4. Trauma

"Today, residents were shocked by the discovery of the body of a middle-aged man behind the school building." The TV voice filled the house's silence with a woman repeatedly checking her cell phone. "The school is Cakrawala High School and the body found was the school's custodian. He was found bloodied to death with multiple stab wounds on his body."

The woman's eyes stared at the news on the TV. Her gaze was filled with worry. Occasionally she tried to call someone but to no avail. The woman let out a big sigh, she wasn't in a good state. Various bad possibilities were going on in her brain right now.

"Assalamualaikum." The door revealed a young man with a pale face and untidy clothes. It looked like his spirit had been swallowed up by the earth.

Arzan walked in and took his mother's hand. "Where have you been, son? I've been calling you all day." Seeing her son back home made her heart grow fonder. Her worries slowly disappeared.

Arzan was silent for a moment thinking about what he should say to his mother. He smiled and said, "I was at a friend's house, Mom." Arzan showed his cell phone to his mother. "The battery died." It felt bad to lie, but Arzan didn't want to burden his mother's mind.

"Then you just rest right away. Don't go anywhere." Mom pointed to the TV, which was still showing the news about the dead school guard. "Look at that. There's a murderer in the vicinity of your school."

Arzan shook his head to clear his mind. He didn't want to hear any more thoughts about the afternoon's events. The whole thing was bothering him, maybe tonight he would have nightmares.

"The only witness who was at the scene is now hospitalized. It is suspected that he was injured trying to escape from the killer." The reporter's voice stopped Arzan's footsteps, who wanted to go straight to his room.

"Witness?" muttered Arzan in confusion. It felt like he was the only one at the scene.

"We've been digging for more information and the identity of the witness is known. However, for the safety of the witness we are keeping his or her identity a secret." Arzan changed course and walked towards the old TV. "What we can tell you is that the witness was at the scene because he wanted to get the money that witness left at school."

Arzan remembered something.

"It'll only take a minute, Sel. I just want to get my money." 

If Arzan remembers correctly, he passed a girl who looked about the same age as him. Arzan suspected that she was an eyewitness to the incident and also a student at the same school. Could it really be that girl?

Arzan immediately ran up the stairs to his room. He quickly charged his favorite rectangular device. He had to find out who the eyewitness to the murder was.

Once it was on, he turned on his cellular data and checked the WhatsApp app. This corpse must be the most talked-about subject in his class group right now. Arzan thought he could get the name of the eyewitness through his classmates' chats.

Through the media, eyewitnesses are kept secret, but it is unlikely that anyone in the neighborhood knows who it is. Word of mouth would spread quickly. Therefore, Arzan also had to look for this information.

There were over 100 messages and they were from one group, the class group. Arzan carefully scrolled down to find out. His thumbs were sore from constantly swiping from top to bottom. His head was spinning with all the things that had happened to him today.

Arzan's suspicion was correct, not just one person knew his identity but more than that. It was hard to keep something like this a secret from the neighborhood.

'Her name is Karin from social studies class 3'

Arzan read the message and now he knew who the girl who had crossed paths with him was. It turned out that she was a social studies major. Arzan had never heard of her at all. He also didn't know her because of the different majors.

Never mind, he put it down and walked to his bed. His brain had received too much information today. He just wanted to sleep and forget everything. He hoped all of this was just a dream because honestly, he wasn't mentally ready to accept something like this.

The nausea came back to him. That weak body came back to his mind. The smell of blood returned. As he closed his eyes, the scene repeated itself. Arzan was really fed up with all this

***

By now the sun had come out and Arzan was sitting in front of the TV staring at the news of the murder that was still being talked about. Looking outside, his mother and several other women were talking very seriously. Arzan thought they were also talking about the murder case. That and that, where else would Arzan go to find a place that didn't talk about it?

Looking at his cell phone, he got a lot of incoming message notifications from the class group. They were all talking about the same thing. It felt like the whole world was talking about the same thing over and over again.

As a witness to the incident, Arzan wanted everyone in the world to shut up and not talk about it anymore. The more he talked about it, the more he would remember the horrible event. However, the more he remembered the more he felt vague about the perpetrator of the murder. It was a strange feeling. A vague feeling, but at the same time it was still clear in his mind. Arzan himself didn't know how to describe what he felt.

All he could remember clearly was the memory of the killer stabbing the helpless victim, of the victim's hands no longer moving, of the blood splatter that still smells today. About the principal's guest who was most likely Mr. Budi's killer. 

It all swirled around in a way that clearly refused to leave Arzan's memory. He ruffled his hair and plopped down on the sofa. Staring up blankly. He was completely traumatized.

"Why, son?" Arzan was startled when he heard his mother's voice very close by.

She sat up and watched her son with a puzzled look. "You don't play games at this hour, usually while hanging out with your friends."

"I'm just lazy, mom."

"I see." Mother nodded in understanding even though she knew that her only child was not in a good condition, but she chose to wait for her son to tell her directly. Maybe her son wanted to solve his own problems. "If you have a problem, just tell me."

"Yes, mom." Arzan smiled to try and ease his mother's worries.

Arzan didn't want his mother to know about what had happened to him. She might take him to the doctor to check whether he was hurt or not. She might also panic when she finds out that her son has seen a murder case. The last bad possibility is that she might make him change schools and move out of this house.

All those bad possibilities should not happen. Mother already has a lot on her plate. Arzan didn't want to add to whatever problems occurred. By calming down, Arzan thought that maybe the trauma would disappear.

However, it's not that easy. All of yesterday's events will lead Arzan to more horrible experiences. Everything depended on his luck. Either he can get through all this or not.