Novels by Dyingforwords

Setelah perayaan ulang tahun amat sederhana itu— karena hanya ada Aletta dan mama serta sebuah kue tart berukuran sedang yang bahkan tak habis dimakan berdua dan harus dibagi dengan beberapa anak kecil tetangga, tak ada tamu undangan, pesta mewah, apalagi kado— Aletta merasa dirinya disuntik semangat tak kasat mata. Dia senang karena akhirnya hubungannya dengan sang mama berangsur membaik. Kembali menghangatnya hubungan ibu dan anak itu ternyata cukup berdampak pada diri Aletta. Aletta kini sering membantu mama membuat pesanan kue atau berjualan gado-gado karena belum ada bursa kerja yang dibuka mengingat ini masih masa pandemi dan belum ada satupun lamaran kerjanya yang diterima. Aletta juga tak pernah melihat kehadiran Angelou lagi sejak kejadian beberapa minggu lalu setelah malaikat itu menyerahkan kotak mahoni itu padanya. Aletta bahkan nyaris melupakan pertemuannya dengan Angelou dan menganggap itu semua hanya mimpi di siang bolong karena sibuk dengan ruti

Aletta memandangi kotak mahoni itu. Dia memandangi kotak itu cukup lama untuk memutuskan apakah dia harus memutar rodanya atau tidak."Gue puter sekarang ga papa kan ya?" tanya Aletta pada dirinya sendiri.Baru sekarang Aletta menyesali kenapa dia lupa tidak menanyakan pada Angelou kapan seharusnya dia bisa memutar rodanya. Angelou juga tidak menjelaskan kapan tepatnya Aletta harus menggunakan benda ini. Waktu itu Angelou hanya menjelaskan soal syarat dan ketentuannya saja tapi bukan kapan waktu penggunaannya.'Benda ini akan bekerja kalau jij memberi sesuatu. Semakin besar yang jij kasih apalagi dengan ketulusan maka semakin besar pula keberuntungan yang akan jij dapet.'Hanya itu yang diingat Aletta soal petunjuk penggunaan benda ini. Perkataan itulah yang dijadikan patokan Aletta."Kalau bantuan ke nenek tadi bisa dianggap memberi sesuatu berarti gue udah boleh pake benda ini k

Aletta melihat mamanya sudah sibuk di dapur sepagi ini. Aletta melirik jam dinding yang tak jauh dari jarak pandangnya. Baru pukul setengah enam. Dia saja baru bangun. Inipun rekor bangun terpaginya. Waktu bekerja dulu, Aletta masuk pukul 09.00 sehingga bangun pukul 07.00 pun tak akan terlambat."Ada pesenan?" tanya Aletta sambil mengambil segelas air putih dari lemari es lalu meneguknya dengan rakus. Kalau tidak salah semalam dirinya bermimpi dikejar-kejar setan dengan tubuh lidi. Tak heran kalau Aletta merasa kehausan begitu bangun.Mamanya memandang Aletta sekilas tapi tak memberi respon apapun seperti orang bingung. Aletta lalu mengedik pada bahan makanan yang berserakan di meja dapur."Ah—" Mamanya baru paham detik itu juga apa maksud anak gadisnya. "Ada ibu-ibu pengajian di komplek sebelah yang pesen nasi kuning buat bekal zirah, zarah, za—yah, semacam itulah. Mama lupa apa istilahnya.""

"Gimana hasilnya kemarin, Ta?" tanya mama Aletta. "Diterima?"Aletta melirik malas ke arah mamanya, "Nggak, Ma," lalu tangannya asyik memencet-mencet tombol remote controldan mengganti-ganti saluran televisi sesuka hati.Aletta mendengus kesal karena sedari tadi dia sudah mengganti saluran televisi sebanyak ratusan kali tapi tak ada satupun yang berhasil menarik minatnya. Tayangan di Indonesia kenapa ga ada yang watch-able banget sih? Kenapa tayangan televisi Indonesia isinya ga bermutu? Isinya ga jauh-jauh dari gosip artis; dari artis A yang nikah baru seumur jagung tapi sudah berniat cerai lalu sekarang artis A itu menuduh istrinya hamil dengan laki-laki lain, atau anak penyanyi terkenal yang gagal menggelar resepsi pernikahan mewahnya dengan seorang Youtuber sensasional karena masih pandemi, atau Youtuber yang memperkarakan satu kata yang menurutnya tidak baik sampai jadi perhatian seluruh jagad nasional dan bahkan

"Lo yakin lo malaikat?" tanya Aletta sambil melihat Angelou dengan terpana ketika makhluk itu sedang menghabiskan gelas es krim kedua belasnya dengan lahap.Angelou menelengkan kepalanya. "Kenapa?""Gue pikir malaikat ga makan. Apalagi makan makanan manusia gini. Rakus pula." Aletta menopang dagunya, masih asyik memandangi Angelou yang lahap menghabiskan es krimnya dalam tempo singkat."Hmm, makanan-makanan manusia ada semua kok di Eden. Jijaja yang belum kesana," sahut Angelou enteng.Aletta hanya ber-oh ria."Oh, Eden itu nama kota tempat ik tinggal by the way," terang Angelou tanpa ditanya dan diminta. "Di sana sejuk ga kayak di sini. Panas. Makanya ikminta ditraktir es krim. Kayaknya banyak setan bertebaran di sini ya.""M-maksudnya?" Aletta bertanya bingung. "D-di sini banyak setan gitu? Siang-siang gini?" Aletta sudah k

Aletta menendangi kerikil-kerikil kecil yang ada di depan sepatunya sambil terus menyerapah."Sialan itu HRD. Giliran ada yang bening dikit aja gue langsung ditolak mentah-mentah. Padahal dia lulusan kemaren sore. Belum ada pengalaman kerja. IPK juga ga lebih gede dari gue tapi kenapa dia yang diterima? Emang bener berarti bunyi pasal keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat yang good lookingkarena ga seluruh rakyat Indonesia diperlakukan adil dan baik cuma gara-gara komuknya doang," maki Aletta masih sambil menendangi kerikil-kerikil itu dengan bersungut-sungut.Aletta sadar bahwa wajahnya tidak cantik. Mata sipit, hidung tidak mancung meski tidak bisa dibilang pesek, rambut panjang yang nyaris seperti ijuk karena kaku meski sudah dikeramas (tapi khusus wawancara kerja hari ini dia mencepolnya), serta tubuh tinggi besarnya memang tidak menarik terutama bila melamar untuk bekerja sebagai customer service atau posisi-posisi lain y

"My Son, Sam." Dad called me when I was playing robot and car toys in my bedroom. Mom left us alone because Mom had something to do after she picked me up from school and took me home. She went out for a business. She said there was photoshoot or something— I was not really sure. I only remembered that Mom told me last night— well, she did not tell me directly but I heard she talked to Dad— she got a role in an advertisement. Mom was not as busy as Dad because she decreased her jobs in entertainment world after she gave birth to me and Dad agreed her decision. But sometimes Mom still took some roles for advertisement. Meanwhile, Dad was in his free time after finishing filming for three months. Dad usually spent three to six months for filming a movie then he would take a break for a month or two before taking roles in another movie. It depended on how many movies he would take. If he took more than one movie in a year— two or three in a row— sometimes he could not even ta

I had been ready since 6 am. I had packed all my things I needed in one case. I did not like bringing many things when going out of town even when I had to stay overnight. Bringing less goods was more practical— I usually packed them in one case. In addition, it reduced the opportunity to miss the goods when I wanted to go home. I would go to Ottawa for 3 days because I had some businesses there. Dad had not woken up when I got ready to go. I stayed overnight at his house because it has been a long time I did not see him so I decided to check him out. He was very happy when he saw me visiting. I made a note and pasted it on the fridge so he could read it and he would not be shocked when could not find me in my room. I usually made notes to him because he sometimes forgot things. He used to wake up at 7 or 8 but after Mom's death he woke up late about 9 or 10."Sleep tight, Dad. I'm going." I said goodbye to him while kissing his for

One day, Dad showed me his childhood pictures. There were a bunch of pictures when he was a newborn— perhaps, my grandparents liked taking pictures very much or they already had vision that Dad would be their only one child. He was very adorable with his chubby cheeks and body. As he was getting older, he became superficially attractive. He had wavy brunette hair. He also had fair skin which suited his dark hair color. He had one of the rarest eye colors in the world: green— I did not know whether it was true or not about the rare eye color because he told me so and I just believed it. He said that he was half-German which 16% of green-eyed population were from. He told me that his grandmother— or my great grandmother— called him hübschen Jungenwhich meant handsome boy in German. Yes, my great grandmother from Dad's side was a German but she got married to my great grandfather who was a Canadian— I was shown her pictures and I could not see the difference be

"So you're here to report that your father is missing, Mr—?" A police officer named Jeff Parson asked me."Bakersfield, Sir." I mentioned my last name. "And, yes, I want to report that my father is missing.""When did the last time you meet him?" The guy in mid 40s asked again."Seven— maybe eight days ago, Sir." I answered. "I'm afraid I might be wrong because we rarely meet unless we are invited together in a certain occasion.""Do you live together with your father?"I shook my head then I added, "no, I decided to live separately from my father three years ago. I live in an apartment by myself."Officer Parson nodded as he understood my words."You said your name is—""Bakers

I came into a building; abandoned and far from the crowd because it was located on the outskirts of town. Dense thicket around the building helped it to be out of people's sight— which meant perfect. It was big and dark and smelled frowzy. The building was covered in white but now the color faded because it was long neglected. I thought the building was used to be a warehouse. There were some stuffs left in the building but I never tried to figure out what they actually were and who owned them or who put them— stacks of sacks which I did not know what was inside them, some broken chairs but I still could find the good ones, broken chains, rusty padlocks, and of course dust and spider webs. It was great, I think, for hiding place. The more messy, the more I liked it. The more hidden, the more chance for me to do anything to someone I was hiding from. Yes, I did not use it to hide myself from people— though I did not like seeing them too much as well. I hid someone else.