My Ghostly Affairs-3

Incident three:

            I was in 2^nd year of college. We were staying in the hostel and university exams were going on. There are two periods in life when even the most boring stuff like the sky, the wall, the chair looks beautiful. One- if you are in love and two- if you have exams. So we started developing interests in every useless thing around us and one of them was ghost hunting. If you have stayed in hostel during college, you must have gone through that phase where everyone claim that there’s a ghost of someone who died in the hostel. Amazingly the ghost is said to be a girl (even if it’s a men’s hostel) because, well… female ghosts are scarier.

            We went through that phase in the 1^st year. People started spreading rumors that there’s a ghost lady in the hostel whom some people could hear at night. Now you may ask how a lady came into boys’ hostel (and died) but we are talking about the logic of ghosts, so chuck logic. One of our classmates even swore that he saw the reflection of a horribly scary woman, with teeth like sabertooth, on the mirror in the bathroom. Once I went to fill my water bottle from the water cooler (at 1am) and I heard the ‘chal chal’ of anklets behind me. I didn’t turn around and the sound faded away. When I told this to my friends they said it’s my good luck that I didn’t turn, because the ghost slaps anyone who turns. Guys were so afraid of leaving room at night that they went to bathroom in groups, like girls (no offense ladies). One such occasion a friend of mine begged me to come to the bathroom with him, but he got freaked out anyway because his shadow ‘showed up’ on the wall unannounced. Another friend said during a night walk his shadow was walking faster than him. People were scared crazy and were keeping curry leaves in their rooms because it’s been ‘proven’ that this particular leaf repels ghosts. It was hopeless and there was nothing that the warden could do to stop them.

            The fear gradually faded away… until the aforementioned 2^nd year university exams. Nobody used to come out of their room, not because of fear of ghosts but that of exams. But then stories spread that some people could smell jasmine flower from their rooms. Since jasmine is something that only girls wear on them and this was boys’ hostel, it was clear to the guys that it was a ghost. Later it was found that it was one of the guys spraying jasmine powder over the ventilation shaft that caused the aroma.

            One of the good practices followed by our hostel was that they’ll provide hot tea and coffee at 10pm everyday for the duration of the exams. The coffee would keep us awake long enough that we’ll go into a half asleep stupor and do stupid things. It was during one of those nights, Saturday to be precise, high with caffeine, we decided to hunt ghosts.

            We asked the boy who brings tea if he had heard of ghost in the hostel. He said, “I’m not sure about the hostel but there’s ghost in the mess on 1^st floor (the mess where we eat not the kind of mess we do on exams). We’ve heard it crying ‘ooooooohhhh ooooooohh’ ”. I’ve got to admit there was fear in his eyes.

            “Really?! You’ve heard ghosts for real? And management believes you?” I asked.

            “Yes, yes! Those are the ghosts of people who died during construction of the college. Everyone working here knows about them”, he said. So that explains how a lady got into men’s hostel.

            “In fact we keep food for them on the roof of mess whenever we serve non-veg food or else the ghosts will get angry. In the morning the food is gone. They are the reason we serve food only on the ground floor mess at nights not on the 1^st floor”, he continued, “Because that’s where THEY are!” This guy should make horror movies.

            “That’s it”, I said to my friends after the boy left, “Let’s bust this myth once and for all. Either we’ll be myth busters or ghost busters. ”

            “Okay! Let’s check it out”, said my friends bravely.

            The mess was close to our hostel. There was just a small badminton court separating the buildings. We reached the bottom of the stairs. “Let’s go” I said to my friends.

            “You go first, we’ll follow” said one of them.

            “C’mon where’s your bravery now”, I glared at them and climbed the steps slowly. I have to admit I was scared even though I don’t believe in ghosts, but as they say “the only way to destroy a fear is by facing it”.

            After reaching the top stair I looked down. To my relief the guys were behind me a couple of stairs below. I was ducking so no one could see us from inside the mess window if someone happens to be resting inside. I pushed my face closer to the closed gate of the mess to see if I could catch a glimpse of something.

            ‘tok’ ‘tok’ ‘tok’ ‘tok’.

            I heard footsteps, and they were close.

            Quite surprisingly my first thought wasn’t about a ghost. I thought someone saw us climbing the stairs and was coming to seize us. I didn’t wish to be detained at the time of exams. So, I took a step back in shock of hearing the sound and whispered “someone’s coming”.

            I took the second step back and looked back to make sure I’m not stepping on someone. But nobody was there. As soon as they had seen me take a step back they ran for their dear lives. Now I was stuck alone. The sound kept coming.

            ‘tok tok tok’

            Thankfully one of the friends came back and climbed the stairs when he saw that I hadn’t come down yet. Having him on the side I took a deep breath and looked inside the gate again.

            The gate was at the entrance of the mess and inside it were the many wash basins or rather a giant basin with several taps. One of them was leaking.

            ‘tok’ ‘tok’ ‘tok’.

            “hell, this is it?”, he looked at me.

            “Dude it really sounded like footsteps,” I replied and we went back down.

            My ‘brave’ friends hadn’t gone to their rooms after all. They were downstairs, probably hoping to hear my scream when the ghost caught me.

            “What was it?” one asked.

            “Nothing, just a leaking tap, like in the movies. Such a waste of time.” I said.

            “Ha ha ha! You got scared of a tap? I thought you’re the brave one.” one of them ridiculed.

            “Why did you guys run? At least I had something to be scared of.” I pointed.

            Nobody said anything. We went back to our rooms. I realized that if I had run like the others I would’ve thought it was something else. It would’ve puzzled me for life. The guys would’ve twisted the story to prove that they saw a ghost and it would’ve circulated the college like the other stories. I am grateful for that friend who stood by me and my ounce of bravery that didn’t let me run. If only I had this courage during my previous encounters. I could’ve figured out their mystery too.

            For this one, I closed the case busting the myth of 'ghosts in the mess' like Fred from Scooby Doo saying “There are no such things as ghosts”. But the story doesn’t end here.

            Next morning (Sunday) I was found on the floor of the bathroom, unconscious.