Chapter 11

The man in the car spoke for a moment with the woman sitting next to him, they seemed suspicious of Eli who suddenly blocked their way. 

"Who's hurt?" asked the man in a suspicious tone, he only opened his car window slightly.

“There was a woman and a boy who were beaten by several men at that place, I...I'm not lying. Please help them, I beg you?” Eli asked, his body shaking.

"Okay, wait a moment!" said the man while closing his car window.

"What do you want?" asked the woman sitting beside him.

"I want to see first, just wait here for a moment!"

"But...but what if the child is part of a gang of criminals who want to rob us? "It's better if we just call the police, don't act rashly." The woman said, increasingly worried.

"Don't worry, I'll go with the child. If I'm not back in ten minutes, you call the police straight away, understand? and don't open the car before I come."

"Okay, be careful!"

The man came out, he had a penknife in his pocket in case something went wrong. Eli and the man walked through the tall wild grass. Eli was very worried about the safety of the woman and boy. 

When they arrived right in front of the old building, there were no sounds apart from the sounds of small animals.

“A former toy factory, huh? Well, where are the women and children you mean?" asked the man impatiently.

"I...they were inside, just now the light over there was on and I peeked through the window." Eli answered while showing him where to peek.

“There's nothing, look inside everything is dark. Besides, the doors and all the windows are locked, you want to cheat, don't you?" asked the man who was starting to get angry because he felt cheated.

“N…no, I'm not lying. "There really was someone inside, I'm sure because I saw it myself."

"Ah…. Never mind, what is this nonsense?! Maybe you brought me here on purpose so your friends could rob our car, right?"

"No sir, I'm not a thief... I'm not lying," said Eli defending himself, Eli cried with his body shaking. He was very afraid that the man would hit him like his father and brothers.

"Don't pretend to cry, you damn bastard!" the man shouted as he walked away, leaving Eli alone in front of an old factory that was no longer operating.

Eli cried, he didn't understand why there was no one in this place even though he had seen for himself a woman and a boy being tortured by a group of men he didn't know. But why did everything suddenly disappear? 

Eli tried to look at it one more time to make sure that what he saw earlier wasn't just his imagination, and as soon as he peeked inside all he saw was darkness and cobwebs on the walls of the room, the only living creatures were rats running around.

Eli turned his face away and walked slowly away from the old toy factory building as the man said, maybe that's why there were so many broken toys around the factory. Before leaving, Eli brought a wooden doll shaped like a brown-haired boy, wearing a suit and red bow tie.

***

Eli cleaned his wooden doll with a wet cloth. The doll smiled, he smiled at Eli. It's been a long time since he saw someone smile, but now he can see it every day, even if it's just a doll's smile. Seeing this doll, Eli thought again of the mysterious boy last night. Actually, who is that boy? Why did he suddenly disappear? and what happened to him and the woman in the old factory?

Eli could only ask the wooden doll in his hand, but he only got silence, no answer at all. Only a wide smile appeared on the wooden doll's red lips. For the past few days, Eli has been thinking too hard, that's not something he usually does, thinking so hard makes his head hurt until his nose bleeds.

"Eli...Eli..." mother shouted loudly. Hearing her scream, Eli immediately stood up and rushed out of his hiding place. If he was even a little late in coming to his mother, he could be sure that a blow would land on his face or body.

Only 8 seconds, Eli can come to his mother in just 8 seconds, but for this woman, 8 seconds is not a fast time for a child to answer his parents' call.

"What took you so long ? You should have come sooner!" snapped the woman with bulging eyes.

Eli didn't answer, he just looked down and waited for the orders he would receive in a moment. The woman gave him a large packet of powdered detergent and told Eli to wash the clothes of all his family members. Eli accepted the packet without answering. He already knew that if his mother gave him a packet of detergent, it was a sign that he had to immediately carry out his daily duties.

Mother forbids Eli from using the washing machine because she wants all her clothes to be clean and smell good. If she washes them in a machine, she feels the results are less than satisfactory, even though there are so many clothes that have to be washed that it takes hours to wash them.

Eli just obeyed meekly, he never asked why he had to do everything when all his brothers never did anything apart from fighting and making a fuss, why was he the only one treated differently?

***