Urban legends: Fear no more…just turn around and run!

For all those people who say they don’t believe in urban legends, I say that you haven’t heard this one yet. I happened to hear of it during a night stay I had with my friends from the university hostel long time back. We were circulating legends and wondering whether there are actually any of them related to hostels since that would be the scariest option considering our setting. One of my friends, Alyssa, who was unusually quiet since we had plunged into exchanging legends volunteered to narrate an urban legend which she knew for a fact was true.

Engrossed and a bit amused that timid Alyssa was planning to spook us, we were totally attentive. Alyssa began her hostel legend: “one night, at campfire held in the school hostel, a few girls were discussing how scary the hostel looked at night when suddenly one of them got up to pee. She searched for signs of any toilet nearby but couldn’t see any. A little scared to go too far, she kept close to the area where her friends were sitting.

Moving along the dark and deserted hostel corridors, she searched desperately for a toilet since nature’s call was getting more urgent by the minute! Finally she located a toilet and went in to do the deed. A couple of minutes later she came out and slapped some cold water on her face to refresh herself, thinking that she’ll need to prepare to stay awake the entire night. As she was closing the tap, she her low cries coming from outside the door. Curious and frightened at the same time, she peeked outside the toilet door and saw a young girl sobbing away with her face covered by her hands.

Guessing that the girl was lost, she asked her to calm down. The little girl, her face still covered, continued to shake and said that she had come with a friend and got lost inside the hostel. The older girl sympathized with her and offered to take her to help her locate her friend. The younger girl, still crying, removed her hands from her face for the first time.

With the shriveled and rotting face that seemed inhuman, let alone childlike, she squeaked in a girlish voice: “I don’t need anyone now that I have you for company”. Saying this, she caught hold of the pale-faced older girl who was never seen by her friends again.”

When Alyssa finished the story, we were all at loss of words and afraid to even move. When I asked Alyssa how she knew that the story was true, she simply replied: “I never saw my older sister after that night”.



P.S.- This is my first attempt at scary writing! with a job that gives me creative freedom like this, I'm super satisfied:)