Seven Sisters and Seven Marks

1. Sisters Forever

1999

"Sisters forever."

Arawinda Biru stared at her sad face in front of the mirror in her toilet. Her eye bags were enlarged, her cheeks were thin, and her hair was messy because she didn't shampoo for a few days. During the week, she took office leave and chose to lock herself up in her small house. This week, she didn't see the sun. She even locked all her window. Before she locked herself up, she had prepared one box of instant noodles and a dozen of eggs for her to eat.

Ara turned on the faucet on the toilet sink, hoping that the sound would make her feel less lonely. Ara opened the medicine cabinet tacked to the wall beside the mirror, took a few anti-depressants and tried to swallow them with a glass of water. In addition to anti-depressants, she also recently took sleeping pills due to severe insomnia that had been attacking her. Her head felt so heavy and full, she almost wanted to die. For a moment, she closed her eyes. Again, the memory flashed back.

A teenage girl opened her room's door carefully after she heard the noises for a while. She stepped cautiously on the wooden floor. This house was quiet. There was only the sound of her own breathing. She walked to the room opposite her. As soundlessly as possible, she peered through the gap of the door. Her eyes widened when she saw thick red liquid that flooded from a man's head lying on the wooden floor. On the chest of the shirtless man stuck a pair of scissors. Like the red roses, the blood also spread at several points on his chest and stomach. The man's eyes opened. The fragments of the flower vas and the fake roses scattered on the side of his body.

The black eyes of a black-wavy-haired girl turned to the black-long-haired girl who was wearing a worn maroon dress. The girl was about to get out of this place through the window. The long-haired girl turned to look at the man. Her gaze couldn't be interpreted. Her eyes looked puffy. She smiled slightly at the man, then turned away and immediately jumped out through the window.

Ara opened her eyes again. She looked at a former incision about three centimeters away from her artery on her wrist. The incision formed a symbol of number one or ekaḥ in Sanskrit Numbers.

She touched it slowly, then she cried.

"Sisters forever," she muttered to herself.

Ara looked back at her face in the mirror. She hit the mirror hard until it cracked. "STOP BOTHERING ME! YOU AREN'T MY BLOODY SISTER!" She yelled desperately at the reflection of her face in the mirror.

Knock... knock... knock...

Ara instinctively turned towards the toilet door. She turned off the faucet. She began to pant. Fear spread through her body. She quickly grabbed a scissors from the medicine cabinet. Then, it was silence instantly. No sounds. Ara waited. A few minutes later, there was a crackling sound of the wood floor outside the toilet, until the door creaked open and closed slowly. Her heart pounded along with her footsteps approached toward the toilet door. She gripped the scissors tightly, but her hands still trembled.

Cold sweat started to flow. There was no sound of knocking on the door or the footsteps. Ara peeked at the toilet door hole. There was nobody. Slowly, Ara's left hand turned the door handle. She knew, there was another person in her house. Shit, she cursed in the heart. The room lights were still on, but a few minutes later, the lights in the entire room inside the house went out. Her fear was getting worse.

She moved closer to the door, groping the wall slowly with her left hand, looking for a small lantern she used to hang on the wall. After she got it, she put the scissors into her pajamas pocket and tried to find the matches she usually placed on her nightstand, not far from her. She opened the matchbox, took a stick, felt the match tip, then rubbed it on the rough side of the box. Because she was trembling, she failed several times to ignite the fire, but finally, she succeeded. After the fire ignited, she tried to light the lantern. Along with that, someone's footsteps were heard again outside her room. The crackling sound of the wooden floor echoed.