Seven Sisters and Seven Marks

The Beginning

Tala and her sisters, except Bina—the only one who wasn’t there—sat facing each other at the corner of Café Gumira. The Café was very quiet. The rain had subsided. Some people outside the Café were busy passing by. But still, this Café felt so quiet, had no customers other than Tala and her sisters. Maybe because the people had no intention for breakfast at this Café. Or maybe, because they didn’t know that this ancient building with typical Dutch architecture that looked more like a house was a Café, especially because there were no identification board attached to the front of the Cafe. The windows weren’t too big and the wooden door was kept closed as if it had no intention of accepting customers. It was strange.

The Café owner was an old couple, named Mr. and Mrs. Gumira, who had no children and really liked to make some jokes with some loyal customers. This Café became a favorite place for these sisters to gather. Once, Tala asked why the Café owner didn’t decorate this place and gave an ‘identification’ board in front of the Café. Mrs. Gumira’s answer was weird, “We will die soon, this Café is just a place to relax for people who are lost. Let them find the place themselves. Even if no one comes, it doesn't matter. We have become owners and also the visitors." As if they didn't care about the number of customers, they only cared about relaxing and interacting with foreign customers and loyal customers—who accidentally found this place, from nowhere—before dying.Tala and her sisters knew about this Café from Dana. Didn’t know how Dana discovered this Café. They served good food at low prices. This place had the most delicious coffee in this town. Although the place was old-fashioned, there was a distinct impression when sat in this place that they couldn't feel when sitting in another Café.Walls, tables, chairs, and even the floor were made of wood. The floor was covered by plastic carpet with black and white checkered motifs liked a chessboard. Almost all of the walls were covered with black and white photo frames and paintings, started from photos of Indonesia's first President, President Soekarno, to photos of the people in the Dutch and Japanese colonial times and so many landscape paintings. At the end of the room was an ancient high clock, also made of wood. Antiques such as glasses, plates, kris knives, small statues, jugs, lined up neatly in wooden cabinets with large glass. There was a gramophone on a small table in the corner of another room. The gramophone was never used, said Mr. Gumira, it was already broken. There was Mr. Gumira’s favorite antique bicycle near the entrance. The lamps were hung on the ceiling. Tala liked to see these lamps at night, the lights were beautiful orange. In some corners of the wall, a fan was attached which never died and continued to spin.Radio sounded that echoed Malay’s songs were heard in Café room which wasn’t too broad. Of course Tala couldn’t hear it. Sometimes, the couple would sing along when they heard the songs while cleaning dirty tables or sweeping the floor. There were times when they would dancing slowly if the songs sounded romantic. Tala had enough to memorize their habits, because she was often here, even though she wasn’t together with her sisters. She always took some time to sip coffee in this place while smiling and staring at the couple. She never heard what Malay songs often played on Radio. There was one radio channel that often played Malay’s songs, and they never changed the channel. Tala stared at Rona’s flat face. “How do you know the way to contact us?” asked Tala coldly.

“Don’t ask me that. I can find out your address and telephone number easily.” Rona folded her hands in front of her chest. Her eye bags were blackened, but she didn't look sad at all when she lost Ara. This woman was currently wearing a pink sleeveless tight shirt and a black miniskirt above her knee and matching high heels with her shirt. Her curly hair fell over her back. She used a red lipstick to color her lips and pink soft blush on."Have you been interviewed by the sexy detective?" asked Rona.Tala wanted to gag Rona's mouth with a dirty patch so she stopped talking like that at a time like this."I haven't," said the straight black-haired woman, whose hair tied like a horse tail. She was Dana, the sixth sister. She looked beautiful and elegant with a black blazer that covered her white shirt and jeans that had wide ends style. Even so, her eyes still looked swollen from crying."Yes, he asked me already," said the untied wavy-haired woman. Her skin was brownish-colored. She had dimples on her cheeks. Her face was like sweet Javanese women in general. Her name was Ceria, the third sister. She was wearing an oversized yellow shirt above the knee and short pants."He asked me too," said the curly-haired girl with shoulder length. Her eyes were small, like the most of Chinese descent. She wore a sleeveless floral loose dress. That was Gita, the fourth sister.Their eyes were all swollen, except Rona."Do you guys already know this news?" Rona started. "I also don't know how Ara knows my new rent house. Do you think this is suicide?" She asked."No," Tala spoke first. "Ara won't do that.""Rona, aren't you shocked to see Ara's condition? Can you tell me how she was when you found her?" Ceria looked very curious.Rona fixed her sitting position. She straightened her back. For several minutes she told them about what she experienced and how she saw Ara. Even though she was drunk, she could still call the police. She also could see Ara's condition clearly and was immediately pelted with various kinds of questions by the police when they were arriving.Dana and Ceria eyes began to glaze over, a few drops of tears fell through the cheeks. Gita looked down, as hard as she could to hold back her tears. Tala watched Rona told them the things with a flat face, not feeling sad at all."You're the only one who doesn't care about Ara at all. Even though she died in front of your eyes. Well, I understand, you never get along with Ara." Tala smiled sideways. Her eyes filled with tears, immediately remembered how her oldest sister always spoke and smiled. Ara loved sitting in the chair occupied by Rona, which was in front of her."Sorry, I'm quite grieved over what happened to Ara. But, why are we too sad about the one that got away? At least, she’s free from the hypocrisy of the world. Even though she died tragically." Rona took a cigarette and lighter from her small bag. She lit a cigarette and sipped it in, letting the stench of smoke inhaled into the noses of her sisters. "Or maybe, she didn't want to die tragically alone without us? We should join her." She smirked.Tala seized the cigarette from her hand, then pressed it on the surface of the cigarette ashtray until the burning reddish cigarette's tip died. "Shut up.""Hey, what do you mean by that?" asked Rona fiercely."What is your purpose to call us all here?" Instead of answering, Tala just asked. "Why did you just show up? Where have you been all this time? Why suddenly come and say something like that? I'm sick of hearing that.""Stop, Tala. Stop. There's no point in fighting," Dana mediated."Tala’s right, why are you calling us?" Ceria asked.Rona reflexively held onto the former incision that formed on the skin near the left wrist. "This symbol will be a curse. Ara died tragically and no one knew if she was really crazy to be able to kill herself?""It has nothing to do with it," Gita shook her head."Obviously, it does. Sisters forever. Do you forget it? Living together and dying together. Sister forever," whispered Rona. "Tragically died alone? I don't think that's Ara. You know her.""You are crazy!" Ceria reacted first. "So do you mean ... Ara will—""Is something wrong with my sentence? Are we sisters forever?" Rona chuckled. Her laugh sounded sickening.Tala clenched her fist, trying to hold herself back from slapping Rona's face.Rona's laughter stopped for a few minutes. The atmosphere actually felt scary. The radio sound was still heard, but this Cafe still felt dead calm, there were only five of them.Tala wasn’t afraid to hear Rona's words just now, instead she was very annoyed. If the others appeared to be anxious, worried, and afraid, then Tala was the only one who was dying to tear Rona's mouth. “Shut your mouth. You aren’t our sister anymore,” said Tala coldly. “So, you called all of us just to talk a bullshit like this? If you really hate Ara, please just stay quiet. There is no need to make others afraid of the nonsense you’re talking about. Ara died peacefully, that’s her choice.”

“Are you sure she died peacefully? You may be deaf, but I know you can read every words that comes out of my mouth. Slicing her own hand was f*****g painful. Then, she hanged up herself. A sane human won’t hurt themselves twice in the same time just to kill themselves. And you know, there was the new incision said ‘Sisters Forever’ on her hand, what do you think it means? I thought, this is the punishment that we should get because we treated Disa badly.”

Tala frowned, “Disa?” The name felt so unfamiliar for her. But strangely enough, when she said the name, her mouth seemed to be accustomed.

“You start digressing, Rona! Stop it!” Ceria hit the table really hard, then Ceria stood up from where she sat. “I’m going home. I can’t stand hearing your stupid words,” she said while she storm out from the Café. The couple who owned the Cafe glanced several times at the commotion made by these women. Mrs. Gumira who was sweeping was forced to stop her activities, as well as Mr. Gumira who was cleaning his antique bicycle.Dana shook her head while crying, “Rona, you’re too much.” She followed Ceria, stepping out of the Café, while wiping away her tears. Gita raised her head. From the beginning, she looked the most scared. Without any words, she stepped away while removing some tears that left in the corner of her eyes. Only Tala left, she looked at Rona in abhorrence, while Rona was seen enjoying it. She was just about to take a cigarette, but Tala had already taken the lighter that was lying on the table.

“Did you kill Ara?” she asked coldly. Rona laughed stiffly, "So funny. My alibis are strong, Miss Tala. I was all night at the club. Stupid." Rona clicked and then leaned her back on a wooden chair.

"She didn’t commit suicide," Tala still did not believe.

"That's why I said she wouldn't want to die tragically alone. Maybe she herself tried to find out who made her like that. But, what if this is karma? Because she had ... acted badly on Disa?"

"I still don't know who she is."

Rona casted a look of disbelief, then smiled angrily, "Do you refuse to remember? You're the same as the devil." Rona moved from her chair, forcibly grabbed the cigarette lighter from Tala's hand. Then, she left Tala with thousands of questions.

Disa? Why did ... I forget?

*** "Yes, we do have to follow up on this case further."

Detective Damar tried to align his footsteps next to Detective Radhika. The office atmosphere was very busy, and Detective Radhika had just come out of the Police Chief's room. "The sleeping pills were ... strange. Why did she take sleeping pills a few hours before killing herself? And, Sir ... according to the autopsy results, her left hand was cut when she was hanged, not before being hanged. It isn’t a suicide case. Could it be that she had actually fallen asleep, but there was something that woke her up? "

"Yes, indeed, Son. But, the problem is that all the evidence pointed to the woman. Even all the evidence from chairs, doors, saws, paint brushes, whatever it is, had only her fingerprints. We must find strong evidence to strengthen our argument besides the autopsy results. He's a very smart and patient murderer. An interesting case. "

"He engineered the crime scene very neatly. The only mistake he made was to cut off the woman's hand. Besides that, the woman's foot was very clean. Or did he intentionally do that? Did he has other plans?" Detective Damar looked nervous.

"What's more is the psychological record given by the psychologist. She often experiences hallucinations. She's crazy and has trouble sleeping. I didn't expect this case to be difficult. We have to interview the woman's relatives deeper."

"I also suspect Rumi, Sir."

"Unfortunately, we don't even know Rumi's whereabouts now and drawing conclusions as soon as that will be fatal, Son."

Detective Damar nodded his head with a guilty face. "Sir, what if ... she won't be the last? What if there will be other victims?"

"Then, we have to move fast, Son." Detective Radhika patted Detective Damar's shoulder. "Ah, God. This city has become very terrible if this case is indeed a serial murder case. Son, follow me. Today we will be very busy."

Detective Damar sighed. He paused for a while before stepping back.

One question, what is the killer's mode?

*** Tala stared at the mound with a tombstone that said Arawinda Biru. She was the last one here. The morning wind slapped her face. She hugged herself shivering. She shivered because she was afraid of the emptiness which had once again befallen her. The pieces of her heart felt lost.

Tala touched the marks of her hand cut. She closed her eyes, remembering the figure of Ara.

"I know how it feels." Ara wiped Tala's tears. "Forget whatever you want to forget. Remember us. We are there for you. We have the same pain."

"Miss Luna?"

Tala didn’t hear the call.

"Miss Luna?" Finally the man tapped Tala on the shoulder. Tala just realized someone was here with her. She wiped away her tears, she reflexively pushed her body away. She was afraid of being touched by men.

"Good morning," he smiled.

Tala didn’t reply to his smile. But she replied to his greeting. It was an oddity to make small talk like this in a cemetery, especially when a woman has just mourned the departure of someone she loved, and this man greeted as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t right for her.

"Morning," answered Tala briefly then tried to walk away.

"Miss, wait a minute." Damar hold her hand.

Tala was forced to look towards the man dressed in all black.

"I want to ask you something."

"Not here." Tala grasped Damar's hand roughly, then stepped out of the grave area. A few minutes later, they faced off under a large tree, a little far from the grave area.

"What is wrong?" Tala asked without further ado.

"Did Miss Ara ever tell you about Rumi? She often tells you about her work, doesn't she?"

Tala shook her head. "No. I never heard that name."

"What about Bina Madhuswara? I can't find her anywhere."

Tala shook her head again. "A few days ago after you met me for the first time, at ten o'clock, I gathered with my sisters. Rona invited us. But, Bina wasn’t there. Why don't you ask Rona?"

"I have already asked your sisters before meeting you, but they all don't know."

"So am I."

"I'm worried that the case of Miss Ara's death isn’t a suicide case."

"Of course it isn’t, I'm sure she's not that crazy—"

“There’s something else.”

“Is… this a serial murderer case?” asked Tala doubtfully.

“I don’t know. We still have to investigate this case further. If there is something you know and bother you, please let us know. " "Actually I'm afraid that this case will continue," Tala said worriedly, but she still tried to cover it with a flat expression.

Detective Damar looked interested, he raised his eyebrow wondering. "Why did you conclude like that?"

"The word 'Sisters Forever' in Ara's left hand was disturbing me. I don't know why, but I feel, this is a sign of beginning." The wind slapped both of their faces. This morning was bright, but Tala felt the day was cloudy. "The beginning of all games." Tala knew that her instincts had the same conclusions as Rona said a few days ago, but she always dodged it. She thought about this even before Rona met her. Now, she couldn't dodge anymore, she must asked Detective Damar.

Detective Damar was a little surprised by Tala's analysis. He thought the woman in front of him was smart. "Yes, I think of that too. But, we haven't gotten anything yet."

Tala's heart stopped beating for a while. Tala hopes her instincts were wrong. She memorized Rona's words a few days ago.

This is the punishment that we should get because we treated Disa badly.

Disa.

***