Stay

by 3:03 AM 1 komentar
It is the first day of January, winter should be on its climax, but no clouds, no wind, no falling snowflakes.
Instead, the sky is drawing an aurora: diamond green twirling like smoke and magic, harmonized with the dark blue sky of night, six or seven stars are counted like glossy buttons.
A brother and sister are looking at it.
Like, two best friends.
Sitting on a wood bench on the porch of their house.
"Why are you leaving?" That girl asks; her voice is very low and slightly shaking: there must be hidden tears in her eyes.
"I will come back. I promise. I have promised, right?" Her brother has said it for a thousand times.
And, she has heard for a thousand times, too. She just can't accept the truth. Broken home, no friends, and now it will be "no brother".
"You, liar," she murmurs, never looks at her brother's eyes since they are here.
Then, she remembers that voice, said by her brother while they were playing hide and seek, they were seven and nine, ten years ago. 
"Friends come and go but brothers stay: I do," her brother whispered in their best hiding place and she saved that words for a whole lifetime.
But now all she is her brother wearing coat and bringing a big luggage. All his clothes—old shirts, cool coats, dark t-shirts, faded jeans, favorite books—they are in there, she knows it.
He really breaks away.
"You said you'll stay." Now, she can't hold her tears, she just lets it go, sliding on her face. There it is, my tears, full of angry and upset to see you go.
However, her brother laughs. "I thought you forgot."
But she doesn't. "You know, how I believe your words that you will stay with me. You know that our father and mother are busy with their new own family. You know how hard for me to make friends, too much pressures, too much betrayals, you know my story very well. You're the only one I have, and now you're turning out to be a liar, and voila, you go away, I'm compeletly alone. Fine."
Her brother lost his words.
"And you know what. Friends come and go but a brother lies." She wants to add, "You don't stay," but she is too angry, her voice are too shaky, and the tears makes it harder.
Her brother keeps silent for a while. And, the wind blows like a whisper, the first snowflake falls from the sky.
Her brother takes a deep breath, and, "You know what's the meaning of 'stay'?"
No answer.
"Stay means... you're going, you're driving away, you're travelling, you're moving, but one thing you never forget: you come back."
She sighs. "You always make your own theory. Stay is stay."
"That's stuck, sister." Her brother strokes her sister's curly hair with his right hand. Then, he puts his right hand on her sister's shoulder, and wraps her sister with his both arms.
"I'll be going home," he whispers, "one of the reason I'm going is I want to hear you saying I miss you for me."
She suddenly pushes her brother. "Ew. Ew. I won't!"
Her brother laughs and he finds her sister's face is still full of tears.
But there is a smile. Right there for two seconds. Smiling like a crescent.
"Well, I think this is the time." Her brother looks at his clock, then he stands up, ready to pull the luggage.
She also stands up.
Her brother starts walking without saying any goodbye but a smile and a promise.

She sees every step.

Her brother leaves the porch.

She wipes her tears and shouts out with a smile and laugh, "I hate you!"

Her brother stops, turns around, smiling. "I hate you too!" 
She smiles, too.

Because she knows it: if her brother turns around again, her brother will make new theory again, asking like, "You know what's the meaning of 'hate'?"

"For brothers and sisters, it's love." This time, she answers in a whisper while the second snowflakes drops.
***

Sudah lama sekali saya nggak menulis cerpen, and finally here it is. My first english short story, sih, jadi mohon maaf bila ada kesalahan grammar di sana-sini. Jika ingin membaca versi Indonesia, bisa klik ini.

But, well, bagaimana menurutmu? It's always been nice to read your comment. :)

--Alvi Syahrin--

Alvi Syahrin

Developer

A dream-oriented person since 1992. Telah menerbitkan dua novel: Dilema; Tiga Cerita untuk Satu Rasa dan Swiss; Little Snow in Zurich. Tak lama lagi, novel ketiganya, yang berjudul "I Love You; I Just Can't Tell You" akan terbit. Saat ini, selain merampungkan novel keempat, dia juga sedang mempersiapkan proyek-proyek untuk masa depan. Dan, satu hal yang selalu dia genggam erat dalam hidup ini: Akan ada sesuatu yang lebih baik dari sebuah kegagalan. Allah selalu tahu mana yang terbaik. Lagi pula, hidup tak melulu di dunia. Kau bisa menyapanya lewat Twitter, Instagram, dan ask.fm: AlviSyhrn.

1 comment:

  1. Hello there :) remember me?
    I always prefer words than pictures, and your description in the beginning of the story is one of the reason. Maybe, at one point in life we've all been in such a beautiful place. Maybe, who knows? :)
    By the way, when you write in English and use 3rd person pov, you have to use past tense. The tense you're using now, present tense, is used in 1st person pov. Hope I don't sound fishy :)
    Best of luck for your 3rd novel!

    ReplyDelete