Episode 7

Someone wants to disturb us, and they are the guardians of this house,

"Guardians?!" Satrio and Dimas exclaimed in unison, eyes bulging in disbelief at Riko's statement.

"Not exactly guardians, more like...sent by someone," Riko continued, staring into the distance.

"What?!" Dimas and Satrio shouted again. Their surprise not yet faded, they were now jolted by Riko's words, suggesting he knew everything.

"Can you guys not scream so loudly? My ears hurt," Riko grumbled, annoyed with his friends.

"Sorry, Rik. But how do you know they are sent by someone," asked Dimas, becoming engaged with the topic at hand. Dimas too had been troubled by one of them.

However, what Dimas found peculiar was that the creature he saw in the bathroom and his office, no longer appeared before him. Only when he first entered the home he now lived in.

Was it the power of prayer that drove the entity away and stopped it from bothering him?

If that was indeed the case, Dimas resolved to keep praying in every step he took.

Dimas looked at Riko, who was lost in thought and not answering his question. Satrio too awaited Riko's response, which filled his mind with questions.

"I can see them," Riko finally revealed, eliciting a burst of laughter from Satrio. He found it hilarious to hear Riko's claim, considering Satrio didn't believe in mystical things.

Whereas Dimas, he was silent, digesting Riko's words. He couldn't see the invisible creatures, but after a week at the office, he had encountered many odd experiences. Dimas had seen the unseen.

Dimas wondered if the woman in the traditional kebaya dress by the banyan tree was the same figure that had appeared in his bathroom?

"Are you serious you can see them? So, you have a sixth sense, Rik?" Dimas asked seriously.

"Everyone has it, the difference lies in sensitivity," Riko replied, halting Satrio's mockery with his earnestness. Satrio suddenly felt awkward for treating Riko's words as a joke.

"Sorry Rik, I thought you were kidding. I've never believed in such things because all my life, I've never heard or seen them firsthand," said Satrio, scratching his non-itchy neck.

"Someday you might believe because I too have seen them in this house, and in...that place," Dimas added, prompting a look from Riko that he couldn't decipher, while Satrio just frowned in confusion, still not convinced by Dimas's claims.

"While I've been living here, I've never encountered them," said Satrio casually.

"Who says? What was last night if not an encounter?" Riko retorted with a demeaning smile.

Satrio blinked rapidly, his brain straining to remember the previous night when he thought Dimas had been sleeping in the living room, but in fact, hadn't.

Flashback on.

Satrio's throat felt parched and in desperate need of water. Giving in to the sensation, he left his bed for the kitchen to drink some water.

Reaching the kitchen, Satrio heard the noisy television still on. After gulping down two glasses of water, he headed for the living room to see if Dimas had fallen asleep there because on his initial pass, the room had been empty and dark.

Indeed, Satrio found Dimas dozing on the sofa with the television still flickering away. Maybe earlier, Satrio hadn't been observant due to the heaviness in his eyes.

Satrio reached for the remote on the table to switch the television off. As the screen went black, he turned to return to his room, but was abruptly stopped when Dimas grabbed his arm.

"Leave here!" Dimas spoke in a different tone. He must be sleep talking. But why does his voice sound so different? Forget it, better to go back to bed until morning. Satrio mused, not really concerned.

Satrio tried to break free from Dimas's grip, which tightened painfully around his wrist. "Dimas, let go!" Satrio raised his voice slightly.

For some reason, Dimas's hand felt icy against his skin, perhaps from not being covered by a blanket, Satrio thought logically.

Finally, Dimas released him. Satrio noticed a red mark on his wrist left by Dimas's strong grip. Satrio found it strange how Dimas could exert such strength in his sleep.

Flashback off.

"Satrio! Satrio! What's wrong?" called Dimas, snapping Satrio out of his trance.

Satrio immediately examined the wrist Dimas had clutched so tightly the previous night, leaving a clear red imprint shaped like five fingers.

"What happened to your wrist, Sat? How did it get like that?" asked Riko, with Dimas nodding in agreement.

"So, it's true, you weren't sleeping in front of the TV last night?" Satrio inquired with a frightened expression.

"No, I slept in my room," Dimas confirmed truthfully.

"Then who was sleeping in front of the TV last night and grabbed my arm hard enough to leave this mark?" Satrio asked, his face pale.

Dimas and Riko exchanged looks as if communicating telepathically.

*

Dimas returned to his room after a lengthy discussion with his two male friends. He was straining to recall a dream from the night before.

The dream felt incredibly real to Dimas, but he couldn’t make out the faces of the people in his dream. No matter how hard he tried, the details escaped him.

One detail he did remember was the traditional kebaya worn by a girl named Bening, strikingly similar to...

Dimas's eyes widened in disbelief as he recalled the afternoon’s events. The woman in the kebaya under the banyan tree was the same girl from his dream.

He also remembered the woman in the kebaya asking for his help. Did she need his assistance? Was he the only one she reached out to? Did Riko, who could also see her, not get asked for help? Dimas's mind swirled with questions.

Dimas needed to discuss this issue with Riko again. Though Riko could see 'them,' he'd mentioned he couldn't communicate with them. He could only hear and see their presence, not their pasts.

But the matter of the entity in the house was different from the woman under the banyan tree. Riko also said the one in the house was a sent being.

So who sent such a creature into an inhabited house? And what was their intent?

Dimas was besieged with unanswered questions and puzzles. Clues began to surface in his head as he mulled over the events of the week spent in his official residence.

*No wonder few are comfortable staying here. Turns out this large house isn't just home to humans but also unseen beings*. Dimas whispered to himself.

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