"My Empress. You are My Empress. My Empress. Come with me. My Empress. My Empress..."
"Hahhh!!" Tasia jumped out of her sleep with wide eyes and sweat-soaked all over her body.
'What's that?! A dream?!' Her heart was beating hard.
She immediately pressed the button of a red mushroom-shaped desk lamp which was sitting sweetly on the study table beside her bed. Click! The thirty-centimetre lamp showed a faint white light that became slightly red due to the colour of the lamp shell.
Tasia rubbed her forehead and realized her body was already wrapped in a blanket from the waist down. Things that rarely happen, especially Tasia's sleeping style was pretty calm. She usually woke up with the blanket still quite neatly covering her body from the neck down.
"No wonder it's so hot. How can this blanket wrap around me like this? Huh! After what happened this afternoon, that guy has haunted me even in my dream!" She mumbled to herself.
Tasia recalled the incident at lunch earlier, where Hadyan, the crazy guy suddenly slapped the spoon from Patra's hand while feeding her. Even the spoon flew far enough away. It made them get scolded by the school cleaner who happened to be nearby. He said that they were joking too much to the point of not appreciating the school cleaner. Then casually and without any guilt feeling, Hadyan said that there was a fly that he had wanted to get rid of, but it wasn't a fly that he got hit, but Patra's spoon of porridge. It was an accident he told.
Tasia snorted, then immediately unwrapped the stifling blanket off her body. Then, with the irritated and lazy steps, she approached the waist-high drawer under her room window, where she kept her underwear and pyjamas.
On top of the drawer, there were several rows of photo frames of Tasia when she was a child, her photos with her family, and friends. And she also put her cell phone and a glass of water in the same drawer.
"Cell phones should be kept away from our heads while we are sleeping. The radiation is dangerous." Those were his mother's words when Tasia began to be entrusted with owning a personal cell phone. At that time she got an old cell phone but it made her extremely happy.
Tasia took a tall green oval-shaped glass with a cartoon frog's head printed on it. Then she opened the glass cover and began to sip the warm water which had become cold from being put under the air conditioner for too long.
"Hem.. who is that? What time is it?" She muttered against the window.
She glanced at the clock perched on the wall in her room. The time was three in the morning.
'Three in the morning?! Who is standing on the edge of the alley like that? Please don't be a ghost!' She said in her mind. Still in drinking position. But the glass was just stuck on her mouth uselessly.
Again, she noticed a tall figure standing in the middle of the alleyway in front of her house. Tasia became more aware that the figure was not a ghost, but just a man who was standing watching at her bedroom window.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Tasia's heart skipped a beat as she slowly started to squat down to hide her body from the mysterious man's sight.
'He's watching me! Is he a stalker! Geez... I'm so scared!'
'But, wait. My window glass can only be seen through from the inside. How could he possibly see me through this window from the outside?' She thought.
Then Tasia got up the courage to get up and peek at the window again. And surprisingly, it turned out that the man was still standing there, in the same position.
'His face is not visible. Who is that?'
Tasia shuddered in horror, but couldn't do anything about it. Right now she lived with her aunt and uncle house, not with her own parents. So there's no way she could wake them up over such a small thing. She did not want to trouble them as much as possible, because after all, she was just staying there as a stranger to the family.
She slowly walked back to her bed after sliding the sky blue curtains with clouds pictures to cover the window.
Her heart was pounding with her fear and confusion. For hours thinking who or what was standing watching at the window, until finally, she fell back asleep unconsciously.
**
"Someone was watching at my bedroom window last night. He was watching it as if he knew I was watching him from the inside too. I felt like he was watching me. It was terrible!"
"No way, your window glass could only see through from the inside, it's a one-sided glass. Maybe he was the one who wanted to rob your house. But there's no way he could see you, Tasia. It's just your feeling because you're scared." Jordi said.
"You'd better warn everyone in your house. Then call the police. It's very dangerous." Tata suggested seriously.
"That's right, Tasia. Moreover, your grandmother has Alzheimer." Marya added.
"Um.. okay." Tasia nodded.
School bell rang and they all returned to their classes, then started their learning activities.
"Hey.. Could I have lunch with you guys again today?" Suddenly Hadyan approached Tata and Tasia who were chatting in the middle of changing lessons time at their table.
"Huh? Of course, you could." Tata answered friendly.
"No one objected, right?" Hadyan raised his eyebrows, looking at Tasia who looked intense.
Tasia shook her head with a stiff smile.
"No one would be objected, Hadyan. Just relax." Tata replied as half laughing, more at Tasia's strange attitude.
"Well thank you then." Hadyan smiled before he returned to his seat.
"What is wrong with you, Tasia?" Tata asked amusedly.
Tasia shook her head weakly, "I don't know.."
"Do you like him?"
"What? Seriously?! I'm afraid of him!" Tasia glared in surprise.
"Hmm... So you're still scared for no reason. Why don't you try to have a small talk with him? Maybe your strange unreasonable fear will go away."
"I... I'm not sure..."
"He won't kidnap or do anything bad to you, Tasia. That fear is unwarranted, inexplicable, and unreasonable. In fact, it might make Hadyan uncomfortable and feel awry around you."
Tasia nodded. She couldn't help but agree with Tata's words because they made a lot of sense. In fact, she also felt guilty towards Hadyan. But that feeling of fear always appeared suddenly, like a light that suddenly turned off and make the room dark. Making Tasia's fear suddenly appear, but she can't control it. Made her feel insecure.
Tasia glanced back to monitor Hadyan who was sitting at the back, then choked and threw an awkward smile that Hadyan turned out to be watching.
'It was just a coincidence. Because I looked back, so he would reflexively look at me too. There's nothing like him watching you from behind since the beginning, Tasia! There is nothing strange.. Nothing!'
She warned herself.