ALPENIA (The Cruel Small Town)

Disguises

Annisa and Ikbal monitor the sizable two-story building ahead from behind a shady tree.

"Lo ready?" Ikbal asked Annisa who from earlier seemed hesitant. Even so, the girl asked him to hide in this big tree. There's nothing to be afraid of up ahead. The house contained strangers they both knew.

Annisa nodded her head after solidifying the intention. Now, he took out the glasses along with the mask from his sweater pocket.

"Lo was that scared, huh?" ask Ikbal with a joke.

Annisa twitches her eyes. "If you want to disguise, I have to do it to the maximum, dong!" inexplicably. He and Ikbal had prepared a pretty convincing disguise. They wore shabby clothes and pants, even impressed tattered to be accepted in the shelter of teenagers and abandoned children.

Ikbal just nodded his head. Will not comment further on Annisa's excessive attitude this time. Even strangely, he was amused by the girl's attitude.

"Come on!" After making sure her disguise was perfect, Annisa also led the way in front. Contradiction with before long, when the girl is paranoid about things that are not necessarily happening. When he was afraid someone would recognize him.

Ikbal followed Annisa from behind with relaxed steps. He must be ordinary and inconspicuous, so as not to be suspected by people.

"Who are you?" asked a middle-aged woman who was sweeping the yard quite widely from the building.

"I'm Rama, and this is Olivia" Ikbal replied, not giving the two of their real names.

"What business are you here for?" ask the woman named Sarah again.

"Isn't this the abandoned teen shelter, ma'am?" answer Ikbal with a question.

Sarah nodded, and still looked at the two strangers in full search.

"We were robbed, all our goods and money were lost. And now we desperately need food. We have been hanging out in the streets for two days. Can we ride in this house for two days? Just to determine what next step we will take. We are also very tired and need a place to rest." explained Ikbal very smoothly say the reason lies that he has trained.

Sarah also understood. "All right! You can stay here as you like. That's what this place is for."

"Thank you, ma'am!"

"But you're telling the truth, right? Not lying at all?" ask Sarah who is trying to be careful. As the manager of this halfway house, he did not want any intruders threatening the residents.

"Of course, ma'am. You can rummage through the pockets in our clothes if you need to. Because there is no suspicious thing," said Ikbal.

Sarah believed the words of the young man before her. However, what made him curious was the girl who from earlier kept silent and bowed her head. It was like recognizing the face and eyes of the girl.

"You! Open mask!" tell Sarah to Annisa.

Annisa immediately shook her head. He was afraid that if he opened his eyes, the woman in front of him would recognize him as the son of Aji Atmaja. Her father was the superior of that woman. Surely the woman at least knows the ins and outs of her family.

"I'm having a cold, Mom!" kill Annisa while making a false sneeze sound.

"It's okay. I just want to recognize your face," said Sarah who was fussy with her instincts.

Annisa again shook her head while looking down.

"Mom, sorry! My friend cannot be forced. He has a confidence problem and is a bit antisocial" Ikbal said of trying to save Annisa.

"You mean?" sarah asked in surprise.

"Oh, sorry then! Alright. Better, you guys get in now. Meet and befriend other children. And, the food you want, can be taken from the dining table. Also, there will be someone who will take you to your respective rooms, yes! Get enough rest." Sarah also believes Ikbal's lies outright. He could even instantly forget his suspicions of Annisa.

"One more time, thank you, ma'am! We really appreciate this mother's kindness." Ikbal embraces Annisa's body, and invites the girl to enter the halfway house.

Annisa was still rolling her eyes in disbelief. Apparently, Ikbal was so good at lying. "Thank you for the help. But seriously, I'm the cleft lip?" the whisper was right in Ikbal's ear.

Ikbal laughed awkwardly, "sorry, Nis! But what matters is, we're making it in now."

***

"Intan, where's your brother?" ask Cantika on Intan who lately often daydream.

Intan was flabbergasted, and returned to the real world. His long daydream ended when the voice of the person he had just contemplated greeted so gently.

"He's dead, mom forgot that?" intan replied by looking at his mother flat.

Cantika. "Mama means not Rahma, but Ikbal. Why hasn't he come home yet? Soon night. If your father finds out, Ikbal will get angry again."

Intan washes his breath out roughly. "Maybe Ikbal's tired of everything, ma. I mean, who's gonna be at home living in this mad house?"

Cantika realized the impertinence of her daughter's speech must have been caused by a very bad mood. "What's the matter with you, baby?" tanyanya who began to lean on the chair next to her daughter.

"Mama is my problem. Always the mama!" clearly Intan makes Cantika wonder.

"You mean?" Cantika's face seemed to change. No more faces that look radiant with affection, but only a face that was touched because listening to the shocking words of his daughter just now.

"Don't lie to me again, ma! I know, mama cheated on the garden worker" Intan said. For a few days, it became a wedge in his heart and head. And now, he felt a little relieved to have voiced that.

"Remember your limits, Intan!" kilah Cantika is still trying to defend himself.

"What limits do you mean? Don't rule me, if mama herself has crossed many fatal lines. Tell me, ma! What's the lack of papa until mama betrays him?"

"Stop!" cetus Cantika who was now clenching her hands held back emotions.

"I won't stop! What did you find out about that poor man? Did he manage to satisfy mom?" cerocos Intan is a little outrageous.

"Bad!" Along with that sentence, Cantika also slapped her daughter's cheek very hard.

Intan's face turned away due to a vicious blow from his mother's hand.

Intan endured the pain radiating down her cheek using the touch of her own hand. Behind the long hair that covered her face, the girl started to drop water droplets from her eyelids.

"I misjudged you! I thought you could be like a good and obedient Rahma. But it turns out, you are just a useless child who always makes trouble and noise," said Cantika full of emotions. Immediately, he stood up from his seat, because he was fed up with Intan's behavior.

Intan bit her lower lip. He also felt an overwhelming anger within him. He was inflamed, because he could not accept his best father being betrayed by his own mother.

"I'm not Rahma, ma! And I'm grateful for that. If not, maybe I'm dead now!" intan concluded accompanying the steps of his mother who went away.