The Price of Silence
Characters:
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Ayu Kartika (19 years old) – A shy, obedient girl from a small village near Yogyakarta. She values family honor above all and is taught never to question elders.
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Raka Prasetyo (21 years old) – An ambitious, soft-spoken young man studying law in Jakarta. He despises injustice and believes in women’s rights and legal reform.
Chapter 1: The Invitation
Ayu Kartika was folding laundry when her mother called her inside. Her heart skipped a beat — her mother’s voice was unusually firm.
“Putri, you must prepare. A family from Jakarta is visiting us tomorrow,” her mother said with a strange sparkle in her eye.
Ayu tilted her head, puzzled. “For what?”
Her mother smiled too widely. “They’re interested in you for marriage.”
Ayu’s breath caught in her throat.
She was only 19. She had just completed high school, had dreams of becoming a midwife, and was saving every rupiah she earned from her part-time job at a batik shop.
“But… I’m not ready,” Ayu said softly.
“You don’t need to be ready. The man is a respected businessman. He’s over 50, but he can take care of you. We’ve already accepted their proposal. This is good for our family,” her mother said with finality.
Ayu felt the walls close in.
Chapter 2: Raka’s Mission
In Jakarta, 21-year-old Raka Prasetyo read an article on his phone while sipping black coffee in a campus café. The headline made his blood boil:
“17-Year-Old Bride Forced into Marriage with 52-Year-Old Man in Central Java”
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen such news. As a third-year law student, Raka had written several essays on predatory marriages and the failure of legal systems to protect young girls.
He clenched his fist. Another Ayu lost to silence.
He knew that cultural expectations often hid behind “honor” and “tradition,” but in reality, they often enabled exploitation. He made a silent vow to dedicate his final thesis to exposing loopholes in Indonesia’s marriage laws and the psychological trauma these girls endured.
Chapter 3: The Ceremony
Just two weeks later, Ayu stood before a mirror in a golden kebaya, her face pale. Her 54-year-old groom, Mr. Bambang, was outside laughing with her uncles. She had met him only twice. He was kind but cold, wealthy but controlling. He had promised her family a job for her brother and money to pay off their debts.
She whispered, “I don’t love him.”
Her cousin, who was fixing her veil, looked at her through the mirror and replied, “It’s not about love, Ayu. It’s about duty.”
The ceremony took place before sunset. The village clapped. Her father cried — not out of joy, but of relief. He wouldn’t lose his land now.
Chapter 4: One Month Later
Life with Bambang was lonely. He had a house in Jakarta, but Ayu was not allowed to leave the gated walls. He controlled her phone, her wardrobe, her meals. She had no access to her own bank account. Her only duty was to look pretty and wait for his return.
One night, he returned drunk and called her his “investment.” Ayu cried herself to sleep.
She wrote a diary entry the next morning:
“I am a bird in a golden cage. Everyone clapped when the door shut. No one hears me now.”
Chapter 5: Their Paths Cross
Raka was now an intern with a human rights NGO. While attending a village legal awareness camp in Yogyakarta, he noticed a timid girl sitting alone at the back. Her eyes were sunken, her hands trembling.
After the session, she approached him quietly.
“You’re from Jakarta?” she asked.
“Yes. I’m studying law,” he smiled.
She nodded, hesitated, and then pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket. “Can I show you something?”
It was a page from her diary. The same line:
“I am a bird in a golden cage…”
He looked up, heart pounding. “You wrote this?”
She nodded. “I need help.”
Chapter 6: The Cage Starts to Crack
Raka couldn’t believe what he heard from Ayu. Though her marriage was legal, it was ethically wrong. She had been pressured, not given full consent, and now faced emotional abuse.
But the law was tricky.
Indonesia had recently raised the minimum marriage age to 19 for girls, but religious exceptions and “parental consent” clauses still allowed such unions. Ayu’s case would be hard to challenge legally.
But Raka wasn’t going to give up.
He took her story to his mentor at the NGO. They agreed to help file a psychological abuse complaint, collect witness testimonies, and prepare her case for annulment — though it was rare and difficult.
Chapter 7: Ayu Fights Back
For the first time in months, Ayu felt something stir inside her — courage.
With Raka’s guidance, she documented everything: phone call recordings, bruises, text messages from Bambang. She met with a therapist who verified her anxiety and trauma. Slowly, she began to reclaim her voice.
When her father found out, he begged her to stop.
“You’ll shame us all!”
Ayu replied calmly, “I was 19, not for sale.”
The local court hearing was emotional. Ayu sat with her lawyer, while Bambang shouted insults. But Ayu didn’t cry this time.
She only said, “I was not a wife. I was a transaction.”
Chapter 8: A New Beginning
The judge ruled in Ayu’s favor.
The marriage was annulled on the grounds of psychological manipulation and coercion. While it wasn’t a criminal conviction for Bambang, it was a rare legal win — and a powerful message.
Raka watched Ayu from a distance as she walked out of the court, head held high.
He approached her.
“You were brave.”
Ayu smiled, genuinely this time. “Thank you. For seeing me.”
Raka nodded. “For what it’s worth, I think you saved more girls than you know.”
Epilogue: Two Paths, One Voice
Months later, Raka’s thesis was published in a national journal: “Golden Cages: The Legal Blind Spot in Predatory Marriages.” It quoted Ayu’s diary entry as the opening line.
Ayu, meanwhile, joined a local women’s shelter and began training as a community counselor. Her story became a case study across legal forums, law colleges, and even religious councils.
She now speaks at events, often repeating a single sentence that stays with her:
“Silence feeds injustice — but courage heals.”
