Chapter 12

Eli brushed the clothes and rags that had been soaked one by one. There were many stains that were difficult to remove on his father's and Tod's clothes. His hands felt sore because of the wounds he often received, and the wounds on his hands were getting worse day by day, peeling and turning red. 

"It hurts..." Eli cried from the pain in his hand, but he couldn't stop working on it.

"Eli... why is it taking you so long to wash?" mother shouted.

"Just...just a moment..." Eli said, his voice caught in his throat.

Eli had been washing for more than two hours but the work was still not finished because of the wounds on the skin of his hands and feet. Mother, who was impatient because she thought Eli's movements were too slow, started to get angry with harsh words.

"What took you so long ? How long does it take to wash?" he snapped as he threw the clothes basket at Eli.

“B…but b…my hand…”

"What's wrong with your hand?"

"My hand..." Eli said, grimacing, showing his hand which was covered in wounds that were already peeling.

The mother grabbed Eli's hand and saw for herself the very serious wounds on her daughter's arm. The woman felt disgusted and immediately went to the kitchen to get a container filled with hot water.

“Come here, give me your hand!” 

"But...but mom..." Eli was afraid when his mother brought a container filled with water that had just boiled, he felt bad.

"Come here quickly, if I say something, don't argue!" he shouted in annoyance, mother grabbed Eli's hand and immediately doused the wound with hot water.

"No... don't ma'am... don't...!" Eli shouted in pain when the boiling hot water spilled right on his hand which was covered in wounds.

"Your hands are dirty and full of germs, this way the germs on your hands can die!" he said without feeling sorry for Eli who was crying in pain.

“It hurts… it hurts…” Eli was shaking, his hands blistered and smoking. 

"You should be thanking me instead of crying, you stupid child!" he said as he left, leaving Eli sitting there suffering from aches and pains.

Eli sobbed alone, he didn't know why his parents always treated him like this. 

"Don't cry, I don't like the sound of your voice!" Mother shouted, her voice making Eli even more afraid.

Eli covered his mouth while holding back tears, his body shivering from the pain and stinging in his hands. A few minutes after he felt a little better, Eli continued his work until he was finished. Eli could never complain, even though his tears never stopped coming out of his eyes which were filled with sadness.

***

An unknown man walked in the middle of the night mist, wearing all black clothes. His face covered in thick fog, he walked while pulling a large black package. Strange, there's something strange about that man. He walked closer, his face starting to become slightly visible. 

Horrible, his face was truly terrible. Covered in disgusting cuts, only the eyes were visible, eyes filled with immense hatred. His steps got closer, the black package he was dragging right behind him became increasingly visible.

"Knock...knock...knock..." someone knocked on the door.

Eli woke up from his sleep, his breath was short. Eli realized he had just had a nightmare. An ugly man walked alone in the fog while dragging something wrapped in large black plastic

"Knock...knock...knock..." once again the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Eli was confused about who was knocking on his door in the middle of the night. Eli came out of his room. All the lights were turned off because his parents and siblings were already sleeping in their respective rooms. 

Eli walked slowly towards the door, he felt an uneasy feeling. It's unusual for someone to come in the middle of the night like this, even though Eli usually goes out quietly in the middle of the night, but not today because he feels unwell due to the wound on his hand which is getting worse. 

Eli opened the door to his house slowly, feeling uneasy. The door opened, no one seemed to be outside. Eli opened his door wider to make sure that no one was knocking on his door. There was something strange right on the terrace floor of his house, a large black package lying neatly in front of the door.

Eli is confused, what is this strange object actually? who put it in front of the house? Eli was too afraid to find out more, but he was also very curious. Eli stepped slowly as he bent to open the black package.

“Huh… ? no...no..." Eli was shocked beyond belief, he had only opened the black package a little before he immediately saw something terrible.

Not an object, but a lifeless human figure wrapped in black plastic. The corpse of an old man looked very scary, his skin was deathly pale, his lips looked like they had been cut with scissors to show his teeth were in a row, his eyes were missing, but there was something odd about this corpse, there was no trace of blood at all. This corpse was clean and did not smell bad, and on its forehead there was a strange writing, like a tattoo in black ink formed into a line of strange numbers, "94.04.12.57.20.22".

***