Atan, 26 years old. he was the man trusted by all villager.
His knowledge in repairing houses damaged by monster attack or natural disasters often made him their saviour.
Yet, behind all that performances, a dark secret was tightly concealed.
Just like Nisa, no one knew about Atan's personal life.
A day after the incident inside the drug storeroom, Nisa fled to her neighbour's house, Cik Dollah, who happened to be outside.
"Nisa? what are you doing here?"
"Cik Dollah... can I... stay here... for a while?"
Seeing her pale face and bruises on her hand, Cik Dollah allowed her to stay.
Once inside, Cik Dollah asked.
"Nisa, are you okay? why do you look so pale?"
Nisa remained silent, not answering all the question Cik Dollah's ask.
Cik Dollah approached her slowly, her veiny arms wrapping around Nisa's body, holding her calmly.
At first, Nisa flinched at Cik Dollah's sudden action. She tried to break free from the hug because of the trauma she had expreienced.
However, Cik Dollah didn't let go. With calm and gentleness, she gave Nisa a warm embrace.
She didn't know what Nisa had just been through, but from the empty gaze and pale face, She knew that Nisa desperately need help from someone.
"It's okay, dear. I'm not going to do anything to you. You're safe now." whispered Cik Dollah, her voice was calm as the sound of a river flowing in the dead of night.
Hearing that, Nisa couldn't hold back her tears and began to cry her heart out.
Her Cries that night were not just ordinary tears; they were tears of a girl who had bottled up her suffering, finally erupting and dominating the silence of the night.
"Isn't that right...?"
"Atan."
Badang, Samar and Tok Hussein were shocked They never imagined that the person they thought was good guy was actually a wolf in sheep's clothing.
"Urgh... urgh!"
Atan tried to break free from Ilyas's control, but failed.
"Why..."
Samar clenching his hand.
"WHY DID YOU DO ALL THIS, YOU BASTARD!!"
Samar tried to punch Atan's face, his heated head can no longer think straight. But Badang held him back just in time.
"Let me go, Badang! Let me beat the shit out of him!"
"Samar!"
A voice like thunder made the room tremble.
"Calm yourself first, please." ask Tok Hussein.
Badang released Samar, who tried to compose himself.
"Ilyas, can you release Atan for a moment?"
Ilyas released his power that hold on Atan.
"Atan."
Tok Hussein voice was tense and firm, coupled with a disappointed expression.
"What happened to you, Atan?"
"How could you do this?!"
"Don't you think what will you parent feel when they see all of this?!" ask Tok Hussein, hoping that all of this was just a misunderstanding.
"Hah... hah... hah," he gasped for breath, looking at them with sharp eyes.
However...
"Heh... heh..."
It was not a mistake or a misunderstanding.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Atan's insane laughter sent shivers down Tok Hussein's spine.
It was a laugh that showed no guilt for everything he had done.
"Heh... hey, old man."
"You think I didn't think about how my parent would feel if they found out about this?"
"Everyday, I lived in a constant state of panic."
"What if they found out?"
"What would happen to me then?"
"That's why..."
Atan looked at them with piercing eyes.
"I took them to a place far from here."
Tok Hussein was confused by Atan's words.
"What do you mean?!"
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!!"
Badang then realised what Atan meant.
"You fucking son of a bitch!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
"WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY THAT, BADANG!" asked Samar.
"The reason why Nisa's adoptive parent didn't return on the day she was assaulted in the drug storeroom..."
"... Is because Atan killed them both."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing that. The room now filled only with the insane laughter coming from Atan. who had lost his mind.
"His parent accidentally discovered this basement room back then."
"As they were about to leave, they were killed by Atan, who was right at the basement door."
Tok Hussein almost fainting upon hearing all of Atan's extreme deeds.
He never thought someone like Atan was capable of doing all those things indiscriminately.
"Hahahaha... wow, you really know everything about me, huh."
"Who are you?" ask Atan, looking at Ilyas with a mocking smile.
"I've also want to ask something. Why can an animal speak human language?" said Ilyas, looking at Atan with an expression as if he were looking at a mangy dog.
"Heh... just you wait. once i get free...!'
"You think you can get away after commeting all these sins?" Tok Hussein speak up, his voice firm.
"So... What will you do?" asked Ilyas, looking at Tok Hussein.
"I will decide, and it is final."
"The punishment for the one who has commited grave sins..."
"Is death."
Hearing that, Atan grew even more frantic and laughed incessantly.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"You think you can kill me? Don't forget, i'm still a valuable puppet for 'them'"
"If 'they' find out I'm dead, you think you'll be safe?!"
"How do you know you're a valuable puppet for them?" Ilyas interuppted.
"If I were them, I'd just consider you as a diposable item."
"You're not even recyclable."
"You're fucking nobody."
"You're just a piece of trash littering at the middle of the road."
Atan, still in his own delusion, tried avoid that painful fact.
"No... no... I'm valuable for them... I'm not trash... I'm human!"
His body trembled, his teeth chattered, his arms wrapped his knees. He began behaving like a frightening child.
Tok Hussein, Badang and Samar watched Atan's behaviour with dissapointed expressions.
"Tok, Bad, Samar, please get out first. Don't open this door until I ask you."
The three of them nodded and left the room.
Ilyas looked at atan with an empty gaze.
"Hey, you fuck face."
He pulled Atan's hair, forcing him to look at Ilyas. Atan groaned in pain.
"Let... me... go!!"
"Every action..."
"... has a consequnce."
Ilyas placed the palm of his hand on Atan's chest.
Ilyas then take one packet of drugon the floor and clenched it.
All of a sudden, the drug packet he was holding unexpectedly caught on fire.
Atan was puzzled by Ilyas's action.
And then...
"AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!"
Atan's kidney burned from inside. Atan groaned in unimaginable pain.
He tried to break free from Ilyas's grip. but, the more he resisted, his pain become more intense.
"WHAT... DID YOU... DO??!!!!"
"I' just giving you a fitting punisment."
"You were willing to kill your parent and rape you own adoptive sister, all just to protect the drug you guarded like you own life."
"So, let me show you... all your actions..."
"Is worthless."
Ilyas snapped his finger repeatedly. One by one, the drugs in the storeroom caught fire.
Lungs, Testis, liver, brain, eyes— almost all of Atan's organs burned. Atan writhed in pain on Ilyas's hand, his leg writhed like heat worm, unable to do anything.
The drug storeroom also began to be engulfed in flame, leaving only Ilyas, Atan and a packet of drug.
Tok Hussein, bafang and Samar, who heard Atans's screams, felt not an ounce of pity because he truly deserved it.
"Please... please stop..."
"I... regret it..."
"I... will try... to change..."
"So please... forgive me..."
Ilyas looked at Atan, who was crying, begging for forgiveness repeatedly.
"You can't close the stable door..."
"... after the horse has bolted."
Ilyas snapped his finger for the last time and burned the final packet of drug.
Atan's heart burned fiercely, turning it to charcoal.
Finally, Atan died in a wretched state. His face was charred beyond recognition. He died because of the thing he protected with all his soul.
"You can open the door now."
Samar opended the storeroom door. the smell of burned drug and burnt flesh filled the space.
Ilyas came out with Atan's charred corpse.
Tok Hussein, Badang and Samar, seeing Atan's body, immediately covered their noses due to the pungent smell.
"What are you gonna do with his body?" asked Samar.
"Secret."
Ilyas left with Atan's body. The three of them remained in the house, not saying after the earlier events.
"If only..."
Samar spoke, his voice trembling.
"If only... I had known about this from the start..." his tears began to flow.
Badang patted Samar's shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself. We're just human. We can't possibly know everything that happen to thr people around us."
"But... why... why didn't Nisa tell me from the beginning?" Samar continued.
"Beside not wanting you to worry about her, in this day, victims of assault often ended up suffering more" Ilyas interjected into their converation.
"Especially victims of underage assault. If they report this to the police or others adult, they have to recount the traumatic events they had experienced over and over again."
"This can cause the victim to experience re-traumatization."
"Furthermore, threats from the predator make the victim more withdrawn and hesitant to speak up, fearing for the safety of those around them."
Samar now understood why Nisa had difficulty socialising with men other that Samar and Badrul.
Badang suddenly noticed something red at the corner of Ilyas's mouth.
"Ilyas, what is that near your mouth?"
"Ah, nothing." Ilyas promptly brushed it away with the back of his hand
"Anyway, the main problem is solved. So you all can relax and rest."
Before Ilyas left the scene...
"Ilyas."
"Thank you."
Ilyas heard Badang thanking him.
"If you weren't here, we don't know what would happened to us."
Ilyas remembered the events from his past life.
Stone village was destroyed by a rampage of monsters.
No bodies remained because the devastation was so severe it almost wiped the village off the face of the earth.
Badang wanted to take revenge on Badrul for destroying the village but failed completely and died fighting him.
after realising all his deeds, he commited suicide on a mountain because of his guilt of killing his brother and all the villagers.
Ilyas simply nodded and walked towards the protection hall