Chapter 5 : Your Follower
1793 Words
Among all the difficult days Aditia had survived—days where exhaustion crushed both his body and mind—this was undoubtedly the hardest day of his life.
“What do we do now? Nobody can contact her family. She's been lying here since dawn.”
Someone muttered while staring at the body.
“I'll help take care of everything. I know her.”
Aditia immediately called an ambulance. He wiped away his tears before they could fall again.
Right now, grief could wait.
What mattered was giving Bude Pecel a proper burial.
When the ambulance arrived, Aditia helped carry her body inside. Blood soaked his hands as he supported her from the back. The medical staff decided they would clean her at the hospital instead. The injuries were severe, especially around her head, and special treatment was necessary.
“Sir, I'll follow behind in my angkot.”
The male nurse nodded before closing the ambulance doors.
Before driving away, Aditia quickly made another call.
“Al, I'm sorry. I can't pick you up.”
“What happened?”
“There was an accident.”
“Where are you?”
Alya sounded worried.
She wasn't actually far away. The intersection where Bude Pecel died was only the first of three crossroads between them.
“Sorry, Al. I have to go. I'll explain later. Just let me know when you get home safely.”
Without waiting for another question, Aditia ended the call and followed the ambulance.
Soon they arrived at the hospital.
Aditia hurried after the stretcher carrying the woman who had sold pecel since his elementary school days.
A woman who spent decades working under the sun.
A woman who fought to support her children.
As far as he knew, her children were already successful adults. She continued selling only because she loved being around the children at the schools. She had no grandchildren yet, and none of her children were married.
Yet despite knowing her for years, Aditia realized he knew almost nothing about her personal life.
He didn't know where her family lived.
He didn't know their phone numbers.
He didn't even know who to contact.
That was why he called his mother.
An hour later, she arrived with Dita.
“Adit.”
His mother's voice nearly broke him.
“Mom... they're bathing her body right now. I don't know who to call.”
His voice trembled.
The tears returned.
His mother immediately embraced him.
“This isn't your fault.”
“But she asked me to pick her up.”
“Adit—”
“If I'd gone... maybe Bude would still be alive.”
Dita wrapped her arms around him as well.
“You're not the one who killed her, Ka.”
“But—”
“Mom's right.”
Dita squeezed his shoulder.
“This was fate. Right now, let's focus on helping her.”
Meanwhile, Aditia's mother contacted community leaders and local neighborhood officials. Through various messages and phone calls, they eventually managed to locate Bude Pecel's family.
While they waited, the hospital staff cleaned and prepared the body.
The doctors explained that the damage to her head was too severe to repair. The rest of her body remained mostly intact aside from bruising.
The head wound had simply been covered as respectfully as possible.
Thankfully, the hospital was cooperative and compassionate.
Nobody demanded money upfront.
Around an hour later, family members began arriving.
The first was her youngest son.
“My name is Tanto.”
The young man bowed politely.
“My older siblings are on their way. Their workplaces are far away. Mom lived with me.”
Aditia introduced himself, along with his mother and sister.
“How is my mother's body?”
“She is being prepared for burial,” Aditia's mother explained gently.
“Thank you.”
Tanto's eyes reddened.
“If it wasn't for you, I don't know what would've happened.”
He paused.
“Actually, these past few days I've had a bad feeling.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Mom kept staring into space. She became forgetful. Sometimes she looked strangely pale.”
His voice cracked.
“So I told her not to sell pecel anymore.”
Aditia froze.
“What?”
“I even took time off work yesterday just to make sure she stayed home.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
“Yesterday she didn't sell at all.”
Aditia's heart skipped a beat.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Tanto nodded.
“She stayed home all day. But she kept complaining. She said she missed the children. This morning she looked much healthier, so I finally allowed her to go.” Regret filled his eyes.
“If I had known this would happen, I would never have let her leave.” Aditia's thoughts spiraled.
If Bude Pecel never left home yesterday...
Then who boarded his angkot last night?
Who asked him for a ride at five in the morning?
A jinn?
Impossible.
He knew how to recognize them.
A wandering spirit?
Even less likely.
She was still alive yesterday.
Then only one possibility remained.
Aditia quietly excused himself and hurried outside.
Instead of going to the restroom, he ran toward his angkot.
Inside the dashboard was an old notebook.
His father's notebook.
Breathing heavily, he flipped through page after page until he found the section he was looking for.
**Qorin.**
He read every line carefully.
*A Qorin is a companion spirit assigned to follow a person from birth. Its appearance is nearly identical to the human it accompanies. It understands their habits, personality, routines, and emotions because it has observed them for an entire lifetime.*
*Sometimes it appears before others to deliver messages, warnings, or requests. Sometimes it acts to help when its human counterpart cannot.*
Aditia slowly lowered the notebook.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The woman he met last night wasn't Bude Pecel.
It was her Qorin.
A being so similar to its human counterpart that even he had failed to identify it.
For the first time in his life, he had encountered one.
Just as he was about to return inside, a message arrived from Pak Dirga.
**Nona Gita is causing trouble again.**
Aditia cursed under his breath.
He had completely forgotten.
Today was the scheduled day to retrieve Nona Gita.
According to his father's notes, Nona Gita was the wife of a wealthy ship captain. After learning that her husband had died in a shipwreck, she refused to eat or drink until she eventually followed him into death.
For years she had refused to leave.
Now she was once again disturbing residents near her old home.
Aditia had no choice.
After explaining the situation to his mother and obtaining permission, he immediately left for Bogor.
The journey would take hours.
And if he delayed, he would arrive after dark.
---
By the time everything was finished, it was already two in the morning.
The misunderstanding involving Nona Gita—and the revelation that she had actually been called Nona all along—had wasted more time than expected.
Fortunately, she had finally agreed to leave peacefully.
Dita had called dozens of times.
Exhausted, Aditia drove home through the darkness.
His eyelids felt heavy.
Then suddenly—
A woman appeared in the road.
Aditia instinctively swerved.
The angkot screeched violently.
His heart nearly stopped.
He unfastened his seatbelt and prepared to step outside.
Then a voice whispered beside his ear.
“Kasep... hayang milu nyaak...”
Handsome... may I come with you?
The shrill sound pierced his mind.
Everything went black.
---
When Aditia opened his eyes again, something felt wrong.
He was standing beside his angkot.
Yet...
His body was lying on the ground.
“Astral projection?”
Shock flooded through him.
His soul had separated from his body.
Standing before him was Bude Pecel.
Or rather—
Something wearing her face.
Her head remained shattered from the accident.
She extended her hand toward him.
Despite his fear, Aditia reached out.
The moment their hands touched, the world blurred.
In the blink of an eye, they were standing at the very intersection where she died.
The distant sound of dawn prayers echoed through the air.
It was around four-thirty in the morning.
A vision.
A memory.
They were watching the past unfold.
Soon Bude Pecel appeared carrying her basket.
She looked tired.
Old.
Fragile.
Yet determination still burned within her.
She placed the basket on the sidewalk and waited for an angkot.
Waiting for Aditia.
Waiting for the ride she requested.
Minutes passed.
Then Aditia saw it.
A gray sedan speeding toward the intersection.
Far too fast.
The vehicle swayed dangerously.
Bude Pecel never noticed.
She was looking right, expecting an angkot.
Perhaps her hearing had weakened with age.
Perhaps she never heard the engine.
Then—
CRASH!
The sedan struck her violently.
The impact crushed her beneath the vehicle.
A moment later it reversed.
Then ran over her again.
And fled.
As it sped past, Aditia saw the license plate.
B 41 YA.
His blood froze.
“Alya!”
The name escaped his lips.
That was Alya's car.
He collapsed beside Bude Pecel's body.
Now he understood.
The crushed head.
The terrible injuries.
Everything.
Then the Qorin spoke.
“There are always two choices.”
Its voice echoed through the darkness.
“If you had picked me up that morning, I would not have been standing here.”
The spirit pointed toward the road.
“But the car would have crashed into the sidewalk instead.”
Aditia trembled.
“The woman inside would have died.”
Silence followed.
“Perhaps God guided your heart not to pick me up.”
The Qorin smiled sadly.
“So that she could live.”
Then its gaze hardened.
“Now you know who fled the scene.”
A pause.
“Will you stay silent?”
“Or will you tell the police?”
The answer belongs to you.
“Choose wisely this time.”
The Qorin disappeared.
Suddenly Aditia awoke beside his angkot.
His body ached.
His heart hurt even more.
“Alya...”
His voice trembled.
“Why did it have to be you?”
As he continued driving home, a terrible dilemma consumed him.
If he reported her, Alya could spend years in prison.
Her education.
Her athletic career.
Her future.
Everything could be destroyed.
And he would be the one responsible for opening that door.
Then, halfway home, a thought struck him.
“CCTV!”
His eyes widened.
There was still something he needed to know.
At three in the morning, Aditia turned the angkot around and accelerated toward the intersection once again.
Before the police discovered the truth...
He needed to find out whether a camera had recorded everything.
- Writer
