Bali Omen

The Beginning

The bright rays of sunshine slip inside the glass window of the resort suite. Heat pierced through Asher’s six pack body, waking him up from his deep slumber. Horizontal lines can be seen appearing on his forehead as he slowly opens and rubs his eyes. The next thing Asher does is to stretch his rigid limbs, as if last night has completely worn him out. His fatigue is soon gone as he replays the things that happened the night before. A smile gradually spreads on the man’s lips. He has so many questions that he wants to ask her; why she betrayed him back then, why she is in Bali without anyone, what has been going on in her life after their breakup, whether she is looking for love now— all the questions that he could never ask before, but now could, whether they will have a new beginning, a future together.

“Britney…Brits…” Asher sings her name melodiously while grinning in his unique signature. One would need to speak loudly for the sound to travel across the room as the suite is similar to a medium sized apartment with a separate bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, and toilet. There is also a small balcony overlooking the mountains.

As Asher didn’t receive any answers, he shouts louder this time, “Britney! Where are you?” Silence engulfs the suite. “Perhaps she’s out grabbing foods?” he said to no one in particular.

Asher shrugs and is about to get inside the bathroom when he happens to glance at the digital clock next to the bed. It’s 2:15 PM. His body becomes tense suddenly and an air of uneasiness radiates around the space. Asher clenches his fists and starts to pace around the whole apartment— trying to find any abnormalities. The man’s face turns grim. He never wakes up this late. In fact, Asher is a light sleeper. But after their steamy night, somehow, he has never woken up until now, not even once in the morning. His body is even extremely tired after the long sleep. It makes no sense that he just passed out due to fatigue as the man has the a very good stamina— the best stamina that one could argue, as he can even stay without sleep for three days straight. This is one of the reasons why the CIA has employed him as a high level secret agent. His hunch tells him that something really wrong had happened. He walks over to the balcony and scans the outdoor surroundings. Not even a single tourist can be spotted in the hiking track or the pool. 

Asher quickly wears his shirt and explores the room one more time to find something, if there is anything that can be clues or memos left by Britney. A million scenarios run through his mind at once. For the first time ever, Asher desperately hopes that his judgment is false and that nothing is wrong at all. Perhaps he was indeed too tired and passed out. Perhaps Britney was just out buying them late lunch. Perhaps today is just a quiet day where everybody sleeps in and cancels their plans to swim or hike. Perhaps the hotel doesn’t operate today— doesn’t Bali have a Day of Silence when the whole city stays quiet and prohibits any entertainment? It is the kind of day when the local Balinese people celebrate the new year and self-reflect.

“Yeah, that must be it,” Asher murmurs to himself. His hand is sweaty and trembling slightly when he finally finds his phone. The man takes a deep breath to calm himself down. He doesn’t behave like this often as he is usually the calmest agent ever in any circumstances— many that are much worse than this little uncommon situation. After regaining his composure, the man’s hand steadily manoeuvres his phone and searches for Britney’s contact number. He tried dialling her number few more times but the calls never went through. 

“s**t,” Asher exclaims. He exits the room and runs to the lift in a flash. Upon arriving in the lobby, his feet stop moving. What had welcome Asher is a sight that the man would never expect to see in this lifetime at all.

An empty ground floor with approximately ten or more large TV screens scattered everywhere across the huge lobby— behind the receptionist desk, in front of the sofas, in the high-end café, near the lifts— all showing pictures after pictures of Asher and Britney back when they were still romantically involved six years ago. The photos were taken candidly. There were even some that show the first time he met Britney, at the Wendy’s near his old house in one of the New York suburbs. They were both fifteen then. He looked much slimmer compared to now and she still had her pink streak hair. The good old days before they started dating and ended up hurting each other— the time of innocent youths.

The last picture shows Britney inside a car, blindfolded and unconscious with both of her wrists tied up with rope. She is still wearing the nightgown from the night before. Asher grits his teeth. A green vein starts to pop on the left side of his forehead— the man is mad, really mad. How dare someone did that to the love of his life.

Asher was about to start his hunt for the culprit before something pops up in the screen, which apparently, from the unknown mystery man himself. Asher narrows his eyes to see a symbol of a bat. Next to it, there is a short message that reads,

DON’T WORRY

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

Clenching his fists, Asher promises himself that whoever behind this would not have a good ending. He would be the one to make sure of that.