ECLIPSE LUNAR

Episodes 10

KAREN took my hand and just took it off after arriving in front of my class. He hasn't said anything since we left the UKS. Besides, I can't explain anything if he asks and I just need to ask more.

“It looks like your class has no teacher,” comments Karen after observing the state of my crowded class. As if reading my bewildered expression, Karen explained, “Just get home. He fainted for nearly four hours. Mending is now sitting in class. He will come home with me. I should not feel well, I did not have to go to school. Yesterday you actually fainted?”

I just nodded. It certainly looks dazed, because Karen immediately patted my shoulder with a pair of eyebrows that were adrift.

“I think I'm just a soy sauce, Ren. You don't have to think of me that way. Sorry yes, so ngerepotin.”

Karen's eyes looked probing. “Lo kayak same as anyone. Then, why did Ken get mad at you? What were you guys fussing about in the corridor? I saw it from the field as very fierce.”

I bite my lip for a moment, then speak honestly. “If it is .. I also don't know.”

Despite looking unsatisfied, Karen nodded and once again patted my shoulder. “Let me pick you up here, okay. Wait for me for a while, for example, I am a bit old. There is additional material to catch up with me because I did not enter yesterday.”

It's not good to lie like this. There's no way I-I told you that I just got possessed by his sister's ghost. I took off my best friend with a short wave. I hugged my shivering body as I stepped into the classroom, which made my head grow dizzy.

“That's Serena!” exclaimed Deby, one of my classmates. His call immediately made the entire class that had been busy with their respective affairs turn towards me. I was confused, while the friends started to swarm. Actually now whose lesson anyway, to the point that the class can be this noisy?! In my heart I cursed the irresponsible teacher who left his lesson hours without any instruction like now.

“Ser, same Ken why?”

“So you passed out in front of Ken, right?”

“Yeah! Lucky to be carried by Ken! What dreams do you semalem?!”

Whats? I'm carrying Ken? I looked around me, but my dizzy head could not find who was shouting that last sentence. Whoever he is, I think he's joking.

Kupijit my temple for a moment. “I want to sit!” I growled while staring at the curious faces around me. Then his look turned disappointed at my loud tone.

“Udah woy! Turn around! Serena did not feel well even at lo kompunin. Let him rest first!” The voice belonged to Vina.

Many angry exclamations responded, but then the crowd around me dispersed. Vina galloped over and led to my desk. Before long, Yola also came and took her place in the chair across from my desk.

“Lo is okay?” yola asked, her voice sounding curious as well as worried.

Vina patted my shoulder. “Gue wonder so bad dapet news lo fainted. What's the matter, Ser? Why are you so desperate? Must be about Adriana Kinanti huh? Dong's story! Yesterday you ran away without telling me who the girl was!”

I rubbed my forehead until my bang was a mess. Instead of answering, I looked at Vina's curious face. “You can tell the full chronological story?”

Vina raised her eyebrows. “He said, you suddenly fainted after a debate about the same note Ken. You don't inget?”

I threw a look ahead. There's nothing I'm looking at. I was just thinking. Ken already said about the note. But what I want to know is what the conversation is about. I look back at what Ken said in the UKS. Me, I mean Kinan asked for a note from him? Not wrong anymore. If so, the notes in question must be the ones discussed yesterday by Vina and Yola, the notes belonging to Kinan that fell and found Ken.

I tousled my hair with one hand, making Vina and Yola look at me in wonder.

“Ser, I think you are not well enough deh.” Yola inching stroked my hand, calming. “Mending lo permission to go home first there.”

I closed my eyes and caught my breath. Relax Serena, relax. All of this can still be digested as long as you are calm. However, when I opened my eyes, my heart again shed its vows. Why should I? Why should I see her figure?! I'd rather be as optimistic as Karen. That way things won't be this complicated. It's obvious that Kinan's ghost isn't just my hallucination. But how can I tell Karen that her sister is dead and a ghost? How did Kinan die to the point of being unsettled and becoming a ghost? There were still a myriad of questions that bothered me, but the ones that came out of my lips were just frustrated groans.

***

Thirty minutes later, just as the bell came home ringing, I regretted my decision to refuse to go home early. Vina and Yola, who had already finished cleaning things and were about to leave the classroom, stopped their steps before reaching the door. Yola was glued to her place while Vina ran towards me.

“Serena! There's Ken!”

That name has been bothering me ever since. And right now, for whatever's in the world, he's the only one I really don't want to meet at a time of turmoil like now. For God's sake I need to think about what steps I should take. And Ken's kind of man, would never care about that. I realize I need it too, but don't force me now!

After attaching the bag strap on my shoulder, I turned and faced off with Ken's pair of plump eyes.

The guy smirked thinly, but then smiled sweetly. “Udah better?”

I clenched my jaw. No, as long as you are on earth.

“Nak bad also we chat here,” his comments while glancing at Vina and Yola who still stay in class while looking full of curiosity, then back to my eyes. “By the way, temen lo are like bodyguards where, how not the same lo?”

What he meant was Karen. Had Karen been with me, it would have been easier to avoid this guy. I still clench my lips tightly. Ken understands that I intend not to open my mouth one bit.

He watched me for a moment, then opened his voice which turned serious. “There are different lo. Don't try to cover it up from me.”

What's he talking about? I'm not even sure what I'm trying to cover up.

Ken suddenly widened his smile, he said in a whispering voice, “Many of you know the same here. Surely you are different from the others because not many are known to them.”

I blinked fast. They who?

I almost forgot how to breathe. Good Lord! Is it possible for Ken to find out about me by asking the inhabitants of this school?

“Lo know, right, I can see them,” said Ken lightly.

I don't know why my brain is running so slow. I just kept quiet. Behind Ken's back, I saw Vina and Yola gesturing for me to fight back. I think this time it was Yola who was a big fan of Ken's who preferred to defend me.

Ken opened his voice faster. “Surely anyone wants to explain to me, right? Our conversation was interrupted with the Chairman of OSIS. So mumpung he does not exist, I want to hear his explanation from lo now.” The sharp look of the guy hit my eyes.

I returned his gaze without a hint of trepidation. But strangely my mouth is still silent. All this time, I've had too much to hold. Many words I wanted to spit out in front of his face until I was confused as to which one to say first.

Shall I tell you that I didn't like her since I first met her?

Should I say I hate it every time he spits up ghost stories and acts so well in front of everyone?

Or, should I say that I have the same ability but not the same attitude?

However, I flinched as soon as a single sentence flashed through my mind.

No. gabe. I reject the speculation my brain throws at all those questions. I closed my eyes as I shouted a sentence in my heart about the opposite of that consciousness. I shouldn't have acted like this. Now I need him to uncover what really happened to Kinan. My personal feelings for him should be removed for the sake of it.

“No need to worry, Serena.”

Ken's voice reopened my eyelids. I still haven't reacted. The guy turned his head towards Vina and Yola, as well as towards some of my classmates who were still in the classroom who were deliberately slowing down in order to hear my conversation with Ken. “You can all go out first? I have to say four eyes to this friend of yours.” He pointed at me with a head movement.

Ken watched one by one until all my friends left, then locked the classroom door and came back to me.

“Quietly, I won't say anything about kok.”

I'm not even worried about that. All I thought about was how I could say I mean that he didn't misunderstand.

“Gue will not love you strange banter about the many ghosts who turned out to know the same lo,” said the guy was wise. “Well, maybe the ghosts here know you because you are one of my fanatical fans, right? No problem, it's everyone's right. But...,” Ken hung up his sentence while galloping closer to me. Surprisingly I did not take a step back. I let him put his hand on my shoulder.

“Gue just wanted to answer my question. How do you know if I lied all this time?” He said in a voice full of emphasis.

This time, my eyebrows were adrift because I did not understand what he meant.

“There are only two possibilities.” Ken gripped my shoulder. “The first one, you know because you know Adriana Kinanti. Second, you know, because you can also see them.”

It felt like the air around me was reduced, making my breath short for a moment. Ken's waiting for my answer. How can I say that both are true? That I knew Adriana Kinanti and that figure had just possessed me, plus I could see it too. But Ken doesn't seem to have any intention of letting me go before he gets the answer he wants.

“You lied?” I'm not really understanding.

“The girl,” answered in a stifled voice, “when I first met, she said that I could no longer make up stories about the ghosts I saw. I was able to appear in PENSI and going to class when I accidentally hit him until all the books in his bag fell apart so shocked because he knew my secret. All this time I still tell children about ghosts. Though none of the story is true because since the ghosts here know I like nosy, none of them want to be whittled or even tell me again. So, I made up stories about the ghosts here that I saw at a glance. I'm the only one who knows about that. And ... girl named Adriana Kinanti that make me really-no surprise until not aware if the notes the girl missed.”

Ken closed his eyes. “And you know what makes me chase lo kayak gini?” Ken answered his own question. “Tadi, you just told me the exact same words as him and asked me to turn the notes back to you. Now, what's your explanation of this?”

The entire vocabulary seemed to overflow from my head. My eyes without focus. Nothing is more surprising than this. And again, just like during the last hour of rest, I saw a fog that slowly thickened and formed a single figure.

Being too surprised, I couldn't even take my eyes off the ghost so Ken wouldn't suspect me. The man followed my eyes to Kinan, who was standing right beside Ken, making the man let go of his grip on my shoulder and back away in a daze.

At first Kinan's dim, tanned eyes looked at me flat before he finally turned his head and met Ken.

“You ... Adriana Kinanti?” Ken's voice sounded raucous.

Kinan blinked once. Ken shook his head hard. “Not possible,” hisses. “You can't be him. He's still alive. Obviously just a few weeks ago I met—”

The sentence went unresolved because Ken then seemed to have been struck. She supports the body by holding on to the edge of the table. “Some weeks...” Ken laughed heartily. “Not possible in that time— ”

The guy shook his head, still laughing as if this was funny to him.

My hands tremble. The situation surrounding me is not at all a good thing. There's something dark behind all this. And I realized it had been dragged too deep. Ken has the same thoughts as me about Kinan. And that thought is what I really want to get rid of but it feels impossible. This ghost is my best friend's sister.

When I looked, Kinan's ghost looked back at me. Quickly put my eyes in any direction. I'm afraid he's got me again. Suddenly I heard a voice calling me. I saw that Ken was still silent in his place, so the voice was definitely not his.

“Serena.”

My head is moving stiffly towards Kinan. I looked into those brown eyes and realized immediately, he was the owner of the voice. He was talking to me even though his lips were still clenched.

“Search those notes.”

Then Kinan disappeared like a foam. Kinan's appearance was enough to represent my explanation to Ken. I stepped out of class. After this, I'm sure Ken will be looking for me again. []