Friday the 13th

Mangalore Today

Friday, 13th August 1994, I still remember the day. It was a dark and stormy night. It was around ten thirty; I came out of the office along with a friend and was ready to leave. Usually I used to take a cab but on this day there was a strike and no vehicle where on the street. I was new to the city and stayed in a hostel which was not very far from my workplace. It took around ten minutes by cab and around 30 minutes by walk. My friend’s house was on the way so we decided to go together.

We reached the house were my friend stayed. She offered me to stay in her house but I refused as I was just fifteen minutes away from my destination. I was walking alone on a deserted street. I walked for another two three minutes, when suddenly the lights went off. I was scared but I had a pocket torch which I always carried around in my hand bag. With the help of my torch I walked for sometime but for my misfortune the torch also went off.  Now I was in total darkness and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was walking slowly with one step at a time .

I walked for a while and stopped, when I heard the sound of foot steps following me. I turned back but couldn’t see anything. Till then I didn’t believe in ghost so I thought it must be some one walking behind me. The sound of the foot steps had stopped when I stopped. I walked faster and the sound of the footsteps too got faster and louder. I ran on the street and could hear it coming closer.

While running I could see a light amid the woods around me. The light appeared to come form somewhere near so I decided to go there. I ran as fast as I could and reached the spot. It was an old cottage with trees all around it. The roof was covered with leafs and there was a lantern hanging on a post in front of the house. I went in but couldn’t find anyone in there. I shouted where anyone was there but no one replied. I was surprised to see a burning lantern in a deserted house.

After a while when no one arrived I decided to take the lantern and go to my hostel. I took the lantern and walked for some time and reached the road. I walked a few steps and could hear the same sound of the footsteps following me and this time I heard someone crying. I had the lantern with me so I turned back to see. I saw a small girl crying and walking behind. I wondered what the girl was doing in  dark in a place like this. I went a bit closer to her and asked her what was she doing and why was she crying. She replied to me by saying that her parents left her in the house where they stayed and never returned. When I asked her where their house was she told to me that the house where I took the lantern was hers. I went over to the cottage as fast as I could. The girl was there too. I was terrified yet entered the cottage and locked the door. There were some old pictures on the wall. In it were the girl and her parents. There was a newspaper on the table in the corner of the room. I was curious; I went and read the paper which dated 13th august 1969 which was also a Friday. I saw the picture of a family along with the same girl. All declared dead.
Arjun D’souza