Finger’s Sparkle
One day, I was in a room in my new school. There was only a small glimmer of light. It was only enough to light up the hallway. On this cloudy afternoon, I was trapped in the room. No. Not trapped. But my inner voice forced me to be in this place. In a place where all sounds are restricted. A place where we must be orderly. Library. Yes, that's what I call it. A place where all the books sit nicely on neatly lined shelves. I put my backpack on a shelf that had been provided. Then I stared at the ceiling of this room. Then stared straight at one point.
Yes, my gaze stopped on a bespectacled librarian with a fierce face. As if he was saying to all library visitors, "Quickly finish your business and get out of here before I kick you out," it was truly an overly high fantasy. I immediately came to my senses and walked towards one of the bookshelves located to the south of the main door of this room. One by one I looked at the books. Starting from the Oxford dictionary to teenlit-teenlit teens that are currently popular with young people. Especially school teenagers. I intended to borrow the teenlit book. Until curiosity kept tickling me to pick it up.
"Excuse me, sir," I said. The librarian looked at me with his glasses that looked out of place with his fierce face. I shuddered seeing this person's face. Luckily this was a library, if this was a market, of course no one would want to buy at this person's place, I thought mischievously.
"Yes, what do you need?!" he asked coldly and unfriendly. Hmm... my guess was not wrong. If his face looked fierce, everything would feel very foreign and annoying.
"I... I..." and I don't know why my voice was also scared seeing this person's face.
"Yes, hmm... where's the book?" he asked. I handed over the book I wanted to borrow with trembling hands. The person seemed to look at me with a look, "Hey, what's wrong with you? "Open your eyes, this is a library, not a detention room," I heard the faint sound of a bell from the west side of the main door of the library. I immediately finished my business with this fierce-faced librarian.
"Thank you, sir," I said and ran out of the room.
"Hey! Do you no longer need that black bag?" The shout made me turn around immediately.
"Excuse me," I immediately grabbed my bag and hurried out of the room.
"Hi Ivana, are you done with your business?" asked a sweet-faced boy in front of me, it was Bronze, my new friend. I smiled faintly.
"I don't know, the librarian is so scary, I myself don't dare to stay there for long," I replied. Bronze, Arina, and Divest laughed.
"We've actually had a 'personal grudge' with Mr. George for a long time," replied Bronze. Arina and Divest laughed.
"You mean 'personal grudge'?" I asked.
"You mean us? Aren't you the only one who has it?" Divest argued. Arina nodded.
“Yeah… it’s up to you… as you know, Mr. George has never been close to the students here. Starting from his way of speaking, his appearance, even his scary figure always makes us…” Bronze stopped talking when Divest cleared his throat as a sign of disagreement with the word “we” that Bronze said.
“I mean… it makes me never comfortable staying long in the library… I even got really mad at him when an Oxford dictionary was thrown at me just because I forgot to take off my shoes,” Bronze recalled her bitter incident. Arina and Divest just giggled.
“It wasn’t a funny experience,” I said. Arina looked at me. Signaling that I agreed with her and Divest. “Mmm… maybe,” I continued after knowing the signal given by Arina. Bronze smiled slightly.
“Yeah, no need to question it anymore. After all, I don’t care about him anymore,”
“Why isn’t there a decision from the school to replace him?” I asked. The four of us walked down the school hallway that was starting to get quiet.
“Well… maybe because he has been working here for a long time. Longer than the mahogany tree in the corner of this school,” replied Bronze. Arina and Divest nodded in agreement. I looked at them.
“A mahogany tree?” I didn’t understand.
“Well… a mahogany tree. You don’t know?” asked Arina. I shook my head.
“There’s still time tomorrow, right? I’ll take you around this school,” said Bronze. Divest and Arina cleared their throats.
“Oh… come on,” Bronze pulled my hand to leave the place. Divest and Arina giggled to themselves.
Along the way to the school gate, the four of us were busy joking around. Especially Bronze. He is a humorous boy and can make me feel at home in school here. BANG!!! I didn't realize I bumped into something. no. Not something. but someone. I fell down and the books I was carrying were scattered on the floor. Bronze helped me get up and pick up all my books. I thanked him. And my gaze fell on the old figure in front of me. He had a cold face. I looked at Bronze. Bronze looked at me with a shrug. I looked back at the old man.
"Sorry sir, I didn't mean to," I said. Bronze looked at Arina and Divest. They also signaled that they didn't know the stranger. The old man was silent while continuing to stare at me. I really didn't understand all this. "Mmm... forgive our friend sir, he didn't mean to," said Bronze trying to help. The old man looked at Bronze. "Come on... My mother will go crazy if she finds me coming home late again," Arina tried to lighten the mood.
Bronze, who felt he had received a signal to leave the place, immediately pulled my hand and invited me to leave the place. I obeyed. The four of us immediately left the place. The old man stared at the four of us leaving. "Your luck is in the sparkle you have, sweet child..." said the old man and then left the place. "Do you recognize that old man?" I asked Bronze.
"Mmm... I don't know, I've never seen him around this school,"
"Strange, we've never seen him here, maybe a new security guard," said Arina.
“Isn’t the old security enough? And I don’t think he’s suitable to be a security guard.. just look at how old the man is? I don’t think he’s from here,” Divest argued. Arina nodded. Bronze and I were silent and still confused. “It’s getting late, I should take you home,” Bronze offered her help. I nodded. Divest and Arina got into the car. Bronze and I walked to the left side of the parking lot to get the car. This morning there was a scientific practice. My three new friends and I immediately prepared the equipment. Suddenly one of my friends, Diva, approached me.
“Hi Ivana!!” she greeted. I smiled.
“You’re so busy, how was your first day here? Are you comfortable?”
“Yeah… as you can see, this school has become friendly to me,” I replied. Diva smiled. She grabbed my palm which was busy arranging scientific equipment. She looked at her in awe. I didn’t understand.
“What are you looking at, Diva?” I asked.
“Hey, where did you get these sparkles?” she asked. I stared at my fingers that were already full of twinkling sparkles. I also didn't know where these sparkles came from.
"I don't know, I don't know," I replied.
"Cute, so sweet..." Diva was still amazed by the sparkles on my hands. I let her see the sparkles stuck to my fingers.
"Come on, kids! We don't have much time!" Mrs. Zawniy shouted as a sign that the science practice would soon begin. "See you later Ivana," Diva left me and returned to her seat. Only I was still in a daze. I stared at the sparkles. What is this thing? strange...
"Ivana, are you okay?" asked Bronze.
"Yes... you think," I replied.
"Come on, the science practice will soon begin,"
"Oh, okay," I said. I saw Divest and Arina busy arranging the practice equipment. Bronze and I immediately joined them.
Teeet… Teeet… The school bell rang long. All students rushed out of their respective classes. As usual, I and my three new friends, Bronze, Arina, and Divest walked together. The four of us were going to the canteen. “Hy Bronze!!” greeted one of the students. Bronze and I turned our heads.
“Hy Dep!!” replied Bronze. Dep smiled. I looked at Bronze.
“Your plan yesterday came true, right? Taking me around the school?” I asked after the four of us had arrived at the canteen and had sat in a circle on the chairs provided.
“Sure, after the second period is over, I will take you around, don’t worry,” replied Bronze while sipping the orange juice she ordered.
In the distance, I saw Diva happily chatting with her friends. I remembered the incident in the laboratory earlier. I looked at my fingers again. The sparkles were still there. I tried to clean them. But instead my hands were hot. So I let the sparkles land on my fingers. School hours were over. All the students of ZAFROUD High School scattered home. Occasionally jokes and laughter colored their journey. I had just returned from the library after returning the book I borrowed yesterday. And of course I had to face the scary librarian again. At least I didn't have to invite Bronze to the library. Because I was sure she would reject the invitation outright.
"Guys!!! Diva had an accident!!!" shouted one of the students hysterically. All the children gathered in the hallway immediately scattered outside. So did the four of us, after hearing the shocking news, the four of us ran down the school hallway with hasty steps.
My three friends and I saw Diva lying stiff and helpless with blood splattered all over her body. So did her parents who were picking Diva up. They all died horribly. The car they were riding in was crushed due to a collision with a truck. Their bodies were carried on stretchers. Diva's friends cried and some even fainted. I didn't expect this to happen so quickly. Even though this morning she was still with me in the scientific practice laboratory. This incident was completely beyond my expectations. I looked at Bronze, Arina, and Divest. They nodded.
This sad incident certainly shocked the school. The scene not far from the school was immediately secured by the police with yellow lines. All the students who had gathered at the scene immediately left because the police had prohibited them from being in the location. I looked at my fingers. I was shocked. Because all the sparkles were gone. How could that be? Weren't there still a lot of them and they were very difficult to remove. I was silent. Staring confusedly at my fingers which were now clean of small, twinkling objects. Where did the sparkles go? In the distance, an old man in shabby clothes appeared. He smiled, although his smile was not a smile of happiness.
"This is the time..." he said mysteriously. Not long after, he disappeared behind the crowd.
END