the young man I once whispered to when Tawuran grew up in the field. After he turned on his bike and drove, I could clearly see the logo on the back of his jacket... Logo Gang Two wheels!

Upon seeing the logo, my surroundings changed instantly. I'm in some kind of room. In front of me, a young man was smiling while showing his shirt imprinted with the logo of the Two-wheeled Gang. He looks happy. And then change again... I was in the darkness of the night, seeing the same young man now lying helplessly on the street with his head covered in blood. With a convulsive body and a dashed breath, he looked at me with one of his swollen eyes. Then...

Everything came back to how it was. I'm in the back yard of an empty house. The piercer is no longer visible. The vision I saw earlier, this is the second time I have experienced it. But I don't know who that young man I saw. I also don't know if it's part of my old memory or just a piece of memory I caught from a human. So, I try to focus on the new situation. I went back into the empty house.

When the brawl in the field that occurred the day before Ramadan, there is a Jin who whispers to humans to attack his opponent with stones. And that Genie is me. The fight in the empty house this time happened because of the grudge I incurred between them. And the young man who was impaled in his stomach was also a victim of the man I was whispering to at that time. Two victims... In two clashes... All this happened because of my mistake. My fault!