A Dust Grain

A Short Story

Written by: Darju Prasetya

 A Dust Grain
Written by: Darju Prasetya
(Short Story Writer Living in Tuban, East Java, Indonesia)

Marlina is staring at the dust on her bedroom wall. Her eyes until are the
reddish color. An oddity? She was for hours, days; weeks and even months did
not move from her room which is green just want to see what exactly happens
with a grain of dust in her room. For most people that dust does not mean
anything even in a big city like Surabaya, Jakarta and other big cities have been
troublesome dust even the environmentalists as a very serious problem and
interfere with life.
Dust has been troublesome many municipalities. Because if the dust into
a collection of dust that number many millions and not a speck of dust in it
would interfere with views of the city and disrupted breathing. How great dust
when it had to come together and form a collection of millions of dust and then
they wind up and ran to and from that could interfere with views of the city. But
for Marlina dust in this room has uniqueness. Dust that she looks at this not just
any dust that often interfere with other people even damage the eyes of others
see the beauty in this universe.
Marllina trying to divert attention to another. But she felt it difficult to
abandon a grain of dust stuck to the walls of her room. For days, day and night
Marlina languishing in his room only to stare at a speck of dust that have made
a lot of stories about life. Marline’s mother even wondered and worried about
what was happening with her daughter who had for days did not come out of
her room. In the heart Marlina’s mother increasingly restless. Though the day
began to enter college should Marlina. But her mother tried to hold her temper
until Marlina come out her room and doing activities as usual.
 Day and night she waited outside the Marlina’s room and hoped her
daughter out of the room with smiling faces. When her father came home from
work that much, Marlina’s father was always asking his wife what was
happening with her daugther. His father also had tried to wait for days to not
interfere with his only daughter for days did not come out of her room.
"How's with our children, Mom? Didn’t she come out his room to this
day? I try to be patient Mom? "Asked her husband to his wife. Marlina's mother
looked at her husband wisely. She tried to calm her husband's heart even though
she herself was actually experiencing the same anxiety. Her heart was more
upset when the day was already stepping on the seventh day Marlina still not yet
out of the room and locked the door of her room. Both husband and wife kept
asking.
"Do not ... do ... Dad?!" Said Marlina’s mother not resume his words.
Somber tears.
"Do not ... do not ... what Mom? Do not make me crazier Mom? I've tried
to be patient ... but if my patience will run out? "Shouted her husband in a tone
more depressed. Marlina is his only child who had treated his best to become
hope for their future. Marlina’s mother imagine how the destruction of her heart
if she cannot bring Marlina to achieve a bright future. The future that became
the pride of parents and useful for the future of their nation. Marlina’s Mom and
Dad do not want their children will fail in reaching their life.
"I worry Mom .... My heart is getting restless! What happens to our
daughter? Why did she not leave the room for days? Why did not she go to
college but right now the schedule went to college right? "Asked her husband.
"Perhaps the holiday Dad! Probably she has no lesson, Dad? "Replied his
wife blindly. She tried to reply to her husband.
"I'm not sure Mom?" Added her husband. In view Marlina door with
blank stares.
 "We must try to believe Dad!"

"How are we sure if this is not clear Mom?" Asked her husband.
"It is a moment we must convince ourselves even though it's still no
doubt in our hearts Dad!" Explained his wife.
"This is bullshit Mom?" Her husband said with a rising tone.
"Whether we will continue to maintain a belief in a gloom even in the
darkness? I am not strong Mom about this! "He continued. Middle-aged man
who was trying to break her heart with patience knocking on Marlina’s door. At
first, He tapped his fingers softly. Then clenched his fingers to produce a loud
sound. Maybe she realized that beyond being awaited and expected by both
parents who doted on her. As has repeatedly knocked no answer from inside,
Marlina’s father took a piece of wood and then knock on the Marlina's door
resulting in an increasingly loud voice. But still no answer from inside her
room.
"What we just slammed the door of our daughter Mom? I was worried
something happened with our daughter Mom? "His eyes full of tension. His
wife looked at her husband. He tried to survive with his faith, but faith that
sustained it seems increasingly fragile. Mothers who are still flawless in it were
suddenly as if gnawed by termites until the walls of her conviction ultimately
falter.
"We have to find another way, Dad? Do not kick that door! I am worried
what will happen with our daughter! If you kicked that door, I was worried of
our daughter will suffer a heart attack. What we could be liable later if anything
happens to the heart of our daughter, Dad? "Said her Marlina’s mother with a
sense of worry. Almost any hammer which held the man kicked the door of her
daughter. But he heard the ban on his wife to keep looking for another way how
to be able to open the door of her daughter.
 "So what else way we can open this door, Mom?" Asked her husband
desperately.
"We do not despair Dad! We should not despair! "She asserted.
Her husband seemed increasingly impatient. So he slam Marlina's door loudly.
The voice was so loud that caused uproar until it reached the next neighbor’s
door. The door is still open.
"We have to find another road Dad!" The man then ran toward the back
of the house. There he saw a ladder. He picked up that ladder and then he tried
to rise from the roof while crawling. With sweat streaming down the man's
search for a hole that led to Marlina’s room. He tried banging on the roof with a
cover full of unrest. It could be anything happens with Marlina. It could be she
has harmed her-self in ways that horrible as is often watched on television
screens. On the roof the man to stop his shot. He stared at the sky in his home.
Her thoughts drift away. He thought about his daughter whom she loved with
ten questions. He remembered with whatever he watched on the television
screen, a girl who really loved her family but experienced frustration in her life
because life mismanagement. Due to environmental influences that lead girls
fall in illegal drugs is strictly prohibited by the government.
On the roof he was also pictured in his eyes a young girl in her family
affection, but then he falls into despair because of her love betrayaled by her
boyfriend until she fell into the valley of prostitution in the city of Surabaya.
The man stared at the sky. His mind was a mess of ugly shadows-shadows of a
young girl who loved her parents but the child she committed suicide because of
problems of life which could not overcome.
"Do not --- do not be my daughter performs hara-kiri!" Muttered the man
out of his mouth that never been hoped. "No ... no ..!"
"Does my child have to kill yourself?" The voice pounding his chest. His
heart beat louder as if to bare his soul. The man stared at the distant sky. He
hammers it wiggle faster. The iron-Tap you’re getting hit hard and with a
vengeance. He was looking for holes in the direction his daughter's room. He
managed to find a hole that led to the Marlina’s room. His eyes bulged here and
there in all directions toward the living Marlina’s room. He did not discover the
existence of his daughter. His heart was increasingly strained what had
happened to the daughter, the only one who had for days was in the room
without knowing what had happened. Middle-aged man's eyes seemed to dim
and dark colored. In his view keep room area of 3 x 4 meters with a sharp gaze,
but he has not found where the actual Marlina was lying, sitting or just relaxed.
How did she eat daily? Where did she fill her stomach? Whether she is doing
something ascetic for what ideally is able to succeed? Deep in her heart, he
thinned his conviction. Under conditions of mounting desperation, he tried to
find another hole that perhaps at some point he could find the existence of his
much loved girl. The man suddenly his eyes sparkling. He found her sitting
motionless figure on the right hand corner of the room, staring at a speck of
dust. He was smiling!

Tuban beach on a sunny morning, July 19, 2010