"Huff...huff." After getting out of the forest, Irwan stopped for a bit to calm down and catch his breath.
"Um... am I heavy? Sorry," Nadia mumbled, still on Irwan's back.
"Nah, you're not heavy... no problem... we made it out," Irwan replied.
"Yeah, but where are we?" Nadia asked.
"Dunno, don't ask right now," Irwan said, still panting.
"Put me down, my leg doesn't hurt anymore," Nadia replied.
Irwan crouched a little to lower Nadia. After hopping down, Nadia looked at her legs and tried moving them. The pain was completely gone, and it felt like it had never been sprained before.
"That's weird, it was swollen earlier, but now it's healed," Nadia mumbled.
"Yeah, we already know about that, plus we've heard Brian and Riana's story," Irwan said, still panting and leaning over with his hands on his hips.
Nadia looked around. They were in an open space surrounded by forest. Not a single tree grew in the clearing, only grass, small plants, and rocks.
"This... where are we? We're definitely still in the forest, right?" Nadia asked.
"Yeah, you're right." Irwan looked around. "Let's try going to the middle a bit."
"O-okay," Nadia replied.
Holding hands, they walked towards the center of the clearing in the middle of the forest. After walking past large rocks that looked like ruins scattered on the ground, they found a single-story building that stretched from left to right with a triangular roof covered in clay tiles. It still looked like an old Dutch colonial-era building. The building looked like a ruined old school, with holes in the walls, half the roof fallen in because its supports were destroyed, and doors with no actual doors left.
"I-is that an old school?" Nadia asked, recognizing the building's shape.
"How do you know it's a school?" Irwan asked, turning to look at Nadia beside him.
"Of course I know! My school back in the village used to look like this, but more modern," Nadia replied.
"Why is there a school in the middle of nowhere like this?" Irwan asked, looking around.
"Wan, look over there."
Nadia pointed towards the forest next to the school, right in front of its door. There was a fairly wide path leading back into the forest.
"Hmm, it seems this building really is a school. Maybe villagers used to go to school here. When there were still kids going to school, that path probably led back to the village," Irwan said.
"Yeah, and now... there are no more kids in the village... no babies who can become kids," Nadia replied.
"Come on, Nad, let's go home," Irwan said, taking a step.
"Ngek." Nadia pulled Irwan's hand, making him suddenly stop. Then Irwan turned to look at Nadia.
"What now?" Irwan asked.
"Look, there's a lot of white fog. Won't we get lost again if we go home now?" Nadia asked back.
"Then what if we don't try? Do you want to spend the night in that school?" Irwan asked, pointing to the ruined building in front of the path.
Nadia looked back at the ruined building, which looked terrifying because it was dark. Then she turned back to look at the foggy path in front of the school. Then she looked left and right to survey her surroundings and thought.
"Wait, Wan, isn't this weird?" Nadia asked.
"What's weird ?" Irwan asked.
"There's... no fog here," Nadia replied.
Irwan looked around. He realized what Nadia said was true: there was no fog at all in the clearing surrounded by the forest. Then he looked up at the sky. He could see many stars in the clear sky, unobstructed by fog, and the moonlight was starting to light them up.
"You're right, Nad. Maybe we should just spend the night in that school first. We'll go home tomorrow morning," Irwan said.
"Y-yeah, but... that school looks creepy," Nadia said.
"What can we do? Besides, I'm curious." He pointed towards the ruined building and something shiny sticking out of it. "What's that?" Irwan asked.
"Dunno. If you wanna go there, we go together," Nadia replied, hugging Irwan's arm again.
"Of course. No way I'd leave you," Irwan replied.
Finally, they both slowly walked closer to the completely destroyed back part of the building to find a way in. "Thump." Suddenly, Irwan's foot kicked something on the ground. He stopped and crouched down to see what he'd kicked. Thud. "Scrape." Irwan immediately fell and crawled backward. Of course, Nadia immediately followed him and looked in the direction Irwan was looking.
"W-what is it, Wan?" Nadia asked, scared.
"A helmet... a soldier's helmet... and there's a skull in it," Irwan answered.
"Whoaaaa!" Nadia immediately sat next to Irwan and hugged him out of reflex.
They hugged each other again and looked around. The bright moonlight started illuminating their surroundings. Once their eyes adjusted, they realized that the rocks scattered across the clearing weren't rocks at all, but moss-covered plane fragments that looked like rocks in the dark. Besides that, they also saw many bones that they had previously thought were rocks, still wearing old soldier uniforms from the War of Independence.
"Th-this place... is a graveyard," Irwan stammered.
"Oh no, what do we do? Should we just go through the fog?" Nadia replied, her voice trembling.
"N-no, if we get lost now, it could be really bad. Now, let's get up and run into that school, quick!" Irwan said.
"O-okay, quick!" Nadia replied.
They helped each other stand up, then immediately ran towards the abandoned school building in front of them. Once inside, they could see the interior of the building, which was messy and full of ruined walls and roof, due to the moonlight coming through gaps in the tiles and the broken structure.
"Okay, let's just stay here for now," Irwan said, leaning against the wall and sliding down to sit.
"Y-yeah," Nadia replied, also leaning and sitting, then immediately hugged Irwan tightly.
"You're okay, right?" Irwan asked, looking at Nadia beside him.
"I'm okay, but why is it like this? Is it wrong if we want to kill ourselves, so we're punished like this?" Nadia asked.
"I... I don't know. That's a tough question," Irwan replied slowly.
"Sorry... I'm just complaining," Nadia replied.
"It's okay, really. It's normal. We're in this kind of situation." He thought for a moment. "After hearing Brian and Riana's story, who heard everything from Rahman, plus Lina's story, I'm just confused. I really want to talk to Brian and Riana about our conversation with Lina."
"Yeah, I get it. We'll talk to them tomorrow," Nadia replied.
"Sorry, Nad, I got mad earlier and forced you to come with me even though you said you didn't want to," Irwan said.
"Yeah, it's okay. I'm sorry too if I blamed you earlier; I was just really scared. But at least we're still together now, not leaving each other. Thanks for helping me in the forest," Nadia replied.
"No problem. Maybe we should sleep now, huh? We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning," Irwan replied.
"Okay, is it alright if we sleep huddled together like this? 'Cause I'm scared if I'm alone and separate. What if one of us goes missing?" Nadia asked.
"Ugh, please don't just talk like that. Just stick close and don't ask so many questions. You're not the only one who's scared, I'm scared too," Irwan answered.