Encounter With The 5th Kind: KR

Necessary Background Reading

• KR - short form for "She Who Must Not Be Named", a spooky character feared even worse than Voldemort who (or which?) wrecked havoc in koleq in 1990-1991. Conventional wisdom at the time believed (and concluded) that she (or it?) was a wild spirit.
• NA - short form for the equivalent of Wormtail (servant to a villainous Dark Lord), a batch member of Class of 94 who fell victim to KR's wandering spirit and befriended her (or it?) during the period of 1990-1991
• Wonggek - a Mad-Eye Moody-like character, a member of Class of 94, who was and is really mad. Among his many accolades were the break in of AVA room, the phone tapping scandal that cost thousands to koleq, underground "bisness order" that went as far as Prep School and New Hostel from its Pavi base
• Ja - (hmmm tak dak laa pulak character from Harry Potter yang aku boleh assign to Ja!) Budak Teghanung spek mate besor (imagine Nobita, suara kasar, gelak sampai lelah, itulah Jasmang Hassang)
• Prefect A - Chief Spiritual Leader among the prefects at Prep School 1990, who in a way fancied himself as Dumbledore, but when it comes to KR, was more like Ron ha ha
• Prefect B,C,D ,E- all other prefects at Prep School

Venue : Prep School vicinity, gymnasium and padang Prep School

Date/Time: Satu malam dalam tahun 1990, dalam pukul 2 am

PENAKUT WARNING: Ni bukan cerita kelakar or bell, ni cerita hantu.

Prep School in 1990 was in a way made memorable not because of many sweet memories, but the one experience that not many batches had had the "privilege" to go through. In our midst was a case of Prep School vs. KR - though the extent of the truth, or the manner of possession could never be ascertained.

I had never witnessed any physical or material evidence that could substantiate the truth in the claim that NA was possessed and a wandering spirit, referred to as KR, was roaming free - except this one experience that I was forced into (of which I am going to tell next). But it was a sensational story in koleq and we were still asked about the story even after we had reached Form 4.

NA sat in front of me in 1 PK 1 and I was his class monitor. His deskmate was R. Awie was deskmate and behind me were the two fatsos - Epit and Taufik.

I cannot recall much the beginning of the year until the news/story was belatedly told to me, despite the fact that I was seating right behind NA and was his class monitor. Like many F1s, I was too engulfed with my own home sickness (and the overthrowing of Rembell did take some efforts too ha ha).

What triggered the attention was R suddenly leaving the school. R was Prefect E's favourite, some sort of murid contoh to all of us. Me, on the other hand, is a nightmarish character for some of them. R and NA kept counsel to themselves and though they seemed to be very close between them, they were remote figures to us in 1 PK 1.

I was also very much still attached to my Teghanung clique, whose notoreity was only rivaled by Utagha clique. We were told from the very beginning by the prefects that "cliques" were not good - and it didn't help when Wonggek kept on shouting "astaga walgelebek nyeng was stepek wek" to the unamused batch; or picked a fight with Ameoba early in the year ha ha. To cut things short - we were the first candidates for "potential trouble makers".

I cannot recall much what had happened when KR allegedly ran amok. There were many nights we had to sleep in the surau, or when we had to recite Yassin non-stop (though there were occasions I blissfully slept in the sick bay unaware of what was alleged to have taken place).

KR was also spin-savvy.

There were a series of threats issued through letters, naming particular prefects, with Prefect A high on the hit list - as next "targets". You can imagine the atmosphere of spookiness engulfing the whole batch and how perhaps innocent stories evolved into urban legends that survive till this very day - of timid and weak boy, when possessed, became super strong that could jump a high window or break doors, or over powered 10 people etc. etc.

What I can be sure was that by the time it was all over, the real facts were too muddled with made up stories that it was very difficult to sift the truth from myth. I reiterated that I had never witnessed anything physical that can substantiate any of the claims.

Things went on like this until at one point, I guess the school decided to act on it considering the disturbance it created.

So one night, Wonggek, Ja and me (most probably Toje too, since Awie claimed he wasn't among us - the only other celebrated members of the clique were Zadin and Toje, but I was sure it wasn't Zadin, so must be Toje) were summoned for an audience with the high and mighty Prefect A. We were told we had an assignment and were given a term of reference - the details of which all escaped my memories now. Tracing back, I guess we were told to follow NA in one of his nightly errand to meet KR - since he (NA) had been waking up in the middle of the night wandering around for some time already.

I guess they needed some material witnesses who can related what actually happened, or corroborated some of the claims. Looking back, I know my value to my prefects then ha ha - "send in the scums who we can afford to lose ha ha".

My relationship was cordial with NA (even after we parted from koleq), so when one of us met him (I must remind you this is at 2 am) and told him we wanted to join him to play volleyball (he played volleyball then) - he did not object. I was quite surprised at how casually he took the whole thing - as playing volleyball in darkness at 2 am in the morning, in anticipation of an appearance of a wandering spirit; is not something you do every day.

So off we went, walking from Dorm C.

It was 2 am so the night was quiet.

But I have to say one of the spookiest moments of my life happened right when NA and us stepped outside Prep School boundary towards the tarmac in front of surau - for suddenly the dogs began barking (anjing betul la, bukan yang kat cube). All of a sudden dogs around the KK town began barking and I would be lying if turning back did not cross my mind. I can't remember what was the motivation, but somehow we went on walking towards the gymnasium amidst the loud barking.

NA was quiet all along.

We went on to play and did some digging, picked the ball etc. (the fact that it was played in front of gymnasium, the venue for so many horror movies e.g. the half human, half wolf character often associated with gymnasium compounded the spookiness).

I can't remember (banyak laa yang aku tak ingat) how long we played, but all of a sudden NA wanted to run. So we the dumb ass had to follow him and off we went again to padang Prep School.

I think we were in the process of "warming up" (don't laugh, I know I am fat now) when suddenly it seemed the cows that were sleeping around padang Prep School were running towards the small gate connecting to Azizam's house (before the present F4 block was built). It was then that I recalled that NA mentioned something about KR dah sampai - and it was then that we could not take it any longer and decided to excuse ourselves and went back to Prep School.

Till this day, I am not sure whether it was a figment of my imagination (that part with the cows) or it really happened. I think the only sound that was so loud at that time was my own heart-beat. I don't think the 4 of us (cheee waaah macam cerita Sleepers laa pulak) ever spoke at length to compare notes - so if Wonggek, or Ja could substantiate my version, it would be good. I can put to rest once and for all whether it really did take place, or was my own imagination.

But the part on the dogs barking was real - and I considered that as a material proof that there was something spooky, whether or not all the urban legends did take place. The fact that I never encountered NA's transformation or super human strength cannot make me forget the spookiness of the night (or ponder on whether the decision to send us as guinea pigs that night was really wise - regardless of what some people's perception of the bleakness of our future in koleq was).