Insanity 1: Goodbye
A kind and loving father, a gentle and affectionate mother, a big and beautiful house, a comfortable life, and smart and obedient children.
A picture of a perfect family. Always happy together. Making everyone who sees them envious.
"Is that so?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Are you jealous?"
"Yes, I am."
"Do you want it too?"
"Yes, I do."
"Do you like it?"
"Yes, I like it. But I feel sad."
"Why?"
"Because I can't have it."
...
"Arrghhh!!!" Someone was screaming angrily.
"Why?! Why?! Why?! You never get first place, huh?!!!"
A ten-year-old boy was being beaten by his own mother.
"Are you deliberately trying to humiliate me?!"
His face and body were covered in bruises.
"Damn! So what if you're poor?! Even if you're poor, you still have to be smart!"
The boy was pushed to the ground.
"I'm sick of everything!!"
The boy didn't scream or cry a single word.
"Listen here, if you don't get first place, I'm dead! Listen!"
The boy could only lower his head and nod in fear. The boy was left alone, his face and body covered in wounds.
A moment later, the door opened. A man, humming a tune, entered the house. He was drunk. He was the boy's father.
"Damn, what the hell is this?!"
Seeing his son covered in wounds didn't make him angry, anxious, or even worried.
"It's just an eyesore." He dragged his son and threw him into a room.
Without mercy, he locked him in the dark, cold room. And left him there.
The boy could only sit and curl up. He slowly began to mutter something.
"Sorry...sorry..." And the boy began to cry silently.
'clangg!!' 'thud!!' A commotion was heard from the living room.
The noise was so loud and frightening for the boy. Their screams were so loud. The boy covered his ears.
A bankrupt and drunk father, a strict and angry mother, and a poor son. If anyone saw it, it wasn't the picture of a perfect family. But that was the family he had.
The next morning the boy woke up. He heard the sound of his bedroom door opening. It was his mother.
Without a word, his mother entered his room. She brought a bucket of water, a towel, and two boxes. She cleaned his face and body with the wet towel and dried them.
Then his mother opened the box she had brought. The first box contained medicine. She applied ointment to his bruises. The boy remained silent and obedient.
In the silence, he noticed bruises on his mother's cheeks and forehead. Seeing them, the boy couldn't say anything. No, he didn't dare.
Then his mother opened the second box. It contained his mother's makeup supplies. She applied foundation and powder to the bruises to hide them. The result was perfect. The boy looked like he had no injuries, but he also didn't look like he was wearing makeup. After finishing, his mother packed up her things.
"Don't be late for school." His mother left.
The boy put on his uniform neatly and packed his books in his bag. As he came out of his room, he saw a plate of fried rice on the table. Then he saw his mother watching television. The boy sat down and ate it.
"Mom's fried rice is the best," he said to himself with a smile. Then he went to school.
His family wasn't like this before. Although not big, his father owned his own company. And his mother was also a model. They were happy together.
Those days were so joyful. Then a child entered their lives. Their happiness grew. His mother decided to take a break from modeling to raise her son. His father was so enthusiastic and worked hard every day. Their life was filled with laughter and smiles.
However, like a bolt of lightning, their lives changed suddenly.
Four years ago, his mother had an accident that required expensive surgery. And around the same time, his father was conned out of hundreds of millions of rupiah by his own friend.
The ground beneath them seemed to collapse, swallowing them into a dark abyss. Despite their frustration, they tried to survive. His father took a gamble on a private loan hoping to revive his company. But the exorbitant interest rates made him strangle himself. And eventually, his company disappeared, and he was left with a mountain of debt. And because of his extreme depression, he began to consume alcohol frequently and became a drunkard.
His mother tried to reapply to become a model. But all the companies rejected her because of her age and the fact that there were many other models more suitable than her. They returned home disappointed. When they looked at each other, for some reason, anger always filled their eyes.
They fought every day, hitting each other and throwing things. The child, who was behind the door, was afraid and didn't even dare make a sound. They did whatever work they could to pay off their debts and survive. But as time went by, their emotions worsened. The money they earned was sometimes insufficient, and they had to take out new loans.
Everything became increasingly frustrating. Even when the child accidentally dropped a book, their emotions boiled over. And in the end, the innocent child became the target of his parents' anger.
At school, no one noticed the child's illness. He was a kind and calm child. But one day, the teacher in his class noticed something strange when she saw him. The child was called to the staff room. It was lunch break. The staff room was quite empty, and the child entered the room. He approached the teacher who called him.
"Son, are you okay? Are you sick?" When the teacher tried to touch his forehead to take his temperature, the child took a step back.
"No, ma'am, I'm not sick." Seeing the child made the teacher feel strange. Then, when the teacher touched his wrist, the boy groaned in pain.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, does your hand hurt?" The teacher instinctively touched his hand and looked at it. She noticed a slight difference in the color of his skin.