SHORT STORY BY: MUSTAFA ISMAIL
Ash had never thought about it one day he would return to his village. Since leaving the village a dozen years ago, Ash has considered the village no longer exists. He had killed the village in his mind. Because of that, he had forgotten it. He didn't want anyone to mention the name of the village, let alone take him home.
For Ash, the village is a past. It's so bitter. When he thought of the village, it felt like he wanted to destroy what was in front of him. Suddenly he felt his face tense and his eyes flushed red with anger. At other times, he felt so sad, so disappointed, so hurt. Then, she also wanted to cry as loud as she could, even though the tears could barely come out anymore.
The most memorable thing about the village is that the house of his parents was burned down by strangers and his mother, who was burned by fire, not having time to save himself. That was the most bitter event in his life. Since then, it was almost as if Ash had sworn that he would never set foot in the village again, unless death took him there. That is not to mention other sad events.
* * *
1977-1980: The Story of the Quarrel
There is always a fight between Umi and Abucut, Umi's sister. There's always a problem sparking the fight. For example, the question of a garden in Cot Teungoh that was pawned by my grandfather to replace a crushed person's motorbike that fell while riding an abucut. Abusyik, as we used to call him, was judged that Abucut paid more attention to Umi than him. He also questioned the land on which our house was built.
I was little then, in the fourth grade of elementary school. Abucut age about 20 years. I remember well Umi and Abucut's arguments continued. These problems continue to arise in their arguments. One time, Abucut, who lives with her family in the Meureudu area, returned to her village to meet Umi. "I don't have cigarettes. I need a little money to buy cigarettes, ”said Abucut.
Umi then went inside and took a few rupiah of the remaining groceries. But, when it was given to Abucut, he immediately threw away the money. "At this rate, I don't have to. Take back the money, "said Abucut.
For a moment, Umi was silent, not imagining that her sister would be so rude. Then, Umi took the money back, went into the house and closed the door. Umi doesn't want to fight, because she really loves Abucut. But outside, Abucut is angry by issuing harsh words and cornering Umi.
Finally, Umi couldn't stand it either. There was a great fight. Then, the Cot Teungoh lampoh problem, the abusyik issue that Umi felt more dear to Umi as the only daughter, as well as the land given to Umi, became a matter of contention. The atmosphere was so busy. Respectively, abucut and umi, attack each other with harsh words.
No one gave in. They could only be separated when many people came to the house and brought mines. Some of them calmed Umi. I myself can not do anything, can only cry hearing the fight.
Sometimes Umi throws glasses and plates at Abucut when you are in a fight. Abucut sometimes throws stones at the wall of our house which is made of bamboo. It also happened that one night, an argument started because a sudden throw hit the wall of our house accompanied by a sound of "bukkkk ...".
At that time, somehow, Abucut suddenly came to the house angry. After throwing down our house, he broke the door and entered. We're having dinner. He immediately grilled Umi with insulting words.
“Cupo has the heart to badmouth me for ashes. Cupo said he did not want to build a permanent house on this land because he was afraid of me. Am I really a tiger? I never forbade Cupo to build a house here. "
Seeing that, Ash immediately asked me out and let Umi and Abucut be alone at home. Ash didn't want to wait. On the way, Ash meets some neighbors, and asks them to break up the argument. After the evening prayer at the meunasah, Ashes came home with me, and saw Umi crying at home.
The quarrel occurred just months before Ash built a concrete house on a plot of land purchased in Baroh, near the railroad. At first, Abusyik asked Ash to build a house on the land where the house is now, but Ash and Umi didn't want to. They are afraid that he will have more reason to fight.
But Ash never told Abusyik the truth. In fact, Abu said the road where we live now is a small road, so that trucks cannot enter to bring sand, cement and other building materials there. On the other hand, Umi actually told Abusyik the truth. "Instead of continuing to fight with Din, we better move."
After hearing that, Abusyik looked for Abucut and scolding him. After being scolded, Abucut comes to the house and has a fight with Umi. However, the decision of Ash and Umi to build a house on the land that had just been purchased continued despite Abusyik's and also Abucut's opposition. In fact, the plan was hastened.
Abu borrowed money here and there, including at the bank, to fill up his savings to complete the house. Umi helped with energy, for example dredging the land across the road to fill the inside of the house. This is because the land is lower than the main road, so the basic foundation for the floor of the house is rather high.
Umi and abu call the house built with sweat and tears. So heavy. After the house was built, Ash and Umi had to work hard to repay the debts that were used to build the house. We were forced to save food. The house itself is not 100 percent finished, because the savings plus loans here and there are not enough.
* * *
1989-2004: Death
I was attending a vocational high school in Banda Aceh, when Ash sent a letter telling me not to go back to my village for a while. "The village is in trouble," he wrote in the letter. The distance between my village and Banda Aceh is about 150 kilometers. My village is in the east, behind Seulawah, the mountain which is the name of the plane that the Acehnese people donated to the government in the past.
It is not clear what is meant by danger. I'm curious too, don't know what happened. What I heard later from my friends who returned to their village, many people became suspects of the rebellion and were arrested. A friend of mine in the compound where I live in Banda Aceh, Sri, was even shot while traveling on a motorbike with her boyfriend at night in the east.
Sri and her male friend were shot from behind because they didn't want to stop when someone stopped them on the street who was conducting the raid. However, the story only developed by word of mouth, there was absolutely no newspaper that contained the news. Although it was later discovered that Sri's boyfriend was the son of an official there. I don't know how the shooting case went. I can only remember Sri as a sweet friend.
In fact, when he came to visit me in Banda Aceh, Ash didn't want to tell me clearly what happened in the village. The villagers who came to Banda Aceh and met me at the Beurawe minibus terminal or Seutui terminal also didn't want to talk. "Nothing happened. Just ordinary, ”said Bang Yan, a Bireun Ekspress bus driver who lives in my sub-district.
"Later, when you can go home, Ash will tell you the news," he said.
Although no one dared to speak the words openly, the tales unfolding from mouth to mouth had a tense atmosphere. Unidentified people set a bus on fire. All passengers are told to get off and are not allowed to bring anything down, including belongings, except for themselves.
Day by day, the number of buses that were burned was increasing one by one. In fact, then a car carrying a newspaper was burned by these unknown people. Then, it was also heard that there were bodies found on the roadside along the Medan-Banda Aceh road, starting from Pidie to the border of North Sumatra.
"All the bodies were with multiple gunshot holes in their bodies," said a bus passenger I met at Beurawe Terminal. At that time, I went to Beurawe Terminal more and more diligently to find out about the situation in the village.
"In the village there is a curfew," said another passenger.
"Now, some people in the village have fled to Banda Aceh or Medan."
Again, all the news was heard in whispers. In Banda Aceh, the conditions are mediocre, not affected by uncomfortable reports from a number of districts along the coast, such as Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh. That's why people fled to Banda Aceh or Medan.
I only learned about the conditions that occurred while crossing the road in the coastal district in 1992 when my theater group and I performed a performance in Takengon. Along the way, we had to go through a number of checkpoints by security forces carrying rifles. Their faces were grim and tense, as tense as the faces of the people on the bus.
They check the identity cards of the passengers. At that time, the KTP was dubbed the magic card. If they cannot show their KTP, the passenger is immediately led to get off, and the bus is told to continue the journey. I don't know what happened to them, no one knows.
In addition, in front of military or police posts there were barriers on the streets in the form of large drums placed in a zigzag, so that the vehicle could reduce all its speed there and join in zigzagging as well. Increasingly, the condition is getting tense. Then, the big buses between provinces no longer dare to operate at night. If they are late, they will stop at the nearest terminal and leave only after morning.
When I returned to my village, I just found out the real situation. "Did Leman take him and to this day never come home," said Ash. Does Leman belong to a distant relative from the mother's side. His wife tried to find him, but never found it. Abu said that at that time two Leman were taken, but the other Leman was sent home a few hours later.
"That night, I really couldn't sleep. When I was about to go to bed, I heard the sound of someone running in the alley of the market. How many people. Before long, several shots were heard, ”said Rusdi, a friend of mine, a grocery store seller who sleeps every night on the second floor of his shop.
"You see?"
“I peeked from the top window after all the lights had turned off. But I can't see the people running. "
"You're not coming down?"
"Who would dare to come down. It's curfew, no one should be outside from sunset to dawn. "
"Continue?"
“I just came down when praying at dawn and saw a man lying with several gunshot holes at the junction of the market alley. The man is wearing jeans and a shirt and a blue flip-flop. "
"Do you know?"
"Obviously I know. The man is Polem Baka. "
I'm speechless. The Baka polemic is still a close relative of mine. During the armed conflict in my village, quite a number of people we knew closely, including our relatives and relatives were victims. In fact, one of the ashes in his office became a victim.
Abu was so traumatized and devastated by the events. Maut is so close to the people in the village. Anytime, death can come at any time. The peak of the anger, disappointment, and sadness of the ashes is when the school where he teaches is burned down, somehow. After that, many schools were burned. ***
SOMETIMES, abu remembers home. At other times, Ash remembered the corpses lying on the market or the streets. He remembers that he was kicked by an unknown person at night after returning from the market so that his motorcycle fell and sprained ash's arm and injured his thigh. Remembering that his mother's house was burned down and his mother was burned by fire, he didn't have time to save himself.
The village ashes are portraits of sorrow lined up like a long dream. Every time I remember the events in the village, the old wounds immediately return open and sore. He did not want to dig up the wound because of that he did not return to the village. Even when the tsunami occurred in December 2004, Ash still insisted on not returning to the village.
However, by calling Hasbi, Abucut Nurman's son this morning, who said that Nurman's uncle (Abu's brother) had died, he was again faced with a difficult choice. Very difficult. Nurman is Ash's only younger brother, who is so fond of his extended family. He lives in Medan, but will be buried at the family cemetery in the village, according to his request. In the past, they promised each other, whoever was not among them, who was still alive, had to become the imam of the janaza prayer.