AST
PHASE 4 . A HOPE
A young man was looking out the glass window at something he was riding in right now. His dark eyes focused on a blue planet and bits of rock floated around it. Not only that, many iron pebbles and fragments of various objects also scattered, unraveling the silence of the infinite anti-gravity space.
His mind floated, referring to someone he had failed to meet some time ago. His lips are occasionally bitten
kecut—kessal. His breathing sometimes hunts as his heart rate has normalized. It's been three months, and he has to get down to the blue planet to pick up someone who always complicates his brain.
“Adnan?”
Someone called his name. That's vivid. The young man turned around and as usual, he always knew who the figure was
who called him by the name ‘Adnan’.
“You daydream again?”
“No.” Adnan answered quickly. He walked ahead of the brown-shelled young man.
“Don't dodge me, Ad!”
“Stop asking me like that, Erick!” adnan was quick to turn to the young man who had rebuked him just now; erick. For a moment he half looked down and set the rhythm of his breath. “Sorry,” he added softly.
Erick breathing relieved. “What's wrong,” he said as he patted Adnan's shoulder. “Come, hurry!”
***
Jo gives a plastic loaf of bread to a girl wearing a school uniform in one of the
refugee camp. The girl was still bowed in silence, even since the needle and infusion hose were removed from her body. He did not receive the bread Jo gave him, so he had to sit next to him.
“You don't want to eat?” ask Jo. “Let's be infused again, you know!”
The girl is still silent. Even something seemed to be thought of by him.
“Why?” ask Jo again. The girl is still silent. Jo looked around for a moment.
The refugee camp is the only place that can save disaster victims from all
the shortcomings, including to treat their post-disaster trauma that caused most of the blue planet to perish. There are about ten camps there. Three of them are for storing weapons and foodstuffs. There are always people going, and there are people staying every day. Go to find a gap and find another spot or help. Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't. The spot that they now live in is not spared from anxiety and groans of fear every second. Stray bullets always haunt camp residents. Or even, poisonous gases that occasionally approach them.
“I'll go tomorrow,” says Jo. “I hope you take good care of Jun.”
The girl next to him raised her gaze, looking towards Jo with her hollow eyeballs. Seen once
that he was completely malnourished during his time in that camp. Jo turned her head and formed an uphill curve on the edge of her lips.
“Jun found you. You should thank him,” Jo said floating. Holding a moment of sorrow in his heart.
“Away.”
Jo jerks. “K-you ...”
“My name ... Adara.”
Unstoppable again, Jo smiled loosely. She was so happy because she knew she could talk. Since her discovery, the girl in the school uniform never once opened her mouth.
“I thought ... you .. ah, which you really can't talk! Stupidly I once said this to Jun.” Jo tapped on his forehead, as if blaming himself. “Sorry, I'm sorry.”
“Why apologize?”
Jo stops her actions and looks at Adara. The girl's bright eyeballs looked at her innocently. “I ... ah, forget it,” the answer is clumsy. “How so? You want to take care of Jun for me?” then he changed the subject.
Adara smiled holding back the laughter. “You are like dying,” he said.
The young man flinched. He half looked down.
“Come back safely.”
The speech made Jo again raise his gaze, looking at Adara full of doubt as well as fear. “Nobody comes back if already out of ...”
“Sst.” Adara locked the young man's mouth with her index finger, then shook her head.
Jo nodded in understanding. Like someone strengthened him. But still, a groan of doubt still rose from the bottom of his heart. I don't know why young people seem so fragile. In fact, in fact, it's not just him who's this fragile. The men there were almost like him. Just because they were men, it was already supposed that they were at the forefront even at the defensive line.
“I just regained consciousness a week ago. Can you take me around the camp?”
Adara's sentence again uncovers Jo's daydream. The young man nodded.
***
“Since that incident, Jun and I lost our parents. We were lucky to be safe because we were in
the hospital at the time. Jun suddenly has a fever. Since our parents were busy with their work, I relented to take Jun to the doctor ..”
Jo hangs up his words. For a moment her lower lip was bitten floating. He was suddenly silent while holding something that might force out of the eye peluk and the recesses of his heart. A few seconds later, he smiled. Then shake and bow a little.
“Gosh ... Why am I this cry!” woe alone. He even threw a face not wanting to show all the red on his face now to the girl nearby. “I'm sorry,”.
Adara Mafhum was right with what Jo felt. In his mind now also terbesit anxiety on both parents who are not where now. Since a year ago more precisely, he lived apart from his parents and never heard from his father and mother even though they often sent him money for his needs. Even now, Adara never got the notice that her father and mother were looking for her. Everything's empty. Hollowly. It is like a kitten living alone in eternity.
“Kak Jo!”
A young girl dissected the two teenagers. Jun—adik Jo—seems like he doesn't look scared. Understandably, a boy his age still likes to play and considers everything that happens in front of him is just an imagination. The girl with short hair ran over to Jo.
“I got something!” said semringah.
Jo kneels to match her height with Jun. “You got what?” tanyanya while changing her face to be happy. Well, happiness with his fake smile.
“Adara,” connect Adara with her sweet smile. Of course he smiled to trick Jun into his heart
now it was like a sliced knife looking at the situation around him now.
“Kakak can talk, yes?”
“Sst.” Jo gagged quickly the little lips of the chatty girl to make Adara laugh amusedly
saw it.
“Already. Come on, show us what you got!”
Jun smiled widely. Extremely wide. He ran in a direction. “Come, Brother, come here!” girang.
A medium-sized cardboard box containing canned food. Jo doesn't understand what girls do
jun's age when the boy had been away from him since this morning. Should not be a boy of his age out of the spot alone to find a box of canned food with a bad situation that occurs now. He picked up one of the cans and observed the expiration date.
“Where did you get it?” tanyanya.
“The Chief gave it to me, Brother.” Jun answered alacriously.
“Chairman?”
Jun nodded steadily. Jo and Adara looked at each other. Frowning in their curiosity. Gesturing each other about how can this canned food that is still fairly new can be obtained by someone Jun calls ‘head’ it. Until finally, their focus parsed as Jun coughed violently. Many times until his face turned red.
“Jun. What's up?”
Jo stuck the back of his hand on the boy's forehead. Jun has no fever. He also did not sweat cold. But the cough he let out was getting worse and made Jo worried half to death.
“What's with him?” tanya Adara also knelt down to check on Jun's situation.
Jo quickly spread his gaze in various directions. His eyes blocked a haze coming from one side of the camp. A haze of smoke almost invisible to the people there.
“Sial!” snapped it. Deftly the young man carried Jun and then pulled Adara's arm away from the place.
“What's up? Where are we going?”
“Don't you see that smoke, huh?” Jo asked back—a little exclaimed.
“Asap?” Adara looked back, where he could see the smog that was getting more and more dense. “A-what is it?”
“Asap is poisonous,” replied Jo still running while carrying Jun. While his other hand took Adara who also ran with him.
Far enough they ran—about five of their camps through— until finally Jo got into one of the camps and stopped his steps. The deft young man hurried to pick up some stuff which he then put in his backpack after Jun had left it to Adara.
“Where are we going?” ask Adara again, still innocently.
“Do you think we'll continue here?” Jo turned around and glanced at the girl who knew nothing.
For a moment, before finally he returned busy with his backpack and undo the intention to explain it to Adara. There was no more time, and he had to immediately take them both—Jun and Adara— away from the camp before something dangerous happened.
“Come!”
***
“You found something below?” ask a young man in the cockpit to the interlocutor behind the call.
“A camp,” replied his interlocutor—a brunette young man.
“Hm? Camp?”
“I-iya.”
“So I just took the poison there?”
“Iya, Adnan.”
Adnan, the black-haired young man in the cockpit of his robot bird frowned strangely. It returned
focus on steering and carrying his plane maneuvering in the sky of a refugee camp. Of course, he did not even realize that the target this time was the refugee camp where his loved ones were.
“What is enough?” the question returned to the brown-shelled youth. The young man shuddered unnoticed. “Erick?”
“Ah, sorry.” Erick chimed in.
“What's up?”
“No. It'sit's nothing. Return to base now!” tell Erick before Adnan turns back
the plane is heading in one direction.
The black-haired young man slightly turned his head down. The smoke began to rise high. Though he only fired poisonous gas missiles, but the effect it caused actually made the camp violent. I don't know, obviously, for him who is now on the opposite side of his citizenship makes him have to swallow a bitter pill. Well, how not? You can imagine how he would feel if he had to kill his own people at this time.
Necklaces.
Tightly pressed against his chest.
“I never wanted this to happen. The commander should know how he should take sides and take
decision wisely,” thought, “but how could I refuse his decision if Adara's life might be in his hands now? I don't want Adara to feel this pain. Even if I am the one who has to sacrifice for the independence of my own country .. maybe this is indeed the best for me ... and also for you, Adara.”
***