The appearance of the Aurora

When Victor told me about the system in his company, I didn't feel anything strange at all. Since every company has its own policies, I know that. However, when Victor told me about the strangeness of his boarding house, I was more interested in the residents.

"Who would be that man wearing a mask?" I asked, suddenly interrupting Victor's horror story or more like fantasy than horror? Oh, I have more to learn to distinguish between horror, thriller, and fantasy stories.

"You are more interested in that man than my story?" Victor sulked.

I laughed. "Sorry, it's gone, why should he wear a mask? Isn't it hot every day to wear a mask?"

"I don't know," Victor said, "Maybe he did it only when he left the room and the house."

I nodded.

"In addition to the person wearing that mask. I'm also curious about Mario. When I first met him I did feel that he had a certain aura," I said. I want to continue saying that I feel there is something difficult about Mario. I can't like him because of that inkling. Yet I refrained from saying that nasty thing.

"What made you avoid it? If he makes you rich, why do you stay away from him?" I asked.

Victor took a breath, then he seemed to remember something.

"This story is still long. Aren't you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

I think eating while listening to the story is not a bad idea.

"Yes, I've actually been feeling hungry ever since," I said honestly and embarrassedly.

"Then you just stay overnight in my apartment. I want to tell you everything. So, can you bring your clothes?"

"Apartment?"

"Didn't I say that I also bought an apartment in Jogja?"

I remembered, is it true that Victor told me about it?

"I seem to have forgotten," I said.

"It doesn't matter, how is it? Want to get your clothes now? Take it for a few days," he said.

I thought of that option. That's not a bad offer.

"How many rooms do you have?" I finally expressed my anxiety.

Victor chuckled, "I have two rooms. One of them I haven't used yet. I plan to make it a library, but I haven't had time to tidy it up yet."

"You make a library yourself? Really?"

Victor nodded and looked embarrassed. "I don't read as many books as you. I only read and collect comics. Not like you, you are collecting almost everything."

I knew that Victor really liked comics, especially One Piece, but never expected that he would be interested in creating his own library at home.

"You can sleep in my current room, while I will sleep in my prospective library room," he said.

That's an attractive offer. "Okay," I replied.

Long story short, I finally brought my clothes using a suitcase. Actually, my ownership of this suitcase is a bit pitiful. Someday I will tell you how this red suitcase was also part of my bitter experience. Every time I see it, I will be reminded of one of the worst days of my life. But that's okay, that's life. We must inevitably feel the bitter experience. Especially if we want to achieve our dreams, there will be no easy way to achieve them. Celine Dion even warns us in her song, "That's the way it is."

I took a glimpse of Victor's new home in Jogja. An apartment that is the dream of most young people today. A dream for those who want to stay in the city and have their own home.

"From here I can see the city," I said in amazement at the lights and other buildings that looked dwarfed. It was like I was looking at a surreal painting, the title house and stars close together. Who is the painter? The whole city and I made the title. I smiled.

"So beautiful, right??" asked Victor, who had been standing next to me for a long time.

I nodded. Right now, I feel that I can definitely beat Mario. Right now I firmly believe that Victor will abandon the madness of his old world. I decided to listen to his whole story and would be his number one support.

We smiled at each other and my feelings became warm.

"For tonight, I can only cook instant noodles and rolled omelette," Victor said, putting the pot on the table. The steaming steam and the aroma of soto flavored boiled Indomie made my nose deflated. Next to the pot is a rolled omelette. Victor finished the side dish first before serving the noodles.

"I love noodles," I said. This is honestly, not an attempt to make his heart happy. "And I also like rolled omelettes."

I counted the slices. There are eight slices. In my heart I prayed hoping that it was a sign that our relationship would never end.

"Thank goodness," he said as he sat down. "Tomorrow I will try something more special."

"Ah, which is right?? I saw a lot of frozen food in the freezer. I guess what you mean by special is frozen dumplings, sausages, and meatballs, right?" I tried to play a prank on it to warm up the atmosphere.

Victor laughed and admitted that was his plan. He defended himself that he still had other groceries.

"Tomorrow you can work from here. No need to travel. I won't come to the Cafe either. Abe is reliable," he said.

"It's up to you. I'm happy to be able to experience living in an apartment," I said, moving my left eyebrow to reassure him that I had no problem with whatever his plans were tomorrow. For me, the opportunity to live with him in an apartment like this is a rare opportunity.

"I can pretend all this is mine while you're gone," I said.

Victor laughed. "Yes, just consider this your own home."

I nodded as I moved the noodles from pot to bowl. I can't wait to put it in my stomach.

"Then how does it go? That sounds like a fantasy fiction story. Do you know what a fantasy fiction story is?"

Victor looked thoughtful, "Does One Piece belong to a fantasy story?"

I nodded without hesitation.

"In that case, my story can also enter the fantasy genre," he said, smiling strangely.

"My story is very abnormal. After I woke up, I still clearly remembered the incident of Ox's face changing before my eyes. The face became like a fox, with ears pointed and tail brownish-orange. Then Mario, his hands are very strong. He is muscular. They had a fight before Mario dragged me into the room."

I watched the story while eating. Victor continued to continue his story. Hopefully this is not his hallucination.

That day after being shocked by his dream, Victor was not in the mood to go to work because his dream made his body feel strange. He already felt tired before doing anything.

If he thinks back, dreams don't feel like dreams because every incident seems very real. Isn't this surreal, the events between dreams and reality become indistinguishable.

Victor grabbed his own hair in order to feel the real existence of himself.

The alarm sounded and Victor decided to forget the dream. Despite the fact that he could not forget. That day, he decided to focus on work. Let dreams remain dreams, he said to himself.

Victor became frozen when he picked up a towel placed by the window. He looked at the aurora outside.

"Did natural phenomena occur?" whispered Victor to himself. He became regretful for not reading the news. He picked up his mobile phone and aimed at the aurora outside his room. He opened the window first to make it clearer.

The wind blew very cold. Victor couldn't hold on for a minute, so he took photos three times quickly. He directly closed the window so that the cold air would not fill the entire room.

"Oh, shit! What happened?" Victor rubbed his hands. He again peeked into the outside world through his window. Unfortunately it was difficult to see out because the aurora seemed to block his vision.

When trying to determine how the outside world is going, Victor believes that the world outside his boarding house seems to stop doing activities. Victor contacted Luis, asking if he had also seen the aurora.

Luis said yes and even told him that office activities were suspended as long as there was an aurora.

"We should stay at home, it said it is dangerous to go out now. Don't you read the office website? They announced that last night. Don't you read the news? People have been talking about it since yesterday!" Luis spoke with a fast tempo and a high tone, it seemed that he was very angry.

Victor was puzzled. Is it true that people are talking about it? Why didn't he hear anything when he was on duty in the store? People come and shop as usual. Ken and Cassie also did not discuss this aurora phenomenon.

"Maybe I daydreamed too much yesterday, so I didn't listen to people's chatter," Victor said listlessly.

"Wow, you might get fired if you are caught daydreaming when there are customers," Luis said in disbelief with a confession.

"Yes, I have, now the important thing is that you know that we are all close. Keep updating information on the website. For sure, the Mall will open again when the aurora is gone," said Luis who wanted to end the conversation.

"But why is the aurora dangerous?"

"Ah, I don't know. Anyway, it is said like this, if we go out of the house, we can be preyed upon by Phantom! Have you heard of it? They are extremely cruel, taking human souls to supplement their strength. It's like we would eat beef," Luis spoke hurriedly.

"Really?"

"If you don't believe me, just read the news. The mainstream media has been discussing it for weeks! Actually using the telephone network when there is an aurora like this is also dangerous!"

Luis then just hung up the phone.

Victor's heart beat quickly. He didn't understand anything Luis said. He then tried to open the internet, but there was no internet network. The telephone network also disappeared.

"Damn! What exactly happened?"

Victor began to think about finding information. Is leaving the room safe? How about Ox, that fox demon is still targeting me?