Surya

Jalan Sulam, October 3rd, 12:33

I squinted at the building plate of the building in front of me. It was an ancient school building that surprisingly didn’t look as wrecked as I would have thought given how old it was. While it doesn’t look as good as new, the roof of the building was still intact. Yellowed stains could be seen occasionally on the wall, but none of the paint was peeled off. The wooden floor looked clean albeit kind of old and the field around the place was tidy with some grass and flowers thriving on the edges.

The school plate unfortunately didn’t give me any name to the building for it was badly scratched off. Fortunately, I could barely read the number 10 on the smaller plate under the bigger one. 10, Jalan Sulam was where the contest I had—unknowingly—participated in was going to be held. I was not going to complain though. Not with that amount of prize. I had sworn that day I was going to get out of this shit city. And I would realize it no matter what.

A sudden feeling of pain suddenly assaulted me and I raised my hand with a frown. Crescent shape wounds could be skin on the skin of my palms. Without realizing it, I had clenched my fists too hard. Taking shuddering breaths, I forced the memories of that day to the innermost corner of my mind and pushed the gate of the old school.

Ignoring the glares of sunlight on my eyes and skin, I looked around. Even though I have thought of it before, I was once again surprised at how… normal—normal if you would have ignored some things that simply could no longer be seen in the modern world—the school looked. When you looked at the school from the outside, you would find out that it only consisted of three floors. It was wrong though to think of the place as small because the place was actually ridiculously broad.

Hurried footsteps could be heard from one of the school corridors. I tensed as I saw an older stern-looking woman in traditional Batik attire approach me. I was ashamed to admit that I zoned out from staring at her.

“Welcome.” She bowed stiffly. “You should be one of the nominees. Apologize, but did you bring your invitation?” An eyebrow was raised when she didn’t receive a reply. “Mister?”

“Ueh?” Shit. “Right.” A cough. “The invitation.” After she received and inspected the golden paper, she nodded and gave me back the invitation.

“Please follow me.” The walk was for the lack of a better word, eerie. As I followed the girl, I took a peek at each classroom we passed by. Each of them looked clean. The long tables and chairs showed no sign of decay. There are scribbles on the blackboards that I couldn’t read from the door. White black photos were stuck on the walls. The only missing thing was the sound of children learning. Apart from that, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was told that the school was still in operation.

The lady opened the door that greeted us after we climbed up to the third floor. From beyond the door, I could hear the voices of the living and I let out a sigh of relief. “Please.” I walked inside the School Hall and saw a variety of people. The golden paper some of them were holding told me that they were participants of the contest like me. Out of habit, I took off my shoes and took a step on the wooden floor that was covered by rattan carpets. Finding an empty space I took a seat and once again look around.

At least thirty people had already sat and were either, chatting or browsing their phones. Some of them were in groups or some of them were alone like me. All of them looked like they came from different types of lifestyles and I was reminded once again that the invitation never said why I was chosen. None of the seats near the podium was taken and I was not surprised by that. The rows of unlit candles over there were too uncanny.

Trying to ignore my uneasiness, I took out my phone and messaged my little sister to tell her that I had arrived at my destination.

“Take a photo of the place!” Was her reply. Feeling a little bit silly, I took an awkward selfie, another selfie showing the outside scenery from one of the windows, and last but not least, the interior of the hall. I sent all three of the photos to my sister and let out a sigh.

It had been a while since I visited an unfamiliar place. I felt glad that this place did not feel funny though because if it did, then the prize did not matter. I would get out from here.

“Hey,” I admitted that the sudden call made me jump. Glaring at the caller, I let out a pissed, “what?” The caller was an obese teenager. He had, at least, the decency to look guilty and sorry.

“Sorry.” He said sheepishly. “Everybody else is in their own world and you look the friendliest so... well, I’m Agung.”

“Surya.” I shook my head. “Who did you come with?” I doubt his parent would let Agung attend this kind of contest alone. The boy looked too naive and in this kind of dangerous town, his naiveté could put him in danger.

“With my parents.” Agung scratched the back of his head. “They can’t enter the school though. Miss Maya said that only I can use the invitation.”

“Miss Maya?”

“The scary-looking lady, you know. She reminded me so much of one of my teachers. No way, I’m going to disobey her.” The boy chattered on. “I didn’t see anyone else when Miss Maya led me here. Do you think she’s the only worker here, brother?”

“I doubt it.” The school was just too well-kept.

“Yeah, I don’t think so too.” Agung nodded solemnly. “What’re you going to do with the prize money, brother? I’m going to buy all the existing game platforms!”

Now how am I going to explain this? “I’m going to continue my study abroad.” Technically, I didn’t lie. I really was going to study abroad.

Agung stared at me with wide eyes. “That’s very cool. Mother kept nagging me to take Medical as my major later in college. I did like Biology once, but....” Agung grumbled. “Anyway, I don’t think Medical is for me. What was your major, brother?”

“Economics,” I smirked. “It was a fun time.” If I excluded the days after that incident. “Well, my college is one of the easygoing ones so I could get away with ditching class or playing jokes during lectures. I heard from my schoolmate that his was never as fun.”

“You mean each college is different?”

“Yes.” The door to the hall was swung open again. A gloomy-looking girl entered and then scanned the hall. She frowned when her eyes fell upon the podium. Without hesitation, she approached the rows of candles.

“She’s kinda pretty albeit maybe somewhat intimidating.” Agung commented. “You like her type, brother?”

“It’s nothing like that....” My uneasiness returned.

A ring from my palm showed that my little sister has replied to my message. From the front screen, I saw her sentence.

That guy is so hot! Who is he?

Before I could process the message, a burst of light caught my attention and I saw with my own eyes when all candles on the podium lit by themselves.