Raka stopped in front of the empty room, clutching the key the landlord had just given him. The room had been unoccupied for three months, ever since Laura left without a word.
“Why has no one ever opened the door?” Dini asked from behind him.
Raka turned around. “They say Laura’s things are still inside.”
Dini moved closer, then whispered, “I heard Laura didn’t leave by herself.”
Raka gave a quiet laugh. “What do you mean?”
Before Dini could answer, they heard something fall inside the room.
They immediately fell silent.
“Rak, you said this room was empty, right?”
Raka stared at the doorknob as it slowly turned by itself.
“Yeah.”
“Then… who’s in there?”
Raka was still standing in front of the door, staring at the doorknob that had moved on its own. His hand gripped the key so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Dini, standing behind him, took two steps back.
“Don’t open it yet,” Dini whispered.
Raka turned around. “Then what are we supposed to do? Stand here until morning?”
“Call Mr. Harun.”
“He already went home.”
Dini quickly shook her head. “I saw his motorcycle still parked behind the house.”
Only then did Raka realize that the faint sound of an engine was indeed coming from the yard. He inserted the key into the lock, but before he could turn it, the sound of something falling came again.
This time, it was louder.
CRASH!
Dini immediately grabbed Raka’s arm.
“Rak…”
“Yeah, I heard it.”
“What if there’s someone in there?”
Raka swallowed. “That’s why we need to check.”
The door slowly opened. The stale smell of the room greeted them at once. Raka turned on the light, but the old lightbulb only illuminated part of the room. The bed was still in its original position. A faded white bedsheet was neatly spread across it. A small table stood near the window, while a wooden wardrobe filled one corner of the room.
There was no one inside.
Dini peeked over Raka’s shoulder.
“Empty.”
Raka stepped inside. “There was definitely a sound.”
“Maybe a rat.”
“A rat couldn’t knock something over that loudly.”
Dini didn’t answer.
Raka then noticed a shattered glass on the floor near the wardrobe. The pieces were still scattered everywhere. Strangely, there was no other object nearby that could have fallen from that spot.
“Din, come here.”
“What?”
“Look at this.”
Dini moved closer. Raka pointed at the floor around the broken glass.
There were wet footprints.
They were visible for only a few steps, beginning near the window and ending right in front of the wardrobe. They looked like the soles of someone’s bare feet, as if they had just walked through the room.
Dini immediately covered her mouth.
“Don’t tell me that’s…”
“Don’t start.”
“But the entire floor is dry.”
Raka crouched down. He touched one of the marks with his fingertip. The water was cold.
Dini drew a long breath.
“Let’s just get out of here.”
Raka stood up. “Wait.”
“What now?”
His eyes were fixed on the wardrobe.
One of its doors was slightly open.
Yet when they had entered, both wardrobe doors had been tightly shut.
Raka walked closer.
“Rak, seriously. Don’t.”
“If someone’s hiding in there, we need to know.”
“What if it’s not a person?”
Raka turned around with a frown. “You watch too many movies.”
He pulled the wardrobe door open.
Empty.
There were only a few old hangers and a small cardboard box at the bottom.
Raka let out a relieved breath. Dini, on the other hand, stared tensely into the wardrobe.
“Laura left this much stuff behind?”
“They said she’d already taken almost everything.”
Raka picked up the box.
Dust covered the lid, but one spot was clean, as if it had just been touched.
Dini noticed it immediately.
“Don’t open it.”
Raka looked at her. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“If we followed our feelings about everything, we’d never find out what happened.”
Raka opened the box.
Inside were several small items: a fabric bracelet, an old ID card, two photographs, and a thin notebook with a black cover.
Dini picked up the first photograph.
“Is this Laura?”
Raka looked at the picture. A young woman stood in front of a house with a faint smile. Her shoulder-length hair framed her face. She did look like the Laura in the photo they had once seen on Mr. Harun’s phone.
“Looks like it.”
Dini turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
Don’t trust anyone who says this room is empty.
Dini froze.
“Rak.”
Raka read the message, and his expression immediately changed.
“Who wrote this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is this Laura’s handwriting?”
Dini shook her head. “I’ve never seen her handwriting before.”
Suddenly, they heard the front door of the house open.
They both jumped.
“Who is it?” Raka shouted.
There was no answer.
A few seconds later, footsteps approached from the hallway.
Mr. Harun appeared carrying a flashlight. The man, who looked to be around fifty, stopped immediately when he saw Laura’s room door standing open.
“What are you two doing?”
Raka stood up. “Mr. Harun, we heard something inside.”
Mr. Harun looked from one of them to the other.
“What kind of sound?”
“Like something falling.”
Mr. Harun didn’t answer right away. Instead, his eyes fixed on the cardboard box in Raka’s hand.
“Where did you get that?”
Raka raised an eyebrow.
“From the wardrobe.”
Mr. Harun’s face suddenly tightened.
Dini noticed the change.
“You know this box?”
Mr. Harun stepped inside and took it from Raka’s hand.
“Put it back.”
“Why?”
“Because it doesn’t belong to either of you.”
Raka held on to it. “But it belongs to Laura, right?”
Mr. Harun fell silent.
Dini stepped forward slightly.
“Mr. Harun, where did Laura really go?”
“I told you, I don’t know.”
“If you don’t know, then why do you look scared?”
Mr. Harun shot Dini a sharp look.
“Don’t get involved in other people’s business.”
Dini immediately fell silent.
Raka felt that the man was deliberately hiding something.
“Mr. Harun, this room has been locked for three months. But there were wet footprints inside just now.”
Mr. Harun turned quickly.
“Footprints?”
“Yeah.”
For the first time since entering, Mr. Harun’s face truly turned pale.
He immediately looked at the floor.
The wet footprints were almost dry.
“Get out of this room,” he said.
“Mr. Harun…”
“Now!”
Raka was startled by the tone of his voice.
Dini tugged on Raka’s arm.
“Come on, Rak.”
They went outside, but Raka caught a glimpse of something behind Mr. Harun’s back. The black notebook from the box had apparently fallen out and lay open on the floor.
One sentence was clearly visible.
Laura didn’t disappear. She was hidden.
Raka stopped.
Mr. Harun hurriedly covered the notebook with his foot.
Their eyes met.
The next few seconds seemed to stretch forever.
“Mr. Harun,” Raka said quietly, “what does that mean?”
Mr. Harun didn’t answer.
He simply picked up the notebook, put it back in the box, and closed the bedroom door.
“You’re both leaving in the morning.”
Dini immediately protested.
“Wait, why are you telling us to leave?”
Mr. Harun walked past them.
“Because you’ve seen too much.”
The words made Raka and Dini exchange a look.
That night, they didn’t go home right away.
They sat at a small food stall across from the house, watching the old building. The stall’s owner, a woman named Mira, glanced at them several times.
Finally, Mira came over.
“Are you looking for Laura?”
Raka immediately turned to her.
“How do you know?”
Mira set two glasses of tea on the table.
“Because the only people who usually stand in front of that house for a long time are people looking for Laura.”
Dini looked at her seriously.
“You knew Laura?”
Mira pulled out a chair.
“I did. Even before you two moved here.”
“What really happened to her?”
Mira was silent for a long time.
Then she said quietly, “Laura once told me that one night, she saw someone enter that room.”
Raka furrowed his brow.
“The empty room?”
Mira nodded.
“She said that person wasn’t one of the house’s residents.”
“Then who was it?”
Mira stared at the house across the street.
“Laura never got the chance to finish telling me.”
“Why not?”
Mira lowered her voice.
“Because the next morning, she disappeared.”
Dini tightened her grip on her glass.
Raka stared at Laura’s darkened window.
Then the curtain moved.
Even though the entire window was closed.
Mira suddenly stood up.
“Don’t look over there.”
Raka kept staring at it.
“Why?”
Mira went pale.
“Because if the curtain is moving, it means there’s someone inside.”