1 The ghost in the villa Pangandaran Part1

It's fun if the vacation is filled with going to a friend's beach. But it will be a deep trauma if you end up trapped in the wrong place and time. Alena will tell her scary experience while on vacation in Pangandaran, "Don't you hear?" Della whispered softly while observing the one sitting beside her. "Hear what?" I answered. "Turn the TV down for a moment." Della said again. I obeyed his will, then turned down the volume of the TV. Then there was silence, because a villa of this size only contained the two of us, "Ah, there's no sound Dellaaaaaa. It's ah, it's a fun event again." As soon as I said when I turned down the volume of the tv but still didn't hear anything. "There was a sound, I heard it, now it's gone." Reply Della It's 11 o'clock at night, Devin and Bayu haven't come back yet, it was nine o'clock before they left they said they wanted to go out again to get a drink. Della's face still looked curious, she seemed sure that she had heard a voice from the second floor, but it was not clear what it was. I tried to pretend how his attitude was, until finally he joined in watching the tv show I was watching. What's on the second floor? What did Della hear? I'm Elena. Della, Devin, and Bayu are my close friends, we have been friends since childhood, because we happen to live in a housing complex in Jakarta. It's not a coincidence that we became closer than other friends in the housing estate, we have many similarities, one of which is that we love to travel, travel to new places. We have been through a lot of experiences together until we are currently in college. From the many experiences we have, there are scary experiences that are still etched in our memories to this day. That is a spooky experience when staying in a villa in Pangandaran, West Java. In 2016, coinciding with the college holidays, Devin had an idea for a few days at the beach. After the idea is thrown and discussed, we believe in making Pangandaran the goal. Pangandaran is famous as a tourist spot at the eastern end of the southern part of West Java. There is no doubt about its beauty, the gently sloping beach without coral, the white sand stretches, it's the perfect place to unwind from the stifling metropolitan air. "Naaahh, I've been browsing, there's a big and beautiful villa, not expensive either. It's not really on the beach, you have to walk everywhere if you want to go to the beach, but explaining the big river, back and forth there are boats that like to pass by," Devin said, at length.

***

It didn't take a long and long discussion, we finally decided to take a vacation in Pangandaran for a few days, staying at the villa of Devin's choice. *** On one Wednesday morning we departed from Jakarta. The morning was sunny and beautiful, the vehicle we were riding along the road leading to the south side of the island of Java. This was the first time we visited Pangandaran, so it was really a new place for us to visit, so we were very excited. Jokes and laughter colored the trip, the eight hour time span didn't feel right, around three o'clock in the afternoon we finally arrived at our destination. Arriving at the location, we just found out that the location of the villa is a bit far from Pangandaran beach, we have to travel for about an hour.

So, the location of the villa is closer to Batu Karas beach, and Devin is right, the villa is right on the side of a fairly large river, actually facing the river. Quite beautiful, although not a new building but this two-story villa is very clean and well-maintained. High fences surround the vast area, several large trees stand firmly in the front and back yard. Right and left of the villa there is only empty land filled with wild trees, far from other buildings. The villa keeper accompanied us around explaining everything, Mr. Ilham's name. Pak Ilham does not live in a villa, but lives in his house which is not far from the villa location. He was assigned to care for and clean the villa by the owner. "Mr. Ilham, why don't you just stay here?" asked Bayu curiously. "If there are no guests, sometimes they stay here, but very rarely, because my house is close." So answered Mr. Ilham. "Then at night, this villa is often empty?" I chimed in. "Yes, ma'am, it's empty, but don't worry, everything is clean and well-maintained, hehe. If there's anything, just call my cellphone, 24 hours ready, hehe." Answer Mr. Ilham again.

***

Then at night, this villa is often empty?" I chimed in. "Yes, ma'am, it's empty, but don't worry, everything is clean and well-maintained, hehe. If there's anything, just call my cellphone, 24 hours ready, hehe." Answer Mr. Ilham again. He was right, this villa and its surroundings are clean and well-maintained, with almost no visible dust. On the first floor there is one bedroom and one bathroom. The living room is large, extending into one with the dining table and kitchen. Upstairs there are two rooms and one bathroom, there is a living room too but it only contains a few chairs around a rattan table. Oh yes, on the top floor there is a front terrace, very comfortable terrace, facing directly to the yard and the big river in front. The river, which seems to be a tourist route, is occasionally seen with small motorized boats filled with tourists. "Oh that's a boat that goes to the grand canyon over there, nice place." That's what Pak Ilham explained when we asked about the boat that passed in front of the villa. That's the picture of the villa we live in, we plan to stay until Sunday. That's the plan.

***

A calm river flow, against a cloudless starry blue sky in the background. We really enjoyed the atmosphere the first night on the upper terrace. Exciting conversations occasionally interspersed with laughter broke the silence of the night in this somewhat remote place. The melodious singing of Della's voice, who is a singer and accompanied by Bayu's guitar playing, adds to the cheerful atmosphere in the background. What fun times. "Come on Bay, take it out ah, it's already nine o'clock." Devin suddenly said so. "Where are you going?" I asked. "Buy a drink out front for a bit." Bayu replied. "Don't take too long, okay? I don't want Alena and I to be alone here, it's insanely lonely." Della grumbled a little too. "Yeah, just wait a minute, really spoiled." Devin murmured. In short, the two of them finally really left, leaving Della and me alone on the upper terrace. That night, there were absolutely no boats crossing the river, unlike this afternoon, it was completely quiet and of course dark.

***

Luckily the light from the sky helped a little bit, but still we couldn't see the river's surroundings in detail. After Devin and Bayu died, Della and I continued to chat, thank God it wasn't boring because we had more topics to discuss. Finally, it was ten o'clock at night. Although it is still a coastal area, the air in this villa is cool, maybe because the distance to the beach is still quite far plus there are many trees around. At the moment when we had a lot of pauses in chat, aka silent each other dissolved in daydreams, suddenly I saw a shadow appear from the direction of the river. The shadow moved into the courtyard of the villa, shaped like a child, a girl. "Uh uh uh. Did you see Del just now?" I asked as I sat up straight. "See what?" Della answered with a question. "It's like a child's shadow entering the villa" "Ah, you don't have to be different, it's getting late, where are the two kids going again?" "Originally, I saw a shadow." "Alena! There's no aaah." "Hahaha, yeah yeah, maybe I saw it wrong." My lid soothed Della. Maybe I saw wrong? I didn't know at the time. Then we fell silent again, lost in daydream, enjoying the late night. "Alena, come on in, just watch TV, while waiting for the two children to come home." Della suddenly had an idea. "Well, let's go in, the wind is starting to get louder, too." I agree. Then we entered, to the living room on the first floor.

Inside, we sat in front of the tv, in the living room downstairs. The lights are bright we leave everything on. The air inside is warmer, maybe because it's a bit closed, the night breeze is a little blocked from entering. Until finally, it didn't feel like we had been watching TV for half an hour, coincidentally at that time the program was enough to interest me, so that my mind was distracted from the strange behavior shown by Della. Yes, it's not that I'm not aware of it, but I noticed that Della looked a little restless, like something was bothering her, but I kept forcing myself not to care, trying to focus on watching tv. Della looked at the stairs several times, then looked up, to the second floor. Until finally Della couldn't take it anymore, she spoke too. "Don't you hear?" Della whispered quietly, looking at me. "Hear what?" I answered. "Turn the TV down for a moment." Della said again. I obeyed his will, then turned down the volume of the TV. Then silence, very quiet. "Ah, there's no sound Dellaaaaaa. It's ah, it's a fun event again." As soon as I said when I turned down the volume of the tv but still didn't hear anything. "There was a sound, I heard it, now it's gone." Della replied. Della's face still looked curious, she still seemed sure that she had heard a voice from the second floor, but it was clear what it was. I tried to pretend to ignore his attitude again, until finally he joined too late watching the tv show that I was watching. Thank goodness.

It's not that I didn't hear what Della might mean, I heard too. There were footsteps upstairs, small steps as if running, back and forth from the back to the front porch. I heard everything, but tried to keep ignoring until I finally saw Della's behavior. I lied so that Della wouldn't be paranoid, because she's too timid. It's past 11 o'clock, Devin and Bayu haven't come back yet, I don't know where the two of them are. Then we continued to watch tv, while trying to hold back the drowsiness that started to come. Della still looks curious, behind her laughter it can still be seen that she feels something strange, occasionally still paying attention to the stairs. Next, Della suddenly grabbed the tv remote, then lowered her voice again.. Then.. Thump, thump, thump, thump.. Sounds like that, I can't lie anymore, because we heard it together. "Oh, can't you hear?" Della asked almost in a whisper. I nodded.

Someone's running around upstairs, Alena." Della's voice began to tremble, she was frightened. "Just let it go, just watch TV again. Try making the sound bigger." I grabbed the tv remote again, then turned up the volume. Yes, that's right, there was the sound of small footsteps running on the second floor, it was very clear we heard it. Della looks scared, me too, but what can I do. We're far from anywhere, it's dark outside, no vehicles. Della continued to pay attention to the stairs, while you could hear footsteps from time to time, even though it was faintly covered by the sound of the TV. Until finally, we heard the sound of the front gate opening, I ran to the window to take a look. Turns out it was Devin and Bayu, they finally went home.

Continue yes, back to Alena again.. Thursday morning, I prepared breakfast for all of us, my favorite fried rice was the dish. The atmosphere in the morning is quite beautiful, occasionally the sound of boat engines can be heard from the river, also many local residents are walking to the beach via the road that is right in front of the villa. "Ah, eat you long, let's hurry up, let's hurry to the beach." Devin started to grumble, he wanted to hurry to the beach. "Yeah, be patient, it's going to be over soon," I replied. In short, after finishing breakfast, we went to the beach, to enjoy the morning atmosphere on the southern seafront. The beach distance from the villa is about 10 minutes walk, more or less.

We guessed right, the morning atmosphere on the beach was very beautiful. Enjoy the calm of the sea water that is almost without waves, there is no wind at all. Seen several groups of fishermen pulling long nets from the middle of the sea, we paid attention to everything. Really, the atmosphere in the morning at the beach is second to none, I really like it. But, around eight o'clock, there was something that required me to return to the villa "Ouch, I'm sick, I want to poop, how about this." I have a stomach ache. "Aaaaah, habit, ruining the atmosphere, it's just a ride in that shop." Bayu was a bit emotional when he said that while pointing his hand at the beachside shop. "Ah I can't Baaay, I have to go back to the villa, let's get it." I'm begging. "I don't want it, it's just Vin, who's the one to accompany Alena." Bayu said that to Devin. "Well, let's hurry, I'm also a little sick." As Devin said while grinning. Yes, Devin and I finally made our way back to the villa. Long story short, it wasn't long before we arrived. "I'll go to the shop first, buy cigarettes. It's not far from the shop, it's over there." That's what Devin said when we were in front of the fence. "Yeah, hurry up, don't take too long, I want to go to the beach again." I answered. After that I went into the villa, while Devin continued walking down the road, towards the shop to buy cigarettes. Because I couldn't take it anymore, I immediately ran to the bathroom downstairs, which was located at the back. Aaahh, it's a relief, after being in the toilet and taking a break. It's done, I'm still sitting on the toilet, daydreaming for a while before cleaning up. But, then my thoughts were interrupted, when suddenly I heard the sound of footsteps, footsteps that seemed to be exactly the same as what Della and I had heard the night before. It sounded like the footsteps of a child running around, this time downstairs. It sounded clear, because it was close, in the living room. I watched the footsteps, listening steadily from inside the bathroom. That's right, it was obvious that there seemed to be a small child running around in the living room. I couldn't help but stand still, terrified. Even more scared when the footsteps suddenly stopped, stopping right in front of the bathroom door! Oh my God, what to do? Silent, not daring to move an inch so as not to make a sound. I'm pretty sure the owner of the footsteps was standing at the door.

It's been like this for a while... I shivered in fear, almost crying. Then footsteps were heard again, this time away from the door, into the living room. I continued to follow his movements. Then the footsteps stopped again, this time stopping in the living room. Then suddenly there was a loud sound from the TV. The TV, which I was sure was turned off when it came in, suddenly turned on by itself, with a really loud sound. I cried softly, scared, didn't dare to come out.. But.. "Alenaaaaa, did you turn on the TV really loud? Can you hear it all the way to the bathroom?" Thank God, I finally heard Devin's voice, then rushed out of the bathroom. "Let's go to the beach again." I grabbed Devin's hand, inviting him to leave the villa in a hurry. The incident that morning I deliberately didn't tell my friends, I didn't want to spoil the holiday atmosphere, even though it was enough to make me think about who the owner of the footsteps was?