Green Eyes of the Suburb

S1E2

Tama was under the impression that his vision was still blurry, convinced that he was experiencing hallucinations due to a recent head injury.

“S-s-s-” he couldn’t even speak. He was frightened when he saw the owl.

“What should we do?” a different voice color and range came to Tama’s ears. It was high-pitched, and rather calm, but he couldn’t guess where it was coming from. There was no sight of another creature he could see other than the owl. He wildly speculated it was the voice of another bird, with a smaller size his eyes barely reached.

This whole madness made him urge to run away, as the best way to escape irrationalism. Too bad his physical condition made that impossible, and so, he was forced to listen to this strange conversation.

“What a pity, if we let him die like that without anyone even noticing,” said the giant owl. “It’s better we give him a heal so he can live normally again.”

Tama grew even more confused.

“Is this real?” he questioned.

Zero answer checked by the talking birds for his question.

Then the giant owl released something from its mouth, a kind of breath that Tama could see with his naked eyes. It turned into a small wind that circled him, spun faster, and then emitted a green light. It glowed so brightly, that Tama could no longer see the giant creature from his sight.

He felt like his breath was being forcibly pulled in and out. His lungs pumped air violently, his head hurt terribly, but he couldn’t lay himself down.

It was incredibly hard to describe. He had never felt this way before.

“You can return to your world. Use it wisely and take advantage of the opportunity you've been given to return, you’ll be fine,” the owl spoke again. “You are forbidden to stay in this place too long and spin your finger.”

Such a zero sense for Tama’s whole head.

“And we hope... you will live a decent life from now on.”

The green glowing wind vanished in an instant.

Thud!

As if someone had pushed him, Tama’s body was truly slammed onto the ground, as hard as the impact he felt when he threw off his motorbike, that almost took his consciousness.

***

Tama immediately woke up after that event. And the first view that greeted him was a sky still blue in color. Now its fixed, it’s a dream or hallucination, and it isn’t real. His immediate thought: go to the shop, buy mineral water, and clean the wounds all over his body.

But wait...

When he checked at the spots where he was wounded, Tama no longer found himself injured or bruised. Even the bruises on his arms, were gone. And each joint in his body moved without causing him pain.

He was fine.

Tama hurried to find his motorbike by heading toward the road. Unexpectedly, his feet stopped before he was even three meters from the road.

His motorcycle was lying on the grass nearby. It was badly wrecked and dented beyond repair

Then, to find the items he had bought earlier.

Ah, there they were. The beans and bean sprouts had spilled to the ground, because their plastic bags were torn. Only the chicken was still in good condition.

Today is just so unlucky, he grumbled inside.

How could he carry all those small vegetables, if there wasn’t even a container?

Oh, there’s the plastic bag from the chicken, the vendor had double-bagged it.

At that point, mixing two different vegetables didn't really matter. Not losing both of them in significance matters more. Obviously, the vegetables must be washed very thoroughly, right after he steps into the house.

Afterwards, Tama immediately looked for his phone, which probably slipped between parts of the wrenched motorbike. Phone condition is a must check to know whether the phone was still functional or not, at least, don’t let the LCD be damaged and make him waste more huge cash.

So he checked. When he pressed it, the screen still responded like the collision was nothing.

Tama sighed in relief. He appreciated himself for buying a tempered glass as soon as he got a phone. Only his tempered glass cracked, and it won't cost much. The only broken motorcycle already gave him a headache, don’t ever add it, please.

Glanced at the clock on his phone wallpaper, Tama realized that he had been unconscious there for an hour.

He then made a call.

“Mom? Sorry. I had a motorcycle accident today and... I can’t go home by myself.”

***

“Why didn’t any people passing by realize there was an accident here!?” His mother screamed after calling a tow truck. “The bike’s this damaged! Now what do we do? There’s no way we can take out a loan for a new one!”

Tama was still busy watching the motorbike being towed.

With rage that bordered on uncontrollable, his mother questioned Tama again. “Who did this?”

“I suspect it was from a biker gang that was still roaming around this morning, Mom,” Tama explained as best as he could. “Earlier I saw them racing. For sure, it was from another motorbike, not a car.”

Luckily this was an old bike. Though he still felt sad, the motorbike had belonged to his late father. Ando would definitely be angry if he knew it was completely destroyed. He had many memories with that bike, memories Tama never got to experience.

His mother sighed. “Maybe it’s time we let go of that bike. Let’s go home.”

The two of them were forced to take the only public transportation at the time: the minibus. The minibus they were in was empty, the driver was the only one who could hear them talking.

“How did you even survive this with no helmet?”

“I jumped and ran,” Tama explained vaguely. “Maybe, I was just lucky today nothing happened to me.”

A statement that was totally contradictory to what he thought earlier. It was a fairly mixed feeling of damned and relief. Even if the bike ended up wrecked, the fact Tama is safe like his normal is enough.

Once home, Tama was greeted by a phone call directly from his older brother, and took it.

“Tama!? Are you okay!?” Ando got straight to the point. “Mom said you got an accident! Sorry I couldn’t contact you earlier, I only just got a break around this time.”

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“No injuries? No hospital?”

“No.”

Tama could hear Ando’s relieved sigh through the phone. “Thank goodness.”

“Um, you know the motorbike is totaled, right?” Tama asked hesitantly.

“Oh yeah... She sent a message about that.”

“You’re not mad, right?”

“Of course not. Let it go, that bike. It’s better than you dying, right? Your safety is way more important,” said Ando. “Besides, why should I be angry over a mistake you didn’t even make?”

Even so, it was still hard for Tama to believe what he saw earlier was a giant owl.

What did it mean... forbidden to spin your finger?

To be sure everything he had seen earlier was truly real, he had to confirm it himself. What would happen? If nothing happened, then it was definitely just his hallucination.

Heck, if I tell everyone about that owl, they’ll think I’m crazy.