Fear

By Lia Ristiana

Erica walks into her class through the school corridor. It is really quiet there. No one is either walking or standing through the corridor which looks old and terrifying. The windows haven’t been opened yet, and it makes the room look dark and more frightening. The atmosphere is so unusual that Erica decides to walk faster. She really wants to reach her class as soon as possible, she hopes that  she can find her friends there. She walks toward the stairs which directly lead to her class on the second floor.
As she walks up the stairs, she hears some voices above her. They’re her  friends voices. At first, she can’t listen to those voices clearly, but after she walks closer to the second floor, the voices sound clearer.
“She’s coming here,” murmurs a girl.
“Back to your place, guys. Be ready!” whispers a boy.
Erica stops walking and frowns. She thinks that there is something odd with her friends. But she continues her walk, and when she finally reaches the upper stair, she doesn’t she anyone there. The class door is closed. “Maybe they’re inside the class,” Erica thinks. Then she quickly opens the door.
“Erica!” yells a girl. “It’s surprise! Happy birthday!” and she’s followed by others who also yell and shout noisily.
Erica doesn’t listen to her friends, she sees a beautiful tart cake with some burning candles above it. The cake is put on a table in the centre of the class. She sees fire! Suddenly her hands and legs tremble so badly that she can’t control it anymore.
“Erica? Are you okay?” asks a boy when he sees Erica freezes and looks afraid.
“What are you seeing?” asks another boy.
Erica turns back and flies down the stairs. Her friends don’t understand why Erica is behaving so strangely.
When Erica reaches the first floor, stops running and takes a deep breath, trying to calm down herself. She feels her heart beats faster and her body still tremble. But she doesn’t care about it.
Now she feels so powerless that she feels really hard even only to stand. She falls to the ground, when her friends walk down the stairs and call her name. But it is too late, Erica has closed her eyes and she can’t hear friends’ voices anymore.
Several years ago, ehen Erica was still an 8-year-old girl, her parents fought and it made her feel frustrated. She didn’t want to stay at home. She slipped out the house and brought a lantern, then she went to an old unused house behind her parents’ house and hid there. She was alone, but she didn’t feel afraid at all. She felt tranquil when there is no quarrel. But her parents didn’t understand it. They thought that Erica was at her room at the whole day.
Inside the old house, she set the fire and fell asleep. When she woke up, she saw that fire was everywhere around her. She cried out, but her littlevoice couldn’t be heard from outside the house.
Hours later after her parents realized that Erica was not at her room and saw there was a big fire behind their house, Erica was rescued by a fireman. She didin’t get any serious wound. But the fear of fire still lingered in her mind. She became very afraid of fire. She always avoided to go to the kitchen, and of course she didin’t dare to use the stove. Everytime she celebrated her birthday she never had any candles on her tart cake, unless for this year.
On the next day after that accident, Erica goes to school as usual. She tries to act as usual as possible, she doesn’t want to be angry at her friends, though it’s a littlehard for her.
Erica is in the locker room when she hears her friends call her name.
“Erica!”
Erica turns her head and sees Nina, Jill, and Teddy, her classmates, approach her.
“Are you okay today?” Teddy asks.
“Hmm.... yes,” Erica replies softly.
“Well, we’re really sorry for what had happened with you yesterday,” says Jill.
“We didn’t know that you........” Nina doesnt continue her words, sh’s worried Erica won’t like it.
Erica grins, “No guys. That’s not you mistake. I never told you about my past.”
“Yeah, and luckily Elly knew that, and she told us about it. But it was too late. You’d fainted,” explains Nina.
“Just forget it, guys,” Erica says.
“And you also should forget that bad experience, Erica,” Teddy says.
“Can I?” Erica says confusedly.
“Of course yo can! I’ll help you,” Jill says encouragingly.
“Yeah. We’ll help you. Don’t worry,” Teddy nods.
“My auntie is a psychologist. I’ll tell her about it. I’m sure you can forget your fear of fire,” Nina smiles.
“Thank you, guys. You’re truly my friends,” Erica says, and they hug happily.
Now Erica thinks that their friendship bond is getting closer and stronger.