Shafa Ichwanus
Bio
Hello, dear readers. I’m Shafa Ichwanus, and I have been a literary writer for the past 15 years. I compose poetry, short stories, drama scripts, and even serialized tales in the form of mini-novels on a wide range of themes.
Stories (6)
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TRICKLES OF TIME
1/ We are trickles of time that fall off freely together with the ticking seconds leaving behind numbers. Naked amidst the busyness named as days... We are wanderers of fate that intertwine tackle the rivers of destiny. And never be able to digest the future. ; Because we are just God's Boats which never the ends. Looking for its own estuary. 2/ We humans are mortal beings. 'Always stammering spelling the word love in prayers'. Going from one silence to another (feeling happy). Then the world is like a mirage full of expectations. We humans walk the road in thirst. We are humans travel the distance, on a path built from the desires of others (feeling alienated).
By Shafa Ichwanus9 months ago in Poets
Faceless Night [Part 4-ending].. Content Warning.
*** (At three-thirty in the morning). The conversation between two bodies was still ongoing among their peacefully sleeping children. It was about longing, "all because of your spell, oh female fish, that the sea water doesn't taste salty!", "you stupid male cat, you might never realize it, if you keep curling up in the corner of the suffocating alleys of your hometown, if you never cross the blue ocean. That your pearl-like eyes hold the wonders of the sky during the full moon...(the man flinched as he touched his blind eyes)...Yes, because of your eyes reflecting the full moon, my underwater kingdom that night became strange, no longer salty, but like a swimming pool owned by city people. So, I emerged to the surface, searching for you, finding you stranded, hungry and thirsty. Until you fell in love with my half-human body and flesh...(the two naked bodies rubbed against each other more tightly)...Only then did I darken the full moon with my cloudy magic. Making it sink before its time. You roared to wake up your wild side wanting to pounce on me, but what could you do, you were just a stranded black cat and already blind. And I am the princess of the blue ocean, because the foams of the waves are my urine. Until you wait for the return of another full moon in hunger, loneliness, darkness... The sky remained true to its promise. The girl and Gilang were getting deeper into their sleep, sheltered by the light of the full moon hanging in a quarter of the sky in the east. Both were still lying on their wet t-shirts and pants...you were so loyal to wait until the full moon returns. But you never knew what you were actually waiting for and what was waiting for you. That night, the second full moon of our encounter, with all the blessings of my blue sea, I transformed into a virgin girl. For the first time, my lungs breathed the air just like you did, my feet stepped on the grains of sand just like you did. Thus, that night I received my curse. Then, you tore apart every curve of my body in the form of a black cat, just like you tore apart a flopping fresh fish on the beach. You licked every pore of my body that was no longer scaly. I allowed it for the sake of the sea that was no longer salty because of your eyes. Eyes that would soon be blind, blinded by the lust that claimed to be love. Until I truly began to love you that night. The love of a fish for a black cat. A love that was actually just an escape from my fear of the ocean water that you turned into freshwater... (At four o'clock in the morning) Gilang woke up after being bitten by a mosquito, only to be startled by two naked bodies piled up next to his younger sibling, his mother and a blind man he didn't know. Gilang closed his eyes again, pretending to still be asleep... Then you are cursed to be my husband's human... "Gilang (in his mind): Father...?" ...after I cursed myself first to become a woman... "Gilang (sobbing in his mind): They are demons, my sibling and I are demon offspring.!!!" The child was startled by the reality, crying and screaming when suddenly the world turned dark. But he didn't recognize his own screams
By Shafa Ichwanus9 months ago in Fiction
Faceless Night [Part 3].. Content Warning.
*** The man remembers, fifteen years ago. Before he truly understood the curse. He walked among the lips of the pier, scavenging through the pile of trash left by the passengers. He found nothing except for the foaming ocean water. Then, his two pearl eyes fixated on a mother carrying her child on her left arm, and a bag of fresh fish on her right hand. His drool dripped, his eyes sharpened, and his long tail waved as a signal that he found his target. His paws stuck closer to the edge of the pier, and he leaped into the big ship that had just docked. The ship's anchor protruded from the surface of the sea that started to turn reddish in the reflected light of sunset. The big ship departed, leaving its city behind. The city filled with narrow alleys, where he always ran to avoid being hit by broomsticks. Narrow alleys that had trash cans at each end, where he scavenged for food. The cat meowed and sniffed on the third floor deck of the ship, sharpening his sense of smell to trace the fresh fish aroma brought by the mother. It was complete, just five meters in front of him. The mother was sitting on the passenger seat, nursing her child. Now, he just had to wait for the pitch-black night. It had been an hour and thirty minutes since the ship sailed calmly on the moonlit sea. Some passengers grouped themselves according to their age order. They suddenly greeted each other, getting to know each other, telling their origins and ethnicities. The elderly were busy discussing their youthful days, while the young people joked around while humming night songs. It was not as dark as expected. Now the cat took a higher spot, on the roof of the third floor deck. He still caught the scent of fresh fish, guarding it not to be lost. His trick turned out not to be as easy as wagging his tail, which now just lay flat, stroking his hungry belly. He sat, gazing into the distance, occasionally looking up to let the moonlight's bias dip into his pearl- like eyes. He meowed loudly, asking the clouds to cover the moonlight. "Meeeooong...!" Suddenly, the passengers fell silent, momentarily stopping their activities. They were quiet not because a cat was meowing on the roof, but because the ship's speed slowed down when the captain turned the steering wheel to make a turn. Then, from a distance, there was a faint sound like a trumpet. There were other ships across the port. The lights of the ships sparkled like fireflies, lining up and shining along the beach's lips. Confirming that the destination was close, a destination to another city. The cat squinted, its ears perked up, sharpening its hearing. Restless, the fish might not be eaten. It leaped and ran towards the deck, keeping an eye on the passengers' area. The fish bag was still there, among the rows of long benches. It was time for dinner. Nobody cared, not even the owner who had already fallen asleep with their child. The cat crept among the slouching passengers' legs, finally getting a big chunk of fresh fish. It sharpened its claws, clawing at the bag until it tore open. The cat was angry because the ship was slowing down to dock, and the bag was still intact. It bit into the bag, its fangs piercing the surface. It tasted the fish's fat mixed with its own saliva, and continued to scratch at it. But then the mother woke up, finding her child urinating, peeing on the black fish bag. The cat, now wet with urine, was trying to steal the fish.
By Shafa Ichwanus9 months ago in Fiction
Faceless Night [Part 2].. Content Warning.
*** The color was a shiny black, as dark as the night. He walked among the dry branches soaked by the rain. Only the two pearl-like orbs on his face, his eyes, could be taken with him anywhere. He moved through the bushes and once again his body twisted to gaze at the cloudy sky, hoping the full moon would never appear. Hoping the rain would finally favor the curse that condemned him. Hoping to keep watching his lover's body only in the form of a black cat. He tried to meow, but his voice suddenly grew heavy, no longer resembling that of a cat. He tried to retreat, sneaking his body back into the bushes, to avoid the full moon's light.
By Shafa Ichwanus9 months ago in Fiction
Faceless Night [Part 1].. Content Warning.
The color was a gleaming black, as dark as the night. He walked among the wet branches of the trees that had been soaked by the rain. He could only carry two pearl-like orbs with him, the pearls that had grown on his face since birth, his eyeballs. Among the bushes, his body emerged once again, looking up at the cloudy sky, hoping that the full moon would never appear. Hoping that this time, the rain would truly be on his side, on the side of the curse that had befallen him. Hoping that he could continue to watch over his lover's body in the form of a black cat... *** The two children ran to the front porch, looking at the grumbling rain. Their mother had left them to hang the laundry that had been left unattended since the afternoon. Rows of clothes hung on ropes. With a little tiptoeing, the twins, Gadis and Gilang, reached for some of the clothes that had already dried, though dampened by the night dew. The twin children knew exactly which clothes to take down and which ones to leave on the clothesline, without being allowed to be taken down. Left there until late at night, then late at night it was replaced by morning, morning turned into noon, and the clothes were left to dry and torn by the afternoon wind. Until the sky was fed up, and the rain came back to fulfill its promise to the earth. The rain continued until the night, and the clothes were wet again, but still left unattended. If not, their mother would punish the twin children by making them sleep on the front porch until morning, using the clothes they were not allowed to take down as their pillows. A pair of clothes with black cotton pants and a white t-shirt with a crescent moon painting motif. The crescent moon drawing occupied by two lovers making love. Once upon a time, on a rainy season night, when not a single star could be seen in the sky, leaving only the full moon peeking through the gaps of the cloudy sky. Gadis and Gilang couldn't sleep that night. The dew slowly crept on the glass walls, entered through the gaps of the bedroom window, and reached their backs. It was cold, they said. Gadis opened the bedroom window, and the raindrops tapped her small cheeks like the fingers of an angel, while Gilang curled up even more under the blanket. "Sis, why did you open the window, aren't you cold? And aren't you afraid, Mom hasn't come home yet?!" (it was already past quarter past midnight) "Broth, do you miss Dad?" Gadis stared straight ahead at the front yard of her house, filled with clotheslines and neon lights that illuminated the gate, occasionally overshadowed by lightning flashes, then silence. Again, the girl stared at the clothes swaying in the rain. "Miss him? How can I miss him, we never even knew who he was?" The wind was too strong, making the rainwater even more torrential, tearing apart the clothes there. The girl reflexively closed the window and hurriedly ran out of the room. "Where are you going?" "The clothes fell, I want to pick them up, wait a minute..." "But...hey...don't...Mom will..."
By Shafa Ichwanus9 months ago in Fiction
