When Putri finally regained consciousness, she was already inside the tent.
Several members of the group were sitting around her, their faces filled with concern.
"Putri, you're awake?"
Putri blinked several times.
Her head felt heavy, and she still couldn't fully understand what had happened.
Then the memory of the restroom came rushing back.
She immediately sat upright.
"Rina!"
Everyone was startled by her reaction.
"Putri, calm down!" one of her friends urged. "Where's Rina? Why were you alone out there?"
The question made Putri freeze.
Her lips trembled.
Her eyes began to fill with tears.
"She's gone…"
"What?"
"Rina is gone!"
Putri burst into hysterical tears.
"She went into the restroom, but when I opened the door… she wasn't there anymore!"
Her friends exchanged confused glances.
At first, they thought Putri might have panicked from exhaustion or perhaps mistaken something in the darkness.
But when they checked the restroom together, they couldn't find Rina anywhere.
A search was immediately organized.
They searched the area around the restroom, checked the hiking trails, and repeatedly called Rina's name.
But the girl was never found.
The following morning, the search expanded with the assistance of local residents and a joint rescue team. They combed through the forest and surrounding trails, but no evidence of Rina's whereabouts was discovered.
None of her personal belongings were left behind.
There were no signs of a struggle.
No witnesses had seen her leave.
Rina had seemingly vanished from the human world.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
Yet the search yielded nothing.
Eventually, Rina's family had to face the painful reality that her whereabouts remained unknown.
To this day, Rina's fate remains a mystery.
"So Rina has never been found?"
Hasan's voice broke the silence at their table.
Keenan nodded slowly.
"No. Never."
Alya looked thoughtful.
"In that case, we can't be sure her disappearance had anything to do with menstruation, right? She could have gotten lost or something else might have happened."
"That's possible," Keenan replied. "I don't even know whether the story actually happened or whether people exaggerated it."
He paused before continuing.
"But there's one thing that makes the story even stranger."
"What now?" Rengga asked.
Keenan rubbed his chin, trying to recall what he had heard.
"Someone once showed me a photograph of Rina."
"A photograph?" Laras leaned forward.
"Yeah. Apparently, it was taken before she disappeared."
Keenan looked at Laras.
"In the picture, Rina was wearing a pink jacket and black pants."
For some reason, that description made the story even harder for Laras to forget.
"What happened to her after she disappeared?" she asked.
Keenan didn't answer immediately.
He glanced toward the cafeteria window, as though checking whether anyone was listening to their conversation.
"Some people say Rina never actually died."
Tisa frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"According to the rumors, she was taken to another dimension. A world ordinary humans can't reach."
Riki gave a small snort.
"Another dimension? That sounds like something straight out of a movie."
"I thought so too at first," Keenan replied. "Until I heard a story from someone who claimed to have reached that part of the forest."
"And?" Alya pressed.
Keenan swallowed before continuing.
"That person said Rina was still there."
No one spoke.
"Where?" Hasan finally asked.
Keenan answered in an almost inaudible whisper.
"In the Forbidden Forest."
The wind outside the cafeteria grew stronger.
Keenan continued.
"They say Rina has become one of the forest's inhabitants. She can't return to the human world."
He paused.
"Or maybe…"
He looked at each of his friends in turn.
"…she doesn't want to return."
A cold sensation crept down Laras's neck.
She didn't know why Keenan's last words sounded far more terrifying than the story of Rina's disappearance itself.
If Rina was still alive, why had she never come home?
If she was dead, why had her body never been found?
And if there really was another world hidden beyond the forest, how could anyone know where she was?
Question after question filled Laras's mind.
Yet none of them had answers.
"Anyway, if any of you are menstruating, especially on the first day, don't force yourselves to go hiking."
Keenan finally broke the silence.
"I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. We have to respect the rules and taboos of that place, whatever the reason behind them may be."
This time, no one laughed.
Even Riki, who had previously dismissed the story as an exaggeration, chose to remain silent.
They were beginning to realize that their trip to Mount Srinjani might not be as simple as they had imagined.
Only a few minutes earlier, they had been excitedly discussing their holiday plans.
Now, the mountain that had once sounded so appealing seemed to conceal something they were never meant to disturb.
Laras lowered her head, staring at her food as it slowly grew cold.
A strange feeling suddenly settled inside her.
She couldn't shake the impression that Keenan's story was more than just an old tale passed down from one person to another.
It felt as though something was waiting for them there.
Something that already knew they were coming, even before they had decided to make the trip.
Laras shook her head slightly.
Forget it. Maybe I'm just getting carried away.
She picked up her spoon again.
But just as she was about to take another bite, her gaze accidentally drifted toward the cafeteria window.
Beyond the glass, the campus trees swayed in the wind.
Their leaves rustled together, producing a faint, whispering sound.
Laras frowned.
Someone was standing among the trees.
A woman.
Her figure was faint, as though part of her body was concealed by a thin veil of mist.
She was wearing a pink jacket.
And black pants.
Laras froze.
The spoon nearly slipped from her hand.
Her heart pounded so violently that she could hear its rhythm in her ears.
A pink jacket…
Keenan's story flashed through her mind.
Rina.
The woman who had disappeared inside a restroom.
The woman who had never been found.
The woman who was rumored to have become an inhabitant of the Forbidden Forest.
Laras blinked.
Just for a second.
But when she opened her eyes again, the woman had vanished.
The trees were still swaying.
There was no one there.
Laras quickly turned toward her friends.
"Did you guys see that?"
"See what?" Rengga asked.
"Out there… there was a woman standing near the tree."
Hasan turned toward the window.
"What woman? There's nobody there."
Laras looked outside again.
Empty.
There was no figure in a pink jacket.
No one stood among the trees.
Only the shadows of branches moved in the wind.
"Maybe you're just tired," Alya said, trying to reassure her.
Laras didn't answer.
She tried to convince herself that it had all been an illusion caused by thinking too much about Keenan's story.
But there was one thing she couldn't shake off.
When she had seen the woman, Laras had felt that the figure was looking directly at her.
Not merely looking.
It was as if the woman recognized her.
As if she knew exactly who Laras was.
As if Laras's decision to visit Mount Srinjani had never been a coincidence.
And the most terrifying part of all…
Laras was certain that the woman had been smiling at her.