ROTTEN

Chapter 3

Audrey wasn’t just a clever girl with an insatiable curiosity. She was also a karate athlete renowned for her agility. In her village, she was nicknamed Kancil, after the mousedeer—a small, nimble animal known for being notoriously difficult to catch. Her agility was her greatest advantage, helping her win numerous karate tournaments, from local competitions to inter-district championships.

Audrey had started learning karate in the first grade of elementary school, entirely of her own accord, after watching Ip Man. Her father enrolled her in a dojo near their village. The dojo’s owner was just as strict and intimidating as Rendra. Most children who trained there were terrified of the instructor, and many quit because they couldn’t stand being scolded.

Audrey, however, was already accustomed to her father’s harsh treatment. Rather than being intimidated, she became one of the dojo’s most dedicated students. Her peers respected her, as did the villagers, who regarded her as the instructor’s favorite little Kancil.

As the years passed and Audrey entered her teenage years, her karate skills continued to improve. She frequently got into fights with boys, earning a reputation as the one her friends could count on to protect them. Even the village thugs feared her after she defeated them at the age of twelve. Rendra no longer worried about leaving his daughter home alone while he was at work. After all, she had practically become a pint-sized thug herself.

Then, one evening at dinner, sixteen-year-old Audrey announced something that caught her father completely off guard.

“Dad, I have a provincial-level karate tournament next week.”

“Really? Where? Lumajang? Probolinggo?”

“It’s in... Surabaya.”

Tap!

Rendra set down his spoon with a sharp clatter.

“Surabaya?! Do you have any idea how far away that is?! Are you planning to go there by yourself?!”

“What’s wrong with going alone?!”

“No!! Absolutely not!!”

“Dad! It’s a provincial tournament! I can’t just throw away an opportunity like this!”

“I SAID NO!! Are you even listening to me?!”

“If you won’t let me go alone, why don’t you take me there yourself?!”

“BECAUSE I HAVE TO WORK!!”

BANG!!

Audrey slammed her hands against the dining table, cutting through their argument. Rendra glared at her furiously, while Audrey fought back tears under the weight of her father's anger. The girl with the twin braids was beginning to realize that her father had grown far more protective of her than he had been when she was little.

“Why won’t you let me go?! I went to tournaments in Probolinggo by myself before! I even went to Banyuwangi alone! So why can’t I go to Surabaya?!” Audrey demanded, her voice rising in frustration. She couldn’t understand what was going through her father’s mind.

Rendra leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh, briefly massaging his forehead. His expression softened.

As Audrey grew older, she had become increasingly convinced that she could do anything without parental supervision. It was a dangerously naive assumption, even if she could defend herself with karate.

“Audrey, you’re a girl. You can’t just go wherever you want on your own without my permission. It’s dangerous, you know,” Rendra explained, his voice gentler now. “I let you go to Probolinggo and Banyuwangi because they’re relatively close to our village. But Surabaya is different. I can’t keep an eye on you the way I could when you were in Probolinggo or Banyuwangi.”

“Did I ever ask you to keep an eye on me?”

“Audrey! Listen to me first!”

Audrey fell silent, though she desperately wanted to yell back at him.

Rendra hesitated before speaking again.

“Drey ... do you remember the blue fire incident in the teak forest behind our house?”

Audrey’s eyes widened. She never expected her father to bring up the incident after keeping silent about it for so long.

“I … I don't want you going through something like that again,” Rendra continued. “We’ve driven most of them out of this area, but in Surabaya ... that’s where they’re concentrated.”

Them?

“I can guarantee your safety in Pendalungan, Madura, or Osing territory. But not in the areas where they first appeared, especially the Mataraman region—”

“Wait,” Audrey interrupted. “Them? Who are they? O-or ... what are they?”

Rendra gave no answer.

He finished his meal, picked up Audrey’s empty plate, and carried it to the sink. An awkward silence settled over the house, broken only by the chirping of geckos on the ceiling and the rustling of the night breeze outside.

For some reason, Audrey felt as though she had made a mistake by asking who—or what—her father meant by them. Meanwhile, Rendra found himself caught between regret at having revealed so much and relief at finally having lifted some of the burden from his shoulders.

Whatever the case, he believed Audrey could find the answers herself without his help.

“You’ll find out eventually. I believe you’re smart enough to figure it out on your own,” he said.

He gently ruffled her hair before leaving for his bedroom.

“Oh, and I have an assignment in Semarang next week. Don’t go to Surabaya, understand? I’ll make sure all the neighbors know about this.”

***

Just as Rendra had promised, the entire neighborhood learned about his upcoming assignment in Semarang and Audrey’s plan to compete in Surabaya. The neighbors agreed to keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t go anywhere near the city.

Her father’s well-intentioned plan was anything but welcome to Audrey. Instead, it sparked an ongoing series of arguments at home, punctuated by slammed doors and pounding tables. The commotion even attracted curious neighbors, who wondered what on earth was happening inside the house.

Rendra refused to send his only daughter straight into the jaws of a tiger. Audrey, however, was determined to leap into those jaws herself, oblivious to the danger that awaited her. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She had worked hard to reach this point, and now she finally had the chance to compete at the provincial level.

The day of the tournament arrived. Before leaving for Semarang, Rendra said goodbye to Audrey and kissed her on the forehead. There were no smiles. No tears. Only silence between a father and daughter who were equally stubborn and hot-tempered. Their temporary farewell was bitterly cold, like the snow-covered mountains of the Jayawijaya range, where snow fell without end.

Would Audrey obey her father’s orders?

Of course not.

Audrey knew the villagers' routines by heart. By ten o’clock at night, the lights in their houses would be switched off, and everyone would be asleep. That was when she planned to sneak out.

After packing her belongings and changing clothes, Audrey peered through the back door at eleven that night. Once she was certain it was safe, she slipped outside and turned off her phone's location services so her father couldn’t track her.

She made her way past the remains of the burned teak forest and headed toward a bus stop about two kilometers from the village. Not a single neighbor noticed her departure. And just like that, Audrey managed to catch a bus to Surabaya.

The reckless girl had no idea just how enormous the tiger’s jaws were that she was heading straight into—far wider than the gaping jaws of a crocodile waiting to swallow its prey whole.

She should have listened to her father. She should have stayed home and carried on with her ordinary life. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Audrey had no idea that her fear of the buto would soon grow far greater than ever before, once she arrived at the stadium where her tournament was being held.