Ten o'clock at night, in a remote location on the outskirts of Kluang.
"Uhhoo, this place really looks terrifying!" exclaimed a man named Eman while staring at the building towering before him. Beside him stood a girl named Ena, who was looking at the building with a flat expression. Both were wearing oversized black hoodies.
They were now standing right in front of Kluang Mental Hospital—the first of two mental hospitals with similar names in this city. The old three-story building stood firm with wild grass growing abundantly in the front yard. This place had long been abandoned and no longer operational since 2018.
An iron fence about two meters high surrounded the entire hospital complex, with wires that had begun to rust and bend in several places. A large warning sign, also rusted, reading "NO ENTRY!" hung crookedly on the main gate.
"Eman, you didn't forget to bring the important stuff, right?" asked Ena while glancing at the large black backpack hanging on her friend's back.
"Don't worry, everything we need is in my black bag," Eman answered confidently while lowering his backpack to the grassy ground. He opened the bag and began taking out the equipment one by one.
Eman prepared all his equipment: a primary smartphone for live streaming, a second smartphone for backup recording in case of technical problems, a 20,000 mAh power bank with a full battery, a tactical LED flashlight capable of producing up to 1000 lumens of light—bright enough to illuminate dark corridors for tens of meters, and a foldable mini tripod for camera stabilization when needed. All of this was enough to produce high-quality content that could attract thousands of viewers.
"Let me check the connection first," said Eman while opening the TikTok app on his main phone. His eyes squinted at the screen. This remote location was apparently still within reach of a fairly stable 5G signal.
After being satisfied with the camera settings, lighting, and shooting angles, he pressed the red button to start the live stream. The viewer count began to rise slowly: 15... 45... 78... 156... 289... The numbers kept climbing. Within five minutes, the count had already surpassed 500 viewers. Comments started flooding in rapidly.
Viewer: "First! Looks like I came in too early!"
Viewer: "Where have you been for the past few days?"
Viewer: "Is Ena coming? Show me her face!"
Viewer: "New location or recycling old content again?"
"Hello everyone, long time no see, maybe almost seven days I think? Sorry, I've been busy with a lot of things this week," Eman greeted.
"Anyway, back again with me, Eman. You must have missed my exploration content, right? Well, tonight I'm going to explore a location I've had my eye on for a long time. I've been planning this for three months," he continued while walking backward a few steps. "And this location is no ordinary place. This is one of the most haunted spots in Kluang!"
He slowly rotated the camera. The camera moved from left to right, revealing the mental hospital building towering before them.
"This is the first Kluang Mental Hospital! It's been closed since 2018. "Supposedly, several patients died under strange circumstances in this place. Deaths that couldn't be explained medically. Some say they still wander around, roaming inside this building to this day!"
Viewer: "Wow, new location! You're brave to come to a place like this!"
Viewer: "The building really looks scary!"
Viewer: "I wonder what's inside there? I'm curious! Can you hurry up and go in?!"
Viewer: "Obviously there's nothing there. In this day and age, still believing in ghosts. It's all just suggestive nonsense!"
"And as usual," Eman continued while shifting the camera to the side, showing Ena standing calmly holding a large LED flashlight, "of course I'm not alone. I'm not crazy enough to enter a place like this by myself. I have my best friend, Ena!"
Ena waved at the camera with a slight smile before returning her focus to the building in front of them.
Instantly, the viewer count jumped dramatically to 1,200 in a matter of seconds.
Viewer: "THERE SHE IS! ENAAA!"
Viewer: "She still looks beautiful as always!"
Viewer: "He's probably just using Ena to boost viewers!"
Viewer: "Ena is not an object!"
"Okay, before I go inside and give you the show you've been waiting for, I want to explain the history of this place first. "Because you need to know, this is not just any ordinary mental hospital. There's a dark history buried behind those old walls."
He stopped right in front of the fence, zooming in on the damaged and rusted warning sign.
"This hospital was built in 1962, this place treated thousands of patients with various mental disorders!"
"What makes this place famous or more precisely, famously terrifying, is the incident that occurred in 2017. "October 13, 2017. Seven patients died on the same night. And until now, the cause of their deaths remains mysterious. There's been no satisfactory official explanation from either the hospital or the authorities. The case was just closed, without a thorough investigation."
"Some say they committed mass suicide. But the question is, how could seven mental patients—who should be strictly guarded and have no access to dangerous objects—commit suicide simultaneously in one night? "Some also say they were killed by someone—or something—unknown!"
"But the most terrifying version circulating among locals, told down through generations by those living around this area is... "They were eaten."
Viewer: "EATEN?! What do you mean?! By what?!"
Viewer: "Eaten? Eaten by what? How can ghosts eat humans? Ghosts don't have digestive systems, stupid!"
Viewer: "Hahaha, maybe you're the one who ate them!"
Viewer: "Is the story fake? Seems made up. There's no proof either."
"Well, after that incident occurred, even though the hospital still operated for several months, there were very frequent reports of strange sightings from staff and even from other patients," Eman continued while walking along the fence, following the line of rusted iron wire. "Security guards on night duty said they often heard terrifying screams from the second floor—specifically from the east wing of the building, where patients with severe disorders were treated. They saw shadowy figures moving in the dark corridors even though no one was there, even though all patients were locked in their respective rooms."
"Some also reported seeing a figure with long, disheveled and dirty hair... eating something... in patient room number 13. "Room number 13 located at the end of the second floor corridor. A room that was never occupied again after that incident. A room whose door was always locked and never opened again. And tonight, I'm going to open that door."
Viewer: "DO IT! Proof or hoax!"
Ena, who had been silent and only helping with lighting by shining her flashlight where Eman pointed, suddenly spoke up in a flat tone.
"The story is exaggerated, you know that?" she said while turning on her LED flashlight brighter, illuminating Eman's face, which immediately looked shocked and squinted from the glare. The 1000 lumens of light almost blinded Eman momentarily. "I've been researching this place for two weeks. I read news archives, local government reports, even interviews with former staff. This hospital was closed due to government funding issues and internal management problems, not because of mystical things like you dramatically told just now."
The comment section immediately exploded with various reactions. Some laughed, some were disappointed, some actually appreciated it.
Viewer: "HAHAHA, exposed immediately!"
Viewer: "That's clearly a spoiler! But I like her honesty!"
Viewer: "Reality vs expectation hahaha!"
Viewer: "Hey, don't ruin the atmosphere! Let Eman tell his story! You're ruining everything!"
Viewer: "Thanks Ena for fact-checking. Horror content doesn't have to use hoaxes."
Eman glared at Ena with a look of disbelief mixed with annoyance. "Hey, do you realize that's a major spoiler?! I was building the right atmosphere! Do you know how long I researched to put that story together? You ruined everything with one sentence! Do you know how hard it is to make engaging storytelling?!"
"But I don't like misleading content," Ena replied indifferently, completely unaffected by Eman's annoyed look. She didn't even look at Eman, her eyes remained focused on the building. "Viewers also need to know the real facts, not just sensational stories that may not be true. I didn't come with you to be a prop for hoax content. I came because I'm interested in urban exploration, not because of the ghost stories you made up."
Viewer: "I agree with Ena. Don't make hoaxes for views! There are already too many like that!"
Viewer: "But it's entertainment! Does everything have to be factual? That's boring!"
Viewer: "Well, it's called storytelling. As long as it's not harmful, it should be fine."
Viewer: "Content creators have a responsibility not to spread misinformation."
Eman became increasingly annoyed reading the comments that mostly sided with Ena. His ego was slightly wounded. But he had to stay professional—he'd been doing this long enough to know that small drama like this could actually increase engagement. The viewer count had reached 1,800—a very good number for his small account with only 10,000 followers. He couldn't let personal ego ruin tonight's golden content.
"Okay, okay, whatever you say," said Eman while letting out a long sigh, then gripping the fence wire with both hands. "Whatever it is—whether the story is a hoax or real, whether there are ghosts or just rats and bats—what's certain is, let's go in now and prove for ourselves what's inside there. The camera won't lie. Your own eyes will judge. Let's see who's right—me or Ena the boring rationalist."
"I heard that," Ena retorted curtly.
The iron fence was indeed tightly locked with a large, badly rusted padlock. If forced, the padlock might break, but Eman didn't want to damage property—that could become a legal issue. But as Eman predicted after researching and surveying the location two days earlier, there was a large hole at the bottom of the fence, about twenty meters from the main gate—hidden behind thick bushes. The hole was large enough for an adult to crawl through carefully. Most likely the hole was made by people who had entered before.
"Follow me," said Eman while walking toward the bushes, pushing aside dry branches with his hands.
Eman went in first, crawling with one hand holding his phone to keep recording. Ena followed behind him.
After successfully getting through the fence with a few minor scratches on their arms from the sharp wire, they stood inside the hospital complex area.
They walked slowly toward the main entrance of the building, crossing the front yard that had become a small jungle. Wild grass grew as high as their calves, almost covering the cracked and mossy footpath. Some small trees even grew between the concrete cracks. Trash was scattered everywhere. This place had really been left unmaintained for a long time and allowed to become a pest nest.
Ena walked right behind Eman.
"Look, this is the main door," Eman whispered while directing the camera toward the large dark brown wooden door that was half open. "The door is already unlocked. Looks like many people have entered before us!"
Viewer: "GO IN! GO IN! GO IN!"
He pushed the door slowly with one hand.
CREEEEAAAAK!
Pitch darkness greeted them. Ena's LED flashlight immediately turned on.
But as they stepped over the threshold, right when Eman's foot stepped on the cracked marble floor—
CRACK!
A loud cracking sound startled them both.
The floor beneath them suddenly collapsed without warning!
"UWAAAAHHH!!" Eman screamed in panic.
"EMAN!!" Ena screamed back while reflexively trying to grab her friend's hand, her hand reaching forward.
But it was too late. Both fell into the large hole that suddenly opened like a giant mouth swallowing prey, feeling the sensation of gravity pulling them down. Eman's phone slipped from his grip and floated in the air. The live stream cut off, screen went black. Viewers only heard the sound of screams fading away, then silence.
1,800 viewers were left with a black screen and the text "Connection Lost."
Comments exploded with panic and confusion.
A few minutes later.
"Uhh... what... what just happened?" Ena slowly opened her eyes, her eyelids felt heavy. Her head throbbed painfully!
She was lying on hard, cold ground.
Ena tried to move her limbs one by one.
She got up slowly while groaning, one hand pressing the ground to support her body. Then her eyes widened when she looked around.
"This... where is this?" she whispered, not believing what she was seeing.
They were no longer inside the dark mental hospital building. Instead, they were in the middle of a dense forest with tall towering trees.
"Hey, wake up! Wake up quickly!" she shouted while shaking Eman's body, who was still lying next to her with closed eyes and a slightly open mouth. "Wake up, idiot! This isn't the time to sleep!"
Eman groaned softly, the sound coming from his throat like someone just waking up. Slowly he opened his eyes. "What's going on... why did I suddenly lose consciousness? How long was I out?"
He tried to sit up, one hand holding his throbbing head. His hair was disheveled.
"That's not important now! Look around you! "Look where we are now!"
"Why do you look so shocked like—"
Eman turned in the direction Ena pointed, and his words were cut off mid-sentence. His eyes slowly widened.
"Hey Ena... that... what's that above the clouds?" he asked, pointing at the sky with his finger. "Is that... a floating island?!"