Writing
I started believing one thing after I entered college: if bad luck had an address, it was probably me.
That morning, I stood in front of the mirror, making sure my appearance was completely safe.
My bag was ready. My wallet was there. My phone was there. My books were there. I had packed my assignment, too.
"Hopefully nothing weird happens today."
I said it like a prayer.
Turns out, I was wrong.
The moment I stepped out of my boarding house room, the right strap on my sandal snapped.
I stared at it for several seconds.
"Seriously?"
I tried putting it back on. It didn't work.
In the end, I hobbled to the convenience store to buy a new pair. Five minutes later, I was back with a pair of plastic sandals that cost twenty thousand rupiah.
"At least that's only one piece of bad luck today."
I didn't know yet that saying that was a huge mistake.
When I arrived on campus, I headed straight for the classroom. We had a group presentation today. I had even memorized my part the night before.
I sat down calmly.
Five minutes later, the professor walked in.
"Group three, please come up."
I swallowed hard.
My group was group three.
I stood up with my three other teammates and walked to the front of the classroom.
Everything went normally until I opened my laptop.
The battery was at two percent.
I panicked.
"The presentation file is on the flash drive, right?" I whispered.
My friend shook his head.
"Weren't you the one carrying it?"
I fell silent.
Right.
The flash drive was in my bag.
I opened my bag in a hurry. Books came tumbling out one by one. A pen dropped. My wallet nearly went flying.
And finally...
The flash drive was nowhere to be found.
"Don't tell me..."
I rummaged through my bag one more time.
Still nothing.
The professor looked at us.
"What's wrong?"
I forced a stiff smile.
"The presentation file... is on its way, ma'am."
My friend immediately covered his face.
I knew that was the stupidest answer that had ever come out of my mouth.
The professor sighed.
"On its way?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Can a file walk?"
The whole class burst out laughing.
My face burned.
Luckily, one of our group members had a copy of the file saved on her phone. The presentation went ahead after all, even though it felt like my heart was trying to escape my body.
Afterward, I returned to my seat.
The girl who had been showing up near me a lot over the past few days—the girl who had first run into me on my first day of college—was sitting beside me.
She held out a bottle of water.
"Drink."
I took it.
"Thanks."
She stared at me for a few seconds.
"Why do you always look like you just got chased by trouble?"
I chuckled.
"Because maybe trouble really does like chasing me."
"Then don't run."
I furrowed my brow.
"Why not?"
"So we'll both get tired."
I didn't know whether to laugh or get annoyed.
But for the first time that day, I felt a little lighter.
Until I heard something fall behind me.
THUD!
I turned around.
A student's bag had fallen right beside my feet. His books were scattered everywhere.
I helped pick them up.
"Sorry," he said.
I shook my head.
"It's okay."
I handed him the last book.
That's when I noticed a folded piece of paper between the books.
The name written on it made me freeze.
My name.
I furrowed my brow.
"Whose is this?"
The student looked nervous.
"Isn't it yours?"
I slowly unfolded the paper.
There was only one sentence inside.
"Don't put too much trust in people you've just met."
I stared at the writing for a long time.
For some reason, this time felt different.
Maybe my bad luck really wasn't over yet.
But for the first time, I started to suspect...
Maybe all the bad things happening to me weren't mere coincidences.
And maybe there was someone on this campus deliberately making my life even more chaotic.