"Excuse me."
I gasped. The hot sweet tea that I had intended to sip slowly and solemnly instead went down my throat quite a bit due to the shock of the unfamiliar sound coming from outside. I immediately stuck out my burning tongue and struggled. "Hahuh... hoot... hot..."
I quickly ran to the fridge, opened the freezer, took an ice cube and put it on my tongue. It felt as if the ice cube melted as soon as it touched my tongue. The tense muscles in my neck and shoulders began to relax.
Excuse me, is anyone there? The woman's voice startled me again.
I rolled my eyes, snorted and stuffed two more ice cubes into my mouth and chewed them. I lazily stepped out to greet the unexpected guest.
I hate it when people come to the house. Not because I'm a solitary person, but because I don't want anyone to see the state of the house, which has been ravaged by dust and time. A mess, really.
That person's knocking still didn't stop.
"Wait a moment." I unlocked the lock and quickly poked my head out through the crack in the door, which I deliberately didn't open too wide so she wouldn't see me shirtless. "Yes?"
"Hi, Kale. Morning!"
My eyebrows furrowed. "Morning." The shards of ice cubes in my mouth testified to how cold my tone was, as cold as my current oral cavity. "Who, huh?"
The auburn woman's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Eh, seriously?"
"Yes, seriously." I looked her up and down. "Who are you?" I asked again.
Her breath came in low grunts, she bit her lower lip and smiled wryly. "I'm Renata, we're classmates. In the same class." She held out her hand.
"Classmates? Seriously?" I took her hand and shook it. "Why don't I recognise you?"
The beautiful, super-feminine woman in front of me smiled again in response to my question.
"What's wrong, huh?" I asked again without letting her in.
"Well... my car broke down, the battery has a problem. So..."
"Do you want a lift to campus?"
"I- Yeah, if you-"
"Then you can drive, right?"
"I can." Renata nodded quickly.
"Wait here!" I closed the door and ran to my room, put on a dark blue t-shirt, grabbed the car keys and hurried back. "You're driving, yes. I'm lazy." I handed Renata the car keys.
Renata fumbled with the keys, expressionless. She seemed confused by my behaviour.
"The car is already warmed up, I just have to get it out of the garage. I want to get ready first." I closed the door again and ran. In a hurry I grabbed my jacket and bag.
How could I not recognise my classmates? Is it because I don't know my surroundings? Ah, maybe it's because I'm too preoccupied with the strange memories that have been popping up more and more lately.
I was wearing my favourite pair of trainers, they were faded black with brown stains scattered across the fabric. It had been more than a fortnight since I'd washed them, more like I'd been too lazy to. But isn't faded and dirty cool?
I finished putting my shoes on, quickly locked the door and stopped my footsteps when my eyes caught Renata still standing in front of the car, staring. "Why isn't the car out yet, Ren? I've been wearing shoes for over five minutes."
"Sorry, Kale. I can't drive a car that big." Her oval face was flushed, her small pointed chin making a pattern as her lips pressed together restlessly.
"Well, why didn't you talk before?" I laughed at her behaviour, which was so... sweet. Yes, she was very cute. In fact, she was too cute and funny for me. She was also fashionably dressed, wearing a pastel skirt that flared below the knee with a short-sleeved V-neck top in a soft mauve colour. Without excessive accessories, she wore round white earrings and a small watch on her left wrist. Such a pleasant simplicity for everyone who has seen her.
"You're the one who didn't give me a chance to speak."
"Oh, I see?" My mouth showed a row of teeth. "Yes, I did. Where are the keys?" I took the keys from Renata's hand, got into the car and started it.
Renata was still frozen, not moving from where she stood.
I opened the car window and shouted, "Come on, Ren. Get in!"
"Get in now? I wanted to close the gate before I got in."
"I live alone, there's nobody at home."
"Oh, well. Just get the car out and let me close the gate."
"That's... no need! Just go in. Hurry up!"
Without saying much more, Renata did as I asked and got into the front seat next to me.
Of course Renata can't drive this car, it's designed for long-distance journeys and for men only. The Mitsubishi New Strada Triton is black and has been modified to be much taller and bigger. This car used to belong to Dad, but now it belongs to me. Dad is gone, not because he died, but because he left Mum and me for another woman. He preferred to leave us alone and gave away the house and everything in it. Maybe he thought that by giving away all his possessions, Mum and I would never think of leaving and would live happily ever after.
Let me tell you a little story. Two years ago, I accidentally caught the contents of a text message on my dad's mobile phone talking about his affair with another woman and told my mum that it turned out they had been married for years without her knowledge. Eventually, after 24 years together, my parents decided to divorce. It had been a long marriage. My father decided to leave without ever coming back, not even to see his children. My mother became ill and died a year later, having given birth to me, in the pain of being abandoned by her loved ones. Being an only child, I had to live alone in a big house.
I'm a pretty strong guy, even though I grew up in a family environment that spoiled me like a prince, although economically I can't be considered a wealthy family, just middle class. The loss of my parents never dampened my enthusiasm for life. Although being alone at the peak of my early years was a difficult moment. For one thing, getting used to living without a domestic helper was physically and mentally exhausting for me at the time. But I got used to it over time.
The inheritance my parents left me is also a lot, enough for me to live without working for the next 5 to 10 years because the cost of living in Bandung is not as high as in Jakarta.
I'm currently studying SAPPK Architecture at a prestigious university in the Flower City. Here, I can have a cheap lunch at the mosque canteen opposite the campus and extend my life for another 2 to 3 years.
"Kale?" asked Renata, interrupting my reverie. "Sorry, I saw something in your teeth earlier."
"Oh," I turned the car's middle mirror and examined the row of teeth. There was a red stain between the upper canines, wide enough to look like a leaf. "Oh, chilli." I scraped it off with my fingernail and cleaned it.
"Chili for breakfast in the morning? Don't you have a stomach ache?"
"I never eat breakfast, I drink sweet tea or milk most mornings. If I force myself to eat breakfast, I get a stomachache. That means this is yesterday afternoon's chilli." I said as I started the car.
"Ugh... you didn't brush your teeth?"
"I didn't take a shower."
"Iiiuuh... slob."
"I had a shower yesterday, I usually have a shower once a week at the most."
"Gosh, what a slob..."
I laughed out loud, "That's what deodorant does, Ren."
"It's still gross, for Christ's sake."
Chuckling, I got the car out of the garage and through the gate of the house without any trouble. I stopped the car in front of the house.
"Look at this." I took out an elliptical button key and pointed it at the gate of the house, which was no more than a metre high and brown in colour.
Renata saw the key in my hand and fixed her eyes on the object I was pointing at, curious as to what I was going to do with it. There was a beep as I pressed the button. Soon the gate moved, closed and locked itself.
Renata's mouth moved wow, without making a sound, she looked at me and smiled in amazement.
"Isn't it cool?" I asked.
She nodded quickly. "Very cool! No wonder you asked me to go straight up. I just found out that the gate can be closed and locked by remote control."
We both laughed out loud, realising the ridiculousness of what we had just done. How childish I was being with her. And I realised something, that two strands of friendship were doing their thing.
***
"Kale, is that right? Are you with Ferryn?"
"What does that mean?" I asked, not understanding.
"I mean, are you together?"
Renata's sudden question made me burst out laughing, shaking my stomach filled with sweet tea and chunks of ice. "Where's the gossip? Why am I the one being gossiped about?"
"That's Ferryn, class of 2014. The tall one with the face like a Korean girl band. That one."
"No, that gossip!" I laughed at the way Renata described Ferryn in her eyes.
"So... it was a lie, huh? It was just gossip."
I laughed again, knowing how innocent the girl next to me was. And she could only reply with a chuckle after realising her misunderstanding.
"But even if it turns out to be true, you look like a good match." She nodded with certainty.
I pursed my lips and grinned, my eyes bulging. "No way, please."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to get involved in the dating world, I'm concentrating on studying and graduating quickly. I have my own deadlines and goals."
Renata snorted. "That's too bad."
"Too bad? You're not in a position to find out the truth of the news for yourself, are you?"
"Meaning?
"Yes, I mean... you don't have any feelings for me, do you?" I asked, just to make sure I had not misunderstood her question.
"Oh, no! Besides, you're not my type. Don't get geeky."
I smiled in relief.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you, Kale."
"Oh, no. Take it easy, I'm cool. Just relax. So, by the way, what kind of guy are you?"
"Type of guy?"
"No. The house type." I scratched my non-itching head. "Yes, the type of guy. We talked about that earlier."
Her black eyes looked out of the car window, her lips covered in nude lipstick, a sweet smile that made Renata even more unattainable for me, I left her alone. I let Renata dive into her dreams with the prince of dreams.
I looked back at the road, driving carefully, enjoying the morning traffic as much as possible with my new friend.
"I don't have a particular type, Kale."
That little voice got my attention, my eyes blinked a few times and I looked at her.
She was still staring up at the blue sky, "As long as ZING[1] comes when I'm with him, I'll know he's the choice of my heart. The choice of my soul."
My body jerked when I heard that.
Renata turned her face to me and smiled broadly. "Simple, isn't it?"
I was silent for a while. "You watch too many dramas, don't you?"
"Is that so?"
" After all... is there anything like that in the real world?"
"There are plenty."
I smiled with laughter at the sight of her mouth twisting into a grimace. "Yes, I believe it. In any relationship it is better to let the heart and soul speak, but often..." my voice dropped, hoarse, "often the soul doesn't even understand what has happened to it."
My smile fades as a sudden pain radiates through my chest, centred in the middle and spinning. Deep. It felt... suffocating. I took a deep breath and let it out through my mouth very slowly, enduring the sudden sting and not letting any tears fall for no reason.
"Kale..."
Again Renata broke my reverie and my feelings. "Yes?"
"Can I talk?"
"Yes, just talk. You've talked a lot."
"I think it's better for us to take Sunda Street instead of Braga. Rush hour, there'll be traffic. Rush hour."
"OK. But there are less red lights if we go through Braga."
"'Yeah. Whatever." She averted her face.
For some reason, the way he answered seemed to oblige me to do as she said, as if there was a feeling of fear of loss in my chest if I didn't follow her wishes.
***
"Finally, a red light." I loosened my seatbelt and straightened my legs and arms after we reached Simpang Lima, Kosambi.
"Manual cars make you sore, huh?"
"Ah, not really," I said, lifting my finger to touch the roof of the car.
"I actually..."
"Shush!" I cut Renata off after my senses had picked up something. The same strange feeling I'd had all my life. The feeling that... I could never explain where it came from, came back.
"What is..."
I gave a code with my left forefinger and asked Renata to be quiet. I opened the car window and stuck my head out, looking at the sky. I was looking for something that was bothering me.
Got it! Two white lines stretched from east to west, glowing very slowly. They formed a railway of smoke that blended into the surrounding clouds. At first glance, nothing seemed wrong, but my senses told me otherwise.
"Contrails, or..." I looked closely at the white glowing lines, my eyes squinting, my forehead wrinkling. My eyes widened as I realised they were chemtrails. "Damn, I knew it! What have they done to my city?!"
"Kale, what are you looking at?" Renata's hand accidentally moved the gear lever, causing the car to jump a few metres forward, especially since this car had four-wheel drive, all four wheels of the car moved forward simultaneously and the engine died immediately.
We both screamed at the same time. My head hit the glass and I grimaced in pain, Renata was lucky because the seatbelt kept her from hitting it.
"Renata, why aren't you more careful? Luckily there are no other vehicles in front of us, what if there were?" I shouted in the car, grimacing as I rolled up the window to avoid the sight of people on the road because of this incident. "Can you imagine if we suddenly hit a car? What about a motorbike? Lives could have been lost! I'll pay for the damage, not you!"
Renata was silent, stiff. Her eyes were glassy with tears, her chest rose and fell.
I swallowed and took a slow breath, lowering my tone to her. "I'm sorry, Ren. I didn't really mean..."
Tears finally falling down her clear cheeks, Renata's hand reached for the seatbelt lock and released it. She pushed the door open as well. She got out and shut it quietly, running away and seeming to get into a green public city transport that was stopped at the side of the road.
There was nothing I could do when I saw Renata get out of the car, her cheeks wet with tears, I could only stand there, half in disbelief at what I had done to her. I wanted to scream at her, to stop her, but my mouth felt trapped.
The cars behind me honked, urging me to speed up. And I noticed that the light had changed from red to green. I immediately started the car, rolled down the window a little and put my thumb up in a fist. And stepped on the accelerator.
All because of chemtrails! My anger at Renata was fuelled by the disgusting things being spread over my beloved city. Chemtrails are not a natural phenomenon. Chemtrails, Chemical Trails or Chemical Trails. Before, I had often heard from people that they had seen chemtrails over the city of Bandung, but I didn't believe it.
I read a report in an article that Chemtrails are only done in Australia, Canada, Russia, China, Middle East, England, France, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Scotland, Spain and the United States. It has even been reported that the United States is spraying chemtrails in almost every state, major city and surrounding areas. I don't know if Indonesia is a victim of chemtrails other than the major countries mentioned above.
Chemtrails actually have three main objectives, namely weather modification, mass vaccination and human depopulation. What really worries me is human depopulation, a mass population reduction by spreading certain viruses so that people who have weak antibodies and breathe chemtrail-contaminated air will eventually contract incurable diseases and die. Even influenza viruses, which are usually cured within a week, can be infected for months under the influence of chemtrails and lead to the vulnerability of the body to diseases more deadly than influenza itself.
It is true that there are already so many people on Earth that our leaders fear that the number of people has reached its limit and cannot be accommodated by the land or even by their power. Unemployment, land disputes, social inequalities and all the things that come with a large population have led to higher crime rates around the world. But is it justified? Killing weak people for the sake of other people.
My heart was suddenly beating wildly, feelings of pain and guilt for no reason at all. No, no, to be honest, those feelings came because of that memory! The memory that had confronted me in the past was coming back.
This memory first came when I was at primary school. I was in religion class, learning about the Apocalypse. Suddenly a vision of a vast, barren field appeared in my mind, the ground reddish-orange in colour, hot... as if a fire had just burned fiercely on it, dry, without a single tree growing. There was no sign of life as far as the eye could see, only large rocks scattered about, and I could only stare at my own shadow.
Curiosity about what had happened mixed with feelings of calm, fear, happiness, sadness, came one after the other. All mixed up. It's hard to describe exactly how I felt at the time. But what I do remember is hearing myself say, The Apocalypse is over, it's time for the Resurrection. It all faded away, so clearly embedded in my memory to this day. Like real.
From then on I began to think that life on Earth has existed since the beginning of the universe. It is the life on it that will continue to change. Even more extreme, there is another memory that makes me believe that the Bilona bird that attacked Bradha's elephant army did not come from the sky. Rather, they were sent by troops from other nations that we often call aliens. For fear of being labelled a religious idiot, I kept these memories to myself, without anyone knowing. Wait, she... only she knew the whole secret of my memories all this time. This one person.
The Apocalypse is over, it's time for the Resurrection.
Those words, that sentence, kept ringing in my head. Was I so cruel? Even the chemtrails proved to be nothing. My feelings were erratic, as if I was being judged by all the memories that came and went. They were all mine, but I couldn't remember if I had ever lived in them. When, where, as who? I don't know.
Why should I care? None of it has anything to do with me. It was as if I wanted to take revenge on something I didn't know where it came from. A huge feeling of anger mixed with a series of questions that kept swirling in my heart. I couldn't help but feel tears welling up in my eyes. Why did I have to cry? For what? For whom? What was the point of it all?
[1] ZING, a distinctive, undefined pulsation or vibration.