Just a Leaf
Evi Shinta ~ 121214028
Every day, I live in loneliness. No one pays attention to me. They look for me only when they want to throw something that are no longer
needed. Only that, no more, no less. I feel so sad, because I am only remembered when they need me. When they don't need me, they don't
even look at me. I'm just like a thing that cannot give at least a single benefit to the. They don't realize how important I am for their lives. But, after all, I always try to be there to keep and save all their unused things. That's my life. I have no good life as good as in the fairy tales. But for me, being able to help others is good enough to undergo this life.
Evi Shinta ~ 121214028
Every day, I live in loneliness. No one pays attention to me. They look for me only when they want to throw something that are no longer
needed. Only that, no more, no less. I feel so sad, because I am only remembered when they need me. When they don't need me, they don't
even look at me. I'm just like a thing that cannot give at least a single benefit to the. They don't realize how important I am for their lives. But, after all, I always try to be there to keep and save all their unused things. That's my life. I have no good life as good as in the fairy tales. But for me, being able to help others is good enough to undergo this life.
I am like a fire. Fire is hot and sometimes it is dangerous. That is me. Fire is also useful for our life and also dangerous because it can burn everything by touching it. I can very useful too with all of people around me. If they are kind with me, I will make theirlife warm. Otherwise, if people hurt me, I can be a dangerous fire for their life. So, be careful wih me.
Not only that, fire is like a bright light that can blaze especially in the night. Fire is strong. That is like me.
Tiara Agnesya
121214096
Wastebasket
I don’t have a good physical because I am square and small. People always put me in the corner that can’t be seen by people. I am not a center of the attention in the room or the others places. People don’t like me and they always take a long distance from me. I am disgusted and no one never besides me because I am so dirty. There are bacteria and microbe that are not good for human because they can infect and be illness for someone who touches and plays with them. I want someone to be with me every day, someone who plays me with me but no one wants it. I just have flies and mouse which fly and search food that people throw to me.
I am never washed because people like throwing garbage to me. They throw bad things that people don’t use it again. No one gives me prices and makes me happy. Sometimes I feel angry if someone spits on me. I feel I am not good and so humiliated but I can’t do anything. I am just silent and accept everything that people do to me. People always hold their breath and close their nose when they walk around me. Oh no, people always hate me.
Finally, I just stay here and watch people do to me. Feeling so bad and lonely become my friends every day. I am patient to enjoy my life. To whom I will talk of my feeling, no one never listens to me and understands me. I hope people can understand how important I am.
Albertus Yordhana Arsanto – 121214017
I don’t have a good physical because I am square and small. People always put me in the corner that can’t be seen by people. I am not a center of the attention in the room or the others places. People don’t like me and they always take a long distance from me. I am disgusted and no one never besides me because I am so dirty. There are bacteria and microbe that are not good for human because they can infect and be illness for someone who touches and plays with them. I want someone to be with me every day, someone who plays me with me but no one wants it. I just have flies and mouse which fly and search food that people throw to me.
I am never washed because people like throwing garbage to me. They throw bad things that people don’t use it again. No one gives me prices and makes me happy. Sometimes I feel angry if someone spits on me. I feel I am not good and so humiliated but I can’t do anything. I am just silent and accept everything that people do to me. People always hold their breath and close their nose when they walk around me. Oh no, people always hate me.
Finally, I just stay here and watch people do to me. Feeling so bad and lonely become my friends every day. I am patient to enjoy my life. To whom I will talk of my feeling, no one never listens to me and understands me. I hope people can understand how important I am.
Albertus Yordhana Arsanto – 121214017
My story
I came to the world as thing which is needed by people when they feel hot. I was made in the small size, easy going to be brought in anywhere and comfortable, at the first result. In a modern era, people renovate me into the big one. I have big size and just hung up at the ceiling. My heart cried in every time when that was happening to me. I wonder if I could talk to anybody then I want to talk that I am happy with my first size of my body. However in a daily life I have to help people under myself get fresh air and sometime I help children to sleep. But I am sad if people are using me the whole day. I have to blow and help to change the circulation of the air. At the other time I feel that I would change myself in order to see the beautiful of nature in the world. It is because I have never seen before in my life. I just help everybody inside the room. But it was impossible for me. And then I am just waiting the miracle. I wonder if I have foot then I can move in to the new position.
Dyah Ayu Kusuma Wardani / 121214018
I came to the world as thing which is needed by people when they feel hot. I was made in the small size, easy going to be brought in anywhere and comfortable, at the first result. In a modern era, people renovate me into the big one. I have big size and just hung up at the ceiling. My heart cried in every time when that was happening to me. I wonder if I could talk to anybody then I want to talk that I am happy with my first size of my body. However in a daily life I have to help people under myself get fresh air and sometime I help children to sleep. But I am sad if people are using me the whole day. I have to blow and help to change the circulation of the air. At the other time I feel that I would change myself in order to see the beautiful of nature in the world. It is because I have never seen before in my life. I just help everybody inside the room. But it was impossible for me. And then I am just waiting the miracle. I wonder if I have foot then I can move in to the new position.
Dyah Ayu Kusuma Wardani / 121214018
NEWSPAPER
I was born in every morning as a newspaper. Some people judge that I just a piece of paper which full of words, but believe me, I am so meaningful for you, Right? I will inform you as well as you can read me every day, even when you wake up in the early morning.
Being a newspaper is not really bad. Actually I am so lucky because people always take their eyes from side to side just read me curiously. They hold and open from first page until the last page. Be honest I am so tired. But I already have a promise that I will make people smarter.
Honestly, it is a must that I become stronger than other thing. Living likes me sometimes as same as living likes sun. You were born in the morning, but you disappeared in the night and will rise again in the morning. It is so tired, right?. Sometimes I also feel as a guilty thing. I don’t why. I am used as a media for some people who are busy in the politics side. My reader will mock at me if they don’t agree with me, or sometimes they just leave the part which is unimportant to read.
Confidently, I am so proud being a newspaper. I will still exist because I believe in myself. I believe you can live without me.
Septiana Kinanti/ 121214092
I was born in every morning as a newspaper. Some people judge that I just a piece of paper which full of words, but believe me, I am so meaningful for you, Right? I will inform you as well as you can read me every day, even when you wake up in the early morning.
Being a newspaper is not really bad. Actually I am so lucky because people always take their eyes from side to side just read me curiously. They hold and open from first page until the last page. Be honest I am so tired. But I already have a promise that I will make people smarter.
Honestly, it is a must that I become stronger than other thing. Living likes me sometimes as same as living likes sun. You were born in the morning, but you disappeared in the night and will rise again in the morning. It is so tired, right?. Sometimes I also feel as a guilty thing. I don’t why. I am used as a media for some people who are busy in the politics side. My reader will mock at me if they don’t agree with me, or sometimes they just leave the part which is unimportant to read.
Confidently, I am so proud being a newspaper. I will still exist because I believe in myself. I believe you can live without me.
Septiana Kinanti/ 121214092
I live for thousand years before you have born in this world. God give me for you, be your friend and gives a fresh air to you. It’s the rule from God. It’s my job. Hundreds years ago, I have done it with full of my happiness. People care with me, they kept their environment clean. I saw many trees here. I was very happy carrying fresh air to them because there so kind. Now, this land becomes change. I hate you! I hate all of you all! You never have a little attention for me. You just want fresh air, but you kill me with all technology that makes the layers of the ozone became thinner. You use air conditioner in every single part of your room. All of you said the world become hotter but you never realize that YOU who make the world change.
I, my self I am sad. I am bored to give you a fresh air. You never care with me. You never care with your environment. I am tired to do this kind of job but it is a rule from God.
Sella Devi Aryani / 121214027
The Lift
I’m sitting on the front of millennium door, the door inside a building. People called lift, the millennium lift. I’m walking straight to see the lift. The lift has two doors like a kingdom’s door. I touch the doors and realized that those doors are strong. I think only an elephant can destroy the doors. I focus on the lift, and then I see digital number inside a box on the right side. The colour is red, like blood. On the bottom of the digital number, there is knob to make open those doors. I also see attention words “IN CASE OF FIRE DO NOT USE LIFT”. The lift like a robot can speak to people for giving attention. Beside them, there is a box with some numbers inside the box. By the time the box had broken, but still looks nice. On the left side, I see something like a board, a silver board with two place of key. I focus on the all part of the lift once again. The lift is really clean. I can see shadow of myself like a mirror. In summer, the lift will be more clean and beautiful. I can see scenery from refraction of sunlight. That is awesome place.
Patrick Ganang H (121214104)
I’m sitting on the front of millennium door, the door inside a building. People called lift, the millennium lift. I’m walking straight to see the lift. The lift has two doors like a kingdom’s door. I touch the doors and realized that those doors are strong. I think only an elephant can destroy the doors. I focus on the lift, and then I see digital number inside a box on the right side. The colour is red, like blood. On the bottom of the digital number, there is knob to make open those doors. I also see attention words “IN CASE OF FIRE DO NOT USE LIFT”. The lift like a robot can speak to people for giving attention. Beside them, there is a box with some numbers inside the box. By the time the box had broken, but still looks nice. On the left side, I see something like a board, a silver board with two place of key. I focus on the all part of the lift once again. The lift is really clean. I can see shadow of myself like a mirror. In summer, the lift will be more clean and beautiful. I can see scenery from refraction of sunlight. That is awesome place.
Patrick Ganang H (121214104)
Mr. Lonely
In the Lauriston Garden, Brixton, there are full of people at their pleasure time: bankers, plumbers, garbage men, executives, labours, many more. They hang out with their kids, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, except this man, the one who sits under the apple tree.
Wearing green parka, white-lily scent, and an Armani watch, this man sits quietly in a wooden chair. This chair is new, but not the one in front of him. In front of him, there are a mahogany table and an old and dusty chair. His wrinkles are clearly visible. Suddenly, this man says something in a deep voice, “So, my dear lad, you can’t beat me.” Few seconds later, a shrill voice comes from a man sitting in an old one, “Well, try me. If you can beat me, I’ll buy you a sandwich in Jack’s.” “Mmm, interesting. Hold your words then,” said a deep-voiced man.
It’s a crowded place and suddenly a woman wearing a red bowler hat comes passing by and said, “Look at that imbecile man under the apple tree. Sitting in the old one and then in the new one, talking to himself. Idiot!”
Then her friend says, “Is that Greg? Greg Carrow? If he wants a friend so bad, why doesn’t he go outside and look for it? Poor old man, poor Mr. Lonely.”
The old man, Greg Carrow, smiles only and keeps playing Scrabble.
The source of the picture: www.123rf.com
Arinda Febriana Dewi
11124069
In the Lauriston Garden, Brixton, there are full of people at their pleasure time: bankers, plumbers, garbage men, executives, labours, many more. They hang out with their kids, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, except this man, the one who sits under the apple tree.
Wearing green parka, white-lily scent, and an Armani watch, this man sits quietly in a wooden chair. This chair is new, but not the one in front of him. In front of him, there are a mahogany table and an old and dusty chair. His wrinkles are clearly visible. Suddenly, this man says something in a deep voice, “So, my dear lad, you can’t beat me.” Few seconds later, a shrill voice comes from a man sitting in an old one, “Well, try me. If you can beat me, I’ll buy you a sandwich in Jack’s.” “Mmm, interesting. Hold your words then,” said a deep-voiced man.
It’s a crowded place and suddenly a woman wearing a red bowler hat comes passing by and said, “Look at that imbecile man under the apple tree. Sitting in the old one and then in the new one, talking to himself. Idiot!”
Then her friend says, “Is that Greg? Greg Carrow? If he wants a friend so bad, why doesn’t he go outside and look for it? Poor old man, poor Mr. Lonely.”
The old man, Greg Carrow, smiles only and keeps playing Scrabble.
The source of the picture: www.123rf.com
Arinda Febriana Dewi
11124069
Her Bedroom. Midnite.
I can’t close my eyes. I’m too sleepy to keep my eyes open, but her hazel eyes keep me awake. We have been together for 3 months and this feeling grew faster ever since. I love her, no words can describe it. Not even Shakespeare’s words or Michaelangelo’s beautiful paintings. She tells me all her feelings, her stories, her tears, her laughs... She has a hard life, a rough one... I know her better than herself. Aaahh..she looks like a flower that blooms in spring.
Her Bedroom. Some other nights.
Her hazel eyes shed another tears. She hug me tight. It should be a perfect time to say “I love you”, but it never happened. She said, “Please take care of yourself. Thanks for being such a best friend. Go, go!” Best friend?? I want to be more than your friend. “BANG!!” i see her shot herself!
An uphill graveyard. Next morning.
I have not told her how much I love her. She left me in a pain, a deep pain. I come to her funeral, she looks beautiful, still. I come closer to kiss her lips goodbye. It is our first kiss and it hurts my feeling. I fly to the tombstone and cry... Sorry I can’t take care of you, sorry I can’t say I love you...because I am just your butterfly collection...even if my love for you is unconditional.
The source of the picture: diamonddesignhd.deviantart.com
I can’t close my eyes. I’m too sleepy to keep my eyes open, but her hazel eyes keep me awake. We have been together for 3 months and this feeling grew faster ever since. I love her, no words can describe it. Not even Shakespeare’s words or Michaelangelo’s beautiful paintings. She tells me all her feelings, her stories, her tears, her laughs... She has a hard life, a rough one... I know her better than herself. Aaahh..she looks like a flower that blooms in spring.
Her Bedroom. Some other nights.
Her hazel eyes shed another tears. She hug me tight. It should be a perfect time to say “I love you”, but it never happened. She said, “Please take care of yourself. Thanks for being such a best friend. Go, go!” Best friend?? I want to be more than your friend. “BANG!!” i see her shot herself!
An uphill graveyard. Next morning.
I have not told her how much I love her. She left me in a pain, a deep pain. I come to her funeral, she looks beautiful, still. I come closer to kiss her lips goodbye. It is our first kiss and it hurts my feeling. I fly to the tombstone and cry... Sorry I can’t take care of you, sorry I can’t say I love you...because I am just your butterfly collection...even if my love for you is unconditional.
The source of the picture: diamonddesignhd.deviantart.com
You Are the Apple of My Eyes
I am Jessica, I love rain. I love sitting next to the window because I can see everything happen outside through the glass. When I see the rain, it seems like recalling my old memories and let them playing like a movie without sound in my mind. I love this kind of feeling. Rain brings my heart away, with all of the loneliness.
This is the twenty eight days after I decide to quit from him, his life. I know I can fool the world with my mask, but I know that I cannot fool my heart. He is my fiancé; we have been together for many years. We met at the elementary school and we have been separated also, long time ago. When he was back here, I found the pieces of me. I could see the wonderful love of live. Then two years after our reunion, we decide to be a couple. Everything went well, happiness and sadness, laugh and sorrow. Those melt together, and that was our strength.
On the third year, he purposes me to be his wife. I was happy, but also sad. I found me in him, I can be myself when I was with him, and he made me complete. On the other hand, my heart was torn in two. It might be not fair for him, but I didn’t know how it came to me.
“Jessica, will you be my friend in a house where our children and grandchild were together?” Eric was holding my hand and showing me that ring.
I really don’t know what to say. I love him, I do love him, but my heart feels plain.
“Mmm… Can I tell you the answer later on?”
“No, please… Don’t refuse please, I will never ask you for the twice. Please, Jess, I do love you.”
When I see into his eyes, I know that he is honest to me; I know that he really loves me, deeply. So do I, I do the same.
“Well, Eric, listen to me, I love you too. I really love you, but I can’t accept all of this.”
“Why, Jess? Tell me, honey.”
“I don’t know why, but I don’t want to hurt you, our family. I want you to choose another woman, and live happily. I’ll be here to support you, as a friend, just like those old times.”
“Why? You are my spirit; you are the one that I loved. I want you to be mine.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I cannot tell it to him, it is so disappointed. I am afraid to hurt him, to lose him. On the other hand, if I don’t tell him the truth, I will hurt him more, it is a fool.
“Jessica, is there anyone who took my place in your heart?” He whispered.
It is the time! It is the time! My soul is shouting. I cannot say anything. I think there is a fat crocodile in my throat. Oh my God, I want to make it over!
“I want to go, Eric. I cannot be here longer. I know it is not true, but I have to. It may be hard for you, for me too.”
“What do you mean, Jess? I cannot understand you.”
“Eric, I am so sorry to tell it to you. You know I love you, but I cannot be together with you anymore.” I take a deep breath and continue my explanation. “He brought my heart away, that’s why I cannot be with you anymore. I am not as good as what it supposed to be. I do love you, Eric, but I love him too. I cannot choose which one I have to live with. If I choose you, I fool you and it will hurt you. It will hurt me too, because I do love him also.”
He is staring straight at me. He is angry and I know it. I keep myself as calm as I can.
“You may not believe it, me too. But this is the reality.”
“Oh, what do you seek from that guy? Am I not enough? I gave you everything you want, and now you want to walk away from me? You must be joking!”
“I am sorry, really sorry. Please…” I cannot say any words. I don’t want it happen. What can I do is cry, just crying.
Ya, I remember all of them, those many times, many years, but this is my decision, I don’t want to hurt anyone.
It was my fault, I know. I am not blaming anyone. We can’t choose with whom we have to fall in love, but love will choose us and the person. It is automatically, right?
That was my story with my ex-fiancé, Eric.
And the man whom I love, another Eric is Marco. I am married neither Eric nor Marco. They are my past memories. I heard that Eric was married and they live in New Zealand, while Marco is continue his pilot study in Russia. Sometimes I still miss them. They are the part of my life. They have helped me to be mature, to be dared to choose everything I really want. Marco said to me that love will find its own way. Thank you, guys.
The source of the picture: kat.ph
Angela Costarica K
111214011
I am Jessica, I love rain. I love sitting next to the window because I can see everything happen outside through the glass. When I see the rain, it seems like recalling my old memories and let them playing like a movie without sound in my mind. I love this kind of feeling. Rain brings my heart away, with all of the loneliness.
This is the twenty eight days after I decide to quit from him, his life. I know I can fool the world with my mask, but I know that I cannot fool my heart. He is my fiancé; we have been together for many years. We met at the elementary school and we have been separated also, long time ago. When he was back here, I found the pieces of me. I could see the wonderful love of live. Then two years after our reunion, we decide to be a couple. Everything went well, happiness and sadness, laugh and sorrow. Those melt together, and that was our strength.
On the third year, he purposes me to be his wife. I was happy, but also sad. I found me in him, I can be myself when I was with him, and he made me complete. On the other hand, my heart was torn in two. It might be not fair for him, but I didn’t know how it came to me.
“Jessica, will you be my friend in a house where our children and grandchild were together?” Eric was holding my hand and showing me that ring.
I really don’t know what to say. I love him, I do love him, but my heart feels plain.
“Mmm… Can I tell you the answer later on?”
“No, please… Don’t refuse please, I will never ask you for the twice. Please, Jess, I do love you.”
When I see into his eyes, I know that he is honest to me; I know that he really loves me, deeply. So do I, I do the same.
“Well, Eric, listen to me, I love you too. I really love you, but I can’t accept all of this.”
“Why, Jess? Tell me, honey.”
“I don’t know why, but I don’t want to hurt you, our family. I want you to choose another woman, and live happily. I’ll be here to support you, as a friend, just like those old times.”
“Why? You are my spirit; you are the one that I loved. I want you to be mine.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I cannot tell it to him, it is so disappointed. I am afraid to hurt him, to lose him. On the other hand, if I don’t tell him the truth, I will hurt him more, it is a fool.
“Jessica, is there anyone who took my place in your heart?” He whispered.
It is the time! It is the time! My soul is shouting. I cannot say anything. I think there is a fat crocodile in my throat. Oh my God, I want to make it over!
“I want to go, Eric. I cannot be here longer. I know it is not true, but I have to. It may be hard for you, for me too.”
“What do you mean, Jess? I cannot understand you.”
“Eric, I am so sorry to tell it to you. You know I love you, but I cannot be together with you anymore.” I take a deep breath and continue my explanation. “He brought my heart away, that’s why I cannot be with you anymore. I am not as good as what it supposed to be. I do love you, Eric, but I love him too. I cannot choose which one I have to live with. If I choose you, I fool you and it will hurt you. It will hurt me too, because I do love him also.”
He is staring straight at me. He is angry and I know it. I keep myself as calm as I can.
“You may not believe it, me too. But this is the reality.”
“Oh, what do you seek from that guy? Am I not enough? I gave you everything you want, and now you want to walk away from me? You must be joking!”
“I am sorry, really sorry. Please…” I cannot say any words. I don’t want it happen. What can I do is cry, just crying.
Ya, I remember all of them, those many times, many years, but this is my decision, I don’t want to hurt anyone.
It was my fault, I know. I am not blaming anyone. We can’t choose with whom we have to fall in love, but love will choose us and the person. It is automatically, right?
That was my story with my ex-fiancé, Eric.
And the man whom I love, another Eric is Marco. I am married neither Eric nor Marco. They are my past memories. I heard that Eric was married and they live in New Zealand, while Marco is continue his pilot study in Russia. Sometimes I still miss them. They are the part of my life. They have helped me to be mature, to be dared to choose everything I really want. Marco said to me that love will find its own way. Thank you, guys.
The source of the picture: kat.ph
Angela Costarica K
111214011
Anna Pomfrey
Anna lives in 47 Fulham Street, London. Most people called Fulham Street as “District 66”. Well actually they don’t know why, perhaps it came from their ancestors.
Anyway, Anna is no longer comfortable living there because most people there whispering “Watch out, assassin!” to each other. Well, it seems like everybody has known her past: assassin. Actually it’s been years ago after she’s jailed for killing Zimbabwean attaché.
But now, she’s been trying to be a good poet. Rather than “I’m not assassin, it’s been years ago, now bla bla bla” she just says “Hi, would you like to come to tea and read some of my new poems, perhaps?” Of course people will say “I’m sorry I can’t” or “I’d love to but….” And Anna knows well for the refusals.
Anytime people whisper “assassin” or look at her awkwardly, she just smiles and walks away. Or when she remembered it, anytime she writes a poem, she just smiles and grabs her cookies.
Although she knows her past very well, she tries to bury it deeper and deeper. She won’t forget it, no, she just wants to consider it as PAST. PAST should be left behind and PAST should not be brought today or future, according to her.
Of course people will never forget her: blond hair, green eyes, tall, thin, pale skin. She realizes that she’s different (mostly people there have brunette hair).
She never gets angry at people’s opinion about her. She smiles only because she knows that her PAST is not only the greatest sin but also the biggest achievement ever.
The source of the picture: gerynemo.deviantart.com
Arinda Febriana Dewi [111214069]
February 27, 2013
Anna lives in 47 Fulham Street, London. Most people called Fulham Street as “District 66”. Well actually they don’t know why, perhaps it came from their ancestors.
Anyway, Anna is no longer comfortable living there because most people there whispering “Watch out, assassin!” to each other. Well, it seems like everybody has known her past: assassin. Actually it’s been years ago after she’s jailed for killing Zimbabwean attaché.
But now, she’s been trying to be a good poet. Rather than “I’m not assassin, it’s been years ago, now bla bla bla” she just says “Hi, would you like to come to tea and read some of my new poems, perhaps?” Of course people will say “I’m sorry I can’t” or “I’d love to but….” And Anna knows well for the refusals.
Anytime people whisper “assassin” or look at her awkwardly, she just smiles and walks away. Or when she remembered it, anytime she writes a poem, she just smiles and grabs her cookies.
Although she knows her past very well, she tries to bury it deeper and deeper. She won’t forget it, no, she just wants to consider it as PAST. PAST should be left behind and PAST should not be brought today or future, according to her.
Of course people will never forget her: blond hair, green eyes, tall, thin, pale skin. She realizes that she’s different (mostly people there have brunette hair).
She never gets angry at people’s opinion about her. She smiles only because she knows that her PAST is not only the greatest sin but also the biggest achievement ever.
The source of the picture: gerynemo.deviantart.com
Arinda Febriana Dewi [111214069]
February 27, 2013
Fate
We are in our journey
This path is narrow….
I’m walking through this narrow path. I see no one walking on this path that I’m asking myself whether I’m walking on the right lane. Hesitate, I don’t know to where I’m going to. Neither the directions I know, nor the destination. Neither I’m given someone to talk to, nor prescription how should I do this existential matter. This path is deserted, no passerby walking through this lane.
Truly I tell you, we will face the gate one by one, no family, no friends, no place for spoils, no shoulder for you to rely on. You must ready for this day; no preparation. Everyone is in line. Everything that I can say is just:
We are in our journey
This path is narrow….
And….
It’s not a prophetic voice….
Titus Angga Restuaji
111214040
The source of the picture: www.telesperience.com
We are in our journey
This path is narrow….
I’m walking through this narrow path. I see no one walking on this path that I’m asking myself whether I’m walking on the right lane. Hesitate, I don’t know to where I’m going to. Neither the directions I know, nor the destination. Neither I’m given someone to talk to, nor prescription how should I do this existential matter. This path is deserted, no passerby walking through this lane.
Truly I tell you, we will face the gate one by one, no family, no friends, no place for spoils, no shoulder for you to rely on. You must ready for this day; no preparation. Everyone is in line. Everything that I can say is just:
We are in our journey
This path is narrow….
And….
It’s not a prophetic voice….
Titus Angga Restuaji
111214040
The source of the picture: www.telesperience.com
The Lost Wing
This is the story of love, an endless love.
I am a girl who loves playing under the rain. I imagine everything good for my future. I imagine meeting someone, a prince on his white horse. I know it is so fairy tale, but I really want it happens. When I was sixteen, I fell in love with a boy, the cutest boy I ever met. I loved to see his bright eyes, cute smile, and I love to hear him calling me “Tinkerbell.” He was my best friend. We loved to play together in the city park.
Every weekend my parents took me to the village far from our town. We usually went for a picnic and enjoyed the fresh air. While my parents were prepared our lunch, my brother and I would catch butterflies. We caught them and released them again. One day, I found a very beautiful butterfly. It had a pair of black and blue wings with a yellow dot in each wing. She was so beautiful, but sadly she was died. Then I took it home and placed it in a box of glass. It was my first butterfly collection and I loved it.
Two months later I heard that the cute boy who is my best friend, Skan, would move to the other country. On the night before he left, we met in my house’s back yard. I was so sad to realize that he would leave me, I was afraid of losing him. On that night, a very dark night, he told me that he would come back for me, he promised me. I said nothing, I cried sadly. Unfortunately, he kissed me and said that everything would be okay. That was my first kiss, my first kiss for my best friend, and my prince. Then I gave him my glass box of butterfly, that beautiful butterfly. I told him if he missed me, just look at the butterfly and he would see me. That was the last time I saw him.
The next day, he left. He left me, our memories. I was so sad and I couldn’t stop crying, but I always remember his promise, he would come back here. Late in the afternoon my Daddy told me that terrible news. A plane accident, I know that plane, and I know he was there. It seemed like everything was dark, I couldn’t hear anything, it seemed like I couldn’t breathe anymore.
Today, here I am, standing up next to his tombstone. It has been three years after that accident. He left me for a lifetime, forever, but he didn’t pass away from my mind and my heart. I still loving him, he is my first and my endless love. He is the knight in shining armor from a long time ago, took my heart to his castle far away.
Angela Costarica K
111214011
Picture source: www.animalsw.com
This is the story of love, an endless love.
I am a girl who loves playing under the rain. I imagine everything good for my future. I imagine meeting someone, a prince on his white horse. I know it is so fairy tale, but I really want it happens. When I was sixteen, I fell in love with a boy, the cutest boy I ever met. I loved to see his bright eyes, cute smile, and I love to hear him calling me “Tinkerbell.” He was my best friend. We loved to play together in the city park.
Every weekend my parents took me to the village far from our town. We usually went for a picnic and enjoyed the fresh air. While my parents were prepared our lunch, my brother and I would catch butterflies. We caught them and released them again. One day, I found a very beautiful butterfly. It had a pair of black and blue wings with a yellow dot in each wing. She was so beautiful, but sadly she was died. Then I took it home and placed it in a box of glass. It was my first butterfly collection and I loved it.
Two months later I heard that the cute boy who is my best friend, Skan, would move to the other country. On the night before he left, we met in my house’s back yard. I was so sad to realize that he would leave me, I was afraid of losing him. On that night, a very dark night, he told me that he would come back for me, he promised me. I said nothing, I cried sadly. Unfortunately, he kissed me and said that everything would be okay. That was my first kiss, my first kiss for my best friend, and my prince. Then I gave him my glass box of butterfly, that beautiful butterfly. I told him if he missed me, just look at the butterfly and he would see me. That was the last time I saw him.
The next day, he left. He left me, our memories. I was so sad and I couldn’t stop crying, but I always remember his promise, he would come back here. Late in the afternoon my Daddy told me that terrible news. A plane accident, I know that plane, and I know he was there. It seemed like everything was dark, I couldn’t hear anything, it seemed like I couldn’t breathe anymore.
Today, here I am, standing up next to his tombstone. It has been three years after that accident. He left me for a lifetime, forever, but he didn’t pass away from my mind and my heart. I still loving him, he is my first and my endless love. He is the knight in shining armor from a long time ago, took my heart to his castle far away.
Angela Costarica K
111214011
Picture source: www.animalsw.com
An Intermezzo with a Stranger
(Desca)
It was a dark cloudy night when I walked along the road to go home.
“What a great night!” I said to myself.
Spending the time in a club close to the condo on my own was so exhilarating. I felt so relaxed after having a break from the routine of life-working and schooling. Well, work and school at the same time would never ever be so easy. The life I possess here, in Italy, is just so different than what I have in my own country.
“Oh, what a heck! Tonight I just want to leave that miserable feeling about my life and any other things somewhere in the deepest of my heart and lock it up. I deserve to be happy! I have a better thing to remember” said me to myself.
I recalled what happened tonight in the club. I met a guy-a very sympathetic one and very tall. His body reminds me of the finest marbles from Carrara that I see in the Basilica I often visit. His hair is just as black as ebony. The moment our eyes met, I felt like I had nowhere to escape. And once he kissed me back in the dusky alley, he made that first kiss into something unforgettable. He was a great kisser. He kissed me so gently, then he went wild, in the end he kissed me so gently again. He moaned softly. Oh, still…still I could feel the taste of his kiss, and the softness of his lips. He tasted like strawberry and smelt like frangipani.
Jeez, it was just a strange feeling. I felt like all the butterflies from my butterfly collection I put in a frame and I brought from Indonesia were flying inside my tummy. Round and round.
“Meet me tomorrow, amore…” he whispered in the middle of his kiss.
“ Dimmi, dove vediamo?” I replied
“ I live in Piazzale Marinai d’Italia numero uno.”
I was crazy in love, so I decided to give the things a-go by looking for him again and meeting him.
And, here I am now. In front of the address he gave me. I can’t find him. The first thing I find is a marble tombstone with his picture on it.
Then, who was the one I kissed last night?
Picture source: digihairshirt.blogspot.com
It was a dark cloudy night when I walked along the road to go home.
“What a great night!” I said to myself.
Spending the time in a club close to the condo on my own was so exhilarating. I felt so relaxed after having a break from the routine of life-working and schooling. Well, work and school at the same time would never ever be so easy. The life I possess here, in Italy, is just so different than what I have in my own country.
“Oh, what a heck! Tonight I just want to leave that miserable feeling about my life and any other things somewhere in the deepest of my heart and lock it up. I deserve to be happy! I have a better thing to remember” said me to myself.
I recalled what happened tonight in the club. I met a guy-a very sympathetic one and very tall. His body reminds me of the finest marbles from Carrara that I see in the Basilica I often visit. His hair is just as black as ebony. The moment our eyes met, I felt like I had nowhere to escape. And once he kissed me back in the dusky alley, he made that first kiss into something unforgettable. He was a great kisser. He kissed me so gently, then he went wild, in the end he kissed me so gently again. He moaned softly. Oh, still…still I could feel the taste of his kiss, and the softness of his lips. He tasted like strawberry and smelt like frangipani.
Jeez, it was just a strange feeling. I felt like all the butterflies from my butterfly collection I put in a frame and I brought from Indonesia were flying inside my tummy. Round and round.
“Meet me tomorrow, amore…” he whispered in the middle of his kiss.
“ Dimmi, dove vediamo?” I replied
“ I live in Piazzale Marinai d’Italia numero uno.”
I was crazy in love, so I decided to give the things a-go by looking for him again and meeting him.
And, here I am now. In front of the address he gave me. I can’t find him. The first thing I find is a marble tombstone with his picture on it.
Then, who was the one I kissed last night?
Picture source: digihairshirt.blogspot.com
A good twilight
Titus Angga Restuaji (111214040)
The twilight sky is deep orange, blue and violet. The summer wind blew breezy air away through my fingers, hair and my worn cloth; and also through his.
I was in my fantasy of other world where no woes and misery like what I have in this life, until my son woke me up, “Dad, look at the sky. It’s so beautiful!”
“Indeed, my son. It’s true,” I replied while my eyes were closed, never wanted to stop my dream. That’s what I had, that’s all my belonging.
“But, dad, the wind makes me cold. I haven’t got any food since we woke up this morning. Dad, I want eat chicken satay!” his voice woke me up from my dream and left my eyes to never be closed anymore.
“But, son, you’ve get your bread and a cup of hot tea. Did it not enough?”
“Bread, dad? Bread is not real meal; instead, it’s a snack. I want satay dad, like what we used to eat in our home. Dad, why don’t we get back home?”
“You don’t understand what you are talking about, son. You don’t understand! Did you remember, your mother’s boyfriend had driven us away? In the case, your mother did nothing to save us.”
“I don’t care, dad. I miss her,” he cried quite aloud that I was afraid if it would attract the attention of passerby.
“You are, my dear son, a child. You don’t know yet, what is the feeling of being betrayed by someone you used to love for the most. And for this innocence, you are lucky,” I said merely to myself.
Without enough allowance on my pocket, it’s hard for us to get enough food, even if we shrank our meal into twice a day. I need some coins for buses; my hometown was estimated 95 km away from this point my son and I walking now. I had to walk for some kilometers, from one town to another in order to save as much as possible the money we had.
The violet sky had turned into dark when we got the city border. Under a dusty city gate, I told my son, “We are sleeping here my son. Don’t worry about rain, it is summer.”
“Dad, I want satay and cold tea. I’m thirst,” I was shocked that he didn’t forget those five words.
“I’ll get it for you soon, son. Just wait here,” I decided not to stand firm in my constancy to save money. He, I thought, need it at that time.
“Thank you dad,” he thanked me with a soft weak voice. Was he sick? I hasten my steps to find what he wanted for so much.
The line of the purchasers was long. However, for the sake of my son’s hunger I stayed patient. For his delight, I would give everything I can give, even if it is my own life. It wasn’t fair for him to undergo such misfortune. He’s too young for this affair; it’s not his fallacy.
When the seller handed me a pack of satay, I heard some men talking about what had just happened.
“The boy was so pale and weak,” said an old man.
“He was very ill. His body’s temperature was so high,” replied a young man.
“I wonder what kind of parent who has heart to leave him alone,” an old man wore a hat in his head said at last.
“Where is he now,” I said in a loud voice, in panic at once.
“A good man driving a white car sent him to a hospital.”
“Where is it, the hospital?” there were more panic came to me than before, thinking what might happen to him, my only son.
“It is 500 meters to the east of the city gate, more or less,” the young man told me in curiosity, and asked me in turn, “Who are you?”
“Nothing,” as I said that I ran my way toward my son.
The night was falling down to the city. The city lamps were bright at the left and right side of the road I’ve passed. Also cars and motorcycles were dancing and singing in the feast of theirs, while I was crying.
I condemn myself for leaving him alone. Had he got harm, I would kill myself. I wouldn’t forgive myself for the rest of my life.
“Where is the patient named Adi?” I asked a nurse while my breath was gasping.
“Be calm, sir. He is okay. Please, tell me who are you?” the nurse replied me in smooth voice.
“I’m his father. Tell me where he’s laid?”
“Room 201a. Go straight, take the first left turn.”
I peeped from the window. I held the door’s handle, pushed it down, trying not to make a voice. He seemed pale and weak. I drove myself closer to his bed. Talking to myself, I said, “My child, forgive me. You’re only eight; it’s not fair for you. Forgive me, child. I’m so egocentric that I can’t feel what you feel; that I paid no care on you,” I cried with big tears in my cheek.
“Dad, where is my satay,” that weak voice woke me up from my sleep. As I opened my eyes, I saw the sun ray shone through the window. But what made me happy for the most was the sun in my son’s eyes. “He’s well! He’s well,” I whispered; my heart jumped into joy.
“Of course, dear. But, the satay has already cold. But, don’t worry, soon after we got our home, I’ll make for you a thousand pins of satay,” I expressed my happiness with such exaggerated words.
My son smiled. Then came into the room the nurse I've met the night before. She said,
“Sir, today your son can leave the bed. He’s quite well.”
“What about the charge? I…,” I lost my words and my happiness for a while until she said,
“Sir, be not afraid. The man who has saved your son has paid for all the charge.”
“Who’s that man? I’d thank him for everything he’s done for my son.”
“We don’t know. He just leaved this message,” she handed me a piece of paper, and it’s written there:
“My old friend, you may not remember me, but I don’t. I know he’s your son when I asked him whose son he was; and he told me your name, my old beloved friend. I’m so sorry did not wait your arrival, but it’s not proper time for me, since I know that you are still keep your angry with you. So, as I’ve beg your apology for many times, now I still wait for your apology. Let us move on, forget what has passed. If you’re ready to do this reconciliation, I would in great joy to welcome you in my home. Jl. Trunojoyo no. 12a, Ujungsurya, Sukajadi. For all what I’ve done to you, my betrayal, I have suffered for so long. So, please give me a second chance.”
I folded up the paper and cried. What I’ve done? If there are flaws in every man, why should I keep my heart cold for wound recovery, include my own wound?
The day turned to twilight. The sky was deep orange, blue and violet. The summer wind blew breezy air through my fingers, hair and my worn cloth; and also through his. Then my son said,
“Dad, the wind is warm. But, why do we here standing in front of other’s gate?”
For apology, son; for, reconciliation; for a new hope; for the future of us, son. And, the most important was it is not a dream anymore, son.
Picture source:www.123rf.com
The twilight sky is deep orange, blue and violet. The summer wind blew breezy air away through my fingers, hair and my worn cloth; and also through his.
I was in my fantasy of other world where no woes and misery like what I have in this life, until my son woke me up, “Dad, look at the sky. It’s so beautiful!”
“Indeed, my son. It’s true,” I replied while my eyes were closed, never wanted to stop my dream. That’s what I had, that’s all my belonging.
“But, dad, the wind makes me cold. I haven’t got any food since we woke up this morning. Dad, I want eat chicken satay!” his voice woke me up from my dream and left my eyes to never be closed anymore.
“But, son, you’ve get your bread and a cup of hot tea. Did it not enough?”
“Bread, dad? Bread is not real meal; instead, it’s a snack. I want satay dad, like what we used to eat in our home. Dad, why don’t we get back home?”
“You don’t understand what you are talking about, son. You don’t understand! Did you remember, your mother’s boyfriend had driven us away? In the case, your mother did nothing to save us.”
“I don’t care, dad. I miss her,” he cried quite aloud that I was afraid if it would attract the attention of passerby.
“You are, my dear son, a child. You don’t know yet, what is the feeling of being betrayed by someone you used to love for the most. And for this innocence, you are lucky,” I said merely to myself.
Without enough allowance on my pocket, it’s hard for us to get enough food, even if we shrank our meal into twice a day. I need some coins for buses; my hometown was estimated 95 km away from this point my son and I walking now. I had to walk for some kilometers, from one town to another in order to save as much as possible the money we had.
The violet sky had turned into dark when we got the city border. Under a dusty city gate, I told my son, “We are sleeping here my son. Don’t worry about rain, it is summer.”
“Dad, I want satay and cold tea. I’m thirst,” I was shocked that he didn’t forget those five words.
“I’ll get it for you soon, son. Just wait here,” I decided not to stand firm in my constancy to save money. He, I thought, need it at that time.
“Thank you dad,” he thanked me with a soft weak voice. Was he sick? I hasten my steps to find what he wanted for so much.
The line of the purchasers was long. However, for the sake of my son’s hunger I stayed patient. For his delight, I would give everything I can give, even if it is my own life. It wasn’t fair for him to undergo such misfortune. He’s too young for this affair; it’s not his fallacy.
When the seller handed me a pack of satay, I heard some men talking about what had just happened.
“The boy was so pale and weak,” said an old man.
“He was very ill. His body’s temperature was so high,” replied a young man.
“I wonder what kind of parent who has heart to leave him alone,” an old man wore a hat in his head said at last.
“Where is he now,” I said in a loud voice, in panic at once.
“A good man driving a white car sent him to a hospital.”
“Where is it, the hospital?” there were more panic came to me than before, thinking what might happen to him, my only son.
“It is 500 meters to the east of the city gate, more or less,” the young man told me in curiosity, and asked me in turn, “Who are you?”
“Nothing,” as I said that I ran my way toward my son.
The night was falling down to the city. The city lamps were bright at the left and right side of the road I’ve passed. Also cars and motorcycles were dancing and singing in the feast of theirs, while I was crying.
I condemn myself for leaving him alone. Had he got harm, I would kill myself. I wouldn’t forgive myself for the rest of my life.
“Where is the patient named Adi?” I asked a nurse while my breath was gasping.
“Be calm, sir. He is okay. Please, tell me who are you?” the nurse replied me in smooth voice.
“I’m his father. Tell me where he’s laid?”
“Room 201a. Go straight, take the first left turn.”
I peeped from the window. I held the door’s handle, pushed it down, trying not to make a voice. He seemed pale and weak. I drove myself closer to his bed. Talking to myself, I said, “My child, forgive me. You’re only eight; it’s not fair for you. Forgive me, child. I’m so egocentric that I can’t feel what you feel; that I paid no care on you,” I cried with big tears in my cheek.
“Dad, where is my satay,” that weak voice woke me up from my sleep. As I opened my eyes, I saw the sun ray shone through the window. But what made me happy for the most was the sun in my son’s eyes. “He’s well! He’s well,” I whispered; my heart jumped into joy.
“Of course, dear. But, the satay has already cold. But, don’t worry, soon after we got our home, I’ll make for you a thousand pins of satay,” I expressed my happiness with such exaggerated words.
My son smiled. Then came into the room the nurse I've met the night before. She said,
“Sir, today your son can leave the bed. He’s quite well.”
“What about the charge? I…,” I lost my words and my happiness for a while until she said,
“Sir, be not afraid. The man who has saved your son has paid for all the charge.”
“Who’s that man? I’d thank him for everything he’s done for my son.”
“We don’t know. He just leaved this message,” she handed me a piece of paper, and it’s written there:
“My old friend, you may not remember me, but I don’t. I know he’s your son when I asked him whose son he was; and he told me your name, my old beloved friend. I’m so sorry did not wait your arrival, but it’s not proper time for me, since I know that you are still keep your angry with you. So, as I’ve beg your apology for many times, now I still wait for your apology. Let us move on, forget what has passed. If you’re ready to do this reconciliation, I would in great joy to welcome you in my home. Jl. Trunojoyo no. 12a, Ujungsurya, Sukajadi. For all what I’ve done to you, my betrayal, I have suffered for so long. So, please give me a second chance.”
I folded up the paper and cried. What I’ve done? If there are flaws in every man, why should I keep my heart cold for wound recovery, include my own wound?
The day turned to twilight. The sky was deep orange, blue and violet. The summer wind blew breezy air through my fingers, hair and my worn cloth; and also through his. Then my son said,
“Dad, the wind is warm. But, why do we here standing in front of other’s gate?”
For apology, son; for, reconciliation; for a new hope; for the future of us, son. And, the most important was it is not a dream anymore, son.
Picture source:www.123rf.com
The Macchiato
(Haniah Hamidah Sahid)
... I stare at your photograph
Still sleep in the shirt you left
And nobody knows it but me
Everyday I wipe my tears away
So many nights I’ve prayed for you to ...
Plup, quickly All We’d Ever Need of Lady Antebellum was stopped when I was entering that room.
“ Fool girl, can’t you just knock the door before you enter my room?” shouted that man, angry with me.
“ I am so sorry, I just, I just want, I just want to deliver a cup of cof...” I tried to defend myself without having any bravery to look at his face, but before I finish what I was saying, he shouted at me louder than he did before, I was really shocked.
“ If you don’t bring a cup of Macchiato, just leave this room, NOW !!!”
“ What the hell a cup of Macchiato is !!! Damn it !!” I did self talk to answer his shouting.
***
His name is Putra Tompkins, he’s my new boss now, no, I mean, I am the new one, yeah, I am a new employee – a secretary – in this white, modern, and super clean office. For you know, on my five first day I had to change a cup of coffe until eight times because I don’t really understand what Macchiato is and how Macchiato tastes, oh for God sake, it really depressed me. I was like working here as a barista, oh come on, I am a secretary of an advertising production, not a barista.
Well, let see. My incredible handsome boss is a weird person, poor him. He has blood mixture from white people and Indonesian. Physically, he has been well-created by God. He got fair complexion, blue eyes, a sharp nose and he is extremely tall. His black hair and his way of speaking are originally Indonesian. Over all, he’s really perfect in physical appearance. He’s smart, a hard worker, a serious person, and a bad tempered man, yeah he’s really easy to get mad, mmm to get angry I mean. Yet, beside that, if you notice him well, he’s like a weak man. Why can I say that? Yep, I notice him, he always plays love song, especially for broken-hearted man, like first song that I heard on my first day working for this office and I think a cup of Macchiato, his favorite coffee, really represents himself.
Macchiato. The bitter taste of espresso which is found here is describing his personal which is bad, but actually he’s kind, little bit romantic and calm-hearted man, those are represented by the foam milk, and the stain of Macchiato means the special way of thinking that he has, like what I said before, he’s a smart man. Every girl will fall for him at the first sight, but she will kill him after her first time of having conversation with him, then she will fall for him again after she looks at the way he overcomes some problems – smart, wise, and mature. Why can I say these things? Big yes! ‘Cause I see myself and I am the one who falls for him desperately.
Seventeen months working here makes me know Putra deeper, and it makes me know that I will not be able with him, not now, not tomorrow, never. Why? Because Macchiato is always served by a ceramic cup, that’s his heart, like a ceramic, moreover like a stone. I know he’ll never open his heart for me.
***
“ I’m pregnant.” She said to me.
“ God bless me, oh God, thank you Lord.” I was really happy for the news that I heard from my wife that she’s pregnant. “ Call me ‘daddy’, I’ll be a father soon.” I hug her happily.
“ No, you’ll not.”
“ What do you mean???” I started curios. I really worried.
“ I was . . . I . . . I mean . . . I was . . . I was . . .”
“ Tell me, please.”
“ No, I can’t. I can’t tell you anything honey, it was so . . . uhh, I mean, no, I can’t . . .”
“ I ? I what? Just tell me the truth !!! Don’t say to me that you abort your pregnant !!!” I was aware that I was getting mad and shouting her loudly.
“ No, I don’t but you’re not going to be a father of this baby at all. No, you’ll not !!!”
“ What do you mean? WHAT DO YOU MEAN ???” I shouted at her louder, crying.
“ I was, I was making love with Arthan a day before we got married, but honestly I don’t want this happen to me. I didn’t want . . .” she was crying.
“ You don’t want that happens to you but you’re aware that you did that with that damn fucking man ????”
“ Arthan ! His name is Arthan.”
“ I DON’T CARE !!!”
“ But I can tell you why . . .”
“ Tell me what? Telling me that I have a wife who never loves me at all?
“ NO !!! I can tell . . .”
“ Telling me that you have an un-end love story with your fucking ex-boyfriend and I should understand that crazy thing????”
“ No, listen to me!”
“ No, you who listen to me! Leave my home and don’t back !!!”
“ Honey, listen to me please. I am so sorry for my big mistake that I did, I am so sorry.”
“ No, I can’t.”
“ Honey, I love you.”
“ No, you don’t !!!”
“ Honey, don’t you think my heart now?”
“ Do you? DO YOU THINK MY HEART NOW?”
“ I love you, honey, that’s why I tell the truth.”
“...”
“ Listen. I was really really happy when I knew that you’re going to propose me. It felt like a dream comes true. I felt so lucky and I was the luckiest girl because I can have you, the perfect man that I’d ever known, a man who can love me perfectly.” She was speaking and crying.
“ But in fact I’m never into your heart !”
“ You are . . .”
“ No, I’m not.”
“ Yes, you are, honey.” She cried and hug me.
“ If your heart is not for me, so why did you say yes to me? I’d said to you, right? Make your ‘problem’ clear before we get married.” I released her, I wiped her tears away eventhough I knew I was also crying.
“ I am so sorry, I just wanted to see him before we got married, but it just happened suddenly, it was just an accident, it was . . .”
“ Hussshhh.” I wipe again her tears and kissed her forehead slowly. “I know exactly that you never love me as that deep. You’ll get your second chance.” I hug her. I kissed her hair.
“ I don’t want the second chance, I just want you.”
“ No, you don’t want me, you’ll never want me.”
“...”
“...”
Suddenly, that bad memories come out when I see a pink table calendar in the desk of Wina, my secretary. She marked this date, 20th of February, the birthday of Nadia, my wife, no, I mean, my ex-wife. Maybe she left it. I know that I’ve made a childish decision, kicking her out of my office. But I don’t know, it feels so hard to forgive her, I mean, to know that she’s a bestfriend of Arthan, a husband of Nadia now. Tell me I am crazy ! Yes I am. Love stuff drives me insane.
***
I am walking slowly, leaving this lovely office. Yeah, this is the end of my career as a secretary. I just know that the ex-husband of a woman whom my bestfriend loves the most is my boss. I feel so guilty everytime I remember that I am the one who accidentaly breaks Putra’s marriage. Yep, unfortunately, I am the one who suggested Arthan to get Nadia’s heart before her marriage was held and now I’m falling in love with Putra, my boss who cannot forgive me for any reason. I stop my steps before I go, I am staring at a big painting of a cup of Macchiato with sugar sticks, yeah, I just know that Putra always adds many sugar sticks for his Macchiato, in fact, he’s not that strong.
Well, I am false. I know that I did a big mistake, but I can learn from him. I learn from him that true love is exist, unfortunately, sometimes or often, we – the people who have love – ruin the true love become something hurting and it often changes people, like what happens to Putra, I know that he’s actually a kind-hearted man, but his broken heart changes his life, his personality. Waiting the taxi come, from my I Pod I play All We’d Ever Need, the first song I heard from Putra’s playlist on my first day of working for this office. Frank Ocean is right, when we’re happy, we enjoy the music, but when we’re sad, we understand the lyrics. Now, I know exactly that the love of Putra for Nadia never changes at all. His love is still just the same.
... My friends think I’m moving on
But the truth is I’m not that strong
And nobody knows it but me ...
... I stare at your photograph
Still sleep in the shirt you left
And nobody knows it but me
Everyday I wipe my tears away
So many nights I’ve prayed for you to ...
Plup, quickly All We’d Ever Need of Lady Antebellum was stopped when I was entering that room.
“ Fool girl, can’t you just knock the door before you enter my room?” shouted that man, angry with me.
“ I am so sorry, I just, I just want, I just want to deliver a cup of cof...” I tried to defend myself without having any bravery to look at his face, but before I finish what I was saying, he shouted at me louder than he did before, I was really shocked.
“ If you don’t bring a cup of Macchiato, just leave this room, NOW !!!”
“ What the hell a cup of Macchiato is !!! Damn it !!” I did self talk to answer his shouting.
***
His name is Putra Tompkins, he’s my new boss now, no, I mean, I am the new one, yeah, I am a new employee – a secretary – in this white, modern, and super clean office. For you know, on my five first day I had to change a cup of coffe until eight times because I don’t really understand what Macchiato is and how Macchiato tastes, oh for God sake, it really depressed me. I was like working here as a barista, oh come on, I am a secretary of an advertising production, not a barista.
Well, let see. My incredible handsome boss is a weird person, poor him. He has blood mixture from white people and Indonesian. Physically, he has been well-created by God. He got fair complexion, blue eyes, a sharp nose and he is extremely tall. His black hair and his way of speaking are originally Indonesian. Over all, he’s really perfect in physical appearance. He’s smart, a hard worker, a serious person, and a bad tempered man, yeah he’s really easy to get mad, mmm to get angry I mean. Yet, beside that, if you notice him well, he’s like a weak man. Why can I say that? Yep, I notice him, he always plays love song, especially for broken-hearted man, like first song that I heard on my first day working for this office and I think a cup of Macchiato, his favorite coffee, really represents himself.
Macchiato. The bitter taste of espresso which is found here is describing his personal which is bad, but actually he’s kind, little bit romantic and calm-hearted man, those are represented by the foam milk, and the stain of Macchiato means the special way of thinking that he has, like what I said before, he’s a smart man. Every girl will fall for him at the first sight, but she will kill him after her first time of having conversation with him, then she will fall for him again after she looks at the way he overcomes some problems – smart, wise, and mature. Why can I say these things? Big yes! ‘Cause I see myself and I am the one who falls for him desperately.
Seventeen months working here makes me know Putra deeper, and it makes me know that I will not be able with him, not now, not tomorrow, never. Why? Because Macchiato is always served by a ceramic cup, that’s his heart, like a ceramic, moreover like a stone. I know he’ll never open his heart for me.
***
“ I’m pregnant.” She said to me.
“ God bless me, oh God, thank you Lord.” I was really happy for the news that I heard from my wife that she’s pregnant. “ Call me ‘daddy’, I’ll be a father soon.” I hug her happily.
“ No, you’ll not.”
“ What do you mean???” I started curios. I really worried.
“ I was . . . I . . . I mean . . . I was . . . I was . . .”
“ Tell me, please.”
“ No, I can’t. I can’t tell you anything honey, it was so . . . uhh, I mean, no, I can’t . . .”
“ I ? I what? Just tell me the truth !!! Don’t say to me that you abort your pregnant !!!” I was aware that I was getting mad and shouting her loudly.
“ No, I don’t but you’re not going to be a father of this baby at all. No, you’ll not !!!”
“ What do you mean? WHAT DO YOU MEAN ???” I shouted at her louder, crying.
“ I was, I was making love with Arthan a day before we got married, but honestly I don’t want this happen to me. I didn’t want . . .” she was crying.
“ You don’t want that happens to you but you’re aware that you did that with that damn fucking man ????”
“ Arthan ! His name is Arthan.”
“ I DON’T CARE !!!”
“ But I can tell you why . . .”
“ Tell me what? Telling me that I have a wife who never loves me at all?
“ NO !!! I can tell . . .”
“ Telling me that you have an un-end love story with your fucking ex-boyfriend and I should understand that crazy thing????”
“ No, listen to me!”
“ No, you who listen to me! Leave my home and don’t back !!!”
“ Honey, listen to me please. I am so sorry for my big mistake that I did, I am so sorry.”
“ No, I can’t.”
“ Honey, I love you.”
“ No, you don’t !!!”
“ Honey, don’t you think my heart now?”
“ Do you? DO YOU THINK MY HEART NOW?”
“ I love you, honey, that’s why I tell the truth.”
“...”
“ Listen. I was really really happy when I knew that you’re going to propose me. It felt like a dream comes true. I felt so lucky and I was the luckiest girl because I can have you, the perfect man that I’d ever known, a man who can love me perfectly.” She was speaking and crying.
“ But in fact I’m never into your heart !”
“ You are . . .”
“ No, I’m not.”
“ Yes, you are, honey.” She cried and hug me.
“ If your heart is not for me, so why did you say yes to me? I’d said to you, right? Make your ‘problem’ clear before we get married.” I released her, I wiped her tears away eventhough I knew I was also crying.
“ I am so sorry, I just wanted to see him before we got married, but it just happened suddenly, it was just an accident, it was . . .”
“ Hussshhh.” I wipe again her tears and kissed her forehead slowly. “I know exactly that you never love me as that deep. You’ll get your second chance.” I hug her. I kissed her hair.
“ I don’t want the second chance, I just want you.”
“ No, you don’t want me, you’ll never want me.”
“...”
“...”
Suddenly, that bad memories come out when I see a pink table calendar in the desk of Wina, my secretary. She marked this date, 20th of February, the birthday of Nadia, my wife, no, I mean, my ex-wife. Maybe she left it. I know that I’ve made a childish decision, kicking her out of my office. But I don’t know, it feels so hard to forgive her, I mean, to know that she’s a bestfriend of Arthan, a husband of Nadia now. Tell me I am crazy ! Yes I am. Love stuff drives me insane.
***
I am walking slowly, leaving this lovely office. Yeah, this is the end of my career as a secretary. I just know that the ex-husband of a woman whom my bestfriend loves the most is my boss. I feel so guilty everytime I remember that I am the one who accidentaly breaks Putra’s marriage. Yep, unfortunately, I am the one who suggested Arthan to get Nadia’s heart before her marriage was held and now I’m falling in love with Putra, my boss who cannot forgive me for any reason. I stop my steps before I go, I am staring at a big painting of a cup of Macchiato with sugar sticks, yeah, I just know that Putra always adds many sugar sticks for his Macchiato, in fact, he’s not that strong.
Well, I am false. I know that I did a big mistake, but I can learn from him. I learn from him that true love is exist, unfortunately, sometimes or often, we – the people who have love – ruin the true love become something hurting and it often changes people, like what happens to Putra, I know that he’s actually a kind-hearted man, but his broken heart changes his life, his personality. Waiting the taxi come, from my I Pod I play All We’d Ever Need, the first song I heard from Putra’s playlist on my first day of working for this office. Frank Ocean is right, when we’re happy, we enjoy the music, but when we’re sad, we understand the lyrics. Now, I know exactly that the love of Putra for Nadia never changes at all. His love is still just the same.
... My friends think I’m moving on
But the truth is I’m not that strong
And nobody knows it but me ...
Believe
Agatha Dwi Ira Davina
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
“Maria, your voice is so beautiful”
“No Daddy, have you ever heard Diana’s voice? It’s so beautiful, and it’s like an angle’s voice! She is also as beautiful as her voice, with that slim body, curly long hair, and those big eyes, and every time she sings, people stand up and give her big applause. Can you imagine if I sing in front of many audiences?”
“Yes darling, you will be splendid,” my dad convince me
“No daddy, they will laugh at me,’ I said.
“Baby, you already have that beautiful voice in you, all you have to do is believe in yourself!”
“The competition is one week away dad, what if I embarrass myself?”
“Believe in yourself, and keep practicing. Just give your best, and let God do the rest”
Oh, dad, I really want to believe in myself, but you know that I can’t. How can you say that I will be splendid with this kind of appearance?
One week later
“Dad, I’m so nervous, what if they don’t want to see me and ask me to get out of the stage before I sing?”
“They won’t darling; you are beautiful as always…”
“And now, the next participant is Maria Dominez give her applause”
“…and that’s your cue, go get them!”
Enter the stage, I already want to run away. Everybody is silent and staring at me. The spotlight hit so brightly, and with all my courage that still stay in me, I start to sing…
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here, outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn'
The taxi is waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Suddenly, the crowd start to cheer, the applause fill the room, many faces smile at me, proud. Then when I reach the backstage, a pair of hands holds me tight, and those lips came close to my ear and whispered, “I’m very proud of you my daughter.”
“Thank you dad, now I believe, with or without this wheelchair, as long as I do the best, people will see it.”
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
“Maria, your voice is so beautiful”
“No Daddy, have you ever heard Diana’s voice? It’s so beautiful, and it’s like an angle’s voice! She is also as beautiful as her voice, with that slim body, curly long hair, and those big eyes, and every time she sings, people stand up and give her big applause. Can you imagine if I sing in front of many audiences?”
“Yes darling, you will be splendid,” my dad convince me
“No daddy, they will laugh at me,’ I said.
“Baby, you already have that beautiful voice in you, all you have to do is believe in yourself!”
“The competition is one week away dad, what if I embarrass myself?”
“Believe in yourself, and keep practicing. Just give your best, and let God do the rest”
Oh, dad, I really want to believe in myself, but you know that I can’t. How can you say that I will be splendid with this kind of appearance?
One week later
“Dad, I’m so nervous, what if they don’t want to see me and ask me to get out of the stage before I sing?”
“They won’t darling; you are beautiful as always…”
“And now, the next participant is Maria Dominez give her applause”
“…and that’s your cue, go get them!”
Enter the stage, I already want to run away. Everybody is silent and staring at me. The spotlight hit so brightly, and with all my courage that still stay in me, I start to sing…
All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go
I’m standin’ here, outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn'
The taxi is waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn
Already I’m so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
Cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
Suddenly, the crowd start to cheer, the applause fill the room, many faces smile at me, proud. Then when I reach the backstage, a pair of hands holds me tight, and those lips came close to my ear and whispered, “I’m very proud of you my daughter.”
“Thank you dad, now I believe, with or without this wheelchair, as long as I do the best, people will see it.”
Deaf Husband and Blind Wife
Deliana Ciciliawati
Most of people call them limited edition couple. But, I didn’t know what people called my fuck relationship. Ouch, didn’t wanna say that! “Just ignore what people and I say”. I learned so many things in every single morning. It was my new hobby. I enjoyed it. Starring at how a very light hearted woman helped her husband to work together in an early morning. Yeah! This is 3 a.m in the morning. I let my spoiled body to be accustomed to feel the breezy air only for looking at those eyes that taught me how to survive for my fucking relationship. Ouch, sorry I’m honest!
“Oh, come on how can they do it everyday? A husband “without” those ears and wife “without” those beautiful eyes. Pretending in front of the customer? Bu … but I don’t think so. Are they fabulous enough to survive with those unusual differences, aren’t they?” I love my Friday every 3 a.m in an early morning. His loud voice hypnotized me to see everything happened around that small and old grocery. Talkative people were detected in that grocery where the bargaining between the households, some fathers who have’ fake smile’ with the lovely couple. No worried, I observed my lovely couple was still secure. I was impressed when their face was so excited while offering their fresh and high quality vegetables. The problem was only in their old and too small grocery. It’s a small problem that became a bigger one when some people were thinking twice to buy their vegetables. I saw blood in their face. I thought that they were not satisfied for today; only two kilograms of potato ad all bunches of spinach. Yeah, about five bunches of spinach.
“Tomat ….. to! Tomattt … o ! Fresh spinach, carrot,cocooo nut.” The deaf husband’s voice was in a high tone and very loud. Like a new year trumpet, his voice was airing as loud as he could even when the sunlight wasn’t appearing in a ring of a dark cloud. “Do you know?! I know what I’ve to know now. Why the deaf had very loud voice? No kidding, it’s because ha couldn’t hear his voice. All the signs that he got, made him just speak as loud as he can spontaneously.” Still observing them in my bedroom at second floor of my house, only one kilometer from here.
“Hi, Sir. Hi madam. A bunch of spinach, please,” Said a well build man with a scary face and freak moustache. I trusted you guys how you imagined the freak moustache only on the left side over his mouth. “Don’t you have a razor in your pretty fitness center? Oh man … Should I lend you my pink razor? Oh please, come on”, I whispered. “Oh sorry, Sir . I’m really sorry, Sir. All bunches of spinach are sold out. We only have what they left here. Still fresh, Sir”, said the blind wife sadly.
“I’m sorry to hear that. But emm I don’t need those vegetables except the spinach, Mam!!!” Hey, what happened there I couldn’t understand from here what was going on there. Actually, I was just super curious with that man who were standing in impolite way and his face looked like a pink monster who had FOUR horns AND EXTRA LARGE MOUTH. As large as hamburger that I bought everyday. Upps!
Sure, if I were her husband I would kick him out. Yeah I know her lovely husband didn’t hear his large mouth producing some complicated words. “Complicated? Ouch it reminds me something.” I just realized I were a heartless woman right now. Oh NO, broken hearted woman. Ah, no! Heartless is more polite how I call my fucking feeling that I’ve to have.
“Sir, I hope you’ll by at least only two kilograms of something. I need some money to cure my husband. I should accompany him go to the doctor. Now or never”, said a wife softly. A husband said surprisingly, “What’s going on? Dear, what’s wrong with you? I know that you are crying.” “How do you know?” She answered a little bit shock. “Your tears, dear. Even I can’t hear but I can feel what happens to you. I’ve jus realized your beautiful tears drop on my imperfect hands”, the husband answered. I was so speechless at that time. I wanna say something but who I am. Suddenly, “How dare you are so dramatic in front of me? Fucking shit of your love. Don’t sell this kind of bullshit attention only make me to buy your vegetables!” a man screamed angrily.
Everything worked worst. Damn was true. I couldn’t pretend to be “who I am”. I couldn’t lock my mouth. I didn’t wanna let my lovely couple were hurt and mocked. I went down as soon as possible. “Hey, you boy! Who are you? It’s not an attitude of a good boy. Look at me, boy!” I turned in a bad tempered woman at that time. Oh, yeah I was scared at myself at that time. A man was looking backward. I looked at those eyes. Those familiar eyes that ever hurt this inside. Those big brown eyes that reflected a handsome liar that I’ve ever known. “Mike?”
“Oh, come on how can they do it everyday? A husband “without” those ears and wife “without” those beautiful eyes. Pretending in front of the customer? Bu … but I don’t think so. Are they fabulous enough to survive with those unusual differences, aren’t they?” I love my Friday every 3 a.m in an early morning. His loud voice hypnotized me to see everything happened around that small and old grocery. Talkative people were detected in that grocery where the bargaining between the households, some fathers who have’ fake smile’ with the lovely couple. No worried, I observed my lovely couple was still secure. I was impressed when their face was so excited while offering their fresh and high quality vegetables. The problem was only in their old and too small grocery. It’s a small problem that became a bigger one when some people were thinking twice to buy their vegetables. I saw blood in their face. I thought that they were not satisfied for today; only two kilograms of potato ad all bunches of spinach. Yeah, about five bunches of spinach.
“Tomat ….. to! Tomattt … o ! Fresh spinach, carrot,cocooo nut.” The deaf husband’s voice was in a high tone and very loud. Like a new year trumpet, his voice was airing as loud as he could even when the sunlight wasn’t appearing in a ring of a dark cloud. “Do you know?! I know what I’ve to know now. Why the deaf had very loud voice? No kidding, it’s because ha couldn’t hear his voice. All the signs that he got, made him just speak as loud as he can spontaneously.” Still observing them in my bedroom at second floor of my house, only one kilometer from here.
“Hi, Sir. Hi madam. A bunch of spinach, please,” Said a well build man with a scary face and freak moustache. I trusted you guys how you imagined the freak moustache only on the left side over his mouth. “Don’t you have a razor in your pretty fitness center? Oh man … Should I lend you my pink razor? Oh please, come on”, I whispered. “Oh sorry, Sir . I’m really sorry, Sir. All bunches of spinach are sold out. We only have what they left here. Still fresh, Sir”, said the blind wife sadly.
“I’m sorry to hear that. But emm I don’t need those vegetables except the spinach, Mam!!!” Hey, what happened there I couldn’t understand from here what was going on there. Actually, I was just super curious with that man who were standing in impolite way and his face looked like a pink monster who had FOUR horns AND EXTRA LARGE MOUTH. As large as hamburger that I bought everyday. Upps!
Sure, if I were her husband I would kick him out. Yeah I know her lovely husband didn’t hear his large mouth producing some complicated words. “Complicated? Ouch it reminds me something.” I just realized I were a heartless woman right now. Oh NO, broken hearted woman. Ah, no! Heartless is more polite how I call my fucking feeling that I’ve to have.
“Sir, I hope you’ll by at least only two kilograms of something. I need some money to cure my husband. I should accompany him go to the doctor. Now or never”, said a wife softly. A husband said surprisingly, “What’s going on? Dear, what’s wrong with you? I know that you are crying.” “How do you know?” She answered a little bit shock. “Your tears, dear. Even I can’t hear but I can feel what happens to you. I’ve jus realized your beautiful tears drop on my imperfect hands”, the husband answered. I was so speechless at that time. I wanna say something but who I am. Suddenly, “How dare you are so dramatic in front of me? Fucking shit of your love. Don’t sell this kind of bullshit attention only make me to buy your vegetables!” a man screamed angrily.
Everything worked worst. Damn was true. I couldn’t pretend to be “who I am”. I couldn’t lock my mouth. I didn’t wanna let my lovely couple were hurt and mocked. I went down as soon as possible. “Hey, you boy! Who are you? It’s not an attitude of a good boy. Look at me, boy!” I turned in a bad tempered woman at that time. Oh, yeah I was scared at myself at that time. A man was looking backward. I looked at those eyes. Those familiar eyes that ever hurt this inside. Those big brown eyes that reflected a handsome liar that I’ve ever known. “Mike?”
The Power of Love
Melisa Setyawan
The heart can sometimes harden like steel. But, do not ever try to use seesaw, axe, or hammer to overcome it.
One day, the axe, the seesaw, the hammer, and the fire travelled together. On their journey, they suddenly came to a halt as a piece of massive steel was blocking the path. Therefore, each of them tried to get rid of the obstruction while they also want to test their strength.
“Watch me, I can do it”, said the axe. He gathered his strength and then began to hit the steel with all his might..
Alas! Each time he hit the hard steel, the axe became blunt and eventually stopped trying.
“Let me handle it”, said the seesaw. Then the seesaw began to saw the steel. With his sharp teeth, the seesaw went up and down the steel. The sound was so deafening that everyone closed their ears.
But again, he also failed after sometime trying to cut the steel.
“See.. What did I tell you!”, cried the hammer proudly. “All of you cannot handle it. Let me show you how.” So, the hammer started to hit the rod of the steel very hard, but bang!
The hard hitting served as a boomerang to the hammer and he tumbled down. The hammer did not dare to say anything as he was very ashamed of himself. The steel was as stable as before and it did not even move an inch from where it laid.
“Can I try it?”, asked the fire humbly. All the others laughed at him and smirked at the sight of what the fire did to the steel. The fire circle himself to the steel, and he embraced the steel gently but steadily. After a while, to the amazement of everyone, the steel weakened and began to melt.
One day, the axe, the seesaw, the hammer, and the fire travelled together. On their journey, they suddenly came to a halt as a piece of massive steel was blocking the path. Therefore, each of them tried to get rid of the obstruction while they also want to test their strength.
“Watch me, I can do it”, said the axe. He gathered his strength and then began to hit the steel with all his might..
Alas! Each time he hit the hard steel, the axe became blunt and eventually stopped trying.
“Let me handle it”, said the seesaw. Then the seesaw began to saw the steel. With his sharp teeth, the seesaw went up and down the steel. The sound was so deafening that everyone closed their ears.
But again, he also failed after sometime trying to cut the steel.
“See.. What did I tell you!”, cried the hammer proudly. “All of you cannot handle it. Let me show you how.” So, the hammer started to hit the rod of the steel very hard, but bang!
The hard hitting served as a boomerang to the hammer and he tumbled down. The hammer did not dare to say anything as he was very ashamed of himself. The steel was as stable as before and it did not even move an inch from where it laid.
“Can I try it?”, asked the fire humbly. All the others laughed at him and smirked at the sight of what the fire did to the steel. The fire circle himself to the steel, and he embraced the steel gently but steadily. After a while, to the amazement of everyone, the steel weakened and began to melt.
Living in an Imagination
by: Bayu Pamungkas
Today is the day when the dark change to the grey. Even, dogs stop barking out the people who walk away. Everything which I could see turns become more imaginary. Then, I see seagulls flying across to the wall of a home-staying. Ah, there is also an orchestra which is so amusing. The drum bands blow the whistle like the sound of violin. How amazing those things when i can see and hear everything become more fascinating.
After So Many Years
Christa Yona T.
I sat on a chair, thinking. People were passing by, chattering. It must have been so noisy, but I could barely hear anything. To me, their words were just indistinct voices. I looked down on the shiny, clean floor. A remote controlled car toy hit my feet, distracting me. A child, wearing a navy blue T-shirt with shorts approached me. He took his toy and said sorry –I knew it from his lips movement-. I just smiled and patted his head.
I drown in my thought again. It had been more than a decade. I did not know what to expect.
“Hotdog, Sir. It’s still hot, for just $5,” another sound distracting me. I took my wallet, gave some money to the seller and took the hotdog.
What will it feel like? Will they still accept me? I could not even remember the last time we talked to each other.
Suddenly a train came. The loud voice of the machine made me jump. I observed the people who came out from the train. A little girl in pink dress with her mom, an old woman bringing a travel bag in her hand, a businessman in a black suit, they were walking in a hurry, approaching the people who had been waiting for them; a man in jeans and T-shirt –probably the little girl’s father-, a good-looking guy with a friendly smile–probably the old woman’s son-, a fair lady with long, burgundy hair –probably the businessman’s fiancé. All their faces were reflecting happiness. And affection.
After all these years, will I be welcome like them?
Should I? Or should not I? My mind was busy again.
I looked at my watch. It was almost the time. I needed to make the decision.
“MOM! DAD!” A high-pitched shout caught my attention. Then I saw a teenager opening her arms for her ready-to-hug parents.
I moved my feet, trying to stand and walk. I had made my decision.
“One ticket to Georgia, please.” I could hardly hear my own voice.
I’m going home, Mom, Dad. I’m going home…
And I sat again, waiting for my train with a smile.
I drown in my thought again. It had been more than a decade. I did not know what to expect.
“Hotdog, Sir. It’s still hot, for just $5,” another sound distracting me. I took my wallet, gave some money to the seller and took the hotdog.
What will it feel like? Will they still accept me? I could not even remember the last time we talked to each other.
Suddenly a train came. The loud voice of the machine made me jump. I observed the people who came out from the train. A little girl in pink dress with her mom, an old woman bringing a travel bag in her hand, a businessman in a black suit, they were walking in a hurry, approaching the people who had been waiting for them; a man in jeans and T-shirt –probably the little girl’s father-, a good-looking guy with a friendly smile–probably the old woman’s son-, a fair lady with long, burgundy hair –probably the businessman’s fiancé. All their faces were reflecting happiness. And affection.
After all these years, will I be welcome like them?
Should I? Or should not I? My mind was busy again.
I looked at my watch. It was almost the time. I needed to make the decision.
“MOM! DAD!” A high-pitched shout caught my attention. Then I saw a teenager opening her arms for her ready-to-hug parents.
I moved my feet, trying to stand and walk. I had made my decision.
“One ticket to Georgia, please.” I could hardly hear my own voice.
I’m going home, Mom, Dad. I’m going home…
And I sat again, waiting for my train with a smile.
___________________________________________________
WIND
by: Ana Maria Ina
It is a common day. I walk from the North to the South, from the West to the East. I move and move, help the birds fly to the warmth place. Smiling to the clouds and giving a morning greeting to the old sea. It is a common day ‘till 7 o’clock. Under her leaves, a girl is sitting in her blue dress. First time I see her, I know I fall in love with her. She is writing something. I come close to her. It is about love and a boy.
She breaks my heart. I have been living for thousand days. I have been living since the earth born. Today is a common day even a girl in her blue dress sitting under the old tree breaks my heart. I just want to show her my love. I move around her, blow her wavy hair, whisper to her: I love you.
I have to go for reasons the earth know them. I walk slowly, help the birds fly, and smile to the cloud. I move from North to the South. From one place to another.
Crossing in the Sky
Natalia Septi
It is night and the dark becomes a master. Everyone sleeps well and has a nice dream, but I don’t have it. Sometimes I hear people call me and some of them are talking each other. I open my eyes slowly and feel where I am. Then I wake up. I look around and walk slowly. I try to ask someone what kind of place is, but nobody answers me.
“Excuse me, Can you tell me what kind of place is?”, I ask someone.
No answer anymore. They are still talking each other and do not care. I try to ask someone else, but he does not care with me.
“What’s wrong? Are they can’t look at me?”, I say to myself.
Then, I decide to walk through the people. Suddenly, I find an empty shop. Nobody is there. I am sitting in the chair and waiting until people across in the way. One hour, I am sitting and looking for someone. Finally, I decide to go to another place.
I see so many people with the wings in their back. They are like an angel. I think, “Is it heaven?” It is like a dream which come in the sunny day. Then, one of them comes to me and asks, “What are you looking for?” “I want to find out what kind of place is because I hear people call me name, but they don’t answer my question. I am confused, where I am.”
“Don’t worry. You are in the safe place. If you want to know where you are, please follow me.”
“Where will we go? Is it far from here?”, I ask.
“Just follow me and you will know. Now, please go on my back. Hold my wing and you will know where we will go.”
I don’t care wherever he will bring me to go. However, I don’t know that I am in another world because I think that I am dreaming. After that, he asks me to go to my home. I do that, but I am surprised when I see my body in the bed. I can’t believe that it is my body, but I try to sleep and wake.
Note: I don’t know that actually my spirit leaves my body when I get a bad dream. Three days later, I leave my home and try to find the way like in my dream, but people around the village find me in the empty shop unconsciously.
Between The World And Heaven
By: Regita Permana
It is not fair at all. My heart beat fast. It was too hard to open my eyes. My body and my long wavy black hair were full of sweat. I was scared and very nervous, but some people around me stayed calm. How could they do that? Yes, everybody looked very calm, except a man beside me who held my hands tightly. I just could lay here. There were some lamps disturb my eyes.
I almost lost my energy. I even almost forgot where I was and what time it was. “Is it night? Is it morning?” I saw much blood around me. I was feeling a horrible pain which made me choose death if I had choices. No one in that room could feel like I felt. At last, I took a deep breath, I pushed my energy, and I closed my eyes. The pain was getting twice more horrible until I heard the sound of baby cried. My pain felt like be thrown away by God. I opened my eyes. She was so beautiful, so cute. “Hey, Clarice, call me ‘mom’.”
WIND
by: Ana Maria Ina
It is a common day. I walk from the North to the South, from the West to the East. I move and move, help the birds fly to the warmth place. Smiling to the clouds and giving a morning greeting to the old sea. It is a common day ‘till 7 o’clock. Under her leaves, a girl is sitting in her blue dress. First time I see her, I know I fall in love with her. She is writing something. I come close to her. It is about love and a boy.
She breaks my heart. I have been living for thousand days. I have been living since the earth born. Today is a common day even a girl in her blue dress sitting under the old tree breaks my heart. I just want to show her my love. I move around her, blow her wavy hair, whisper to her: I love you.
I have to go for reasons the earth know them. I walk slowly, help the birds fly, and smile to the cloud. I move from North to the South. From one place to another.
Crossing in the Sky
Natalia Septi
It is night and the dark becomes a master. Everyone sleeps well and has a nice dream, but I don’t have it. Sometimes I hear people call me and some of them are talking each other. I open my eyes slowly and feel where I am. Then I wake up. I look around and walk slowly. I try to ask someone what kind of place is, but nobody answers me.
“Excuse me, Can you tell me what kind of place is?”, I ask someone.
No answer anymore. They are still talking each other and do not care. I try to ask someone else, but he does not care with me.
“What’s wrong? Are they can’t look at me?”, I say to myself.
Then, I decide to walk through the people. Suddenly, I find an empty shop. Nobody is there. I am sitting in the chair and waiting until people across in the way. One hour, I am sitting and looking for someone. Finally, I decide to go to another place.
I see so many people with the wings in their back. They are like an angel. I think, “Is it heaven?” It is like a dream which come in the sunny day. Then, one of them comes to me and asks, “What are you looking for?” “I want to find out what kind of place is because I hear people call me name, but they don’t answer my question. I am confused, where I am.”
“Don’t worry. You are in the safe place. If you want to know where you are, please follow me.”
“Where will we go? Is it far from here?”, I ask.
“Just follow me and you will know. Now, please go on my back. Hold my wing and you will know where we will go.”
I don’t care wherever he will bring me to go. However, I don’t know that I am in another world because I think that I am dreaming. After that, he asks me to go to my home. I do that, but I am surprised when I see my body in the bed. I can’t believe that it is my body, but I try to sleep and wake.
Note: I don’t know that actually my spirit leaves my body when I get a bad dream. Three days later, I leave my home and try to find the way like in my dream, but people around the village find me in the empty shop unconsciously.
Between The World And Heaven
By: Regita Permana
It is not fair at all. My heart beat fast. It was too hard to open my eyes. My body and my long wavy black hair were full of sweat. I was scared and very nervous, but some people around me stayed calm. How could they do that? Yes, everybody looked very calm, except a man beside me who held my hands tightly. I just could lay here. There were some lamps disturb my eyes.
I almost lost my energy. I even almost forgot where I was and what time it was. “Is it night? Is it morning?” I saw much blood around me. I was feeling a horrible pain which made me choose death if I had choices. No one in that room could feel like I felt. At last, I took a deep breath, I pushed my energy, and I closed my eyes. The pain was getting twice more horrible until I heard the sound of baby cried. My pain felt like be thrown away by God. I opened my eyes. She was so beautiful, so cute. “Hey, Clarice, call me ‘mom’.”
:Future
By: Regita Permana
So, I kept this golden thing inside my small bag. I wrapped it as safe as I can because I did not want any damage on it. I saw a small girl looked happy because her mom had just bought her a teddy bear. I saw a couple who wore nice couple tees and laughed together. I saw some women who looked very satisfy while bringing their shopping bag. All of them were very happy, but I was the happiest man, even people, in this world at that time. I was pretty sure about it.
I went out from the mall, took my old motorcycle that was given by my father then I rode along the street. I felt nervous. I felt happy. I felt proud. I felt scared and my heart beat fast.
I arrived to my destination, a small brown house. I pushed the doorbell. An adorable woman who was sitting on the wheelchair opened the door. I knelt down in front of her. I took the thing that I had kept in my bag. I opened the wrap. I took her right hand finger, “Would you marry me?”
By: Regita Permana
So, I kept this golden thing inside my small bag. I wrapped it as safe as I can because I did not want any damage on it. I saw a small girl looked happy because her mom had just bought her a teddy bear. I saw a couple who wore nice couple tees and laughed together. I saw some women who looked very satisfy while bringing their shopping bag. All of them were very happy, but I was the happiest man, even people, in this world at that time. I was pretty sure about it.
I went out from the mall, took my old motorcycle that was given by my father then I rode along the street. I felt nervous. I felt happy. I felt proud. I felt scared and my heart beat fast.
I arrived to my destination, a small brown house. I pushed the doorbell. An adorable woman who was sitting on the wheelchair opened the door. I knelt down in front of her. I took the thing that I had kept in my bag. I opened the wrap. I took her right hand finger, “Would you marry me?”