Trapped In The Novel Of Criminal World

Chapter 4 : What A Crazy Day

None of this is a joke.  Even if it's a joke, then it doesn't feel funny at all.  Deandra kept asking in his mind.  Who made this terrible game, and why should he be stuck in it?

 "Ivan?"  Dean spoke in a barely audible voice, a surprised look directed straight at the young man standing in front of him.

 "Devan.  This one’s Ivan."  said the young man objected, then pointing to another young man right beside him.

 "Are you drunk or what?  Is it possible to identify one's your own friend wrong?"  Ivan pouted as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

 For a moment, Dean was silent.  He continued to stare at the faces of two young men around seventeen years old in front of him.

 There was no way he would forget them.  Even though the past ten years have made it difficult to distinguish the names of the two non-identical twins.

 Ivan and Devan.  Nothing has changed about them.  Yet as far as Dean could remember, the last time he saw his two friends was ten years ago.

 “Why are you guys not aging?”

 "What do you mean?"  Devan answered quickly while his eyes narrowed.

 "Wow, what's wrong with you Bro?  Did you eat wrong?”  Ivan said, he start shaking Dean's shoulder he was holding.

 "No... but it's been ten years since we last saw each other."  Dean speak doubtfully.

 That's right, there's no way he'd forget.  The disappointed look Ivan and Devan gave him as he was led to a police car.  His two friends were also there when he sat at the court for trial.

 "Ten years what?  are you delirious?" Devan sneered.

 " Dev, something is wrong with this boy.  Are we gonna take him home, or what?”  Ivan asked as he turned to his brother.

 "Just leave him here. I have no interest in bringing home trouble."  Devan shrugged his shoulders.

 In the middle of them, Deandra still looks confused.  What’s with this situation? This is not a dream, not an illusion either.  Because he could clearly feel Ivan's hand holding his shoulder.

 Surprisingly, he was the only one who was confused here when he saw that his two friends were still both young.  While Ivan and Devan did not look confused.  Though Dean now must be much different from what he was ten years ago.

 "Hey move away!"

Thump!

 Deandra fell down because a strange man pushed him from behind.

 "What are you doing on the street at night?  Don't you have any other work?  What a brat!” the man sneered as he walked away without apologizing.  It made Ivan annoyed and almost chased the man.

“what are you doing old man?!”

 "No Van, just leave it alone."  Devan interrupted quickly.  While holding Ivan's arm with his right hand.

 Ivan snorted, disapproving of being stopped.  But his attention soon turned to Dean who still not got back up.

 "Dean?  Can you stand on your own?”  Ivan asked, holding out his hand.

 Dean could feel a chill run through his body.  From the moment he fell, all Dean could do was stare in surprise at his hands that propping himself up on the pavement.

 "If you can get up, hurry up!"  Devan said while picking up some books that were lying on the pavement floor.

 The books were then he put into a carrying bag which for some time had been on Deandra's back.  Meanwhile, Ivan pulled Dean's arm to get up because he didn't respond.

 "What's wrong with you?  Brain troubled?”

 Dean didn't want to believe this.  But everything that happened was so real.  Even when he turned to look at his own reflection in a shop window, Dean immediately realized that it wasn't his two friends who hadn't grown up.  But he came back.

 Yes, Deandra Atma Wijaya, has returned to his body ten years ago.  To be precise, when he was in his second year student of high school.  Even the uniform was attached to his body at this time.  And everything that happened, could not be digested by his brain at all.

***

 The footsteps of three teenagers could be heard from a distance.  Slowly but surely, their figures are getting clearer and clearer.  In the light of the street lamp, the three walked in silence.

 Both Devan and Ivan were confused at the behavior of their friend in their midst.  But the most confused here is Deandra himself.

 “I went to the past?  Is that really possible?  No! if I go to the past, it shouldn't be like this.  It's because as long as I know in the real I didn't have chance to go up to second grade."

“Yo!  what are you daydreaming about?”

Deandra's daydream was suddenly broken because of Ivan's clapping and words that surprised him.

 "What's wrong with you?  Really stuck?"  Ivan asked for the umpteenth time.

 "No..." Dean answered doubtfully.

 "Perhaps he was force-fed a strange drink by a strange man he met this afternoon" said Devan, still with an indifferent face.

 Although it sounded like a meaningless joke, in fact Devan's words were able to trigger Deandra.  For a moment Dean remembered the last figure he saw before being dragged into this strange matter.

 "Wait, who?!"

 Dean stopped in his tracks.  Then looked at Devan curiously which actually looked terrible in that young man's eyes.

 "Well, how do I know?  Isn't that your acquaintance?"

 Devan took a step back as a sign that he didn't like the look Dean was looking at him.  But unfortunately, Dean did not have time to pay attention to that young man's reaction.

 "The features?  His name?  Who?"  Dean insisted.

 Meanwhile, Ivan remained silent in confusion.  Suddenly the atmosphere became uncomfortable between the three of them.  Devan – who actually doesn't like to talk much, is even more uncomfortable.

 "Dean, how could Devan know?  You said yourself, that person was your acquaintance."  said Ivan.  Trying to resuscitate Dean who looks increasingly strange.

 "No!  I don't remember ever saying that.  It's definitely not me, you guys are wrong!"

“How can anyone go wrong?  Obviously it's you.  What's the matter with you?”

 "Not me!  You guys are wrong, ah anyway it doesn't matter now!  Devan, quickly tell me what the characteristics are-"

Smack!

 "Dev!"  Ivan shouted loudly.  Yelled at his twin brother who just gave Deandra a crushing blow.

 Dean fell backwards.  Pain radiated to his right cheek.  Unfortunately for this young man, Devan hit the spot where the foreign woman had previously slapped him.  Made Dean feel the pain doubly.

 "What the fuck's wrong with you jerk?!  Disgusting!”  Devan rebuked while looking with an angry face.

 For a moment, Dean could feel his gaze dim.  Devan's punch as hurt as usual. Even though it's been a long time, it still feels familiar to Deandra.

 "Cut it already!  No need to play hands!”

 Ivan intervened.  Immediately he helped Dean to his feet.  While continuing to give his twins a warning look.  While Devan could only look cynically.

 Dean got up with difficulty.  He was lucky that there were no injuries other than a bruise on his right cheek.

 "Sorry, I'm a bit of a mess tonight."  He whispered which was responded with a snort from Devan.

 Dean was still confused.  But Devan's punch was enough to make him realize that what was happening here wasn't an illusion, and he needed to be calmer to get out of here.

 “Just get in there!  Don't ask too many questions.  We people also want to rush home.”  Devan's orders.

 However, Dean was even more astonished by the order.

 "Get in?  Where to?"  his mind wondered.

 Who knows?  Only five seconds later, Dean immediately got the answer to the question in his mind.  Together with a man who stepped out of his house because he heard the commotion they were making.

 “What's the fuss here??  Huh, Dean?"

 Dean had a lot of surprises today.  Even now, he was jolted back.  It was hard to turn around.  But Dean had to do it anyway.  Just to convince himself that his ears had deceived him.

“Oh Uncle? Here, looks like there's something wrong with Dean.”

Thump!

 Ivan stopped his speech and reflexively turned his head.  Together with Devan, and the man in front of them who immediately stopped in their tracks.  They looked in the same direction.  Namely to Dean who just fell backwards without any wind and rain.

 "Y you?  Why..." Dean stammered.

 Deandra could feel his whole body shaking.  His legs went limp, and sweat dripped from his temples.  His eyes kept looking in one direction.  In a man who was confused because of his reaction.

 Of the many things that had shocked him today, none could compare to the existence of that figure.  Dean had no idea that the person he least wanted to meet in the world could be in front of him.

 "Why are you here?!"  Dean snapped.  Making everyone around him shocked and even more confused.

 "What?  Why … Dad should be the one asking, why did you just come home at this hour?”

 "What's that dad?!  You bastard?!"

 The more Dean raised his voice, the more confused they became.  Devan and Ivan, who had seen this oddity from the start, began to believe that something was wrong with their friend's head.

 "What's wrong with him?"  the man asked, turning to Ivan.

 "I don't know, he's been talking digress from the start."  answered Ivan, to which Devan nodded in agreement at his side.

 A thousand memories attacked Deandra about the figure of the man in front of him.  Dirga Atma Wijaya.  A successful businessman, a workaholic man who only knows how to feed his wife and children with money.

 Deandra will never forget his figure.  The man who became the beginning of the destruction of his life.  Even looking at him made Deandra angry.

 "Well, the important thing is that you go in first."

 “DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!”  once again, Dean snapped.  The hand that was stretched out to help him stand up, he pushed it away.

 “Why is he here too?  Why is he still alive?  I'm sure though.  I was absolutely sure that I had killed him by my own hand!”

 Dean had a monologue in his mind.  The situation made it impossible for him to remain calm.  He had to go, he had to get away from that person.  No matter where he go.  Obviously, far from here.

 “Deandra Atma Wijaya!”

 Once again, everything that was in Deandra's mind dispersed.  Just as the voice he had longed for so much now somehow came back to his ears.

 When he turned his head, Dean was able to see a woman whose beauty never faded with age.  The woman ran towards him with an angry expression on her face.

 "Dean... it's okay.  It's not your fault."  Another voice appeared in his memory.

 Same voice but different sound. The blood, and the body that slowly cooled in his embrace.  Dean remembers everything.  Then between that one or this one, which one is a dream and which one is real?

 "Where have you been?!  Don't you know that everyone is worried about you!?  Luckily Devan and Ivan didn't go missing either!  Hey!  Answer me!"  the woman urged, while holding the spatula in his face.

 Ah, even if it's just a dream or an illusion, Dean doesn't care anymore.  As if detached from the chains that bound him since entering this world, Deandra no longer held back.  He hugged her body tightly.

 "Oh?  Dean! Your Mom here is still angry, you know?!"

 "Here she is!  It really is mom!  My mother is alive!”

 Dean screamed in his heart.  But what came out of this young man's mouth was only a sad cry that made everyone silent.

 Clarissa didn't understand.  As far as she could remember, her son had disappeared after coming home from school.  He had thought the always naughty Dean must be playing somewhere.

 It never occurred to her that her only son would come home and cry loudly in her arms like this.  Now everyone has the same question as Deandra.  What's actually wrong with this crazy day?

 To be continued....