Pandaan One

The trip to Pandaan was not as smooth as I'd expected even though the company chose to use this airline. There was an hour delay and then we had to move from one lounge to another. Then when I found my seat, someone sat there and refused to change to her own seat (!) until I told her (!) that I specifically asked for the aisle seat because of my size.

I could only imagine how tired I could be that first night knowing that I had to cook from early morning, got work to do, a meeting to host and then off to Pandaan which takes another 2 hour trip from Surabaya. It's to fulfill a promise. Out of love, sister and brother. Out of love.

My colleague sent me texts many many times, probably worried because I'm new to this area. When I finally arrived, he and my other colleague along with another guy had waited in the lounge. They pointed me to a room next to the building, a pavilion.

The room was probably unoccupied for a long time and the moment I entered it I got these chills on the back of my neck. The electricity suddenly was off and I had to wait for another hour before I was finally alone. About the room? Physically speaking, I had been in rooms, be it hotels or local citizen's, which were worse than this one. No decent air con, no decent windows and sometimes no ceilings or were with plastered walls. I once slept in a room full of cockroaches and I could sleep though not as sound as I usually do. I felt 'fine'. So, when those two gentlemen (the colleagues left me with their faces showing how worried they were, I only said, "No worries. It'll be just one night". I don't know why I said that then.

In the room, it was so unusual of me not clean up after a long trip. I changed my clothes after thinking hundred of times in bed lying awake for several hours with the songs I played from my cellphone just to add more noises to the room. The room is full of ants and they failed to cheer me up to forget the creepiness of the room. At times, my ears stood up rock hard and I felt that I was not the only one in that room. It was as if someone was watching.

I know I'm not an expert at this kind of things but feeling the presence of something is something that I know I have. I just couldn't take it anymore. It was not a time to be a superwoman because I had to survive for several more hours of training. I was going to need my stamina. I sent a text the next morning to my colleague at 5 after a barely 2-hour sleep saying that I couldn't sleep. When he offered me to change the room, I immediately said 'yes'.

So what happened on the 2nd night? After dinner at 8 PM, I laid down my body on my stomach and read the text messages on my phone screen. I meant to change my clothes and brush my teeth afterward. Instead, I didn't wake up until 5 AM.