ALPENIA (The Cruel Small Town)

The Unexpected Return

With doubt, Syifa wanted to explain something very important to her daughter, because there were Annisa, Naya, and Iswanti, who she said did not need to know about her family problems. However, Ulfa insisted that the girls were her best friends, so at the end of the day she would tell her what her mother would say during the confessions.

Syifa agreed and finally told her in front of her daughter's friends. "When you're seventeen, there's going to be a change in you, mom was like that."

The beginning of the word builds ambiguity in the minds of Ulfa and her friends.

"You and Mom are the descendants of great men. People often say that our ancestors were witches, who had the power from within just by saying strange words" he continued, laughing awkwardly.

Spontaneous, the girls who listened to Syifa's expression, could only link their eyebrows in astonishment.

Syifa did not remain silent. Words if not accompanied by evidence will certainly be considered mere nonsense. He raised his hand, pointing his index finger at a tissue box on the table. The tissue box followed his finger by floating, as if there was a rope connecting the fingers and the tissue box.

Everyone who saw him was astonished with a hint of paranoia. They can only gawk and blink their eyes many times.

The confusion of the four men began to be enlightened as Syifa explained further and further. Even though what the middle-aged woman explained was increasingly unreasonable.

"You must have sensed something strange. Did you hear a strange woman's voice bothering you?" syifa asked her daughter after she managed to reach the tissue box into her hands.

Ulfa simply nodded with her chest up and down. He was a little afraid of his mother who turned out to have a very strange power.

"Now, he's in your body, son. He is our ancestor!" cetus Syifa held his daughter's shoulder.

Ulfa widened her eyes, and stepped back. "I'm still surprised by all this. So, last night, and another strange incident this morning, was it our ancestral spirit that made it into my body?" Ulfa asked while shaking her head.

"That's why I came straight home from the store. Because I know you're a coward. Now, I've explained everything, you don't be afraid anymore" Syifa said to her daughter.

Ulfa's heart pumps blood faster. He refused to believe what he thought was the impossibility. Immediately, he shouted "whoever you are, now also out of my body." He was frightened, knowing there was another figure riding on his body, and he did not want that at all.

"You're calm! Our ancestral spirits are good people. In fact, when you want to do something bad, there will be a part of you that refuses, it's our ancestors, preventing you from falling apart," reply Syifa tried to calm her daughter. Despite the fact, to calm Ulfa took a lot of effort.

"Wow, Ulfa. You've got the best birthday present" Annisa said in amazement, but there was a sense of fear on her face.

"Wait, mama has one more gift for you," Syifa stepped her foot into the room, and opened the closet in which there was a drawer locked by a large enough padlock. Something contained in it is so valuable that it must be truly guarded. When it opened, he picked up a very thick, hard-covered book with a unique pattern.

He gave the book to his daughter, "it's an heirloom book. Books from our ancestors. In it are all the things you want to know. There are journals from the life of our ancestors, history, genealogy, to spells written and commonly used by people like us, especially from lineages that have the blood of our predecessor witches. This book belongs to Jatiya" Syifa told her daughter.

With trembling hands, Ulfa accepted the book, "it takes time for me to accept this. What scares me, mama says there's our ancestral spirit in my body? Will it be there forever?" Again, he asked me that. It is very uncomfortable if he has to share his body, especially with unknown people.

The explanation made Ulfa feel a little relieved and understood, "thank you for the gift. I promise never to do anything with this unexpected advantage, let him go quickly."

Suddenly a thing that stuck from yesterday began to get enlightenment in his mind, "yesterday I, Naya just as Iswanti was not affected by strange events in the forest. Iswanti has advantages, maybe advantages that I have this that makes me not affected as well. But lo Naya? Do you have any advantages too?" He recalled when his other friends were led unknowingly to return out of the forest.

Naya puts her shoulders together, "gue .. don't have."

Ulfa shook her head. "gue sure, if there's something inside you."

Naya frowned, then shook her head. "Udahlah. Read the dong of his book, want to know what is in it," he said did not mengubris Ulfa's words.

Ulfa also opened the cover of the rough and hard textured book, he saw all the writing in the thick sheets using the old spelling. He shared it with his equally curious friends.

Seeing her daughter calm down a little because she had the support of her friends, Syifa returned to her job. Because the profession was used as a distraction so as not to get dissolved in daydreams, hoping the youngest daughter lost will soon return home. He had completely handed it over to the police, as he had tried to use his magic ability.

Syifa tried to use a tracking spell from the first day Hilfa disappeared, but her son was never found. In his magic comprehension, if the person sought with the tracking spell was imprintless, it was most likely that person had left this world. He hopes his daughter is still alive. Hope so.

***

Not felt, the day was near noon. Annisa, Naya, and Iswanti must return home from Ulfa's house to prepare for tomorrow's test. Time passes quickly when it is used to smile, laugh, and be happy.

When at the crossroads, the three people chose their own path. Naya walked straight, Iswanti turned left, and Annisa turned right.

Leisurely, Annisa walked towards her apartment which was not far from the crossroads of the road. However, when he reached the destination, his atmosphere and feeling turned sultry, seeing a middle-aged man he knew very well, welcoming him in front of the door with a warm smile.

Instead of retaliating, Annisa instead looked at the big tall man sharply. A little angry to see the man he used to call father was in a room with him, shocked moreover. His father should be in the right place, to account for his actions.

Annisa's heart is inflamed, her eyes sore when she remembers every evil act her father has just revealed lately. Sometimes he does not believe, ever make this person before him as a role model.

The man named Aji tightly hugged his daughter, clearly making Annisa even more furious.

Immediately, the girl forced herself to let go of the big hand that was behind her back, "get off!"

Aji was astonished by her daughter's poetic attitude. Did it happen because Annisa had not been given a gift? Her thought.

Just like in the past, if after work, it is not uncommon for Aji to buy expensive gifts, as a seductress when her daughter is angry because she came home late.