The Story of Pulau Ketuan

Welcome to Pulau Ketuan

The seaplane landed, right off the coast of the small but diverse Island of Pulau Ketuan, located in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. I was excited, first time away from my strict parents, and It was going to be like a vacation with friends, with a bit of biology involved. If I would have known what was going to happen... I would have stayed behind in Depok.

We got off the plane, and the girl started taking beach pictures... and making ridiculous tiktoks with annoying music. I took a moment to take the breathtaking scene of the Island in, especially the mountain, Mount Yawi. Little did I know that this Island was going to curse my life for years to come.

We arrived at the cabins, and while they were nice, mine had a very strange inscription written in a script no one even knew. The inscription said "ꥆꤰ꥓ꤼꤽ ꤽꥍꤺꥏ", and we were just told it was some silly graffiti left behind by earlier inhabitants. 

My friends and I decided to unpack and then take a walk around the Island.  This is where our troubles began. If only- If only we didn't take that... that cursed walk.  Well... back to the story- I'm sure that's why your here... not to read about me complaining that I made such a... dangerous choice. So, anyhow, we unpacked, and chose to starts walking, in the direction of the jungle. The island itself was small, so we wouldn't be lost. We knew we would have service, because there was an antenna on the Island's weather station. Yet, we didn't know that the jungle and the mountain- we didn't know that they weren't in our world... 

We started walking through the small clearing, when something... peculiar to say the least caught our eyes. For some reason- their were a gathering of... hovering people.  My friends and I thought it was probably some illusion, but at that point we knew we had messed up. Suddenly, out of NOWHERE... a strange breeze pushed us to the ground. When we got up... we found ourselves... teleported... back to camp. 

We realized something wierd had happened, and we swore not to ever enter the forest again. However, it was clear that the entity, or whoever had caused this... wanted us to come crawling back like curious little kids.

We chose to go to bed early, after all our first day was already so taxing and tiring, and all I wanted was to relax and rest and wake up the next day and have a fun time. Unfortunately, as I should have guessed, this Island wasn't the place for relaxing and fun... it wasn't like Bali with fun things to do. Instead it was a place of ghosts, horror, and strange... peculiar... residents.

I started to fall asleep at around 1am, until 2 hours later, where I was awoken by someone... or something... screaming "HA!" in my ear. I jolted myself awake... in a cold sweat only to see my room mates fast asleep, and no one else inside. Thinking it could have been the sound of the creaky bed frame, I chose to just forget about it. Not telling anyone was where it all went wrong. 

After a decent rest, we got up and started our first activity, which was studying the Algae underwater, near the beach. We were giving a knife for algae sampling, and I am so thankful... even to this day that they gave us that small knife... because it saved my life.

My friends and I put our diving gear on and hopped in. Things seemed fine for a bit, until I began drifting away from my group. Suddenly- out of absolutely nowhere I see a cute... but weird looking girl. When I say weird I mean she had a tail and... scales. She looked like Ariel- minus the red hair and voice. I freaked out, and her scaly hands grabbed me, and she let out a demonic laugh. I knew it wasn't a fish or marine creature- this... lady?... mermaid?... had a face. I know this sounds cruel and messed up... but I aimed my knife at the... thing. She left at seeing the knife... but still to this day does her gaze haunt me. 

I swam back to my mates and they noticed a worried expression on my face. I... told them everything... from the "HA!" to the demonic mermaid. They... believed me. However, we didn't know which teacher would. I suddenly remembered that Mr.Lim- the deeply spiritual and amulet enthusiast was on the trip. It was the stroke of luck I desperately needed. 

We went to Mr.Lim- told him everything, and I mean everything and he looked... terrified. He then went to a box, and gave us some... strange amulets. He told us to wear them 24/7 and we obeyed. Things seemed to go well after that... until... our next encounter.