Morning came without bringing any warmth.
Fog still hung low between the houses when Raka stepped out of the inn. The rain had stopped, but the roads were still wet. The air in Karangwening felt cold and far too quiet for a village that had already begun its morning.
He did not head straight for Ms. Sari’s roadside stall.
First, Raka wanted to confirm one thing.
He walked toward a house not far from the inn. An old man was sweeping the yard.
“Excuse me, sir.”
The man turned.
Raka pulled up a photo of Rania on his phone.
“I’m looking for this woman. Her name is Rania Adinata.”
The man studied the photo for several seconds.
Then he shook his head.
“Never seen her.”
Raka nodded.
“You’re sure?”
“Sure.”
“Has she ever come to this village?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Raka watched the old man’s hands.
The broom he was holding had stopped moving.
“Then do you know House Number 17?”
The man’s expression changed.
Only for a moment.
But Raka saw it.
“There is no House Number 17.”
“I saw it last night.”
“Then you must have seen wrong.”
“In the forest?”
The old man fell silent.
Raka gave him a thin smile.
“You said there’s no House Number 17. But I never said the house was in the forest.”
The old man stared at him.
He did not answer.
Raka left him there.
On the main road, Raka found several villagers gathered in front of a shop.
He tried asking them questions.
The result was the same.
No one knew Rania.
No one had ever seen her.
No one knew about the house in the forest.
No one knew what had happened thirty years ago.
Every answer sounded like a line they had memorized.
One woman even shut her door when Raka mentioned Rania’s name.
A young man pretended not to hear him.
Another man simply walked away without saying a word.
Raka began to realize something.
They weren’t clueless.
**They were afraid to talk.**
He stopped at an intersection.
In the distance, he saw a little boy playing by himself.
A red jacket.
Raka recognized him immediately.
“Hey!”
The boy stopped.
Then he looked at Raka.
Raka walked closer.
“You’re the kid from yesterday, right?”
The boy did not answer.
“You know Rania?”
For the first time, the boy’s expression changed.
He nodded.
Raka felt his heart begin to beat faster.
“Where is she?”
The boy pointed toward the forest.
“Wening Forest?”
The boy nodded again.
“Is Rania there?”
This time, the boy shook his head.
Then he raised one finger.
“Alone?”
The boy shook his head.
“With whom?”
The boy stared at Raka for a long moment.
Then he answered in a very soft voice.
“With the others.”
“Who are the others?”
The boy did not answer.
Instead, he pointed behind Raka.
Raka turned.
Laras stood across the street.
The woman was watching him.
Her face looked tense.
When their eyes met, Laras quickly walked over.
“Don’t talk to that kid.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t live here.”
Raka looked at the boy in the red jacket.
The boy was gone.
“Where did he go?”
Laras did not answer.
“Who is he?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I think it matters.”
Laras sighed.
“You came here to look for Rania, didn’t you?”
Raka fell silent.
“How do you know?”
“Everyone knows.”
“They said no one knew her.”
“Because they’re never going to admit it.”
“Not even you?”
Laras looked at him.
“I never said I didn’t know her.”
Raka studied her face.
“So you know Rania?”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Laras did not answer.
Raka pressed her harder.
“Is she still alive?”
Laras lowered her head.
Several seconds passed before she finally said,
“The more important question is…”
She raised her face.
“…is the person you’re looking for really the Rania you know?”
Raka felt that something was wrong.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t trust anyone in this village.”
“Not even you?”
Laras stared at him for a long time.
“Especially me.”
Then she walked away.
Raka stood frozen.
Before Laras disappeared around the corner, Raka called out to her.
“Laras!”
The woman stopped.
“If everyone in this village is lying, how am I supposed to find the truth?”
Laras did not turn around.
“Find the person who has lost the most.”
Then she left.
That afternoon, Raka returned to Ms. Sari’s roadside stall.
She was arranging bottles of drinks when Raka came in.
“Sit down,” she said without turning around.
Raka sat.
“I’ve asked several villagers.”
Ms. Sari kept working.
“They said Rania had never come here.”
“I know.”
“They’re lying.”
Ms. Sari’s hands stopped.
Raka pulled out the old photo he had found at the inn.
He placed it on the table.
“Why is Rania in a photo from 1996?”
Ms. Sari did not look at it right away.
“I don’t know.”
“Ms. Sari.”
“I don’t know.”
Raka pointed to the young woman’s face in the photo.
“That’s you.”
Ms. Sari finally looked at the photo.
Her face instantly went pale.
Raka continued,
“And this…”
His finger moved to Rania’s figure.
“…is my younger sister.”
Ms. Sari said nothing.
Then her eyes fixed on the bottom of the photo.
Seventeen names.
Her lips trembled.
“She shouldn’t have been there.”
“Why?”
Ms. Sari looked at Raka in terror.
“Because that night…”
She stopped.
From outside the roadside stall came the sound of the tower bell.
**Dong.**
Raka looked at his watch.
Noon.
But the clock tower showed something different.
Its hands were moving backward.
03:17.
Ms. Sari whispered,
“…no one should have been able to come back.”
Raka stared at her.
“Who came back, Ms. Sari?”
Ms. Sari closed her eyes.
And for the first time, she said the name.
“Rania.”