TUMBLED
Little Ghost

"Gue guess, that's my punch," Arlan began the conversation.

Nanda and Manda who were sitting in front of him immediately stopped eating fried rice which they ordered ten minutes ago. The three of them were sitting in the street stall in front of the school. Arlan decides not to go to Manda's house for a while, as the Imam refuses to let her go again. So, Nanda approached him this time.

Arlan glanced at the Imam who was sitting near his car. The Imam watched them while enjoying his young coconut ice. One of them holds a cell phone. Surely, Mr. Imam took some pictures and gave a report to Lili about his son's activities.

"Why do you think?" ask Manda.

"That's jin..." Arlan looks up, though unable to see what Manda and Nanda see, "is having my nyokap."

"Why can you say that?" ask Manda again.

"Today I caught my eye, saying that anyone could see the genie" I'm Arlan. "Look I'm overdoing my time he replied. I never thought I was that before. In fact, he asked me not to go near Grandpa, without telling him why. I usually don't bother about the magical world, so the answer must be sober. But, yesterday... He's not like that."

"Hahaha, for such a reason, you nuduh nyokap you have a genie?" Nanda laughs.

"Gue just guessed, Nan," said Arlan.

Nanda crossed her arms on the table. "This issue is sensitive when it comes to family. Better, you make sure your suspicions are."

"Is there an easy way to be sure?" ask Manda. The fried rice in front of him was no longer attractive.

Nanda thought for a moment, but he finally shook his head. "There's no easy way. But I have some way. First, let's kick the genie out until he gets angry. Like hiding that Arlan. Then-"

"Well, there it is!" Arlan suddenly chimed in. "Yesterday, I suddenly went home and asked if I was okay!"

"What's wrong if your nanya is so the same as her own child?" Manda doesn't understand.

"Look I suddenly came back home just for that. It doesn't make sense" Arlan replied, shaking his head. "I'm not going to leave his job just for that. He must have come to make sure nothing happened, because his genie was wrathful."

Nanda and Manda were silent. Then they throw each other a glance. "Can that be?" ask Manda.

"From the beginning I've said, that the quickest way to know who's behind it, is to hide Arlan from the genie, right?" said Nanda.

"The consequences?" Manda knows, what they will do must have the right consequences.

"Battle," Nanda smiled obliquely as she looked at the genie behind Arlan.

Plaque!

Manda hits Nanda on the head, annoyed by the attitude of her twin sister who likes to look for a commotion. "Can't! Lo is still a boy and has never specifically learned to fight like this. We should avoid things that stink of strength!" reject Manda.

"Gue has an invulnerable science, right?" tympano Arlan.

"Lo's got, not Nanda!" Manda still refused.

"Can science not be given to others? Or at least loaned out?"

Manda looked at Nanda. Nanda did read a lot about the occult sciences and witnessed a lot about it. However, he found nothing in his head regarding how to move power willingly.

"If black magic is passed down, I've read some," said Nanda. "But, seizing the knowledge of others, can be obtained by being killed, then the power is 'eat'."

"A-what is immune science including black magic?" ask Arlan.

Nanda shrugged her shoulders. "It all depends on who's wearing it, right?"

Arlan let out a long breath. "By the way, we're talking about this, can't the genie hear?"

"Can" Nanda answered lightly.

"Not anything?"

"He's just on duty to guard you from black magic attacks. Not from humans," Nanda went back to devouring the food in front of him. Then Manda followed.

"Then, the second way to know who's got the genie, what, Nan?" Arlan recalled their previous conversation.

"Find the mastermind by asking for the help of other smart people," Nanda replied as she chewed the fried rice.

"The consequences?" ask Manda.

"The person we hired and the genie is likely to intersect, then fight muscle. The loser, it hurts. But it's not an ordinary pain."

"Gue doesn't want that" Arlan refused. "Gue doesn't want anyone to get sick."

"Lo can't be a good-natured young master forever, Lan," Nanda warned. "The third way, make a new deal with the genie. Maybe you can present the thing that the genie wants to go from your side. But, she'll remember this and she'll probably ask you again for the same."

"What would he ask for?"

"The thing that is most liked by the creatures of the black world who are given to visit, is the collision of humans. Moreover, newborns, beuh, such creatures like the same pure and still no sin so."

Arlan's fur immediately brushed when he heard the answer from Nanda. Of course the third way straight away he threw it away. He couldn't possibly subvert a human just to make it loose from the jinn that came out of nowhere.

Nanda smiled looking at Arlan's confused expression. "Where? The first way is quick and practical, right?"

Plaque!

Manda hit Nanda's head again. "Practice head lo peyang!" reject Manda.

"Aargh! Don't hit my head! I'll be a moron!" nanda protest.

"Lo is a fool! It's a mute muscle fight!" disprove Manda.

***

Arlan could not get rid of the suspicion he felt towards his own mother until he arrived home. He was relaxing in the living room with the television on. His finger pressed the button several times to change the channel, yet he seemed to have no intention of watching any show. Although he seemed to be wandering on the sofa in the middle room, actually his brain was thinking hard.

He was convinced that the genie attached to him belonged to his own mother. But he has to prove it is true.

"Then what? After proving that it's true, it means that I also have to find out, what did you give this genie, right?" arlan murmured, almost inaudible. "Why did everything suddenly get so complicated?"

Suddenly Arlan remembered the loud thump the other day. In fact, it had been three days that he had not heard it again. According to Nanda, it was likely that the creature that was trying to enter was storing its power for a bigger attack. That creature clearly had sense.

Arlan glanced at the wall clock perched sweetly on top of the television. The clock shows at six past five minutes. If the creature comes, Arlan should be able to hear the thumping sound twenty-five minutes away. Arlan grabbed the phone he put on the teak table that adorned the middle of his living room. He called Manda.

"Man, it's free, isn't it?" ask Arlan.

Manda was seen walking and entered a room. As he sat down, his background showed the room of Manda that Arlan had seen the other day. "Last dinner. What's up?"

"Manda, who is it?"

Not yet Arlan answered Manda's question, a heavy voice emerged from the direction of her room door. Arlan looked at a middle-aged man with a puffy stomach, leaning his shoulders on the doorway. "Good night, Oom!" greet Arlan. Arlan immediately draws the conclusion that the man is Manda's father, due to their similar face shape.

"He's Arlan, Dad. Manda's friend at school. I think you want to consult with Manda," replied Manda.

Manda's father peeked into her son's cell phone screen, then nodded. "Don't fuck around, yeah! Don't close the door on the phone!" his father's message before it passes.

"Sorry, the ad passed by," Manda turned back to the screen. "What are you talking about?"

"Ah, that... For a day, you've seen the state of my house and notice time through my parents' room, right?"

Manda nodded. "But it's not polite to go into your parents' room without your permission. Especially me, who is a stranger."

Arlan scratched his chin. "Is there no way to know who owns this genie?" Arlan was making small talk, though he didn't expect much.

Manda silent. He looked at his cell phone screen. His eyes did not blink a bit. "Television you live?" ask Manda suddenly.

"Yes," Arlan answered briefly. Although Manda does not continue the reason for the question, Arlan can catch that there is actually something stuck in Manda's head. "Bothering, huh? Do I need to turn it off?" tawar Arlan's.

"Try turning it off" said Manda.

Arlan immediately pressed the power button to turn off the television in front of him. Then, silence approached. Arlan could hear noises that had been covered in television, such as the sound of the clock seconds, the low roar of his refrigerator in the kitchen, and the gurgling water of his father's fish pond shower.

"Lo's alone?"

The next question from Manda, made Arlan stiffen. He knew that Manda did not listen to silence as he had heard. "What do you hear?"

"Shouts" whispered Manda.

Arlan looked around. "From which direction?" Arlan got up from his seat, then activated his rear camera. He turned his phone slowly.

"To the right!" Manda.

Arlan walked slowly in the direction Manda was referring to. The direction that Manda mentioned is the direction towards the room of the occupants of the house. "What's from my parents' room again?" Arlan pointed the camera at her parents' bedroom door.

"No, no. Not from that door. Go right again!" manda Pinta.

Arlan shone in his right direction. "That's toward the side shed," explains Arlan.

"What's it say?"

"Mmm, I've never been to the barn." Arlan walked down the small hallway for a meter, then stopped in front of the wooden door. During his stay there, Arlan never entered this warehouse, nor the back shed. The reason was simple, because he did not need a warehouse. There was too little stuff to get into the warehouse.

"The voice is clear from there," Manda said. "Wait, wait! I'll call Nanda first!" Manda got up from her seat. He walked quickly to call Nanda. His cell phone camera swayed to and fro as he walked. "Nan, I'm in, huh?" he called out after knocking on the door.

"Why, Man?" the voice of Nanda.

Manda opened the door to Nanda's room, and rushed straight inside. "Lo hear this voice, don't you?" Manda thrust his phone, until Arlan's phone screen only displays Nanda's nostrils. "That scream!"

"Yes, I heard. Hape you far away a little, dong!" Nanda pushed Manda's phone away from her face. "That's loud. What's behind that door?"

"Yes. The direction of his voice from there," Manda replied half in a whisper. "Open, right?" he asked Nanda for advice.

Nanda's brows furrowed, for a few seconds weighing whether or not to open the door. While Arlan stood with all ignorance. He could not hear what Manda and Nanda heard. In Arlan's ears, his house was silent at this moment.

"Lo has a sister?" Nanda asked suddenly.

"Huh? Naw. I'm an only child" replied Arlan. "Why did you ask that all of a sudden?"

"So it's a scream that I hear calling 'Sister'." Nanda's words made Arlan even more clueless. "Open up" Nanda said at the end. "Slow down" he added.

Arlan followed Nanda's instructions. His hand grabbed the doorknob, then turned the handle slowly. Arlan pushed the unlocked door leaf inward. A cold wind blew past his neck for a short time, then changed to the moist air and the smell of mold.

"Who is that!?"

"In front of you, Lan!"

"Lan, diem, Lan! Don't run!"

"Hey, who are you!?"

Arlan circulated his gaze throughout the warehouse. The warehouse was not so spacious, but far from a narrow word. In one corner, there is an old piano covered in a large black cloth. Arlan never remembered that his parents played musical instruments. Then, there are many items that are old, including swing beds for babies. The bed was very beautiful, decorated with pink ribbons and white mosquito nets that had been stained with dust.

"What are you talking about, anyway? There's nothing here" said Arlan.

"Lan, there's a little boy by the window. He looked angry, but he didn't move" Nanda explained.

Arlan turned his attention from the phone screen towards the curtain-covered window. There was nothing there, as Nanda said. "Keep, how am I supposed to?"

"Wait a minute!" answer Nanda quickly.

"Why wouldn't Arlan do anything?" whisky Manda.

"Gue doesn't know. It's up to the little boy" Nanda whispered back.

Arlan was silent in his position. Sometimes he coughed as he inhaled the moist air in the room. However, because the two brothers were plastered on the screen of his mobile phone put on a tense face, Arlan did not dare to make a sound.

"DON'T!" suddenly Nanda exclaimed.

"KEL-" Manda's voice was cut off.

Arlan just bounced back. He was five meters away. His head hit the wall, until he lost consciousness.

***