Fairy Tale

INDONESIA

When I was 10, I had two friends who stayed just round the corner in my neighbourhood.

They were Keita and Osman.

They were da ones I was always hangin out with, doin the things, u know, the typical things kids of age of 10 would do to have fun like playing in the playground and venturin into the odd one or two orchards.

Well, back then, I can say that our taste for curiousity was really commendable : )

One day, coming home after school, I was ready to set out of the house to none other than joinin my little frens at the nearby playground. It was a Friday and because there will b no skool the next day my mom duly allowed me to go but anyhow had to have me back b4 Solat.

" Be back b4 Solat" , exclaimed my mother.

I was dreading at the thought of coming home early but oh well at least Im goin out to meet my frens now.

As I make my pace towards the field there I can see both Keita and Osman there already waving at me with conspicious big grins on their face beckoning me to join them quickly.

Once I was there, I noticed Keita wasn his usual joker self whom is always cheerful and as playful as the usual pratical prankster he is. He was like, quarter past frownin? So I popped the question askin wat was wrong n he said nothin but of course, Osman would later tell me that it was bcoz he had some tough lecturnin session from his parents and teacher for not finishin his homework on time. Well, we just told Keita to shrug that off and just rem to have to have his homework finished on time at all times from then onwards for me and Osman were already anxiously waitin to carry on wif our playing and fun with no patience to spare for Keita's hesitation and day problems. Well, who couldve blamed us, we were stil kids wanting nothin more than fun.

Then Keita askd Osman, the usual planner of our activities, on wat should we do that evenin. Osman would proposed forward an idea that would really test our nerves. He suggested that we should check out the house bhind the long overgrown bushes at the far end of our neighbourhood. The White House as they, everyone calls it. This is an abandoned, very old house which has no occupants for as long as I can remember.

I tbh, was never the brave one among us three, so it was natural that i questioned that suggestion from Osman. N i wasn alone in this, Keita also doubted that idea for fear of being in the possibility of somethin unpleasantly unpredictable in that house. All for the house is so said haunted by everyone we know in the neighbourhood.

Osman then literally laughed at our faces sayin that we were a bunch of chicken shit and that there is nothin to be afraid of actually.

Being a 10 year old kid, the worst thing dat could happen is to be the target and topic of the school's joke not to mention being labelled as wussies infront of the girls.

And subsequently me and Keita accepted the idea and dared ourselves to enter that house.

When we have finally reached there, there was somehow this very very large old banana tree beside the house. It was dirty yellow in colour with its big leaves blockin alot of the sun. U know how they alwiz come up with those folk ghost stories on banana tress right. So plainly seeing the sight of it just gave me the creeps. We realised that the house was much more than old, it was almost ancient! and almost like everyone has said, the house was painted in white, only white infact. the door to the inside of the house was locked with 3 different padlocks and chains, with boards nailed on to the door. this clearly tells that some ppl reali want outsiders to be kept out of this place. sending everyone out there a msg. And there was only one window in that house.

Osman, frustrated by the hindrance to his quest to get into dat house by those locks, suggested that we threw a stone thru the window so as to break it and we could go in. I remember da window as being one covered completely with dusts and it was impossible to look wat was inside. Indeed, Osman took a stone in his grip n hurled it at the direction of the window. It broke. I and Keita looked at each other and took a big Huge gulp down our throats. I was by now sweatin bullets. Osman gestured to us wif his fingers signallin to us that at the count of 3 we would jump into that house thru the broken window.

1.... 2............. (SEEMED LIKE FOREVER) ..... 3!

we took our turns jumpin in n of coz obviously Osman was the 1st one to b in.

once we were inside. i remember I wasn able to  see a single thing bcoz it was blanket by total darkness. But I remember feeling unusually cold inside it was as if it was da house living in its own different climate n weather. Once I adjusted my eyes to the dark I saw somethin worthy of remark n it was peculiar really to c a big banana leaf lying on a sort of table, with food, rice and some dishes on the banana leaf. all but half eaten.

Once my gaze was over, I turned to the direction of my other 2 frens. To my suprise, they looked shell-shocked. They were lookin at the direction on my left. It was like they were starin blankly at somethin with really really frightened expressions on their face. No, wait. They were reallyin sheer fright at the sight they were havin. I took a turn n look at my left to see what I missed seeing when I 1st broke in.

I saw it.

There was a lady standing at that end. She was in white. White clothes cladded long to her knees. It was too white to b exact. Her hair was coverin most of her face as her hair was laid front unkemptly and it was long. Hence i wasn able make out how she actuali look like. Her skin was pale, really pale. And there was a strange big n thick rope hangin out on her chest. I at that moment, stood there with fear runnin in my blood in my every single vein. Chill were runnin down my spine as she whispers these words..

" Aku ana cerita kanggo owei "

In split second, we bursted our lungs by runnin reali fast to wards that window and as we climb out of the window I can hear she whispers again, even louder this time.

" Rungokno "

We ran n ran n ran, not tryin to even take another look to our backs.

I wish I could tell you after this story of the history of that house. I wish i could tell u that there was a women who hung herself n her body was nvr found. I wish I could tell u that da food was placed there so that to prevent the ghost from disturbin the others outside the house.

After dat incident, Keita moved away to somewhere else with his family. And Osman fell sick with a bad and lengthy fever. I have never met them both again ever since.

Later on, I found out that the house was renovated and cleaned out as it was bought by a newly wed young couple. Only days into the their new house, the couple gone mad and killed each other.

Every now and then, I would stil hear the words she whispered to us in that house as I looked up to skies at night.

" I have a story to tell "

" LISTEN "

This is actuali a story I picked out from the Monash International Students Council's weekly/monthly booklet sumthin. I was in Monash last week and I grabbed it on my way out after havin a few rounds of futsal wif kerry. I thought it was really a good story n it captivated me well enuf to have it in my mind for days so I decided I have to write this down. Credits of coz goes to the person who wrote this, and though whether or not this is a real experience I think I will not find out. He is an Indonesean however. The booklet I left it in cc's place.

And so I have tried to remember every single detail of this story to try to put this in the perspective I have it exactly while reading it. Due to not havin da story with me now so it may at some extent differ to the original piece.

Good night.