Aanya had been working now for over 10 hours. She yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes as she hit 'Submit' on her laptop and mailed in her assignment.
She glanced at the clock, it flashed 11:58 PM. Just in the nick of time before the deadline. "I need to catch up on some sleep or I'll miss the morning's class", she thought to herself. Her attendance was already down to 75%, she couldn't afford to miss any more classes or she might not be allowed to appear for the finals.
She walked over to the common bathroom at a slow pace. Not a soul was in sight. Everybody in the hostel was dozing off. The bathroom and halls looked calm at this hour. Crickets were making noises in the background, trees rustling due to the wind. She could hear a few dogs bark in the streets close to the boundaries of the hostel.
Aanya leaned against the sink and examined her red, tired, and sleepy eyes. She opened a faucet and washed her face. As she patted her face dry with the towel she noticed how suddenly there was complete silence all around her. The crickets had gone silent, the wind had stopped blowing completely except for a few gentle ones that 'whistled' now and then. There was no sound in the vicinity, except for her breathing. She started making her way back to her room and then she heard a faint knock. Knock Knock Knock
Aanya looked around but clearly couldn't find the source due to how tired she was. She heard the knock again, louder this time. Knock Knock
She snapped back into reality as she got goosebumps all over her body. The wind started flowing again but it was significantly cooler this time. Whatever was making that sound, she initially thought was probably a few dragonflies, there were plenty of them in her hostel though the idea of them striking a wall many times seemed odd. Her mind drifted to the time back in her Sophomore Year when she had heard a popular tale in her hostel about a certain cryptid-like animal.
It was believed by some to have been the reason behind many of the protocols they were supposed to follow while entering the hostel, such as a ban on any kind of meat, even eggs? Not wanting to think about it any further, she sprinted out of the bathroom and walked quickly towards the series of hallways connecting to her room.
Now slowly pacing through the last dimly lit hallway which led to her room, all the while feeling eerily cold and like she was being watched. She increased her pace, literally ran to her room, got in and shut the door behind her.
Things seemed to be normal in here. No eerie feeling, no weird sounds. Aanya breathed a sigh of relief. "I really should get some sleep. It's been almost 19 hours and my mind is playing tricks on me", she thought to herself.
She switched off the lights and got inside her bed and made herself comfortable while taking out her phone and started going through her social media.
"KEep yOuR PhOne aWay wHEn YoU sLEEp. YouR GeNeraTioN iS AddICteD to YoUr PhoNe", her mother always complained when Aanya was at home. But there was nobody to stop her at the hostel, best feeling ever.
As she scrolled through her Reddit feed, she lost track of time. She glanced at the top left corner of her phone, it was almost 2 AM.
"SHIT, it's late... again !", she scolded herself.
"Maybe just one more post...", she contemplated and continued scrolling.
"Can you write something random?" was the question someone has posted in r/AskReddit.
A deleted account had commented:
You know when you are in a dark room, your eyes adjust to the darkness. Your pupils relax and you get accustomed to the surroundings. You can make out the outlines of everything around you like your table, chair, your bed, your cupboard, the person sleeping next to you.
But when you are looking into a bright mobile screen, like you're doing right now, everything around you goes darker. Your eyes can only see the world inside the screen comfortably. Your eyes get accustomed to the brightness and everything outside the screen becomes difficult to make out in the void. And no one knows what's lurking in the void.
And at this point it doesn't hurt to think, are you sure you're REALLY all alone??
Aanya grew a little uncomfortable and shifted under the covers. It was the middle of the night and this random guy was spooking her out. The sudden silence had returned all around her again. Just like before. It was dead quiet.
And then came it again. Knock Knock Knock
Aanya was stunned. What was that sound? Sounded like glass, but why was she now getting a feeling that somebody was there with her in the room?
Knock Knock
The sound seemed to be coming from the foot of her bed. Aanya was still staring into her mobile screen, scared to go out of that brightness into the unknown.
Tap Tap
The sound grew closer and lighter, almost like tapping. This time she felt her phone move. Someone, or something, seemed like it was tapping on the back of her mobile screen.
Aanya was shaking, unable to let go of her mobile, unable to close her eyes, tears starting to form.
Tick
Someone tapped again. This time with aggression.
She felt something mildly heavy settle on top of her body, pinning her down, paralyzing her. She couldn't move- couldn't make a sound-
She felt a hand sliding around her wrist and slowly wrapping itself around the mobile. She strained her eyes over to where her hand was and it looked like the hand of the dead. Long pale nails, decayed grey skin and pores all over it.
The hand latched on to Aanya's hand over the phone and slowly started turning it the other way, throwing the light on whatever it was that was pinning her down. Aanya was petrified but her body was paralyzed. She couldn't move, couldn't scream, couldn't close her eyes. She could only watch in horror as the light from her phone revealed the most sinister-looking demonic face she had ever seen and her vision started to blur as the 'thing' moved forward.
Aanya woke up, screaming her lungs out. It was daytime and sunlight was seeping in through the windows. It was just a dream, she realized. She had had a nightmare. She was most definitely alive and alone in her room, sweating profusely. It all seemed so real-
But she was glad it wasn't and felt grateful for her life.
She looked at the clock, 9:10 AM. It was late, VERY LATE. She had missed her first lecture of the day. Everybody else in the hostel had left for college. She jumped out of the bed and got dressed. Hurrying her way out of her room and as she was locking the door, she felt a silence engulf her. Her body twitched with fear when she heard it again -
Knock Knock Knock
****************************************************************************
-Dhruv Chaudhary (that guy from 10th E, yes)
