Arya slowly opened his eyes. His vision was still blurry, as if it needed time to adjust to the light around him. As things came into focus, he realized he was lying in his own bed. The familiar ceiling greeted him, and the faint sound of traffic drifted in from outside the window, just like always. Everything seemed normal, as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.
Arya lay still for a while. So much seemed to be lingering in his memory, but he couldn't yet piece it together into anything whole. Morning sunlight slipped through the gap in the curtains. The golden rays fell across part of the room, touching his face and body with a soothing warmth. His body, however, told a different story.
A dull ache ran through nearly every part of him. Whenever he tried to move, his muscles felt stiff and sore, as if they had been pushed far beyond their limits. The pain was worst in his back and shoulders, making even the smallest movement uncomfortable.
His eyes felt dry and stinging, too. His eyelids were heavy, and his vision was still a little fuzzy. He blinked a few times, trying to ease the discomfort. In the silence of the room, Arya could only lie there staring at the ceiling. Slowly, his mind began to fill with questions about what had really happened to leave him in this state.
His phone alarm suddenly went off, breaking the morning quiet that had only been filled by the faint hum of cars outside. Arya flinched slightly before turning toward the table beside his bed. Stiffly, he reached out for his phone. His shoulder throbbed as he moved his arm, forcing him to shift his position just to reach it. He finally grabbed the phone and switched off the alarm.
The time on the screen showed that there was still about an hour before his morning class. Normally, that would have been reason enough to lie back down, pull the blanket halfway over his face, and enjoy a few extra minutes before getting up for real. There was no need to rush.
But this time was different.
Instead of putting the phone down and going back to sleep, Arya just stared at the screen as it slowly dimmed. Something made him unwilling to close his eyes again. A restless feeling had risen out of nowhere, disturbing the calm he should have enjoyed after waking up. It hung in his mind, and he couldn't shake it.
Arya tried to recall what had happened before he woke up. Fragments of memory began to surface, though some were still hazy. He remembered the strange young man whose appearance made no sense at all, the fight against the tree spirit, and the woman in the red dress who had appeared and saved Rika.
For a moment, Arya tried to convince himself that it was all just a wild dream. Maybe his mind had been so exhausted that it had made up a string of strange events that felt unbelievably real. But the pain still running through his back and shoulders made that hard to believe. The exhaustion was a reminder that whatever had happened last night was more than just a dream.
As he sat lost in thought, his eyes happened to fall on something lying on his chest. He frowned slightly as he noticed it. It was a single white jasmine flower. Arya stared at it in surprise. It looked perfect, its white petals whole and clean, without a single blemish. Nothing about it was wilted or damaged. It looked like a flower that had just been picked from a garden, as if it had only recently been placed there.
Slowly, Arya lifted his hand and picked it up. He studied every part of it carefully, turning it between his fingers. The stem still looked fresh, and the petals were firm, with no sign of drying out. There wasn't even the rotten smell that usually comes from a flower that has been picked for a long time.
He let out a long breath, then slowly pushed the blanket aside and got out of bed. His movements were still stiff from the pain that hadn't fully faded. Still holding the flower, he walked to the bookshelf in the corner of his room. He opened one of the drawers and carefully placed the jasmine inside, making sure it wasn't pinched by anything else.
The following days went by as usual, a monotonous routine with nothing really new. But the jasmine in the drawer of Arya's bookshelf kept lingering in his mind. Sometimes he opened the drawer just to make sure the flower was still there, and every time he saw it, that strange feeling washed over him again, the feeling that what happened that night was more than just a dream.
The jasmine, with its freshness that never faded, seemed to be a sign that whatever had happened between the human world and the world of dreams was not over yet. Arya knew that sooner or later, he would be forced to face a reality bigger than anything he had ever imagined.
************
That night, Arya's boarding house was quiet as usual. Only the old fan rattled softly in his room. Arya was staring at his laptop screen, trying to finish the pile of college assignments that kept growing. Outside, it was dark and cold, with a light drizzle that had been falling since the afternoon.
But out in the hallway, things were far from as peaceful as they were inside his room. For the past few days, several residents had been growing uneasy after seeing a strange girl pacing back and forth in front of Arya's door again and again. She never stayed long. She was usually seen walking slowly down the hallway before stopping right in front of Room 308. Sometimes she stood there motionless for several minutes, doing nothing. Other times, she bowed her head as if searching for something on the floor, or peering at the gap beneath the door.
Her appearance was striking enough to make anyone who saw her uneasy. She had long, wavy, dark red hair that hung loose and messy. Her face was pale, and her hair often covered one side of it. She almost always kept her head down, so the residents could never get a clear look at her face.
One resident, who lived in the room next to Arya's, even said he had tried to approach her. But as he got closer, the girl suddenly vanished without a trace. The experience soon became a topic of gossip among the residents.
"Maybe it's some new kind of kuntilanak? I tried to get close too, and she just disappeared!" one resident whispered to a friend. His voice sounded serious, though he himself still had trouble believing what he was saying.
(Kuntilanak: a female ghost in Indonesian folklore.)
"So creepy. I saw her standing in front of Room 308 for ages, too. It was already past midnight. I was too scared to leave my room to go to the bathroom," another replied.
From then on, the red-haired girl became an even bigger topic of conversation. Some residents began avoiding the hallway alone, especially at night. Others sped up whenever they had to pass Arya's room, afraid of running into that mysterious figure.
Arya knew nothing about the little commotion among his neighbors. But that night, one of the braver residents knocked on his door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Arya got up from his seat and walked to the door. After checking who it was, he opened it, a little awkwardly. Standing in front of him was a man who lived not far from his room.
"What's up, man? At this hour?" Arya asked, frowning slightly.
The man seemed hesitant to start. He glanced down the hallway before looking back at Arya.
"Uh, Arya..." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Sorry, I just wanted to ask. That girl who keeps pacing in front of your room, is she a friend of yours?"
Arya looked at him in confusion.
"A girl?" he repeated.
"Yeah. We've seen her in front of your room several times now." The man tried to smile, though his face still showed his unease. "Pale face, messy red hair, wearing a dark blue dress."
He asked it jokingly, as if trying to lighten the mood. But the way he spoke only showed how hard he was trying to hide his fear. Arya's frown deepened.
"A girl? Who? I've never invited anyone here."
His answer came out instantly. He truly had no idea who his neighbor was talking about. The man didn't answer right away. He just shrugged, then looked down the hallway. His eyes darted left and right, scanning the surroundings warily, as if afraid the figure they were talking about might suddenly appear from one of the corners.
"Ah, I see..." he mumbled.
Without any further explanation, the man said goodbye and walked off, acting strangely. Arya stayed in the doorway, watching his neighbor move farther and farther away until he disappeared at the end of the hallway. Then he slowly closed the door and went back inside.
A pale girl? Pacing in front of my room? Red hair? Arya tried to replay the description his neighbor had given. Something about the story felt off, especially because the girl had supposedly been seen in front of his room several times. If that was true, why had he never noticed her?
Then he remembered that his neighbor had said she was wearing a dark blue dress. The image made him even more curious. But he still couldn't be sure who it was. In the end, Arya decided to find out for himself. He went back to the door, slowly turned the handle, and opened it just a crack, leaving a gap wide enough to peek through. He looked down the length of the hallway.
He held his breath for a moment, trying to see if anyone was still outside his room.
And there she was. Right at the end of the hallway stood the girl who had been the talk of the boarding house for the past few days, looking restless. Her messy, dark red hair hung loose, and her dark blue dress seemed to float gently as she paced back and forth in front of Arya's door. Her steps never really took her far from it. Now and then she stopped and glanced toward the door, hesitant. Several times she even looked like she was about to come closer, but backed out at the last second.
Seeing this, Arya could only let out a long sigh. He stepped out of his room and stood right in front of the girl who had become the center of everyone's gossip.
"Rika! What are you doing pacing around here?"
"Eh?!"
Rika jumped in shock. Her body jerked so hard she almost lost her balance. Her face, already pale, somehow turned even paler. She quickly looked away, her hands moving awkwardly as if searching for an excuse to explain why she was there.
"I-I was... I was just... just..." she stammered.
Arya waited silently for an explanation that never came.
"Huh? Just what? Pacing around like a thief?" he scolded, sounding annoyed. "Do you know the whole boarding house is buzzing because of you?"
Rika lowered her head and covered her face with both hands. "I didn't know they would be able to see me..." she mumbled.
Arya sighed, holding back his irritation. "Rika, you can't just go pacing around here. If you have something to say, just say it. Don't scare people like that!"
Rika slowly lowered her hands. Her eyes were glistening, tears pooling at the edges. She looked at Arya with a face full of regret. Her lips even trembled before she finally found the courage to explain.
"I'm sorry, I just..." Rika paused, trying to find the right words. "I was lonely."
Arya fell silent for a moment.
"I didn't know where to go back to in the other world, and the scary gatekeeper there yelled at me too," Rika went on in a small voice. "So I came here. But I was afraid you'd kick me out if I came into your room. That's why I just... you know, paced around."
She lowered her head again after she finished.
Arya was speechless. He hadn't expected Rika to look like this. Even though she was a ghost, right now she seemed so human, full of guilt and confusion.
Arya let out a long sigh. "Oh, Rika... Next time, if you want to say something, just say it. Don't act like the ghost of the boarding house."
Rika gave a small nod, her face still flushed. "I promise I won't pace around anymore... I'm sorry, Arya. I didn't know where else to go."
Seeing her like this, Arya's annoyance slowly faded. His shoulders relaxed, and he looked at Rika more calmly.
"It's okay, I'm not mad," he said. "But next time, please think about other people's feelings, okay? You might not mean to scare them, but imagine if someone suddenly saw someone like you pacing outside their room."
Arya then stepped aside from the doorway, making room for Rika to come in.
"Come on, if you want to talk, just come in. But remember, no more creepy vibes."
Rika smiled faintly at his words. Though the regret was still clear in her eyes, her expression slowly turned to relief. She gave a small nod before stepping over the threshold. Arya could only shake his head a little at her antics. He might still be a bit annoyed that Rika had scared the other residents, but at least now she didn't have to wander the hallway anymore.
For the first time in a long while, Arya's boarding house room felt a little more alive, even if it was with a ghost who had finally found her place.