CORONAS
15. AN ALIBI?
“Yes, what really happened? Why is Yuva getting reckless doing something weird like this?” reply to Bang Auron who sent me that message.
“Do not act rashly first. We will explore the next action. You need to calm down, Eldan.”
Words alone will not have a big effect on me. This feeling, this feeling called panic began to spread in every inch of my body. Man from which corner of the world can bear to see his loved ones commit crimes and then wear another mask to attract the sympathy of the community? I'm fucked.
“It's time to go to college, Hami. You can be late later,” my mother said from behind. I looked towards him while nodding. From my mother's eyes, I read the worry of being perched there.
I used a smile just to break mom's worries. She must be worried to see me thinking about Yuva. I grabbed my backpack and put it on my shoulder. I grabbed my mother's hand and kissed her. Then rushed to put on my shoes and took my motorcycle to go to college. Rather than keep thinking about Yuva, I should immediately think of a way to make her stop.
*
The atmosphere of the campus was enlivened by the chatter surrounding the news this morning. Some praised, some of them sneered. I pulled myself to be alone so as not to join the conversation. Just hearing it from a distance, my chest feels hot.
“You must be lucky to have a girlfriend invited as a source on the news this morning, Eldan. He looks insightful on it,” comments one of my friends. I smiled trying to ignore it.
“I don't think a talented hacker was invited to the tv station. Look for attention maybe let people sympathize with him,” said the other.
“Hahaha, it's funny after the interview, our friend's kaldier immediately scanned the news anchor. Really thirsty Life Point huh? Like a beggar alone,” another comment again.
In the end they discussed it to again drop our degrees as caldier users. My ears are heating up as if to chase away those annoying looking voices. Their paradigm of caldier users is getting worse and spreading fast. If they felt what we felt. If only they had the same disease as us. Can they still say such cruel things? Indeed, people should have normal health like that also get the same disease as us. So they know what it's like to suffer for life numbers.
No. gabe. I can't think like that. Such dark thoughts cannot enter my heart. We must, however, remain patient in the face of abuse from them. Not all of them are like that. After all, we still need calder-free people to get Life Point additions. If everyone uses a caldier, the caldier won't be able to scan anyone anymore.
I sat under a large banyan tree on top of its roots that appeared on the surface of the ground. While touching the necklace that is the support of my life at this time, I crashed into the memory of my childhood. Those are the times when helping others can be so much fun. When the people I helped smiled broadly got help from me. When no one stares cynically and speaks harshly after being helped. Sometimes they also throw compliments like “smart” or “anak well”. Such beautiful times contain only green, red, blue, and white. Unlike now the color changed to gray to black.
“Have a new plan huh?”
Yuva flinched then turned her gaze towards me who was sitting under the tree. His footsteps stopped too. “This has nothing to do with you,” he replied.
I bit my lower lip. Yuva is getting colder. The answer he gave with that cynical look, I didn't like it at all. I got up from my seat and stepped closer to him. I intentionally waited for him here because I knew Yuva would go to the library through this small street.
“Stop. The Life Point you collected was enough, right? We can look for it again in the usual way,” suggested me with a tone of not wanting to fight. I'll pull it back in a subtle way.
“Still naive as always,” reply Yuva to me. He fixed the position of his bag of straps towards the top of his shoulder. “As for the bad views about the kaldier users still exist, I will not stop. Because there's no point in helping them.”
Just like the way normal people look at the users of the caldier, Yuva's perspective on normal people has deteriorated. From his firm words, Yuva no longer tolerates normal people. He beat them all up thinking they were enemies.
“But, this can also be bad for all of us. If they find out you are the mastermind behind all criminal acts that are being top news at this time, all users will be suspected kaldier,”, I insist convince him.
“All my plans are set. I'm not stupid enough to be known that easily. If necessary, I will invite all caldier users to do the same with me. That way we can all gain Life Point in large quantities.”
“Yuva!” my snapping. “This is not at all funny.”
“Do I look joking?”
I'm silent. I felt like I had my head pierced by thinking about how to instigate Yuva to go back in the right direction. So complicated. Even Yuva seemed calm and did not pierce my words too much.
“Please stop Yuva. I can't keep seeing you act like this. The robbers you helped did not even hesitate to finish off people who saw their movements. Something like that is too much. That's wrong, Yuva!”
“That was snuffed out is not a caldier user, right?”
“Yuva?” His response was as if a lined up ghost had appeared at midnight. Cold and creepy make a wakeful. He said it easily without any regrets. It's like he has no conscience anymore. “You're serious about what you said just now?”
