Ever since that night, Dani could no longer see his house the same way.
The house that had always been the safest place for him suddenly felt full of questions.
Every corner seemed to be hiding something.
Every old object in the house seemed to have a story he didn't know yet.
The next morning, Dani sat at the dining table without saying much.
His mother glanced at him several times.
"Are you still mad at me?"
Dani stirred the tea in front of him.
"I'm not mad."
"Then what?"
"I'm just confused."
His mother fell silent.
"I've lived in this house for years, Mom. But it turns out there are so many things I don't know."
His mother lowered her head.
"I just wanted to protect you."
"By hiding everything?"
"I was afraid that if you found out, you'd start digging deeper."
Dani gave a faint smile.
"And it turns out I did, right?"
His mother didn't answer.
Dani stood and picked up his bag.
"I'm going to school."
"Dani."
He stopped.
"Be careful."
Dani turned around.
"You need to start telling me things too, Mom."
Then he left.
At school, Raka immediately knew something was different.
"What's wrong with you?"
Dani sat down beside him.
"I talked to my mom last night."
"About that book?"
Dani nodded.
"That old house used to belong to a family named Arman."
Raka looked thoughtful.
"Arman?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I've heard that name before."
"Where?"
Raka tried to remember.
"From something my dad told me."
Dani immediately looked at him.
"Tell me."
Raka glanced around.
"Not here."
They ended up going behind the school building during break.
"My dad used to work all over the village," Raka said.
"And?"
"He once told me about a family whose child disappeared."
Dani waited.
"He said that after it happened, a lot of people started experiencing strange things."
"Including seeing the black figure?"
Raka nodded.
"But the weird thing is, it never appeared to everyone."
Dani looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"It only appeared to certain people."
Dani fell silent.
"And now it's appeared to me."
"Yeah."
Before they could say anything else, Fajar arrived carrying a drink.
"You guys talking about that old house?"
Dani and Raka immediately looked at him.
"How do you know?"
Fajar sat down.
"Because you've been talking way too loudly."
Raka sighed.
"Fajar, you know something too?"
Fajar didn't answer right away.
He opened the cap on his drink.
"My family used to live near that house."
Dani immediately focused on him.
"You know the Arman family?"
"Not personally."
"Then?"
"My grandma knew them."
Fajar looked at Dani's face.
"She said there was a strange night before it happened."
"What night?"
"The night they found a little kid standing in front of the house."
Dani furrowed his brow.
"A little kid?"
"Yeah."
"Who?"
Fajar shook his head.
"No one knows."
Dani felt that something was off.
"Why was that kid important?"
Fajar looked at Dani.
"Because apparently, the kid looked like you."
Dani immediately went silent.
Raka also looked shocked.
"Looked like Dani?"
"Yeah."
"So what does that have to do with anything?"
Fajar shrugged.
"I don't know. My grandma never told me the whole story."
Dani began to feel as though all the pieces of the story were pointing toward him.
But the more answers he got, the more new questions came up.
After school, Dani decided to go to his grandmother's house.
He wanted to find out about his childhood.
His mother might not be willing to tell him everything yet.
But maybe someone else knew.
Dani's grandmother's house wasn't too far from their village.
When Dani arrived, his grandmother was sitting on the porch.
"Grandma."
The old woman smiled.
"Dani? What brings you here?"
Dani sat beside her.
"Grandma, I want to ask you something."
Her smile slowly faded.
"What is it?"
"When I was little, did I ever go to the old house near the edge of the village?"
Her hand stopped moving.
"Who told you that?"
Dani immediately noticed the change in her expression.
"So it's true?"
His grandmother sighed.
"Who told you?"
"That's not important."
"It is important, Dani."
"Grandma, I just want to know."
His grandmother stared at the road in front of the house.
"You did go there once, when you were little."
Dani fell silent.
"I don't remember."
"Because you were still very young."
"What happened?"
His grandmother was silent for quite a while.
Then she began to tell him.
"You were found near the Arman family's house."
"Found?"
"Yes."
"You mean I went there by myself?"
"No one knows."
Dani felt his body go stiff.
"Then what?"
"You were just standing in front of their house."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
His grandmother took Dani's hand.
"You kept staring inside the house."
"Why?"
"You said someone was calling you."
Dani immediately remembered the voice he'd heard several nights ago.
"Dani..."
His grandmother looked at his face.
"And there's something your mom has never known."
"What?"
"When you were found, you were carrying something."
"What kind of thing?"
His grandmother slowly stood and went inside the house.
A few minutes later, she returned carrying a small box.
The box looked old.
Dani took it.
"What's this?"
"Open it."
Slowly, Dani opened the box.
Inside was an old bracelet.
Dani froze.
The same bracelet from the photo.
The bracelet that appeared in his dreams.
"Grandma..."
His grandmother looked at Dani.
"You used to wear it when you were little."
Dani couldn't say a word.
"Then why have you kept it all this time?"
"Because after that happened, someone asked your family to forget everything."
"Who?"
His grandmother didn't answer.
Suddenly, the sound of a motorbike stopping came from in front of the house.
Dani and his grandmother turned around.
A man stood by the gate.
Dani recognized his face.
Mr. Warto.
But this time, the old man's face looked panicked.
"Dani."
Dani stood up.
"Mr. Warto?"
The man walked closer.
"You've found the bracelet?"
Dani gripped the small box.
"Yeah."
Mr. Warto closed his eyes for a moment.
"Then everything's going to start again."
Dani felt his heart pounding.
"What's starting?"
Mr. Warto stared at the bracelet.
"The thing we failed to stop back then."
The wind suddenly began to blow harder.
And for the first time, Dani felt that the black figure wasn't merely carrying a secret.
It was carrying an old event that had never truly ended.