The dead night

The dead night

This story is based on a real & thrilling incident which I faced very recently.  At that time I was staying with my Parents in US. During my school vacations, my Parents dropped me to my Aunt who was residing alone at Braemar in UK. I have to tell, the house was in the middle of nowhere. There were only few houses but the nearest neighbor was about 1 km away from us. She told me that don’t go near the neighbors as they are not very cordial and were aberrant. My aunt was the best aunt I could have ever had; she was very cheerful and full of surprises. As it was my summer vacations I had no worries about my overloaded homework in other vacations.

One Day, I was walking down the street with my aunt Ferro to buy some groceries from the only market in that isolated area. After marketing, we returned back to our home and as she was opening the door, she looked behind as if something was wrong or amiss. Then her face got pale and faint. Then I realized it, she had forgotten the keys for opening the house at the market which is approximately 2km from here. That meant we had to walk again to the market. My aunt was feeling very tired and came to  me with dull eyes. Then she softly said “Dear I’m very tired of walking can you please go the market to get the keys back”. I said “Sure aunt Ferro I’ll go back and get the keys”. She now looked relaxed and there was a rush of excitement in her face. She said “Thanks honey and I will take that you know the way to the market?” Then I said “Yes I know aunt Ferro”. Then she said “Well then you better hurry, because its getting dark already and don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine! I have my pet, brave Butcher with me”. Then I walked out of the gate, in the long dark dusk of the day.

The sky was getting dull and dim as I walked up the street. The stars were nearly visible as I walked. Walking alone in a lonely road was very new experience for me. The sounds of the grasshoppers was so loud, it seemed like that they were trying to tell something which he couldn’t understand. I tried to ignore the boisterous sound of the grasshoppers and concentrate where I’m going. I walked up the hill for almost about 5 min without thinking. Then all of a sudden a boy was crouching down to his heels, and it seemed like he was trying to tie his laces but he couldn’t. I went near the boy, while walking I realized that how lonely this place was and in my way I hadn’t encountered anyone. While I was still walking towards the boy, I felt like, the boy was moving farther apart from me, even though he was crouching and not moving. Then when I was only 2 meters behind him, I felt like entering a solid wall made up of air. It was a very strange feeling; it felt like someone went through me.

When I finally was just beside the boy he looked back and then he saw me. A sudden surge of excitement went through him and his face was lit up at the moment he saw me. I had a sensation of danger when I looked at his face. He looked very small and lost. The boy said slowly in a thick English accent “Hello, my name is Rob and I’m very scared as I’m alone and I’ve lost my parents and I also forgot my house”  “would you please help me to find it?” I looked at him and nodded as I didn’t know what to say. He walked very slowly and I had to keep the same pace as him. As we were walking he told me that all he remembers that his house was big and it is between the forest. While we were walking he abruptly stopped and started to run in beneath the shades of the dark forest beside us.

I followed him and noticed myself running and when I was inside the forest he suddenly stopped again and then I realized that this is a very dark place and I’ve never been here. He came near me looking scared and terrified. He suddenly started speaking “This is where I lived and…” He went on and I had to listen to him. I couldn’t concentrate because I was very scared and frightened. I thought of leaving this boy but something in me told me that the safety in this boy was more important then mine. Then while I was deep in my thoughts and walking with them, the sound of the boy suddenly stopped and when I noticed, I looked behind me; he wasn’t there.

That was the feeling I couldn’t even explain myself. I felt my heart pumping very fast and all the veins in my body ached and I felt defeated. I had to carry on otherwise I would not be able to get out of this very creepy forest. I knew that I wasn’t going to survive for long if I didn’t find any food to eat. Something inside me told me that the boy is gone and its no reason to find him. My aunt once told me that this forest was haunted and never go into this forest. She also told me that the people who went in the forest never came out and went missing, she told me there were many myths about this forest and one of them is the ghost of the little boy and his soul wandering around. After remembering this myth my heart started thumping very hard almost as if it wanted to come out, forcing me to not live any more. It was very dark now and I couldn’t see any thing and the moonlight was the only way to navigate through the forest. Then suddenly it was like the same feeling that I had when I was walking near the boy but this time; it was real.

I looked behind and when I did I froze and felt nothing in my body. It was the face of the same boy except he was much taller looked very old. He said very faintly “ROBH GHST”. I didn’t understand what he had just said and then I felt half of my body being dragged down by the intense force of gravity and half of it upwards. It was the feeling of being stretched and all the muscles in my body being tore apart, I screamed “AAAAAHHHH…………” For a split of a second I thought I was dead and my heart stopped beating. Then I suddenly realized I’m pinned to the ground and there was a white bloody red hand coming towards me; it was the hand of the little boy. It was coming to reach for my neck and I suddenly moved to save myself. Then I started running and didn’t stop until I went out of the forest and saw the road. I looked behind me and saw that the ghost had been left behind. I waited there for an hour to try my luck and find a car or a person to help me. After, what felt like hours, a car came and I felt myself going very happy as the only hope to get out of this deserted place came near me. I asked for the person to give me a lift to my house, she agreed and I reached home.

-Mudit Bhatnagar 10A

International School of Paris