SET DUSK
The Part 14
In the afternoon after the zuhur, ungku Jorong came back to the surau with a mantri, checking Ida's health condition. Ida is declared to be affected by typhoid symptoms and must rest fully.
After two weeks of rest, Ida returned to her routine to become a messenger.
That day, the sky was getting dark. It looks like the clouds are heavy to move when blown by the wind. Ida hastened her steps to get to Surau before the rain fell. Slippery rice fielders made his legs slip a few times. When he almost reached the end of the rice field, suddenly from a distance he saw a man running towards him while shouting, "Dutch!.... Holland!!"
Without a second thought, Ida jumped towards the haystack on the edge of the rice field, covering her body with a haystack. Before long, he heard the sound of footsteps of the man who had shouted, accompanied by the sound of a rifle eruption.
Ida did not budge in the haystack, trying to regulate her breath and resist the itching caused by the straw that rubbed her skin.
Suddenly Ida felt like there was a hard impact on her head. Ida refrained from shouting, when she realized that the object that hit her head was Lars shoes of Dutch soldiers who mired into the rice field where Ida hid.
Heart beat and pain in the head due to being stepped on by the Dutch army made his hearing ringing.
After a while, Ida tried to sharpen her hearing to see if it was safe to come out of her hiding place.
Convinced there was no sound, Ida slowly walked out of the haystack. Keep an eye on the rice field area, before he actually comes out of hiding. No one was seen in that rice field. Ida got out of the haystack and walked hastily as the drizzle began to descend.
Arriving at the surau, Maryam was astonished to see Ida's entire body filled with mud.
"Why are you Da?"
"On the way home, I ran into a Dutchman who was chasing someone, and then I jumped into a haystack in the rice field."
"Then why is your forehead bleeding?" maryam asked when she saw fresh blood on Ida's forehead.
Ida rubbed her forehead.
"ah! I should have been dizzy" said Ida.
"Why is that?" maryam asked, curious.
"So when I was hiding in the hay, there was a Dutch soldier slipping right where I was hiding, his feet stepping on my head" Ida said.
"Oh my God, it's good that you survived."
"Yes, Thank God Yam. I want to take a shower first yes, it's like the smell of my body buffalo" kekeh Ida.
"Yes already, sana. Magrib soon."
-------°°°°°---------
One morning in late July, they were startled by the sound of explosions and gunfire. Surau residents ran out to see what was happening. Maryam first reached the door and opened the door, when a grenade exploded not far from the door. Maryam bounced back, crashing into Ida's body just down the stairs.
Several fragments of grenade explosions stuck in Maryam's body. His body was covered in blood. Ida tried to pull Maryam down the stairs, where they used to hide.
"Niar! Anie! Help the Union pull Maryam!" scream Ida.
Niar and Ani who had just come down hurriedly pulled Maryam towards the bottom of the stairs.
The faces of the two girls were pias. Ida rested Maryam's body and examined Maryam's wounds. There was a large fragment of grenade stuck just below Maryam's left ear, making Mary's body as if bathed in blood. The girl's body shivered like cold.
"Yam, hold on Yam!" Ida started sobbing.
Meanwhile, outside the surau, the sound of firearms, gunfire, explosions and the sound of screaming made the panic that Ida felt increasingly become. He couldn't feel Maryam's pulse.
"Miss!!!" Ani and Niar's cries broke.
"Yam. ... Can you hear me Yam?" Ida's still trying to make Maryam sober.
They could not do anything, the sound of explosions and gunfire outside was still heard, no matter how long they waited under the stairs with the body of Maryam. Until the sunlight that goes into the surau is no longer visible.
The gunshots began to die down, the door opened violently. They held back the cry that had broken by smothering the mouth.
"Kids!" Jorong's ungku face appeared under the stairs right where they were hiding.
"Maryam was wounded Ngku," Ida's cry broke again when she saw Jorong's camp coming.
Ungku Jorong checked Maryam's pulse, then shook his head slowly.
The wound that Maryam had suffered was severe enough to cause the girl to lose a lot of blood. Ida hugged Maryam while sobbing.
" Iyam, I was just Yam's dream... You wake up Yam," isak Ida Pilu.
There is no word from Maryam's lips. Empty look. There was no more carefree chattering from the girl like the days before.
"We have to get out of here quickly, the Dutch are carrying out military aggression, they are deploying all the power they have to destroy all our defensive posts" he said.
"How about Maryam Ngku?" ask Ida on the sidelines of her crying.
"There's no time we take care of Da's body, we have to back off first. The Dutch have surrounded our place. We must move quickly to the jungle."
"I don't want to leave Maryam, Ngku!" ida's voice was rising.
"She, this is not the time to think about feelings, one life that survived is so precious, let's get out of here!" Ungku Jorong began to rile with Ida's stubborn attitude.
"Ani, Niar you come out first, outside there is Shamsir waiting," said Jorong.
The two girls pulled Ida's hand, "Uni, come on let's get out of here, later when things are safe, we come back again," Niar said.
"Yes Uni, union Maryam definitely doesn't want the Union to get hurt." Ani persuaded Ida.
Finally, with a heavy heart Ida was forced to leave her best friend. Ida was unable to withstand the tightness she felt. His cries broke as they began to run towards the forest not far from behind the surau.
Ida looked around, some fields were burning, the orange color of the fire was so harmonious with the orange tinge in the sky that afternoon.
Ida's gaze was clouded by her tears that she could not stop, so she fell down tripping over the roots of trees that were sticking out on the ground. He grimaced, feeling the pain in his ankle. When he was about to stand up, a pair of burly hands pulled him to his feet. He looked to say thank you.
Instantly Ida's face paled when she saw the owner of the face from the hand that pulled her up standing.
"Did you?" The man who helped Ida was no less surprised when he saw the face of the girl he helped.
