I open my eyes in the hope that I am still safe from whatever comes for me from that door, but what I see right now is it's just my bedroom. I woke up on my bed, covered in a blanket, and then I grabbed my phone beside my pillow to check what time it was. It's 5 am.
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I sit and mutter, "So.. was it all a dream? But it feels so real, maybe a nightmare; I remember falling asleep in that room and, ah yes, my necklace !!"
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I got up from my bed, made my bed, and checked my drawer immediately, and there I saw my necklace still safe in it.
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Then I started to wonder again, "It's so strange. Why is my necklace in my dream, and why is it sealed in that podium?"
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I take the necklace and wear it, then I take ablution and do morning prayer, after that, I take a bath, but when I look in the mirror, I see something wrong with my face. I think the colors of both of my eyes' iris were changing. Before, it was brown like other people's eyes, but now it's black.
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Beautiful black, like darkness, but after I think back, maybe it is just my imagination.
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After I take a bath, I immediately go downstairs and meet Sarah and Callion, my mother and father, in the dining room. Mom prepares breakfast, and Papa reads the newspaper on the dining chair.
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I meet them and greet both of them. "Good morning, Mom and Papa." Then Mother looks at me and replies, "Good morning, sweetheart," and Father too while he puts down his newspaper, responding to my greeting, "Morning Richan, eat your breakfast before you go to school."
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I replied to Father and asked Mother, "Yes, Papa… Mom, what are we having for breakfast?" Then Mom brought the breakfast to the dining table and replied, "We have your favorite food, Peanut Pecel."
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Wow, it's pecel, what a perfect breakfast food; then I replied to Mom with a happy "Yay, thanks, Mom," and we started breakfast.
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In the middle of breakfast, Duran is coming down from upstairs, too; yes, he is my big brother. He is seven years older than me and a medical student, but he is in the middle of the summer holiday now.
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Duran said to all of us while yawning, " Good Morning, Everyone." Then Mother looked at Duran and said, "Morning Duran, did you skip your morning prayer?".
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Hearing what my mom said, Duran scratched his head and replied, "Ahh, yeah, I'm sorry, Mom, my morning alarm does not work for me, and I slept late last night because I'm working on my project."
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Then, Father said to Duran after he swallows his food, "Good grief, Duran, it's okay if u work late at night, but you must still take care of your responsibility. Set a good example for your Adek*. Got it?" (1)
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Then Duran also replies to Father, "Yes, papa, I'm gonna make it up with Sunna prayer."
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Then Duran comes to me, takes the chair, and sits beside me. Then he greets me, "Good morning, Richan." I reply to him, "Morning Kak*" (2)
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Duran took his food, and while doing it, he asked me, "Are you okay? I heard some loud sound from your room last night." maybe he was talking about me having a nightmare last night, so I just replied to him casually.
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"Ahh, I had a nightmare last night, Kak. Did I scream?" he looked at me for a second, then he said again with a confused expression, "Oh poor you, by the way, it's not a scream. It sounds like a tapping sound, but it is repeated. It's similar to when you ru..."
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Before Duran finished his sentence, Mother cut him for reminding me about school. "Richan, finish your breakfast and get going immediately. It's almost 6 am. you must not be late." I glance at the clock, and yep, I must hurry. "Okay, Mom, sorry, Kak, I must get going. I'm almost late," I replied to Mother and Duran while fastening my eating pace.
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I finished my breakfast, grabbed my bag, kissed my parents on the hand and got off to school.
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I said to my mother and father, "Mom, Papa, I'm going to school." then they replied together, "Take care, son."
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Long story short, I arrived at the school gate, but before I entered, someone tapped me from behind and said, "Hey, good morning. It looks like we will arrive at the same time."
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Surprised and jumped, not expecting someone to greet me from behind. Then I looked behind me; it was Yana.
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Yana looked surprised, too. "Woah, did I scare you ? " she said to me, and I replied, "Oh my god, Yana, u scared me for a second there," while regaining my composure.
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Then Yana said again, "Eh, I'm sorry, huh, why do you look so pale, Chann? Are you cold?" she looked at my face and touched my forehead with her right hand, checking for my temperature, then I tell her "well it's a long story, I tell you when we at class."
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Meanwhile, when we were chatting for a bit, a teacher spotted us, and when Yana touched my forehead too, the teacher yelled at us, "Both students there, get inside now; don't date in front of the school gate."
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I yell back at the teacher, "Eh, no sir, we're not dating," I slowly grab Yana's hand from my forehead before it causes some misunderstanding.
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While I still grab Yana's right hand, she seems silent after the teacher yells at us. I look at her, and it seems she is a bit... blushed. Maybe it is just my imagination, but then Yana tells me, "Let's just go to the classroom."
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When we entered the classroom, the teacher followed up, and the class started immediately until 10 am. After that, we had a half-hour of resting time. I had a quick nap on my desk, but then Yana came to me.
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She takes the chair in front of my desk, rotates it to face me, then sits, and starts to ask, "So…are you gonna tell me what happened to you?" while putting both hands on my desk holding her jaw.
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After that, I told Yana about my nightmare last night, from the start, the castle, the four rooms, my necklace, the random voice, and the red door.
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After Yana heard all of it, she just said, "Wow, it's so.... weird."
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I replied to her comment, "I know, right ? Now I'm curious about my dream last night too." after I said that, Yana seemed to be thinking about what I had just told her, and then she said to me again.
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"actually….Chan, the red door you were talking about is so similar to what I heard from my mom's story." hearing what she just said, I leaned on her a bit closer and tried to get some information from her, so I just told her "What is it about?"
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Then Yana tells me about something that makes me shiver a bit. " Hmmm... Mom is telling me not specific, but it's like this: when the end is coming, Dajaru will step into the earth from the red gate," she said.
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After hearing what she just told me, I wondered if it was not just a random story. I replied to Yana, "Dajaru?" because I was curious about this… what is Dajaru?
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She replied, "Yeah, Mom said Dajaru is the apostle of chaos, which set this world doom and led it to the end."
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But before I can chat further with Yana to ask more about it, the bell rings, and she returns to her desk. Now I'm getting more curious about the red door and this Dajaru thing.
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When I arrived home, I immediately opened my computer, but this time it was different. Instead of playing games, I searched for information about Dajaru, but even when I searched on Google, there was a lack of information about it. But then, finally, I got some information. It's telling me to open some verses in my holy book, so I opened my book, opened the verses, and it said.
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"At the end of the world, humankind is in deep chaos situation, where common sense, morale are gone, and all of that, because the apostle of chaos, who bring doom to the earth, leading humankind to the wrongdoing, and good peoples are all dead, thee step on the earth, with his dark matter from the red gate, thee who called Dajaru, the apostle of chaos."
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After I read the verses, I don't know why my head felt heavy. I took ablution immediately and did a prayer. I felt better, and then I did my usual activity. When it was dinner time, I had a hard time eating. Trying not to make my family worry, I force my body to eat it. After I ate, I went to Duran's room.
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I came inside his room to look at him still doing his project on his laptop, and I said to him, "kakak, can I play here for a while, maybe until I feel sleepy?" then Duran looked at me surprised and said, "oh okay, it's so rare for you to play in my room."
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I hope Duran does not mind me. I play in his room right now because I'm scared of being alone after what I read this afternoon.
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It's not so long; the time already points to 9 pm. I asked Duran to accompany me on the fifth prayer, and Duran was okay with it. After we prayed together, I returned to my bedroom, but I was afraid to fall asleep. I thought, what if I'm having a nightmare again?
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"Well, maybe yesterday was just a coincidence. Let's not think about it," I mumbled, trying to encourage myself.
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But before I sleep, I always spend a minute praying, "God almighty, please protect me from any harm from my sleep and make me see the day of tomorrow."
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After my prayer, I'm going to sleep, to wake up again in the middle of nowhere.
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" You must be kidding me."
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Author Note :
1 . Adek is a word used to call a younger sibling in Indonesia.
2. Kakak is a word that people in Indonesia use to call older siblings
3. In Indonesia, it's a Tradition to kiss parents on the hand before going off to work, school, etc., for safe charm from parents and also to keep morality between parents and children