Virtuous Flumadiddles Tales for Three Hours Fakultas Sastra Universitas Sanata Dharma Chief Editor: Wedhowerti S.Pd., M.Hum. Editors: Anindya Shavitri, Clara Pontifisia, Maria Felicia A.S & Zenhing Angeline Cover designer: Aviaska Wienda & Dimas Haryo Layouters: Albertus Revo P., Kenia Ridani T. & Naomy Bunga This book is a work of fiction. All events and characters described here are not intended to refer to specific places or person. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinion of the author and do not represent the opinion or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book Virtuous Flumadiddles Tales of Three Hours All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2019 ISBN: 978-623-7601-01-2 PUBLISHED BY FAKULTAS SASTRA SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA Preface Being compiled as our final project, this book is its own complicacy. Each and every single one of the writers has different experience composing the stories. Some of us are totally in love with writing, some of us don’t even think of the piece as worthy and the rest are just casually having indescribable feelings. Hence, like a mother feeling proud of bearing her child, we would love to present ours, Virtuous Flummadiddles: The Tales of Three Hours. The contrary combination,Virtuous Flummadiddles, is chosen to represent the impalpable content within this book. The title is meant to show how puzzled we may feel at times, not Meanwhile, as simple as it may sound, three hours of Creative Writing Class is what we always share weekly, thus making it the time full of learning on how to love what we create, learning to always develop what we have and learning how to simply imagine. Read the story so you will know what we are going to tell; the despair, the happiness, the spirit, the struggle, the creativity, and whatnot –basically anything you could possibly imagine but with just a little bit of adventure. Table of Contents PREFACE iii CONTENTS iv Forbidden Mission 1 Bleeding Red Wine 9 Camouflage 17 Another Side of Laura 25 A Man named Diman 33 Uriah and Regina 43 Zimzu 49 Normally Permanent 57 A Place Called Mississauga 65 The Distinguished Wanderer 71 Delusion 79 Interim 89 A Love Killer 99 I’ve Said I Loved the Sea 103 Analure 119 A Tale of Spring and Summer 127 Kala 139 Arkananta 145 We’d Never Be Normal 153 Decision 167 The Hidden Truth 173 Magic and the Mysterious Mark 179 The Adopted Girl 189 The Story of Reivan 197 Rotten Rose 207 Plain 215 Perfect Imperfection 219 Approval 223 Me and My Experience 229 Raymussen 233 The Immortal 241 Forbidden Mission by Diana Citra “That’s not it” “Then what’s the not it?” As raindrops fell in the cold night of Jakarta, her tears garnished her cheeks. For the first time after a long time in front of her very best friend *** I saw her looking at me every Monday and Wednesday. She was sitting right there, still using her school uniform. Said I was too confident to jump to the conclusion. But here I was, sipping my coffee while in three tables apart, she was playing with her phone and stealing glances over me sometimes. A high school student glanced over and over again to a 40 years old man? I was used to it. But she was different. Aside from being tall, thin and beautiful –my very type—, her habit was an attraction –at least to be observed. Always ordering the same coffee as mine with a book on the table, her phone, and headphone on, and sometimes her laptop. It was typical high schoolers’ properties in every coffee shop. But with those belongings she brought, her expression was not easy. While playing with one of her belongings, her glance to me never stopped. Not only the glance that bothered me, her eyes showed many words I couldn’t always interpret. Interest? Disgust? Sadness? Or even anger? But why would even she be mad at me? *** 1 Gwenda didn’t know how she had the courage, but she came to him anyway. The feeling to approach him, she couldn’t ignore it. No matter what would happen after that, she knew it was her instinct telling her to do so and as Gwenda, she always followed it. Standing in front of him, trying to say hi, Gwenda tighten her fist a little bit. “Hi. I’m Gwenda. I come to this place every Monday and Wednesday and always see you here every time, ordering the same coffee as mine.” From that little awkward opening, they sat down in the same table for hours. Talking about Gwenda’s school, his job, until their hobbies. His laugh was free. Nothing blocked him from enjoying his time with his new young friend. Gwenda, she tried so hard to look normal by hiding the crowd of emotions that were trying to get out. With the struggle to focus into the conversation, Gwenda succeeded to impress him on their first talk but it still had a flaw. He was curious about why Gwenda never looked at him every time she laughed. Yet, he knew he shouldn’t ask about it. To get the answer, he asked Gwenda out. Gwenda too a little time to–pretend to—think. “Make sure it will be worth it,” answer Gwenda with a tiny smile in her eyes. This time, she looked into his eyes to make sure she didn’t do it wrong. “I can guarantee.” A big smile appeared on his face. Feeling satisfied, he believed he could start something new with Gwenda. Not only to found the answer to his curiosity to Gwenda’s treatment to him, but also to make an intense relationship between him and her. He was totally impressed. Gwenda was a total success. *** “Never ‘baaa’-ing me again when we meet in the school hallway, in the class door, anywhere. Never say ‘baaa’ again to me.” Luna knew she was too hard to Gwenda. But she couldn’t resist the disappointment. She couldn’t believe Gwenda never told her anything. Listening to her story was like ripping Gwenda skin only to find out that there was no Gwenda she knew inside that flawless skin. “I can get used to that. I know my ‘baaa’ habit to you is annoying. I can get rid of it.” Gwenda looked at Luna hopefully. Hope Luna could tolerate all the mistakes she made. 2 “No! Don’t take it literally, Gwen. Since when you become this silly? I mean don’t ever talk to me again. No, after you told me everything.” Gwenda froze in her place it was like there was a thunder hitting her head. As her brain couldn’t react, her skin became more sensitive. The coldness of the pillow she was holding was the only thing she relied on right now. “As you know right now that I’m an atheist, you also should know that I’m different with you. All of you. Not in terms of capabili—” “Of course, your capability is different than us. Your brain is amazingly smart but your ass is amazingly idiot,” Luna cut Gwenda’s sentence, which Gwenda was grateful for, for the brief time Luna gave her. “Okay, whatever. It’s just like we have different religion but we are more than that because I even don’t believe god exists. When you have something to rely on when you are in a stressed situation, I only can rely on myself.” “Oh c’mon, Gwen. I know all about such stuff. Do you think I’m stupid like your ass? No, hell! I read.” “Yeah, just to check that you know my norm is different with yours. I’m not bound with religious rules or law.” She stopped and looked at Luna’s impatience face then decided not to make her angrier. “Okay, okay. Let’s move on to my story.” “Yes. Your story with your sugar daddy.” Gwenda bulged her eyes, annoyed with Luna’s response right now. But that was the only thing she could do other than telling her everything. It was her mistake and she knew what she should do to fix it. She just didn’t have enough courage to tell her. Her courage had wiped out along with the beginning of her mistake. *** He was right there. Sitting there alone with an empty cup of macchiato coffee latte. A smile painted his face right after he saw Gwenda entering the coffee shop. “Good choice of coffee shop. Even better than before.” Without any greeting, she just sat there. Right next to him. 3 “Come here, my little lady.” He moved a little bit to give Gwenda some space. “There’s no little lady.” Gwenda leaned her head onto his shoulder. “There is only a little girl. But I’m not little and not a lady.” “So, who are you?” “You define it.” Gwenda laughed a little trying to ignore her nervous. This was their third meeting. Everything ran smoothly since their first talk—since Gwenda followed her instinct to take her mission into action. For him, Gwenda was a new fresh start. After the vacuum of a woman presence in several months, he finally felt the touch of a woman again. Gwenda even more than what he expected her to be. He never thought how smart and independent Gwenda was. Despite the age gap, he and Gwenda could connect to each other in every topic of discussion they brought, from economic stuff, job until life.