MS Hostel BY Aswana

Story #5 My first encounter

Before I continue my story I like to tell you first about my mulah nene tangah. This story is interconnected somehow with what I'm gonna tell you now and in the future. You see my nene tangah is what brunei people would call as "org pandai" or org pandai meliat. He passed away around 4 years ago. He's not a Bruneian Nationality here, but he is Bruneian. He's actually my grandfather's (From my father's side) brother. He's from Sabah, in a kampung called Bongawan.

On my first day of school/ or hostel in MS he was there. Because before my school starts, we had a doa selamat ceremony. He was also there when my parents sent me to the hostel on my first day. He came along too. I don't know what my parents discussed with him but it's like he knew things. Well he can see things too. I remember my dad asking him that day because of the reply that my nene told him.

"Apatah Tangah usulnya? Ok?"

"Tunggu dulu" he replied.

I was not allowed to enter my room yet (that's why I was late). Not allowed to go up either. My nene tangah stayed silent. He looked around the building.

"Banyak usulnya... Mengacau ni. Nda papa tu. Ada sudah kunyit."

Then he looked at me and then he smiled.He gave me this kunyit already wrapped in white clothe. Attached with it a safety pin. I remember clearly his words to me when he gave me that kunyit.

Jangan lalu bawah sidaian. Jangan bawa masuk Jamban. That's the pantang that I must comply with.

So I obediently follow the rules. I don't go under sidaian. Or bring the kunyit masuk toilet. My first two weeks was a breeze. I'm not scared. But then it happened. I was in hurry to go to the toilet. Got a major stomach ache. So I accidentally bring the kunyit with me to the toilet. I was worried. I called my mom straight away and told her. I don't remember what she told me though. But I remember I still kept the kunyit with me. But the next day I found that the kunyit turned bad. There's fungi all over it. Weird. I said to myself.

That's when all the scary thing happen. That's the starting point, the ice breaker when I started seeing things and encounter all these.

Sometimes I woke up subuh² just because i want to pee. Nature calls or whatever you call it. :). Every other night there's nothing mysterious or scary happen to me. But this one night was the scariest encounter I've ever had eversince I stayed there at that hostel. You can say, this is my first encounter of the she.

I was still sleepy. I needed to pee. I looked at the clock on my bedside shelf (a makeshift one made from wooden plank fitted between the spaces of two almari). It was almost 4. Me and my roomate had this competition going on between us. You know like sapa yg paling awal datang skool to beat that boy who came to skool really early like by 6 he's already there. Till now I don't know who that guy is (name i mean). It annoyed us to know that's he's always early but he's not even a hostelite. But this time just to beat her on sapa paling awal masuk surau.

Anyways, it was almost four. I looked at my roomate. She's still sleeping. I smiled in satisfaction. "Yes ia balum bangun.Baik ku mandi dulu before ia" Still feeling sleepy and a lil bit drowsy I packed my things, my kain, my toiletries, my towels and my baldi and gayung. Shower di hostel girls dulu tu na baik. Baik pulang tp slalu tersumbat. Banjir. So it's convenient for us girls to mandi next to the sink. There's a pipe there.

As I was going out from my room, closing the door slowly afraid my roomate terbangun, I turned around to start to move to my destination. The toilet. See the toilet in my blok next to my room have always been vacant. Nada berpakai cause it's clogged. Flooded lah. So for that floor, we have to use the other blok side punya toilet which is located on the same floor jua. So as i was closing the door, something caught my eye. Cause I was facing the toilet (the working one) and I saw someone just came out from it. I stopped in my tracks.

She was gliding the hallway from the other side's toilet to the toilet next to my room. I couldn't see her face cause it was covered by her hair. She stopped suddenly when she almost near my blok's toilet door. I stood frozen unable to move. I think I even forgot to move. She stood only few metres infront of me. I was waiting for her to turn but she didn't. She just stood still as if waiting. I suddenly remembered my kunyit. But I left it in the room. On my bed. So i did what I always did when I'm scared. Baca Ayat Kursi while I stood there looking at her. After I finished my ayat kursi. She moved. I kept on reading very fast. But she didn't go to me. She just went pass the toilet. As if that's her home right there. I still stood there not dared to move even an inch, still baca dlm hati the ayat kursi.

Then the door to my room opened. I jumped. It was my friend. She woke up and getting ready to mandi. She screamed when I jumped infront of her.

"Tekajut ku ko ani eh" She said. "Napa ko? Mcm nampak antu saja"

I didn't tell her what happened. We went to the toilet together. I asked her to take a different route. Detour ke belakang instead. She was curious and suspicious though but she knew not to ask. Guess she figured out by herself that something must have happened. We didn't compete again after that. You know the part yg sapa paling awal bangun. I already knew sapa paling awal.

Note: Antubrunei, as I was browsing the web I found one of the photogs who took pictures of the girls hostel. This was in 2005. But these pictures time renovations being done to the place. Just wanted you to show what the hostel looked like back then and where my room was. Just a visual it's the one that being taken from the rooftop, It's still the same just that it's got new paint. My old room was on the first floor on the left. It's the first room. That's the room that's being said to be haunted. And next to it was the toilet.