Chapter 14

This evening Eli was reluctant to leave the room even though his stomach felt knotted with hunger, since this morning he had not been given food as punishment for his actions last night. Eli surrendered, it wasn't the first time he had endured hunger like this. It felt like he was always hungry all day long, he could only eat if his parents or siblings left food on their plates. Once again Eli thought, is this what is called family? It doesn't feel much different from a pet dog, even the neighbor's pet dog lives a much better life than Eli. Eat three times a day, be petted and played with, and never hit.

Eli often thought about being able to change lives even as a pet dog, the life he lived he couldn't understand. Eli looked at the sky behind his bedroom window, tonight there were many stars in the sky. One of the stars fell somewhere, Eli could see its light flying fast as if it was sinking in the sea. Eli once heard that if a star falls and we make a wish, it will come true. 

Eli wants to make a wish on a star, and Eli hopes that his little wish will come true.

“Star, I don't ask for much. I just want to ask that one day I can be happy." Eli closed his eyes while praying, his eyes felt sore because tears were flowing from his still bruised eyelids.

Eli was pensive for tens of minutes without doing anything, he just looked at the old wooden doll he placed in front of him. The doll always smiles, I don't know how it feels at the moment but it still smiles, Eli wants to be like that, always smiles no matter how much pain he feels, Eli wants to be able to always smile.

Eli heard the sound of the wall clock in the living room ticking. Eli didn't want to go out tonight but something was pulling him. There was something he didn't know that forced him to come out, Eli didn't understand since his encounter with the boy that night made him experience strange things. Including the corpse of an old man who was placed in front of his house last night, Eli couldn't connect one problem to another, but Eli realized that his meeting with the boy was not a coincidence, Eli felt that one day they would definitely meet again.

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***After thinking for minutes, Eli finally decided to go out like the previous nights. He thought that maybe tonight he could meet the mysterious boy again, tonight Eli came out of his bedroom window, he just realized that this bedroom window could be opened, all this time Eli really didn't know that his bedroom window was very damaged and very easy to open. From now on Eli doesn't have to bother leaving his room just so he can get out of the house without his family members knowing.***

***Eli felt comfortable breathing the air outside, even though it was cold, it made him feel a little better. Eli didn't know why this happened, why he wanted to get out of his house so badly, but he was afraid that his father or mother would find out. Eli's soles shivered when they touched the cold ground, it felt like the soles of his feet were frozen.***

***Eli walked quickly so that the cold feeling in his feet could disappear. Eli looked at the deserted one. Only a few vehicles were still driving on the highway. Eli looked at the sky for a moment and tried to find direction through the stars in the sky.***

***“Stars in the sky, where should I go tonight?” Eli asked, his head tilted up towards the dark sky.***

***The stars couldn't make a sound, they were silent and didn't answer Eli's question. But Eli knows that every silence has its own answer, including the stars who are reluctant to speak up to give an answer.***

***Eli continued his steps, Eli wanted to meet the boy he saw that night again. A boy who looked very lonely, exactly like him. Even though Eli didn't know him, for some reason there was a feeling in his heart that said that they would meet again.***

***Eli walks in the dark to the old factory where he meets the boy. At the end of the road there was a van that suddenly stopped at the edge of the bridge. Eli stopped walking when a strange man came out of the car carrying a large package.***

***The man looked very scary, even though it was dark, Eli could still see him vaguely. His face was covered in scary scratches and only his eyes were left, his face, nose and mouth were covered in scratches. The man was wearing a black jacket with a black hat, he dragged a black package and pushed it until it fell to the river bank.***

***Eli was scared, he had a bad feeling. The package that the strange man was carrying was very similar to the package he found last night, a package containing the preserved corpse of an old man.***

***"Who ?" the man spoke, his eyes directed towards where Eli was standing. For some reason, this time Eli reacted faster than usual, he immediately hid behind a tree when the strange man began to notice his presence.***

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