I struck up a conversation with a bus driver and he related a tale from when he was in the Malaysian army searching for a missing soldier.

During an army training exercise in the jungles of the peninsula, somewhere in the northern region, a soldier went missing. A search party was arranged and after a few days the man was found, in a daze, without his equipment. The bus-driver to be who was one of the people in charge of the search party asked the man what happened.

Apparently, while in the jungle, the missing soldier was approached by a couple, who asked him: "Do you want to come to our home?"

The soldier didn't say anything. But found he could not fight the urge to be led by the couple deeper into the forest, until he approached a house.

Again he was asked "Do you want to come to our home?"

He did not respond.

This went on for several days until he was found by the search party.

The bus-driver-to-be, as a professional soldier in-charge, could not leave military equipment behind, and sought to find the white coloured house. He had a coincidental insight, and set forth on a hike with his troops until he found a prominent white house in the area.

It started raining while sunny. Roaring winds as if some ill-force wanted to make its presence known.

Some of the troops were apparently from Sarawak, and had knowledge of what was to be done. They uprooted a sapling, and planted it back into the ground with the roots facing the sky. The weather abated. Where there was a house, there now stood an imposing, tall white tree. The missing equipment, laid beneath it.

They retrieved the soldier's equipment, and left.

All the while they were near the tree, they could see and occasionally hear "them". Faces peeking from behind the trunks and undergrowth.

The bus-driver in the present day then told me, if that soldier had said "yes" to their invitation in any way, he would not have returned. And would very likely, have become "their" child.

My offering to this community is going to be in the form of an 8-minute podcast episode about misplacing my parking ticket while being in a sus building.

I forgot who I heard this story from, but for the sake of simplicity, let's call the two characters Amira and Hidayah. They're roommates in a dormitory school. One night at about 2am, Amira shook Hidayah up because she wanted to go to the toilet but she was scared to go alone. In dormitories, the toilets are usually at the end of the building. Not that far away from each room, but still kinda spooky at night when everyone is asleep.

"Ala, you go alone la, I'm sleepyhghg zzzz......." Hidayah mumbled half-asleep.

"Hidayah pleaseeee. I just need to pee! I'll be quick, I promise!"

"Haish, ok la ok la. If you slow I leave you ah."

"Ish don't la. I'll be fast! You wait here outside the cubicle and don't leave me ok," Amira said as she entered one of the squat cubicles.

"I wait outside the main door la. Why would I want to smell you poop here."

"Don't la! I'm scared. I pee je la, not poop!"

Amira proceeded to settle her business while Hidayah waited outside her cubicle. She could hear Amira opening the tap and starting to wash. She hated waiting next to the other open cubicles. They remind her of all the spooky things that happens in the movies. She'd rather wait outside, but who knows maybe one day she'd need Amira to return the favor, so she might as well give in tonight.

"Are you done yet? Hurry up."

"Wait, wait," Amira said as she continued washing down.

"What's taking you so long to wash?"

"Got a lot of blood to wash."

"Eh, you period ke?"

"Taklah."

"Then, what blood?"

Silence, but the sound of running water continues.

"Mira?"

No response from inside the cubicle. Finally, the sound of running water stopped.

Hidayah heaved a sigh of relief that they could finally leave. She waited for Amira to exit the cubicle. She waited.

And she waited.

"Amira?"

Still no response.

"Wey don't play-play with me ah. Not funny. I leave you nanti!"

"Wait la a bit more, hehehe," Amira responded. But she still didn't come out. There was no sound of water, rustling clothes, or any movement at all. Hidayah felt uneasy.

"Amira! Quit joking around! I'm gonna leave you!"

"Don't la... hehehe..." Amira responded, but her voice was different now. She continued to giggle. She didn't sound like Amira anymore. Hidayah was both spooked and felt like this was a very bad joke. She sprinted back to their room as Amira continued to giggle alone in the toilet.

When she finally entered their room, which felt like forever, she found Amira soundly sleeping in her bed. She tried to wake her up to ask her what the fuck was going on, but Amira and the rest of her roommates slept soundly as the giggling sound in the toilet continued.

The next morning, she found out that Amira had been sleeping all night and never asked her to go to the toilet the night before.

This story is from a friend. We were in the same school, but she came from an MJSC somewhere up north before transferring to my place.

There was a time at her previous place when the warden suddenly woke all the female students up at 3am, gathered them in front of the warden house and forced them to chant the yasin and several other islamic verses in unison. It took a while, obviously.

After it was done, the warden finally spoke.

"Do you know why I gathered you all here and made you do this?"

Sleepy and confused, the students shook their heads. Then, the warden held up a giant, stuffed Garfield toy in front of them.

"This thing was walking up and down your hallways, wailing like a baby."