In the hotel room, everyone is holding their phone, scrolling through the social media page. Their purpose is not to isolate themselves from a conversation. Instead, they are working together doing a critical search. A location of a recent monster attack is what they are looking for.
"There are many images of these monsters but… is there any from Beryl?" "Keep on searching, maybe we will find one," said Adipati to Carla to keep going. "Hessonite…, Peridot…, Dioptase…, Baryte…, where's Beryl?" Yusuf is confused.
They continued searching on that page for a few more moments. They look at each image and video on that creepy page. Their gaze is only focused on the location that stated the corner of the post. Their only focus right now is the recent monster attack in Beryl.
"Damn it! How long have we scrolled?! My eyes are getting tired," grumbled Carla. "I don't know… Maybe around 2 hours?" answered Yusuf to frustrated Carla. Adipati put down his phone and said, "Let's stop for now. Maybe we'll find it later."
Everyone turns off their phone and takes a deep breath. All of them lay back on the chair with a weighty feeling of tiredness.
"Now what?" Carla frustratingly asked both Adipati and Yusuf. They only lift their shoulders as if they have any ideas. All of them just sit there, not knowing what to do. The clock keeps ticking but they couldn't come up with anything.
"Let me turn on the TV. Maybe there's something that we could watch," said Yusuf. Adipati and Carla nod as they agree out of boredom. He gets up, grabs the remote, and presses the power button. The TV turns on immediately and broadcasts a movie scene.
There's a masked man finally trapped his victim. The woman is shaking and crying at the corner of the wall.
"Please! Don't kill me… I don't want to die…"
Sadly, the cold-hearted killed didn't even bother by her beg. He slowly lifts the knife into the air.
AHHH!!!
"Uhhh…, can you change the channel, Yusuf?" asked Adipati. "Oh, of course," Yusuf change the channel to the next one. Carla slowly put her hands away from her face.
BEEP!
"No! No! Wait! Please!" begged the man as he is lowered into a deadly machine. "Time is up and you failed me. Now, taste the sweet death," said the voice from the speaker.
ARGH!!!!!
"Is there anything that we can watch but not scary???" Carla begins to panic. "Oh, sorry, just give me a moment," Yusuf change the channel again. Adipati just sits there, hoping to find something that they could watch.
He changes to other channels one, two, and three times. They noticed that all the channels are broadcasting movies only. There are action movies, comedy movies, romance movies, and more. Even though there are a variety of genres, they found none entertaining.
Their eyes are getting heavy as the channel keeps on changing. It feels like the TV is hypnotizing them to put them to sleep.
"That's it. I'm going to turn it off and return to my phone," Yusuf said.
He sits down and turns his phone back on. Carla and Adipati both do the same thing too. They may feel a little bit tired but at least they have something to see. They turn on their phone but they decide to do their things.
Adipati opens social media and realizes something, "Hey, check this out!"
Yusuf and Carla gathered around him to see it. They take a good look at his phone screen.
"What the…? Why is it not there when we look for it but it is there when we do not?" "Calm down Carla. At least we found it. Finally, there is a case that happened here." "It was uploaded 1 hour ago and happened at the… empty house?" questioned Yusuf.
There is a picture of a creepy abandoned kitchen. It looks like it was taken from a hidden angle. The user might be hiding behind the wall at that moment. It might be a little dark and blurry but they could see the figure in it.
It's a humanoid figure in a hunched-back pose. It has a sharp claw and teeth but they aren't as sharp as the trio could remember. It isn't aware of the presence of its paparazzi. The blurry picture maybe looks uncanny, but the description is way scarier.
"I WAS IN THIS ABANDONED HOUSE BECAUSE MY FRIEND CHALLENGED ME TO A BRAVERY TEST. AND THEN I SAW – WHATEVER THIS IS – JUST TURNED FROM A HUMAN TO SOMETHING MONSTROUS! I TOOK A PICTURE DURING IT WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF TRANSFORMING."
"AFTER I TOOK IT, I SLOWLY SNEAK MY WAY OUT! MY HEART WAS ALMOST GET RIP OFF MY CHEST! I WAS SO SCARED THAT THE THING WOULD CHASE ME AND KILL ME! GUYS! PLEASE! I'M NOT KIDDING! THIS IS NOT A JOKE! #MONSTERSAREREAL!"
The spine-chilling description leaves them with many impressions. They are glad the user managed to escape from that place.
"Carla, can you find the distance of this abandoned house from here?" asked Adipati. "Oh, of course. May I have your phone?" she takes the phone gently from his hand.
She opens the GPS app and immediately finds the distance. The app load for a while and the distance between both places finally appeared.
"Adipati, it says here it takes around 15 minutes to get there by walking," said Carla. "Good. We will go there tonight. Then, we will find the monster and kill it," he said.
Each of the trio finally knew their following hunting location. They only hope that everything will go smoothly as it should.
***
The woods are surrounded by the dark and the crickets are chirping loudly. The trio comes out from the bushes and gather in front of the house. The two-story house stands tall in front of them, making their goosebumps rise. The old wooden door feels like it's hiding an unpleasant surprise – and maybe – including the hideous monster.
"So, this is it," said Carla, "The scary place where the ugly creature might be hiding." "Yeah," nodded Adipati, "Alright, as soon as we enter, we find it, kill it, and leave." "Got it," Yusuf replied, "Let's just hope that this won't take too much of our time."
Creak…!
The thick and heavy door was opened slowly and carefully by Adipati. They enter the dark house with silent, stealthy steps. Each of them turns on the torch mode on their phone. Every corner and surface got flashed by the bright light.
Nasty dust fills in the air of the house. Dirty sand covers the surface of the concrete floor. The paint is so dry that it peeled off from the walls. The ceiling is damaged with cracks and stains on it.
First, they inspect the living room and the dining room. No one or nothing was found in both places.
"Let's go check the toilet," whispered Adipati to them. They nodded and all of them carefully go there.
The dark and creepy toilet is already wide open. It got flashed by their bright light, vanishing the darkness lurking inside. They could only find are dusty sink and a broken mirror. Suddenly, Yusuf found an absurd thing at the corner of the toilet.
"What the heck? How can this crap get here?" as he picks it up and inspects it deeply. "What is it, Yusuf?" Adipati approaches him and Carla also takes an interest in it.
In his hand, it's a modified plastic drinking bottle. It has a tilted straw that skewered through a hole. The straw is skewered very deep into the bottle. The hole is glued so there's no leak when using it.
"This… is a bong," Yusuf said while showing it to them.
They are a little bit shocked by the object. Yusuf continues, "Judging by the look, it is used to smoke cigarettes." "You could say that someone wants to smoke with style." He throws it back to where he picked it up.
Later, they leave the bathroom and enter the kitchen. It is the same as what they saw on the post. There's only one thing different here – there's no creepy ugly creature that they seek. The back entrance has no door and the backyard is covered with tall grasses.
"Is that the reason why the monster could enter the house?" Adipati wondered. "Probably," said Yusuf as he takes a look outside – nothing – only grasses and bushes. "Let's check the second floor," suggested Carla while pointing to the stairs.
The boys nodded agreeing with her and walk up the stairs. As soon as they reached the second floor, they found three doors. They open the first one and they only found another door. As they go near the door, Carla's nose begins to twitch, "It stinks!"
Yusuf and Adipati couldn't agree more, they could smell something rotten coming from the door. All of them pinch their noses and open the door. It's just a regular bathroom with two same doors. Yusuf tries to open the other door but it is locked from the other side.
"It's locked. We need can't get to the next room through here," Yusuf spoke nasally. "We got you. Let's get out of here," said Adipati as they get out and close the door.
They walk along the hallway towards the next room. As they finally arrived at the door, the terrible stench could've been sniffed there too but stronger.
"Guys, I can't. I just… can't. This smell is making me sick," said Carla to the boys. "It's okay Carla. You can wait there," suggested Adipati while pointing at the corner. "Get ready, I'm going to open this room door. The smell might come out," said Yusuf.
His hand is pinching his nose and the other is grabbing the knob. Each of their heart is pumping blood very fast. The door will release the stinky odor and might reveal something. The reveal might be the answer to the smelly air, who knows?
CREAK! THUMP!
The door was pushed by Yusuf and slammed to the wall. Yusuf and Adipati are horrified by what they are seeing right now.
"Urgh… Hurk…! Blerk!"
Dead animals are covering every surface of the floor. Every time they look at the corner of the room, there must be a dead animal. In the piles of those decaying animals, there are dogs, cats, birds, fishes, and many more. Countless ants, flies, and maggots are swarming the carcasses.
SLAM!!!
"Carla! Let's get out of here–" Adipati was shocked and he was immediately stunned.
"Stupid youngsters! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!" shouted an old man. He is covering Carla's mouth and pointing a knife at her neck. "MMPH! MMPH! MMPH!" Carla is struggling to escape from his firm grip. Yusuf is still flabbergasted by what he is witnessing at that moment.
"YOU DAMNED YOUNGSTERS! HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO TELL YOU?! I'M SLEEPING HERE! I'M SLEEPING HERE! I'M SLEEPING HERE! I'M TIRED AFTER WORKING ALL DAY!" angered the old man while stomping his foot repeatedly.
Yusuf tries to distract him, "Are you the one who killed the animals in this room?" The old fellow becomes mad, "What are you talking about huh kid?! STUPID TURDHEADS! ALL YOU DOES IS ASK DUMB QUESTIONS, COMPLAIN, HAVE FUN AND ALL! With that stupid look, stupid attitude, and stupid behavior…, NO WONDER ALL OF YOU ARE A BUNCH OF FAILURES!!! YOU GOT THAT?!!!"
After listening to the babbling, Yusuf could feel his chest burning up. He also could feel his skin heating up bit by bit. His fingers crack as he clenches his fist tightly. He knows that if the follows his emotion blindly, the poor old man will die.
He slowly walks up to that man with an angry look. His body is trembling with mixed fear and anger.
"My legs… My legs won't stop…," he whispered to himself.
Thud!
Carla elbows the man's rib hard, making him stunned. With that opportunity, she releases herself from the man's grip.
SLAP!
Her smack to the man's head knocked him out to the ground. The boys were startled by her sudden rapid attack. Yusuf immediately comes to the man and checks his pulse and face. He just hoped that the old man didn't get any severe injuries.
"Don't worry, I didn't slap him that hard. I'm sure he is fine," assured Carla to Yusuf. "H-How can you be so sure? H-he might not recover! And…! And…!" he is in panic. "Yusuf, I can guarantee that he's fine. You need to trust her," Adipati calms him down.
"Okay…," he said softly, hoping that the old man will wake up. Carla and Adipati enter the room and found another discovery.
Carla picks up one of the objects, "Adipati look! There are so many of these bottles!" Adipati also takes a look, "You're right. This old man drank so much of these. Wow." Yusuf observes the room and says, "This old fart is an alcoholic huh? No wonder."
There are a lot of squeezed empty aluminum cans. It came with various types, brands, and sizes of alcoholic drinks. Yusuf noticed the bathroom that is gaping wide open. He also saw the bathroom floor is full of broken glasses.
Since they didn't find their primary target, they decide to leave the house. As they exit the house from the front door, Yusuf takes a last look at it.
Even though we didn't find what we wanted, we discovered a lot of things that we can't even imagine.
Now, I need to learn something. Something important. Very, very important.
I need to learn how to control strength, how to be confident, and how to trust someone.
He then follows his friends from behind back into the bushes. The house is finally abandoned again by fellow humans.