Eerie

It was the black Friday evening with chilly weather and It was snowing on the streets of Dehradun. I was returning home from my usual hectic tuition schedule. In the streets I could see many people shopping, buying Christmas trees, gifts, chocolates and whatnot. My family had not even started planning for Christmas which was really embarrassing since all my neighbors or relatives had already started sending us gifts.

Thinking about this I also started remembering all the activities I do back home throughout the day. Being in my own world I didn’t realize that I was heading towards the wrong route. I kept listening to music while heading home and also texting with my friends along the way. After a while I realized I was alone in the road and got to know that I came in the wrong way, still, I kept walking in the same road as I knew that I would reach home just that it will take me twice the time. Soon I had no clue of the world except for my mobile, I texted mom that I would be late and that our lecture was taken over time, so without any worries, I kept walking. After a while when I was texting to my friends I heard footsteps behind me, ignoring it I kept walking a bit faster. Surprisingly even the footsteps became more random and were more often than not being heard to me, even when I took different turns the person didn’t change route and kept walking behind me. Now I started to freak out a bit and just prayed to god to safely bring me home. Suddenly easing my nerves the footsteps stopped, I thought he might have been just a person walking by and I was thinking a lot on it since I was binge-watching stranger things back home. I continued walking and then just to give myself a bit more comfort I turned to see if there was anyone, and to all my fears there was a person wearing a black dress. His face was too dark in the night to see clearly and I completely panicked and started walking as fast as possible reciting the Hanuman Chalisa simultaneously. Soon it seemed to me that the person had reached closer to me and I could also see his shadow, for some reason his footsteps were not audible to me, which tensed me more. With some courage in my heart, I turned to encounter the person or whatever he was and astonishingly I found no one behind me and could only see my own shadow on the dim street light. Behind me, I could see my house a few yards away from me. 

In the end, I reached home and saw my dad wearing the same black dress I saw that person wearing, during supper he told mom that he took the old road today from the market to avoid traffic and crowd. I then realized how crazy I had become watching stranger things and decided never to take that road again and to never use my phone while walking on the streets.

THE END