DUTCH HOUSE ON A GRAVE
Episode 4, The guy's name is Boby
Riri woke up from her sleep. He woke up heavy. Body's limp. Lazy feeling ambushed a bright morning. He went to the window. His eyes were on the page. Their red roses. Yellow croquettes thrive on the side of the garden. Riri put aside the light brown curtains patterned with flowers. Sunlight in the room.
”How are you doing, Darling?” ask mama. Pasting a palm to Riri's forehead.
”Riri is fine, Ma,”
Mama smiled thinly. ”Why did you sleep near the window?”
Riri's confused. ”Hmm..” Riri tried to remember what happened last night. ”Riri sleepy heavy, Ma. So don't know if you fell asleep by the window,”
”Where's your sleep? Wakeless? You must be a good dream, right?” Mom just kept talking. His hand nimbly brushed the messy bed of Riri. Riri. He's headed for the window. Watching pages. He remembered, last night saw a little girl with a granny face.
”Riri want to go back to Jakarta, Ma..” said Riri.
My mother stopped her activities. ”You don't be so dong, darling. We have nothing left in Jakarta. Your papa's house has also been confiscated by the Bank,” Mama put a broomstick on the side of the bed.
”Riri want to stay the same oma aja,” Riri pouted. It went from the side of the window. Sit on the side of the bed.
Mama is heavy. ”Ri.. please dong understand mom's feelings. Your papa doesn't match opah,”
”But Riri is scared, Ma. Riri don't feel comfortable,”
”Ri.. that's because you're new to this house. Wait a few more weeks, you must feel comfortable and at home living here,”
”Same, Ma. Do you know whose house this was? What old place? How's origin?”
”You are how the hell, Ri? This is your grandfather's house?”
”Previous mom didn't know whose house this was?”
”Already... Don't dispute. Mama doesn't care whose house this was. Now it's our home,”
”But, Ma. Our house is strange, terrible.”.
Mama frowned. ”Gruesome how? You are-there is,”
”Ma... Last night Riri had a strange and frightening dream,” firmly Riri.
”Already... Mama doesn't want to hear your silly story. It was just your hallucination. Now you take a shower. My mom prepared a special breakfast for you. Don't let your father and brother wait too long,” Mama left Riri in her room.
”Ughh... why the hell mama never want to believe my story,” Riri complained annoyed, then moved to the bathroom.
Riri came out of the room. Close the door tightly. Suddenly his hair was goosebumps. Enlarged skull. The black shadow behind him stood up straight. Riri can't move. Sweat on his forehead. His heart rate is starting to get irregular. His eyes move to the right. Quickly he turned the body. See the figure behind him. That figure disappeared.
“Hugh...” Riri grunted in relief. He set his heart rate, then went down the stairs.
“Why are you, honey? Is your face pale?”
Riri sat in the chair. “Hmm..
“You're okay right?”
Riri nodded. “He-em,”
“This morning papa and mama want to see the plantation. You take care of the house yes,” said papa interrupted breakfast.
Riri scoops the fried rice. “Kak Gordi?” tanyakanya.
“Kakak is also going out, Ri. Want to hunt campus,” cut Gordi fast.
Riri is heavy. He's like a persecuted man. Being in an old house is scary. Alone anyway.
“If there is anything just call Mr. Maroto. They stay behind,” papa said. Take the napkin and wipe his mouth.
“Iya, Pa,” Riri mutters uninspired.
After breakfast, everything went. Only Riri sat glued to the living room. The atmosphere in the house. Silent. There was no sound other than the ticking of the clockwork of the wall. There's only old furniture. He did not find Mr. Maroto who usually cleaned the front yard.
Riri tried to calm his irregular heartbeat. He watches the living room closely. Window curtains waving in the wind. The gramophon above the bupet stole his attention. The black box became very scary when it remembered the story of his friend. The gramophone has a long history.
Riri's hand grabbed the magazine on the table. It opens page by page. His mind is not concentrated. Slowly he heard the sound of classical music in the seventies. The music made it feel like he was in Holland. Riri's face was tense. Sweaty forehead. The music comes from the gramophon on the bupet.
“Who turned on?” bathe with a confused mind. Riri closed the magazine. Put it on the table. Move while continuing to pay attention to the rotating black disk.
Braaks...
Suddenly the side door closed. Riri jumped in shock. Replex he turned towards the door. While calming his mind, appeared the figure of a man his age.
“Who are you?” tanyakanya.
“I'm Boby, grandson of Maroto's grandfather,” he replied.
“Boby.?” mumbling slowly. “What do you need to come here?”
“Hmm.. grandpa told me to fix your kitchen. Said something leaked,”
“Oh...” Riri pays attention to the kitchen space. Riri followed the boy's steps into the kitchen.
“Whose name are you?” tanyakanya.
“Riri,” Riri replied briefly.
The guy put his equipment on the table. “Where are papa and your mama?”
“They to the plantation. He said he wanted to see things there,”
“Oh,” Boby mangosteen-beard.
“You live with your grandfather?” asked Riri while sitting on a chair.
“Yah. My father and mother died when I was two,”
“Oh..sorry...I don't mean to remember your past,”.
“Nothing. It is the law of nature and the world. They were accidents,”
Riri. He watched the guy in front of him. Some water faucets are broken. The kitchen door needs to be repaired. Riri wanted to extract a story from Boby. Little did he know about the house they occupied.
“Sorry, I don't know about it. Just ask my grandfather. He knows everything about the history of this house,”
“History?”
“Yeah, said my grandfather this house has a long history,”
“Oh..” Riri's lips rounded. “Everything you know about this house?”
“Not many. I only know the owner of this house was once a Dutch captain,” he said while tying the faucet with an isolation bandage.
“Oh yes?” Riri was a little surprised. “Lantas where is the Dutch captain?”
“She died horribly,”
“Turned?” riri's eyes were wide.
“They slaughtered an unknown person,”
“Oh... Terrible once?”
“Yes, that's my grandfather's story. I also don't dare to tell a story,”
Riri fell silent. Thousands of frightening thoughts were lodged in his mind. The man smiled faintly, then went back to work. After a few hours he finished fixing everything. The guy came out with a sweat on his forehead.
“Everything is in order. If you need anything, I'm behind,”
“Thank you for your time,”
“I go first,”
“Yah.”
The guy got out of the kitchen. Leaving Riri alone. Actually he wanted Boby not to go quickly. He wanted to be accompanied until papa and mama came back. But Boby was gone. The atmosphere was silent and gripping.
Riri noticed the deserted spaces. He approached the window in the middle room. Open the white curtains and look at the backyard. Maroto was cleaning the back garden. He looked at Riri as Riri watched fixedly. Riri gasped. Maroto's facial expression was very tense and cold. Riri closed the window curtains again, then sat in the living room restlessly.
“Sorot pak Maroto's eyes are sharp once,” thought.
Riri kept his mind calm. He turned on the TV and looked for some chanel. Again his mind was dragged by Boby's story. Stories that make my hair goosebumps.
Around the house grew rubber trees. Leafy. The house was occupied by a captain, Sbastian Buch. He died covered in blood. Her daughter was also killed in a room with her neck nearly severed.
***
