personal file; made with PicsArt

          Sometime ago when I was still a high schooler, the school held a field trip to one of the hilly areas in Bogor, Indonesia. The event ran smoothly from 7:30 AM to 4 PM, and the activities that day were mostly dominated by field education, such as learning about ecosystems, geology, environmental conservation, and tea plantation tours. And yes, there were endless group photo sessions. However, on the way back, around 7 PM, one of our buses had a flat tire, leaving us with no choice but to stop.

          While we were changing the tires, Dina, one of our female friends, needed to use the restroom. The teacher asked if anyone would go with her to the nearby resident’s house. But after such a tiring day, with dark sky and dense forests surrounding us, no one felt like going. I didn’t really want to leave my seat either, but I felt bad, so I ended up volunteering to go with her.

          Maybe it was because we were still up in the highlands; the cold night air was freezing. It felt so sharp that it could reach to the bone. As we walked toward the closest house, I kept my hands both shoved in the pockets and I could feel Dina tighten her grip on my arm, told me she felt the cold as much as I did.

          The house sat below the paved road; we had to walk down about fifteen steps to get there. The house is made of bamboo, with a big garden lamp standing out front. There were two men chilling on the terrace, smoking. We went up to them and asked if we could use the toilet.

          As we finished and were about to leave, the two men were gone. All that was left on the table were two empty cups and an ashtray with cigarette butts. As calling out to them was not an option, we decided to head back to the bus without saying goodbye.

          But just as we made our back way to the stairs, there were two towering dark figures suddenly appearing before us. We stopped dead in our tracks. Their silhouettes—though had human-like forms; I could clearly see they were unnaturally tall, standing stiffly blocking our path.

I felt Dina squeezed my arm and started sobbing in fear as I held my breath as I was paralyzed by fear. Then, we heard a noise echoing from above. It sounded like they were done changing the tires and started packing up. That’s where we began to panic, fearing both being left behind and the eerie figures in front of us. The two shadows stood unnervingly still, sending chills down our spines.

Suddenly, a deep voice rumbled from behind, making us jump. It was one of the men from the porch. As he approached, we noticed the number of the creepy dark figure grew to three. Heart pounding, I realized it was just our own shadows, cast by the garden light behind us. 

Relief washed over us as we hurried to the bus, giggling. “I thought it was Slender Man,” wiping her damp cheeks.

"Right. Slender Man, in Indonesia." I chuckled.