"Buaak," "Braak,"
A skinny young man in a white and gray uniform was thrown violently against the wall. "Ohok," saliva escaped his open mouth and his eyes widened. His breath became ragged as his back hit the wall hard.
"Bruugh,"
The young man fell to the ground, face down. He lifted his head slightly to look at five other young men his age who were chuckling as they watched him.
"Oi, who told you to sleep? Get up!"
A long-haired young man immediately kicked the fallen youth's face, sending him tumbling and rolling back against the wall.
"You're really pathetic. Whatever, we'll continue tomorrow," said the young man who kicked him.
"Puih," the young man spat at the helpless skinny youth. Then, still laughing, the five young men left the skinny youth, who could only stare at the wall in front of him.
"Tik...tik," "Srssssss,"
Heavy rain suddenly poured down. The skinny young man tried to get up, holding onto the wall. His entire body ached from being beaten and thrown around. After that, he sat facing the wall and lowered his head, letting the heavy rain drench him. He turned to look at his bag, reached for it, then hugged it.
"Hik,"
His tears began to flow, though no sound escaped him. The young man sat motionless in the rain, tears streaming down his face. After the pain in his body subsided, he slowly stood up. With faltering steps, he walked out of the school gate to go home. All the way, he just hugged his bag in the heavy rain.
His steps led the young man to a half-destroyed abandoned house. His injured hands pushed open the gate. He stepped inside, then opened the main door of the empty house.
"I'm... home," he whispered.
He walked into the living room, which was slightly muddy because half of the roof was gone. He turned to see a mat and a table in the dry corner of the room, unaffected by the mud. He began to take off his school shirt and wring it out. He took a t-shirt from the table and put it on. The young man sat on the edge of the mat and curled up, hugging his knees.
"Gruuyuuuk," his stomach rumbled, indicating he was hungry. He looked at a large mineral water bottle that was half-empty. He took the bottle and drank the water.
"This is enough for today," he thought to himself.
He pulled out his bag and opened it, taking out his smartphone. Curled up, he read a forum and his face brightened as he read the comments there.
"I'm not the only one experiencing this kind of fate," he thought.
While reading, he began to recall the life he had lived that led him to this point.
My name is Irwan Hendarto. I'm in 11th grade, and I just turned 17. It all started when my father died in a work accident when I was 11. My mother worked hard to provide for me and for the two of us. My mother and I were fine then, until that man came.
Four years after my father died, my mother remarried. But that man often abused my mother and forced her to keep working. They were married for only one year because my mother died from illness and overwork. That man stayed in my house even though my mother was gone. He freely brought many women to my house.
Every time he came home with a woman, because I was already 15 and he was afraid the women he brought might choose me instead of him, he locked me in the storage room. Every night I slept in the storage room in my own house, my parents' house, without being able to do anything.
I tried to endure and keep enduring. At school, I had no friends. When I accidentally found myself where someone was being bullied, now I was also being bullied by school thugs who could only talk big even though their heads were empty. When I turned 16, I bought bread at a store and a candle. I celebrated my birthday alone in the storage room while that man was having fun with several women in my house.
One day, that man suddenly opened the storage room and dragged me out. He showed me the house's certificate, which had changed to his name, and immediately kicked me out. I was just thrown out without any financial support or even a penny. Finally, after wandering around the school area, I found this empty house, and since then, I've lived here, hoping the owner of this empty house will never come here.
I went to the principal to tell him about my situation. I was truly resigned if I was expelled from school; I would accept it because I wouldn't be able to pay for school anyway. But the principal actually spoke to the foundation to help me, primarily because my academic scores were good and among the highest in the school.
I was very grateful to the principal because I was allowed to attend school for free and was given pocket money support from the foundation. But apparently, someone leaked this to other students. As a result, I was considered a suck-up and a beggar. I was hated and bullied even more. My friends, who initially talked to me, now avoided me and looked at me disdainfully.
Actually, at that time, I couldn't bear it anymore. I wasn't thinking about my future anymore. Let alone thinking about getting revenge on all of them, I didn't even have the strength to live anymore. I wanted to end everything, but I didn't have the courage to do it. I lay on the mat and looked at my smartphone. Suddenly, I found a forum titled "Salvation." I opened it, and it turned out that in this world, in various countries, many children my age experienced more or less the same fate as me. They confided and wrote their stories there.
Since finding that forum and reading many posts there, I found something new in my life that helped me survive until I was in 11th grade. But tonight, everything changed. When I opened the forum, I was surprised to see it empty. All that was left were the admin and six members, including me. Out of curiosity, I read what the admin posted that made so many members leave the forum.
"To the members of the Salvation forum, I, as the administrator, am closing this forum service because I can no longer sustain my life. If there are any members who wish to join me in leaving our lives as humans together, we will go to a new world together. Please remain in this forum."
Yes, everyone left because of the suicide invitation extended by the admin. But I thought, if I left, the only thing I could enjoy in my life would end, so I chose to end it together. I didn't leave the forum along with the five other members whom I didn't know. I didn't know any of the five members still in the forum at all; it seemed they were like me, just reading and never commenting or writing their stories.
I put down my smartphone, but suddenly "Dling," a message came to my smartphone. I opened it, and its content was just an address, my member number in the forum, and my sequence number for the mass suicide. I got number four. The day set to meet at the listed address was Sunday at 18:00, which meant 6 PM. I saw that the sender was the administrator's number listed on the forum, and he sent the same message to several people besides myself.
"Dling," my smartphone rang again. This time, I received an invitation to join a group chat, and when I entered, I saw there were already six people there. They consisted of four males, including myself, and three females. Not a single person had a profile picture, so I didn't know what their faces looked like. "Dling," suddenly the admin started the conversation,
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the admin. My real name is Vincent, and I'm 15 years old. Please introduce yourselves."
"Hi admin, my name is Riana. I'm 16 years old. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Felix, 18 years old."
"My name is Nadia. I'm 17 years old. Nice to meet everyone."
"I'm Lusiana, or just call me Lusi. I'm 18 years old. It's nice to meet all of you."
"Brian, 16 years old. That's all."
"My name is Irwan, 17 years old. Thank you for inviting me to this group."
"Alright, since everyone has introduced themselves, I will wait for all of you at the place I sent earlier. Then we will go by my car to a quiet and comfortable village for us to leave our lives. Thank you for being willing to be with me."
"You're welcome," everyone replied, including myself. Even though we introduced ourselves, since there were no photos, I didn't know any of them at all, but I didn't care. At that time, I thought that perhaps it would be fun to leave this world together, and at that moment, I had no idea that this story was actually just beginning.