Storymania - The Sudden Riot by Jannah Akira

The Sudden Riot
Jannah Akira

GERMANY, 2006

  A total blur. That is all that she can see. Somehow, she is in the middle of a brutal fight. She tries to escape but she fail. They are hitting and hurting each other. A hard smack touches her back. She falls to the ground. She screams in pain. She tries to pull herself up but their foots hit her back. No sound comes out from her mouth due to the real pain she is feeling. Suddenly, a thick smoke fills the air of the entire place. Her eyes are itching and she cannot open them. Now, everything is a pitch dark.

  The pure bright white light forces her to open her eyes. She can tell that she is now in a hospital. She wonders what had happened to her. Looking everywhere to find a familiar face. “What happened to me?” she asked a nurse.
“You were found lying on the ground due to that sudden fight that occurred”
“Can I go home?”
“Well, yes. After you are ready to go”
“Where are all my friends? Are they in here somewhere?”
“Well, I don’t know”
“May I walk around? I needed to see them”
“You can tell me their names and I’ll try to find them”
“Why? Why can’t I go see them?”
“You have a broken leg!”
“What? How long have I been here?”
“Two days”
“…Oh! What about the others who involved in the fight?”
The nurse hold her breath then says, “Those who are…alive had gone home except for that man beside you and others that filled this hospital”
She turns around and sees a man unconscious lying on a bed next to hers. She turns to the nurse and says, “You mean, some people dies?”
“Five; to be exact”
“Eva Meindl, Sara Vakovc and Liliana Appeton. My friends”
“I’ll try and find them”
“Thanks”
She stares at the familiar face beside her. She wonders who he is. Then, she realizes that the man is Kavel Zorovsky; the soccer player from Czech Republic.

  She is still unable to walk. She remembers the tragedy. It was a football match; a final match between Japan and Germany. The Japanese had won the match and thousand of Germany’s fan got really upset and caused a terrible riot outside the stadium after the match. She and her friends caught in the middle of the riot as soon as they came out of the stadium. Her friends had gone home now but she is having her third day in that hospital now. She hopes that she could go back to Malaysia real soon. The doctor said she would be transfer in a week time.
  She stares at Kavel Zorovsky. Then, she says out loud, “I wonder how you got into the fight. As far as I know, the Czechs had lost to the Japanese on semis. Why are you still here?”
She drinks a glass of water.
“Maybe you were just there to watch the final. Hey! Wake up! I support Czechs Soccer, you know”
Zorovsky is still soundless. She nods to herself and continues,
“You played so well. I saw you on TV. Well, I’m just here to watch the final. I won a competition in my country. Cool huh? But I got friends here. My pen-pal. Oh yeah! By the way, my name is Suzana Zulkifli. Nice to meet you”
Then, she holds Zorovsky’s hand and miming a handshake.
“You’ll get better soon and I hope I could see you play again. I also hope you understand English and could hear me. I will always pray for you to get well soon”

   She opens her eyes the next day to find that Zorovsky’s bed is empty. “Where is him?” She asks a doctor who had just walk into the room.
“At his own home, with his private doctor”
“He regains conscious?”
“No. But he’ll be at his home”
“Oh! He lives in Germany? He’s from Czech Republic, right?”
“Yeah but he plays here for Dortmund. Borussia Dortmund”
“Oh!”
“And you’ll be going to your home tomorrow”
“Really?”
“Yeah. You’ll be transfer to a hospital in you own country”
She puts a smile on her face; cannot wait to return home.

SPAIN, 2008

   Everyone is dancing. You can feel the real joy of ceremony they are celebrating. As a photographer, Suzana is here in Spain to shoot pictures from the upcoming event, which will be held in Spain. She zooms her camera to a balcony on a high building and Kavel Zorovsky comes to her view. She holds her camera tight and takes his picture. She is such a big fan of him ever since the 2006 tragedy. But sadly, he never knew her even though he slept next to her bed in the hospital. She walks away from where she’s standing.
   The party continues until early morning and early morning now is, she finds herself in a bar with a couple of friends.
“¿Usted está bien, Suzana?” Her friend asks. (Are you okay, Suzana?)
“sí. estoy bien” (yes. i am okay)
“usted parece triste” (you look sad)
“No es nada. ¡realmente!” (It’s nothing. Really!)
She can feels someone is watching her from far but she do not want to look at him. She has lots of other thing to think about.

  From a different sight, Zorovsky stares at a woman that he thought he knew. He wonders why she looks so familiar to him. ‘Do I know her?’ He keeps on looking at her. Not even once he had his eyes off of her. ‘If I do know her, where? How?’ She never looks back at him. She sits still, looking at some pictures with her friends. “Hey!” a sound from behind him. Shocked; he turns around to find Miller Cheros standing behind him. Cheros is his former teammate for the Czech Republic. “What’s up?” Cheros asks,
“Nothing much. You?”
“Doing some chatting on the Internet but of course, they don’t know me. Liverpool’s striker”
“Ha-ha. Nice things to do huh?”
Zorovsky turns to look at the woman again but she’s gone. He sighs; disappointed then continues his conversation with Cheros.

  Zorovsky finds it is so hard to sleep though it is already 3:30 in the morning. He could not help but thinking of the woman he saw early on, in the bar. He gets a real feeling that he knows her somewhere. But he cannot remember how nor where.

~~

  Zorovsky is running. Something is chasing after him. The muddy road where he is running seems never-ending. Along side of the road is only trees; green. He does not know where he is going. But then, the road divides into three separate ways. He stops; panic and thinking hard. “This way” a woman whispers to his ears and pull his hand towards the road on his right. They run until they reach a beautiful garden fills with colorful flowers. Nothing is chasing him anymore. He feels safe. He looks at the woman, who is standing beside him, “Who are you?”
“Anna”
She smiles then points her finger to a house at the middle of the garden.
“There! That is your way home”
Zorovsky looks at her. She says, “Go now!”
Zorovsky runs toward the house. He opens the door.

~~

  He opens his eyes. Awake from his sleep. He has the same dream. The dream he has before he opened his eyes after a week of unconsciousness. The same dream he had in 2006. He recognizes the woman immediately. It is Anna. She is the woman of his dream; the woman at the bar. “Anna” he whispers. Then, he smiles all alone.

~~

   It is raining the other morning. Suzana runs into a café where peoples are having breakfast. She goes to the counter and orders her meal. She walks toward an empty seat that she happens to see at the corner of the café. A view of a guy appears before the seat. Since that nowhere else is empty, she walks toward him, “May I sit here?” she asks. The guy turns to look at her and she stuns to see that the guy is Kavel Zorovsky. “Sure!” he says.
She puts her meal, pretending she does not know him. He looks at her as she takes a sip of the coffee. “What is your name?” Zorovsky asks.
“Suzana”
“Anna?”
“You must have misheard me, it’s Suzana”
“Oh!”
“But I wont mind you callinh me Anna”
“Okay. Nice to meet you, Anna”
“You too, Mr.Zorovsky”
“You know me?”
“Yes. I’m a photographer for a sport magazine in my country”
They talk while eating.
“Really? How long?”
“One year or so”
“Oh!” I thought you were at Germany in 2006 too. That was two years back.
There is a long silence pause until Zorovsky finally says, “You can call me Kavel”
“Okay, Kavel”
He smiles and so does she.

~~

  It is a press conference that day. Zorovsky, Cheros and Sicved arrive at the five-star hotel. “I bet the press are already here,” Sicved says.
“Yeah” Cheros agrees.
“Hey! You guys so first. I want to go to the toilet,” Zorovsky suggests.
“Okay” Sicved says.
  So, Zorovsky goes to the toilet. The conference will start in another three minutes. He runs a little toward the elevator and pushes the green button. The door opens and he goes in. Seconds before the door closes, someone rushes to come in. It is Suzana and so Zorovsky lets her in. “You’re late!” he says
“I bet I am”
“How come?”
“Stuck somehow”
She laughs a little then says,
“Nevermind anyway. I’m not here to ask questions. I’m just here to take some pictures. My friend is asking question”
“Oh!”
“May I?” she asks, pointing her camera.
“Sure” Zorovsky smiles and Suzana catches his picture. Then, Zorovsky laughs.
  Suddenly, the elevator shakes and stops moving. “What’s going on?” Suzana asks.
“I don’t know. We seems to be stuck at level seven” He sounds panic.
  The light goes off. Suzana pulls Zorovsky’s hand; scared. Zorovsky looks at her but she could not see him, of course. “The electricity went down? Black-out?” Suzana guesses.
“Maybe but the air-conditioning is still working. It’s damn cold in here”
“Then, there must be some trouble in the system”
“Perhaps”
She lets his hand go and punches a small punch of disappointment at the door. Zorovsky pushes the emergency button, “I bet we forgot that” he says
“I just hope that this won’t take long or I’ll freeze to death” Suzana claims
“I hope I won’t die freezing too”
“Shit! I’m scared” She has to admit it.
Zorovsky holds her hand and say, “Don’t worry! I’m here”
Suzana stays close to Zorovsky; trembling.

  It had been an hour or so since they trapped in the elevator, they are holding each other now, to avoid the terrible coldness. Suddenly, they hear a sound from the top of the elevator. They unwrap their hand against each other. “Hello?” Zorovsky shouts. One part of the top of the elevator lifts open. Comes to their view is a man in black outfits, “Give me you hands” he calls.

~~

  Suzana has that cup of coffee hold still in her hand. Her friends standing around her “¿Está bien?” one of her friend asks.
“sí”
  Suzana remembers when she and Zorovsky got out of the elevator. Her friends rushed toward her and Zorovsky got his girlfriend holding him tight and kissing his cheek. She knew since a long time ago that Zorovsky has a girlfriend but she is somehow so positive that Zorovsky had had a crush on her but she was dead wrong. Seeing him just then changed her thought, ‘He was trying to play around’

~~

  The Czechs had won quarterfinal. Suzana is happy about that as a fan. She is walking down a street at night. She hears running footsteps behind her, “Anna! Anna!” she knows that it is Zorovsky’s voice. She pretends not to hear him and walk faster. “Anna!” he grabs her shoulder.
“Ouch!!”
“I’m sorry. Didn’t you hear me calling you?”
“It’s so much hurting!”
“I’m sorry, okay?”
“What is it that you want?”
“Well, I saw you and just thought to say ‘hello’”
“Okay then. Hello!”
  Suzana tries to walk away but he pulls her hand, “Wait!” he says; half shouting. She pulls her hand back immediately. “Are you okay?” he asks
“Yeah. I am”
“But I don’t think so”
“Oh! Don’t pretend like you know me. We were just knew each other in a few weeks. Now, don’t go thinking you can start walking around holding my hands”
Zorovsky looks at her in amazement.
“What are you saying?” he asks then continues, “You think I’m trying to take advantage of you?”
-Silent-
“You really think I’m that kind of man?” he asks again.
Then, there is a very long silence pause. Zorovsky says, “Anna, you might know me for just a few weeks in your mind. But I knew you since two years back”
“What?”
“At Germany in 2006”
“You really saw me?”
“Yeah!”
“I thought you were unconscious”
“How do you know I am?”
“You’re in a bed next to mine at the hospital. I don’t think you ever saw me”
“You’re there?”
“Yeah. You never saw me?”
He stares at her for a while then says, “This might sound ridiculous but I saw you in my dream. You had showed me the way home!”
“Wow! Is it really true that we can communicate through the unconscious mind?”
“You talk to me?”
“Yeah. When you’re sleeping”
“How come you say your name is Anna?”
“You must have misheard me, I said Suzana!”
Zorovsky laughs and so does Suzana.

~~

  It is final match that evening. The Czech Republic has won over Italy. Suzana cries the tears of joy. She watches Zorovsky who is smiling at the middle of the pitch. Fans roar in happiness. She captures some pictures for the magazine she’s working for. Pictures for the site called ‘Without Us’ which is dedicated to fans of sports. She will be heading to her home the next morning at nine o clock. She hopes to meet Zorovsky again but that is so impossible.

  That night, she sits at home, watching television. Then, her phone rings. “Hello?” she picks up.
“Want to go fishing?” Zorovsky’s voice.
“What?” She laughs a little bit.
“Come on! To celebrate the winning game”
“I can’t! Sorry”
“Why?”
“Um- Your girlfriend is coming along?”
“She went back to Germany before semi-final”
Suzana laughs.
“I’m just kidding on that question, okay? I still can’t go anyway”
“But why?”
“I’m going home tomorrow. Nine in the morning”
“I’m also going home tomorrow morning. I mean, tonight!”
“Are you crazy?”
“We can get lots of fish at night, you know”
“No. I don’t know and you’re crazy!”
“Can I come over then?”
“To my friend’s apartment? No!”
“Why not?”
“Well, you just can’t”
“Try and stop me then”
  The line goes dead and KNOCK-KNOCK on the door. She opens the door and Zorovsky is in front of her, “You’re here all along”
“Ha-ha! I am”
“And what is that joke about fishing?”
“I do got all the equipments in my car”
She stares at him then smiles, “Come in!”
  Zorovsky steps in and sits on the sofa. Suzana asks, “Coffee?”
“Sure. Coffee sounds good”
While Suzana is at the kitchen, Zorovsky asks, “Where is your friend?”
“She has gone out on a hot date”
“Ooh – I got myself one too here”
Suzana shakes her head. Zorovsky turns to look at her, “That would give us a private time together, right?”
“Huh? Yeah – whatever”
Zorovsky laughs hard. Suzana walks toward him, “Here is your coffee”
Zorovsky smiles at her, he takes a sip out of the cup. Suzana walks back and stands behind him. “Why didn’t you have a seat?” Zorovsky asks.
“Well – I don’t feel like”
  Zorovsky stares at her then stands up and walk toward her, he says, “We might not see each other again after this”
“Yeah” She nods.
“But I hope we do”
“It’s better off if we’re not”
“Why?”
“Does everything need a reason?”
“If it concerns you and me, yes!”
“We can’t stay in touch. I’m afraid that I would fall – nevermind”
“I don’t even need to stay in touch, I already am falling – nevermind”
“What does that supposed to mean?”
“You can’t fight it Anna. I admit, I already am in love with you”
“Oh no! No, you’re not!”
“I do! I love you”
“And your girlfriend?”
“I don’t know what to do with Lisa”
“You can’t just leave her”
“I can’t”
“So that’s it. Better off that way”
“The problem is – it was you. I love you. Not anybody else”
  Zorovsky pulls Suzana into his arms. His left hand is around her waist and his right hand is touching her face. Suzana says, “I love you too but we can’t – “
Zorovsky closes his eyes and kisses Suzana’s lips.
- Silent -
Zorovsky opens his eyes slowly and stares at Suzana. He kisses her cheek and her neck. Suzana couldn’t help it but she shakes her head and pushes him slowly. She says, “We can’t” tears slowly dripping from her eyes as she sits on the sofa with her hands on her head. Zorovsky walks and sit beside her. He looks at Suzana and says, “I’m sorry”. Suzana looks back at him. He pulls her and holds her tight. He kisses her again and she kisses him back. She doesn’t know why.
- Long silent -
  “Perhaps it’s time for you to go” Suzana suggests.
Zorovsky stares at her and sadly says, “I can’t believe you’re letting me go”
“I love you. That’s why I’m letting you go”
He gets up from where he's sitting and stares deeply into Suzana’s eyes. Suzana says, “It’s hard to do so. So, please go!”
Zorovsky walks away.

~~

GERMANY, the next day

  Zorovsky walks at the airport. Lisa smiles at him from far. He smiles too; helplessly. “Hallo!” She says,
“Hallo!”
“Ich habe etwas erhalten, Sie zu erzählen” (I got something to tell you)
“Was?” (What?)
“Ich bin zu jemandem anders engagiert. und ich werde ihn heiraten” (i am engaged to someone else. and i am going to marry him)
“Machen Sie?” (You do?)
“Ja” (Yes)
“Okay”

~~

MALAYSIA, three months later

Suzana is invited as a guest on a sport talk show for one of the leading Malaysian television. She is talking to the host of the show right now. “Hi!” She exclaims. “Hi! I’m happy that you could make it here today” he replies.
“Oh! It’s not a problem at all”
“Thank you”
“It’s okay. By the way, who is the second guest?”
“You haven’t been informed yet?”
“Well, I had just came back from Singapore”
“Oh yeah! The friendly match”
“Yeah”
“Oh! The he is; our second guest”
She turns around to finds Zorovsky smiles while walking towards her and the host.
“Hello Anna!” He says.
Suzana smiles and says, “Hi!”

~THE END~