DELUSION

Chapter 1

Gasping for breath, Yuda ran from what he had just seen. He ran down all the stairs from the 3rd floor of his school. Heavy breathing, limp body, cold sweat poured all over his body, this time adding another problem when his vision started to blur.

Yuda was still running with all his might, as the voices of other students' screams echoed in his ears.

Huh ..., huh ..., huhh ....

He opened his eyes, and Yuda woke up with his dream. His body felt the same as in the dream.

"110," Yuda looked at the heart monitor watch in his left hand. Then Yuda took a glass of water from the table and drank it in three gulps.

Uhuk ... uhuk ... uhuk ....

The cough started to become inflamed when Yuda's heart rate was over 150. His throat began to feel hot and he could smell blood. It looked like blood was about to come out of his mouth, but Yuda, still holding it and trying to calm himself, leaned back on the bed and then raised his head. This method keeps the blood from exploding out of the mouth. This time Yuda started to get used to it.

He stared at the lights above him, and closed his eyes. Thinking as little as possible about positive things and kindness. This time Yuda thought of Jenan's smile, the girl who sat at the back of his class bench. Jenan's straight hair and narrow chin, Jenan's teeth were also nicely displayed when he smiled broadly.

"90," Yuda murmured. Yuda breathed a sigh of relief after holding his breath for 3 minutes and then exhaling and inhaling repeatedly for a total of 15 minutes.

With his body still limp, Yuda shrugged his shoulders and got ready to go downstairs, leaving his books on the bed as he had been doing school homework all night. He took the inhaler from the counter inhaled several times. He opened the curtains of the room, and felt the sun on his chest.

Krek ...,

The sound of the door opening made Yuda turn around.

"Are you awake? Are you going to school today?" His mother asked as she approached Yuda's bed.

"Yeah," Yuda replied and looked out the window again.

"You want to change schools?" asked his mother again, but this time walking up to his son Yuda, who is currently in grade 11 high school.

"Why...? Why do you want me to change schools?" Yuda replied curtly.

"No, I'm getting better. Now there are two new friends who have moved from Jakarta, and they are very pleasant," said Yuda.

"Ah, so it turns out." His mother replied and then returned to bed to fold Yuda's blanket.

Yuda looked at his mother for a moment and saw his mother stop folding the blanket as if she was thinking about something. Yuda then ignored him and stood in front of his study table putting the books in his bag. Yuda's mother seemed to hold back from wanting to ask something, and Yuda glanced at her again.

"Um..., doesn't your school accept new students in the middle of the semester? And there's also no discussion about it in the school group," said Yuda's mother.

"I don't know, maybe my homeroom teacher forgot." Yuda replied, still bowing, preparing his school books and stationery.

'Why is everyone asking that? Don't they know the faces of the two new kids during the photoshoot of the volleyball match the day before yesterday?' Yuda thought hard.

After his mother finished cleaning Yuda's bed and then left the room, Yuda rushed to lock his bedroom door. Yuda sighed, annoyed that when his mother often came into his room. Organizing books and tidying up her personal belongings are things that irritate a 16-year-old teenager like Yuda. It is as is he is being watched as he does everything in her private room.

Yuda grabbed a towel from behind his bedroom door, rushed to take a shower and then went to school. The splash of water that fell from the shower wet his body, then he tried to calm himself down for a moment. He put toothpaste on to the toothbrush and put it his mouth to shine the yellow teeth that he has done his homework last night white coffee. However, when he took the toothbrush out of his mouth, Yuda saw blood stains stuck to the bristles. Yuda quickly rinsed his mouth and cleaned the blood of the bristles. An incident that seems normal because Yuda experienced it starting 2 months ago, to be precise, in October before the midterm exams. Yuda then wiped the water from his mouth, then wrapped the towel around his waist and left the bathroom.

Yuda glanced at his closet. He wa suprised too see his uniform hanging on the door made him surprised. He went to the door and tried to pull the door handle, but it was still locked.

"Locked," Yuda muttered, releasing the door handle.

"Mom must have a spare key," Yuda muttered still annoyed.

Tiiiiiiiiiiit ....

The sound of his cell phone ringing startled him as he was buttoned his shirt. Then Yuda took his uniform and quickly put it on. He walked over to the table and picked up his cell phone, but when he found out that it was Nathan, his classmate, who was calling Yuda, he just ignored it.

Yuda went back to tidying his uniform, then picked up the backpack on the table and was ready to leave his room. Down some stairs that led directly dining room. His mother, who was downstairs, smiled at her son, but Yuda turned his gaze in another direction.

"Sit down and eat breakfast!" Yuda's mother said, pulling Yuda's shoulders and leading him to a chair. Yuda was just silent and did not move.

"Father isn't home?" asked Yuda, then looked at his mother who was spreading chocolate jam on the bread.

"No," his mother replied, immediately turning sour . Yuda immediately changed the subject.

"I have an extracurricular class at school until this afternoon," Yuda said, then grabbed the bread that his mother offered.

"Good, then be good friends with your friends." his mother said, then set down in the chair next to Yuda to enjoy breakfast together. Yuda looked at her and smiled slightly.

Yuda's gaze shifted to his watch, then quickly got up to finish the bread in his mouth.Yuda's gaze shifted to his watch, then quickly got up to finish the bread in his mouth. It's already 7 o'clock, he'll be late for school.

Tettt ....

The bell rang at the front of the house was heard. Yuda hurriedly left the dining room table because Nathan had already arrived to go to school with him.

"My friend has come, I'll go first!" Yuda said as he hurriedly put on his shoes.

''Friend ...?'his mother thought, then followed Yuda's footsteps out of the house out of curiosity.

"Late again," Nathan grumbled, annoyed at Yuda.

"Ah, what else can I do? If I don't have breakfast, my mother will nag me later," Yuda said.

"Let's just run!" Nathan added, realizing that it was too late to get to school.

"No, I'm not feeling well," said Yuda, his eyes glancing at the heart rate monitor watch in his hand, to make sure his heart rate was normal.

"Okay, we'll just go through the backyard of the school as usual," Nathan replied, then quickened his pace so that Yuda was three steps behind.

Seeing that the last bus to school had just passed them, the two of them ran to catch the bus. Nathan shouted loudly for the bus conductor, until both of them sat in the back seat as usual. Nathan laughed at Yuda, who looked tired. Yuda immediately hit Nathan's head jokingly.

"Damn it," Yuda grunted in a loud tone, so that all the passengers sitting in the front seat turned their heads together. Until Yuda and Nathan felt awkward, then turned their eyes out the bus window.

Along the way they panicked, realizing that they were late getting to school, because there were no more students passing by on the main road.

"We're really late, let's just skip!" Nathan said.

"No, today I have business to do, we'll just hide in the toilet until Miss Indah's first lesson is over,"

"That's true, right after it's sports time, let's just say we'll change sports shirts later," Nathan said, then both of them smiled at each other because they had the same thought.

The bus stopped, Yuda and Nathan quickly ran to the back of the school fence. They climbed over a 3 meter-high fence, threw their bags towards the backyard of the school when Nathan got down first. After making it to the school's backyard, they walked slowly and stealthily so they could get to the rear toilet on the first floor. Nathan told Yuda to go to the toilet from the front, while Nathan himself would throw the bag from the ventilation gap they had previously made in one of the toilet rooms.

Yuda complied with Nathan's request, then casually walked past the terrace of class 10. Until the headmaster tapped him on the right shoulder, and Yuda was surprised.

"What is it?" the headmaster asked Yuda. Yuda was just silent and looked down because he was confused at having to give a reason.

"I lost my locker key, sir. Even though it's almost gym time and I have to change into my gym clothes," Yuda answered a little nervously.

"Oh, okay. Just ask your homeroom teacher again later." the headmaster replied and then left without any further questions. Yuda breathed a sigh of relief and ran to the bathroom to check his bag.

One by one, the door to the bathroom was opened, to find the whereabouts of her bag. However, one 10th grader was annoyed when Yuda suddenly opened the door while his junior classmate was defecating.

Yuda and his younger classmate named Danu end up fighting. Danu threatened Yuda to report Yuda to the school principal. Yuda then made a counter-threat to Danu. Seeing Nathan coming, Yuda told Nathan to go to class first and to solve the problem with Danu alone. Danu was confused and looked left and right looking for Nathan's whereabouts.

"Are you crazy?" Danu grunted, then left.

"Just watch, next time I'll chop down your body off." Yuda muttered angrily.

On the other hand ...,

'He said his friend was coming, why are you running alone?' thought a 40-year-old woman who was none other than Yuda's mother.

Tess ..., Tess ..., brezzzzz ....

It was raining, and the curtains that had been open before were closed. Yuda's mother is searching Yuda's room for something, because this 1 month old Yuda always looks strange.

Some scraps of paper were scattered under Yuda's bed. The vacuum cleaner then sucks them up and makes the dust in every corner of Yuda's room disappear and clean. For a moment, his mother stared at Yuda's study table, and saw a small black box that piqued her curiosity. But when she opened it, his mother was shocked and immediately threw the box, which he thought contained a watch, but instead, a piece of the little finger was still fresh and filled with blood.