3 Idiots - Part II

Three people who changed my life,,, for the worse

Second A-Hole
This guy... This guy, was a friend.

He was one of three people who lived in the room next to me. About 3 years after the first robbery, I've already moved to a new house, also 3 times for various reasons. This house has three rooms. One of the rooms have it's own kitchen and toilet, while the other two had to share. I was in one of the two, right in the middle. He, on the other hand, live in the other one, with 2 more roommates, one his own age, the other a college freshman.

He was a talkative guy, unlike me. I lived in that house for a month before starting to talk to the neighbors. He said at first he thought I was mute or really, really arrogant, but after that we start to hit it off. He was younger than me by a few years. Highschooler actually. But since I have no superiority complex, I thought he's just fine.

We do a lot of things together. Mostly he would ask me to loiter around town. One time we went to a studio, and I sang while he played the drums. He would use my stove to cook and sometimes share with me. Although I'm a solitary guy, I don't mind doing stuff with other people as long as they don't mind me finding time alone. He even forced me to message with his girlfriend, which is, weirdly enough, many of my friends like to do. Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know. I just didn't care enough to find out.

He always talked about his business ideas, especially when he visited my room. When he saw I had a TV set and a PS2 console, he would talk about opening a PS2 rental store. When he saw I had a laptop, he would talk about opening a computer rental store. I sensed a pattern there. But it was in good fun.

One day, he asked to borrow my laptop. No, it wasn't the same laptop that was stolen 3 years ago, that one was broken. This was a new one. I treasure it with my life. So, I told him that if he want to use my laptop, use it in my room. I'm never going to let my laptop out of my sight again. He looked flabbergasted.

"Why don't you trust me? I thought we were friends.", he said.

"This isn't an issue of trust. This is personal.", so I told him about the robbery, about how it broke me, about how I climbed out of 2 years of depression, but something inside lingers. I just cannot lose sight of my laptop again. He seemed to understand, because he came in and used my laptop with no problem, or so I thought.

Two days later, at 10 in the morning, I was at home. He was at school. I wanted to buy some credit for my modem, so I went out for a while. 15 minutes later I came back. When I opened the door, what greeted my eyes was the absence of my laptop.

"Not again.", I thought. Then I saw my back door that lead to the kitchen was open. The lock was broken. When I went to the kitchen, I saw that his back door was also open. So's his front door, and nobody's home. At the time I didn't think that it was him. Now, looking back, it was so obvious. But back then, I just couldn't think badly of the people I know. Maybe someone broke into his room, then broke into mine from the kitchen. Whatever the case, this is the second time I got robbed, and I just lost my cool. I sat down on my bed. My mind was racing. Cold sweat ran down my face.

"What else?", I thought. "What else did I lose?". I looked around. Everything was in order. The stereo that was plugged in my laptop seemed carefully unplugged and laid to the side.

"What a careful thief.", I thought. Then I remembered my modem. It was in my backpack, so I rummaged through it. It's gone.

"Wow, he even found my modem in my backpack and zipped it back. He did all this in 15 minutes. He must be an experienced thief and a professional stalker.". I know, It's so obvious, right? But not to me. I sat there blankly for what must have been a whole day. During that time, I heard him come home. I saw him peeking through the broken back door, but he didn't say anything, so I sat there silently. Then I heard him using my stove. He peeked through my door again, opened it and put a plate of fried rice in front of me. Then he just left without saying anything. I stared at the rice, wondering why he did this. Did he know what just happened to me? Or he just saw me silent and felt bad? Why didn't he say anything about his own room being broken in?

"Oh no, I'm thinking badly of the people I know.", my conscience reminded me. So I just shook my head and ate the rice.

That night I couldn't sleep. I messaged my friends about what happened, and they told me to be cool and not do anything rash. I couldn't get my back door to close, so I just blocked it with my cupboard, but that that slit on the door is still there. I can see the outside. I lay there on my bed staring at that slit like the robber's going to come back and slit my throat. It was the coldest night of my life. I was shaking and sweating. I felt naked and fragile. I just stared at that slit until morning came. Then I made a decision.

I got on my bicycle and started searching for a new room to rent. After a few hours I found a place close by that would accept me. So I came back and started packing. That guy was out to school. While I was packing the landlady came. She looked puzzled, so I told her what happened and what I planned to do. She said she was sorry I was robbed but she can't refund my rent, which was for a year, but I only stayed there for 4 months. I said I don't care. I couldn't live in this house anymore without going crazy, I needed to go.

"Maybe he did it. He seemed like a bad kid.", she said about that guy.

"No, no, It can't be. He's someone I know.", I thought. God, I was so stupid. She asked me to wait while she find someone to repair the door. When she left, I just shrugged and left for the new place with my things. I never looked back.

I was settling in my new place, which marked the fourth time I moved, when that night I got a call. It was that guy. He said he was shocked to see my empty room. He knew I was robbed but he didn't know I was so distressed that I would move the very next day. He felt bad he didn't say anything that time, he said. What do you expect, I said. I told you about the time I was robbed and how it broke me. It happened again, so I had to escape my creeping madness. He fell silent. Then he told me he's going to help me catch the thief. He told me he has an idea about who did it.

It was probably his roommate, he said. Then he asked me to come to his place to explain why. So the next night I went there, he was alone at his place. Both of his roommate was out. I asked which one probably did it. He said probably the one his own age. He once joked about stealing your bike when you were out once, he said. Maybe the other one, too. I once caught him trying to break my padlocked backpack, he said. They're both suspicious, he said.

I nodded my head. Maybe. I don't know these guys, maybe they did it, I thought, pretentiously. We talked about what we planned to do to the thief once we caught him. I don't know about you, but I'd kill him, he said, somewhat excitedly. These people give Indonesians a bad name, he said. We'll find him someday, he said. We will. When I left I felt good to have talked about this with someone. I could never have guessed what would happen next.

For an entire week, nothing happened. He didn't contact me, and I just like being alone. Then one night he called. He asked me to come by to his place. He had to tell me something.

"Just say it now, over the phone.", I said.

"No, I can't. I need to tell you this face-to-face. Please.", his voice low, crackled.

"What's going on?", I thought, still oblivious. So I went there on my bicycle. When I arrived, he was waiting at the door with both his roommates and some people I don't know. We went inside, and he served me tea, moving very slowly. One of his roommates shouted at him.

"Just tell him!", he bellowed. My stomach sank with apprehension. This is it.

"Yeah, just tell me.", I thought. Just put me out of my misery. Just tell me I misjudged you. I misjudged everybody. Tell me my conscience was wrong. Then he took my laptop out and put it in front of me. He said, what happened was he came home the morning of the robbery and opened the fridge to take a drink, when he slipped on the floor and accidentally kicked my back door in. Then he saw my laptop. Something crossed his mind. He was angry at me for not trusting him enough to let him borrow it, so he's going to take it in retaliation.

"I told you I was robbed, so I became a bit paranoid, and you just decided to rob me because you felt I disrespected you.", I stated the obvious to his face. My heart felt heavy. I felt my tears swelling. I was so stupid.

"Let me explain. I had a plan.", he said. He was going to sell my laptop, use the money to start a business, and after he's successful he's going to find a way to pay me back without me knowing what he did.

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings.", he said. What an asshole.

Then his roommate, the college freshman told me he caught this guy at the market. He was walking around looking for a buyer. The roommate then asked his friends to join him to confront this guy. At first he was reluctant to admit anything, but when threatened with a fist to the face, he buckled.

"You said you were going to kill the thief if we caught him.", I said to his face. He didn't reply.

Then I tried to open the laptop. He had reformatted it, obviously, and set a password. When I asked for the password, he said;

"God is All-Knowing."

I stared at him, hoping that that was just an awkward joke. Nope. Then I remembered my modem.

"Is this all you took?", I asked. He nodded.

Damn it, you're not stopping me this time, Conscience. He's a liar and he just lied again.

"Give me my modem back, asshole.". He sheepishly took it out and gave it to me. I rolled my eyes.

"These people give Indonesians a bad name.", the roommate said. Boy, you can say that again.

Suddenly a lot of people came. His father and two of his uncles came, all of them live nearby and have stores close by. His roommate had told them what this guy did. They all take turns to scold him and apologize to me. He father told him to go back to his hometown and he burst out crying.

"You'll never trust me again!". Boo-hoo, asshole.

It was a happy moment in my life. My heart danced with joy at this little, perfectly packaged experience of mine. I'll always smile at this memory, except for the fact that one of my friends died the next week in a motorcycle accident. He didn't wear a helmet, and he fell on his head. I saw him lying on the road that day. Now I feel selfish if this memory ever crossed my mind again. Like when I'm writing this story.

I can't just feel happy without feeling a bit sad. I'm not going to lie, the whole month warped my mind a bit, since the very next week after my friend's death, I, myself got hit by a motorcycle and hurled off my bicycle onto the pavement. I was sent to the hospital but I wasn't hurt, just a bit bruised, because I fell on my chest, not my head. It was pure dumb luck.

And it was running out.