The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 4: Alya

“Bude, you're coming home really late tonight.”

The clock had already struck ten at night. Normally, passengers visible to ordinary eyes only rode until around half past nine.

The middle-aged woman carrying a woven rattan basket—the container for the pecel vegetables she sold—remained silent. Every morning and afternoon, she usually sold pecel with peanut sauce around elementary schools in Central Jakarta, schools that happened to be part of Aditia's route. At six every morning, the woman Aditia affectionately called Bude would board his minibus to begin her day of selling, and she usually returned home no later than seven in the evening.

Tonight was different.

It was already ten o’clock, and only now had she boarded the angkot to go home.

Aditia suddenly pulled the vehicle to a stop and glanced toward the rearview mirror, carefully observing her. He needed to make sure Bude Pecel was human, not one of them who often appeared as midnight passengers.

After examining her closely, he found no signs of t*****e on her body. Her face was not pale. Her eyes were not empty.

She should have been safe.

“Dit, could you pick me up tomorrow at five in the morning? I’ll pay extra.”

Aditia simply nodded and continued driving.

He could not explain why.

The woman looked calm. She looked completely normal. Yet something about her left him confused.

Who—or what—was she?

“Here, Dit.”

Bude Pecel stepped toward the roadside exit and stretched her hand toward the driver's window to pay.

“Don’t forget tomorrow. Five in the morning. Right here.”

She reminded him once more.

Aditia stared at her in silence.

An uneasy chill crept along the back of his neck.

When he accepted the money, he realized her hand was terribly cold.

And yet...

She was not one of them.

“Bude...”

Before he could ask anything, she had already turned around and walked away.

Aditia wanted to follow her.

But impatient horns exploded behind his angkot.

After all, they were parked at the edge of a busy road.

Aditia was still young. He had not yet mastered the ability his father possessed—the ability to classify them.

The good ones.

The evil ones.

Those from the realm of jinn.

Those who were wandering spirits.

Those that belonged to something else entirely.

Even now, he often found himself deceived.

Yet his sincere heart always seemed to protect him from disaster.

As his father often said:

Ask only GUSTI ALLAH for help, and you will be protected.

Those words had become the anchor that strengthened him whenever doubt crept into his heart.

Like tonight.

Should he obey Bude Pecel's request?

Or should he ignore it completely?

His confusion reminded him of a conversation from years ago.

Back when he was thirteen.

Back when he was still a first-year junior high school student.

One afternoon, as Pak Mulyana prepared to resume driving his angkot after lunch, Aditia unexpectedly asked to come along. Ever since entering middle school, he had stopped accompanying his father because school assignments consumed too much of his energy.

But that afternoon was different.

There was a question he desperately needed answered.

“Dad, why has Mbak Marni been hanging around our house lately?”

Teenage Aditia asked quietly.

“Marni? Who's that?”

Pak Mulyana looked confused.

There was no one named Marni in their family.

“You know... the woman with long hair. The dirty white dress. A hole in her stomach. Her face is crushed. Her eyes are missing.”

To ordinary people, such a description would have been horrifying.

To this father and son, it was merely another conversation.

“Oh, that Marni.”

Pak Mulyana nodded.

“What does she do at our house?”

“She likes sitting on the bathroom wall and watching us bathe, use the toilet, and—”

Before Aditia could finish speaking, Pak Mulyana immediately pulled the angkot to the roadside and called his wife.

“Has Dita started menstruating yet?” he asked as soon as she answered.

“Yes. Why?”

“Please accompany her whenever she bathes. Teach her how to clean menstrual blood properly, the same way I taught you. Stay with her until she understands completely.”

His expression looked unusually worried.

His wife could only answer, “Alright.”

After ending the call, Pak Mulyana turned toward Aditia.

“You know the house is protected by barriers I made, right?”

“Yes. The special water lines at the entrance. So they can’t chase me inside.”

“I protected you.”

Pak Mulyana sighed.

“But Dita became the opening.”

“Dita? What happened to her?”

“Marni came attached to Dita while she was in a state of impurity. She's still young. Twelve, right? But she has begun menstruating. Her body carries impurity now.”

He paused.

“Do you remember what evil jinn and devils feed on?”

“Filth and impurity.”

“Good.”

Pak Mulyana nodded.

“To Marni, Dita smells wonderful. That's why she attached herself to Dita and crossed the barrier. Perhaps Dita wasn't cleaning herself perfectly after her period either.”

He pointed toward home.

“That’s why Marni made our bathroom her nest.”

“But Dad...”

Aditia frowned.

“Why do I only see Mbak Marni at night? Whenever I wake up to pee. I never see her in the morning or afternoon. Does she go home during the day?”

Pak Mulyana smiled.

“Have you ever talked to them?”

“No. I pretend I can't see them.”

“Do they believe you?”

“Some do. Some don't. Some keep following me. But when I run toward you, they always leave.”

“Why don’t you talk to them?”

Aditia looked embarrassed.

“My friends already think I’m crazy when I talk to myself. So I pretend I can't see anything. That way I’m just like them.”

Pak Mulyana chuckled softly.

“You're smart. Keep doing that. If anyone asks why you're talking alone, tell them you're singing or memorizing homework. You'll understand when you're older.”

“But Dad...”

Aditia insisted.

“Does Marni go home during the day?”

Pak Mulyana glanced at him.

“Do you know the difference between day and night?”

“Of course. Day has the sun. Night has the moon.”

“Which one is brighter?”

“Daytime.”

Aditia instantly launched into a scientific explanation about hydrogen fusion and solar gravity.

Pak Mulyana quickly raised a hand.

“Alright, genius. That's enough.”

The boy stopped.

“Remember when I told you that humans and beings like jinn, devils, and wandering spirits live in the same world?”

“Yes. Like different radio frequencies.”

“Exactly.”

Pak Mulyana nodded approvingly.

“If Earth is the radio, then humans occupy one frequency. They occupy another. We share the same space, but not the same channel.”

Aditia listened carefully.

“Then why can we see them?”

“Because I asked questions.”

Pak Mulyana's smile faded.

“I talked to the good ones. I wanted to understand their world.”

He paused as another passenger climbed aboard.

One of the lost ones.

After a moment, he continued.

“They all told me the same thing.”

Their world had no morning.

No afternoon.

No sunlight.

Only darkness.

Always darkness.

“You know when our world resembles theirs the most?”

Aditia thought briefly.

“At night.”

“Correct.”

Pak Mulyana nodded.

“At night, our frequencies become closer. Sensitive people like you and me can see them more clearly because of that overlap.”

His eyes softened.

“There aren't many people like us, Dit.”

Some stayed silent.

Some pretended not to see.

Some lied for attention.

But only a few truly understood the responsibility.

“We were given this blessing for one purpose.”

“To help those who need help.”

“If rich people are blessed with wealth, then we are blessed with knowledge. Use it properly. Never for selfish reasons.”

Aditia nodded slowly.

“So we see them mostly at night because our frequencies become similar.”

“Exactly.”

“And this gift exists only to help others.”

“Exactly.”

Pak Mulyana smiled proudly.

“You're a good boy.”

Then he glanced toward the passenger behind them.

“Now let's help the gentleman in the back.”

“What happened to him?”

“He was hit by a train yesterday.”

Pak Mulyana started the engine.

“His body was thrown somewhere. Let's go find it.”

“Okay, Dad.”

...

The memory faded.

Aditia returned to the present, still wondering whether he should have listened to Bude Pecel's request.

“Ka!”

Dita suddenly startled him while he was drinking coffee after dawn prayer.

“What?”

Aditia nearly spilled his cup.

“You were spacing out.”

Dita grinned mischievously and stole a sip of his coffee.

“You were thinking about me, weren't you?”

“I was thinking about Bude Pecel.”

“Who's that?”

“The woman who sells pecel near the elementary school.”

“Oh.”

Dita smirked.

“Does she have a crush on you?”

Aditia immediately smacked the back of her head.

“She asked me to pick her up at five this morning. I didn't go.”

“Why not?”

“It felt suspicious.”

Dita checked her watch.

“It's already five-thirty.”

“Exactly.”

“You thought she might be dangerous?”

Aditia nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Well, stop thinking about it. She probably just waited for another angkot.”

She finished the rest of his coffee.

A few moments later, Aditia's phone rang.

The moment he saw the caller ID, a smile appeared on his face.

“It’s Alya.”

Dita immediately stood up.

“The archery athlete?”

Without waiting for an answer, she disappeared inside the house.

“Al, what's up?”

“Ya, where are you?”

Alya always called him Ya.

Not because they were lovers.

They were only friends.

“At home. Why?”

“Can you pick me up?”

“Where are you?”

“Near your neighborhood.”

“That early? Where did you come from?”

“Stop being nosy and just come.”

She laughed.

“I'm standing at an intersection. Hurry before I get scared.”

After she sent her location, Aditia quickly changed clothes.

Alya was his university classmate from the Faculty of Computer Science.

The two had met during orientation.

He was poor, quiet, and introverted.

She was cheerful, wealthy, and brilliant.

Different worlds.

Yet somehow they fit perfectly together.

Alya admired dignity.

Aditia admired kindness.

And both happened to be geniuses.

Beyond her beauty and intelligence, there was another reason Aditia admired her so much.

Alya was an archery athlete.

Her tall figure.

Her sharp features.

Her elegant posture.

Everything about her seemed flawless in his eyes.

If Alya asked for something, Aditia could never refuse.

Not because he was weak.

But because Alya never demanded anything unreasonable.

For Aditia, after his mother and sister, Alya was the most important person in his life.

Then disaster struck.

The angkot refused to start.

Not now.

Please, not now.

Again and again he turned the key.

Nothing.

For half an hour he struggled with the aging vehicle.

Finally, the engine roared to life.

He immediately rushed toward Alya's location.

Already thirty minutes late.

As he sped through the streets, images of Alya waiting alone filled his mind.

Yet somehow...

Thoughts of Bude Pecel refused to disappear.

Then he reached the intersection.

There was a crowd.

A large crowd.

An inexplicable dread tightened around his chest.

He pulled over and ran.

“What happened?”

“A hit-and-run accident.”

The man pointed toward the gathering.

“The victim died instantly.”

Aditia's heart dropped.

He pushed through the crowd.

Faster.

And faster.

Until he finally reached the front.

Then his knees gave out.

His worst fear had come true.

The woman who had asked him for a ride lay motionless on the asphalt.

Blood surrounded her body.

Part of her head had been crushed by the impact.

Aditia collapsed.

Tears streamed down his face.

The woman who had asked him to pick her up.

The woman he should have picked up.

Was dead.

“I’m sorry...”

His voice trembled.

“I’m so sorry.”

And there, amid the noise of strangers and the smell of blood on the morning air, Aditia wept.