CURSE Or GRACE

Widow's Testimony

Ratih was still in the family car he was riding to their house. Doctor Rahmat gave Mr Prayitno's medical record file to Ratih. On the way home, Ratih just kept quiet and did not speak to Gilang or his mother. Train to keep secret about his recovery to them . In silence, the brain works to digest all the information and events that he experienced. While his brain is trying to work, his ears catch Gilang and his mother's debate about how they should behave to Panji, Gilang just keeps his heart set on getting revenge, while his mother pleaded with Gilang to forgive Panji and his father.

Ratih tried to remember the incident the other day, that afternoon Ratih called his father to come to pick him up from the hospital. No one was home at the time, his mother was out of nowhere, so was Gilang. His father was so happy when Ratih came, his face was clean and fresh, his smile was decorated with his lips, His father's carefree face will not be forgotten because almost all the time he found his father's face full of emotions, and his father's face was full of emotions, the anxiety and the pressure that was painted on his face, there was no smile, there was the mockery and swearing that adorned their family all the time.

The moment of happiness his father continued until they returned home, but arrived at his father's house just about to go back, Ratih tried to hold it because he was afraid his father was not fit enough to drive a car. But his father replied with a smile and immediately hugged Ratih.l He apologized to Ratih for wasting his life so far. He also said that Ratih did not have to worry, he did not go far just want to thank the person who had healed him. Ratih let his father go alone, waiting at home until that night came the news of his father being killed.

"Where and who did you meet that afternoon? Is it at Panji's father's house?"

"Dad was clearly healthy and he wanted to say thank you, why did his father Panji kill him instead?"

" If Panji's father wanted to kill his father, why wasn't it settled in the market at the time?"

Questions swirled around in Ratih's head. He opened the file given by the doctor Grace. There was no name for who hit his father unconscious at the market. His father did have several shops in the market that he rented to merchants. His father's line of haters was also plentiful there, his father withdrawing rent, hygiene fees and other levies that strangled their necks, but no one dared to fight his father because of the roofs of his father who was ready to fight when his master was in danger. This medical trace is not equipped with a complete police report.

Ratih assumed only his father Panji dared to hit because he wanted to cure his father. The same power that Panji had that had cured him of uterine cancer. The next question is why after being healed and then killed?

Anxiety Ratih yamg briefly exhaled for a moment, flipping through the beam to bite the nail bit monitored from the front rear view mirror by his mother. his mother just silently observed the change in attitude Ratih not a single word came out of his mouth.

Until at home Ratih immediately entered the room to lay himself on the bed not mind his mother's invitation to eat. Everything in his nature made his brain almost explode, the urge to search for the truth of the case just appeared. Ratih didn't care how his father died. All he cared about was his father's assets which were eventually depleted due to various things, recaptured by the rightful, contested people who claimed to be his brother or who were spent by the three of them for poya-foya. Tears dripped from his eyelids, a thousand regrets that came along with a thousand images of his past despicable deeds that stopped in his brain.

God gave him a chance to atone for his sins. God gave her a second life after her first life was lost with her uterine cancer. Ratih is determined to use this second chance to change his life, as doctors say Grace, it is his job to unravel the case, but the more he thinks about it the more he will break his head.

Among the tired body and tired mind, finally the eyes can be closed as well, in restless sleep he saw his mother entered his room and sat beside him, making him wake up again. He took a sitting position leaning on the bed.

"What's mom here!" Ratih said curtly, not a question but rather an order to drive his mother away. Their relationship has deteriorated over the past few years. They live in the same house but different worlds, no one cares about each other.

All three were united by suffering when the father left, but it was too late, there was nothing to fix, there was only mutual blame. The person whom the mother called by her cried, her hands took Ratih's hands and kissed her one by one. Train stunned.

"I'm sorry mom! I'm sorry I haven't been a good mother to you, I'm sorry for all the things I've done to you, "

Her cries began to break no longer held back like before, crying an unceasing hiccup. Ratih did not know what to do, but the scene of his mother kissing his hands is a proof that his mother really humbled herself as a sign of regret, Ratih did not think long to directly hug his mother, hugging her tightly, the two cry together, as does Ratih, he also expects a second chance to come to improve his life. Long both hugged until finally Ratih released his embrace and looked at his mother's face.

"Already Mom, no need to apologize to me, Ratih is also much wrong with Mom, Ratih also apologizes!" The two embrace again.

"I saw you differently today, you look healthy and fresh like never before, but you look restless since you got home from the hospital earlier." His mother said softly.His hand was still holding onto Ratih's two hands. The soft hand grips that Ratih felt reminded him back to his childhood. His mother was a kind and gentle mother, when he was little he always complained to his mother until he was a teenager. But her mother, who was lost during a violent altercation at home when Ratih sat in high school, and now her childhood mother has returned, warm and tender.

"Do you know your father Panji?" Ratih's question suddenly came out of his mouth, as if expecting what Ratih would ask, his mother nodded.

"Why was my mother the victim?"

"I thought your father chose me because he really loved me, that's what he always told me, but as long as we were married I was just an escape for him. I've had the pleasure of having your father, of imagining a life of contentment, of being loved by an important official in this village, of how happy I am, but no matter how hard I try to make your father love me, he never thinks I exist."

Ratih was flabbergasted to hear his mother's words, his mother was very beautiful, even her beauty was still clearly painted at her age now, Ratih became curious as to what the beauty of Nur Azizah, his mother Panji, so that his father ignored his mother. Ratih, who once failed at home, feels how her pain is ignored, and her mother continues to endure until she and Gilang are teenagers. He finally understood why his mother had run away from them both.

Ratih stroked his mother's hand, then kissed her hands, looking happy eyes radiated from her face.

"Is their feud possible until they can kill each other?" Curiosity Ratih came back out.

"I don't think, if because of the loss of competitiveness because of women, Sudibyo should be killed with your father right? I don't know if there are other problems, your father did act out of bounds when leading, and Sudibyo has a strong influence in the environment. The harder the pressure is put on your father, the more uncontrollable he is. Drunk, gambling, even your father openly playing with other women in front of my eyes, I couldn't help it. I went out carrying some money and some gold deposits that I knew were kept by him. Every night I spend with other men to treat my disappointment and pain. Forgive me Nduk!"

His tears flowed again he could not look at Ratih. Ratih also feels the same way, he is not much different behavior, only the difference is that Ratih remains at home. Now this house is left over from the heyday of his father. One night he Gilang and his father came home equally drunk. A house that houses three drunkards like no one,llllllllllllllll get to know each other. The three get drunk for different things, maybe his father does to reduce his pain. When remembering his father's illness Ratih gasped.

"Mother! Did you know that you've had heart disease all along?" His mother looked at Ratih's face in surprise.

"heartache? No, I don't know, really!, if I had known I might not have left him because I knew he needed me!, he never would have thought I existed!" This time his tone wailed.

Ratih caught an honest tone in his mother's voice, and indeed his mother did not return when his father died, he actually returned when he heard Ratih divorced, he came to Ratih, but Ratih had ignored him all along. Ratih's tears are flowing, but it's not the time he's stuck in nostalgia, there's business to be done. She took the file from her dresser and handed it to her mother.

"It was clearly stated that my father had a heart attack! one day before he died he was healed of his sickness!"

"Who is healing?"

"It's possible that the same man who killed my father, and his son, cured me of uterine cancer! You see! I look healthy because my cancer is gone 100 percent!"

his mother looked back at Ratih's face. He saw his daughter from head to toe, and immediately hugged her while crying.

After a long embrace, the two finally broke away.

"What are you going to do next Nduk?"

"I have to meet Panji! He must have returned to this village to find information. I'll help him solve this problem to the end!"