The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 1: The Meeting

"People dont meet by accident. They are meant to cross our path. Either become blessing, or become lesson"

Heavy rain fell on the earth in the middle of a busy dark sky struggling because it was split by the light of lightning, along with the sound of a loud thunder that shook the windows of the rickety Elana rented house.

Elana ran around a little, passing the porch of her house that was soaking wet from leaking all over her miserable side. In a hurry he unpacked his bag, looking for a small key that should have been in one of his pocket pockets.

The cold air was bone-chilling at night in the quiet city tonight. It was all still exacerbated by heavy rain that did not stop from early morning until the evening picked up the sun.

Elana's hands were shaking uncontrollably, her thin body was still not used to holding this cold air. What he wants most now is to find the damn key before entering the house immediately to take shelter on the roof that does not pour water on his body that is soaked.

Unfortunately, there was no chance for him to rest, he could only go home to change clothes, then had to leave again to run his other night shift work.

Elana is used to living alone, alone and struggling with her own strength to improve her life. She grew up without knowing who her parents really were, without knowing who her parents were, in a rickety orphanage in a small town attached to the town where she was seeking a fortune at the moment. His life in the orphanage was full of struggles, he had to learn to share and resist the will of the heart, also never felt having a new item purchased for himself.

Yes, living in an orphanage with only a few donors, making himself and other children, must be satisfied to get used items to complete themselves.

When Elana has graduated from High School, she gets the opportunity to live independently. The orphanage mother provided him with a diploma, and a little money to help him survive before getting a job. The allowance might be a little, but for Elana who used to work hard early on, it could be a stepping stone that could catapult her towards success.

Learning to be efficient, Elana uses her money to rent a shabby little rented out in an alley jostling with other rundown houses. Elana deliberately chose a location that is far and hard to reach to suppress prices. His strategy worked because he was able to get a decent price for a house that despite being rickety, was worthy enough to be a place to go home and shelter.

The rest of the money he earned he used to enroll in computer and English courses, a knowledge and expertise that he could use to get a better future. Luckily, one of the benevolent orphanage alumni helped him to apply for a job as a guard at a minimarket not far from his rented house. Elana uses the money from her job to survive and finance her course. He took courses during the day and crossed time by working the other hours, constantly working hard to maintain his independence.

Elana knew that she had to fight for her own future. Because he is a kara in this world, he has no one.

Who else would he have to depend on if not himself?

Now it has been almost two years since she broke away from the orphanage that raised her and lived independently. He finished both courses three months ago, and now struggles to find a better job than just being a small supermarket keeper in the suburbs.

Elana wants to be like the career women she often sees when looking after the supermarket, the women usually stop by after work to buy something. Their appearance is clean and tidy and they spend a lot of money just to buy trivial items such as snacks and beauty products without even batting an eye.

Peace of the soul in life, that is what Elana wants. He never had a grandiose dream. What he wants is peace of mind when living life, including not having to worry if you have to spend money to buy something, just like the women of that career feel.

Their condition is certainly much different from what Elana feels, when she gets her monthly salary, and, Elana had to sort out her needs so that she would not end up starving in the middle of the month without a penny. The absolute rent is paid at the beginning of the month, then Elana will separate the money for food and for the needs of her life. Just for the primary needs alone the money is barely enough, making him trained to resist hunger when he sees the contents of his wallet begin to thin at the end of the month.

And that anxiety always comes with it, the anxiety of thinking about whether he can last until the end of the month, the anxiety of thinking about whether he can still eat until tomorrow. All of that was even more exhausting than his relentless hard work.

Because of that, Elana's dream is not grandiose, she wants to be a career woman who works in an office, who works in neat clothes, she wants to be a career woman who works in an office, who went to work at the same hour at eight in the morning until five in the afternoon, which when receiving a salary still has the rest of the money to just buy new clothes or shoes, which when receiving a salary, or even sitting in a cafe sipping coffee with a variety of unique names that aggravate saliva. It's pretty simple that's what Elana wants.

Unfortunately, the level of education he had coupled with two types of courses that showed additional expertise was still not able to compete in the harsh world of job seekers. Up to three months, with so many digital cover letters to companies in need of administrative personnel, no one called him to just interview and assess his abilities.

Elana knows that scholars from university graduates also have difficulty finding work in the present. And realize that he is not comparable to them. It was that thought that left him almost desperate, made him no longer eager to find a job, and began to accept that perhaps his entire life, would be, he will only manage to reach the level of work as a guard of a small supermarket in the suburbs.

But maybe God is still a little kind to him. One of his friends, who was taking shifts with him at the supermarket, suddenly whispered an attractive job offer for him. Sachi is quite beautiful and is two years older than her, and they have worked together for over a year as a supermarket guard, although in fact they are not too familiar because their work schedule as opposed to shift makes it very rare for them to be able to work at the same hour and spend time together.

Perhaps seeing how hard Elana tries to find a job, Sachi eventually falls in love and whispers to Elana to join him in doing extra work that feels tantalizing. The work is done in the early hours, but Sachi guarantees that the job is not dangerous. Despite her location in a famous nightclub in the middle of town, Elena does not work as a night woman accompanying guests to drink and dance like Sachi, but instead works as a toilet cleaner.

Yeah, as a toilet cleaner. Sachi said the job earned a hefty salary, almost twice the salary of keeping a supermarket, despite having to have the strength of heart to work on it. Sachi said that his acquaintance who worked as a supervisor in the cleaning service section of the club asked for his help to find people to fill the job that was always left behind. All that is because being a toilet cleaner at the nightclub is a very tough job. At night in the nightclub, many drunken visitors forget themselves. They are too drunk to clean themselves and clean the toilets they use properly, and not to mention considering the large number of visitors who vomit because they are too drunk there.

Sachi does not cover up anything when offering Elana the job, and despite hearing it all, Elana still considers the job offer a great opportunity and is determined to take it.

Work hours at the club start at eleven in the evening until four in the morning, making it time for Elana to take the job. He plans on taking two jobs at once, in the evening he will be the club's toilet cleaner, then go home in the morning to sleep for a while before working on the day shift or night shift as a supermarket guard where he works.

A job as a toilet cleaner would give her twice the salary of a supermarket guard, coupled with a job as a supermarket guard, it was more than enough for Elana to make ends meet without anxiety.

Imagining it all made Elana's eyes sparkle, she was sure she was capable of it. He just has to work a little harder to achieve it.

The sound of lightning that again struck the skyline made Elana aghast and almost jumped from her standing position. The curse of himself and his happy mind wandered as he pleased without permission. His hand that was already holding the key instantly moved to open the door, bringing himself in before closing and locking the door behind him.

While running around, Elana immediately ran towards the bathroom, she took a lightning-fast shower just to refresh herself because since her day shift she had not taken a shower. With a cold shivering body wrapped in a towel, Elana pulled her clothes from the closet and rushed to wear them. Sachi said that the toilet cleaners would get their own uniforms there, so Elana decided to wear comfortable clothes, loose-collared shirts and black pants that wrapped her tall body neatly.

After tying his long hair into a ponytail, he grabbed his simple phone and glanced at the watch face on his screen. Ten in less than ten minutes. He finished his night shift at the supermarket until nine p.m., and his smile broadened as he managed to get himself ready to work again at the nightclub at just the right time.

Sachi said he would pick her up at ten o'clock on a large street that is the meeting section of the small alley entrance to the slum where Elana lives. Elana immediately grabbed her bag that she had thrown on the bed, she then put her phone there and opened the rental door again.

Heavy rain still does not want to be friendly to the surface of the earth, showering it with a swift oath in the form of heavy water that falls on the earth. Elana did not have an umbrella, so she put her bag over her head, and ran to the entrance of the alley at the end of the road, where Sachi believed she was waiting there.

The clock has shown at one night, and is different from in most human houses where all residents have gone to sleep, he said, lying in bed to rest with eyes closed and recharge the energy to be used tomorrow, in the nightclub even more crowded and rumbling when the early morning is getting closer.

More and more people are coming, filling the dance floor and luxury seating that has been prepared. The increasingly bristling lights in the seating area appear in contrast to the earthy light of various colors that dazzle the eyes on the dance floor. The sound of music is getting louder, as if to test the strength of the eardrum that collides courage with the heartbeat in the chest.

Sunday night has made the crowd in this club uncontrollable. The bartenders are busy preparing alcoholic drinks with various variants of mixed flavors to customers who do not mind to get drunk on this hot night. The well-dressed waitresses were busy passing by among the guests, happily delivering bottles of wine to give satisfaction to the evening worshippers.

Elana was still holding a mop in her hand when she turned her head to look at the frenzy that felt unfamiliar with her. He is currently wearing an oversized ground brown cleaning service outfit, an overalls-type outfit that should be used by men.

Yes, when Sachi escorted her to meet with the cleaning service person in charge, the man seemed to have no idea that the job applicant Sachi was carrying was a woman. His gaze looked skeptical when he looked at Elana's thin body as if malnourished, but he was also given the male uniform to be worn by Elana while saying that Elana was given a chance for three days to show the results of her work before the assessment will determine whether Elana will be accepted working or not.

And even though the person in charge of the cleaning service said nothing, he said nothing, Elana knew for sure that the man had already bet in his heart that Elana would not be able to endure to carry out the entire heavy work of a single night in this place.

He will prove that the man's allegations are wrong. Elana was determined to work hard to be accepted in this place, and that was what she was going to do.

Currently, he had already finished cleaning the female toilet assigned to him. The toilet looked slovenly with traces of people urinating and some vomit that was not watered, but without complaining, it was, Elana cleaned everything up and made the man in charge of cleaning service who inspected his work run out of words. The man then said that Elana should always be on guard, because a second after cleaning, the toilet can be dirty again. After giving a long explanation, the man then ordered Elana to clean the toilet for the man who was located on the other side.

Inside the club tonight, toilets for men and toilets for women are located on different sides of the building. To get to the male toilet, Elana must cross the main room filled with the hustle and bustle of the night world of night-humans immersed in worldly pleasures full of sound.

Elana's hand held a bucket of cleaning fluid and a brush, while her other hand held a mop, and her eyes were fixed for a moment as if looking at another world that was clearly outside of her world. His eyes searched for where Sachi was.

Was the friend among the heads that seemed to be engrossed in the dim darkness behind the large sofas in the seating area?

Then Elana awoke from her daydream and opened her eyes. He took a deep breath, and turned his face away. It's not his business to judge Sachi's work. Everyone has a reason to do something with full awareness, just as Elana chose to take a job as a toilet cleaner to connect her life.

Elana's steps lead her to a long hallway that leads to a dead-end wall where next door leads to a toilet for male guests. The male toilet will definitely be the same as the female toilet that he cleaned before, in the form of a large room, filled with glass on the walls equipped with several hand sinks of beautiful black marble. On the other side of the room, it is filled with small rooms that are reserved for urination.

Why so quiet?

Unlike the bustling female toilet before, Elana frowned when she realized that no one she met in the hallway to the male toilet.

Do men fit in with their biological structures that have bladders nearly three times the size of a woman's bladder, allowing them to hold on for longer periods of urination?

Is that why no one uses the toilet today?

While wondering, Elana opened the male toilet door without a sound, and immediately gasped when she saw the scene in front of her.