THIRTEEN

Chapter 1

" What! Urban legends!" Nina squeaked, jumping up from the chair.

" These are just some fake legends which have nothing to do with reality", Dave said, pretending to sound casual, chewing the end of the pencil.

" I don't think so, because on the internet you will find various incidents where it really worked. Not only that, there was a website 'occult.paradox.com' created by a Japanese guy Daisuke where he posts about his experience of various Paranormal activities and some of them are quite different from the internet. However on 16th July , 2001 he talked about an Urban Legend. He went to an abandoned mansion with teammates where he found an old telephone.", Sami said as she showed the picture of the house to them.

" Wait! Isn't it the house at the hillside..."

" It's said to be a hidden portal..", she said.

" The telephone is broken and dead and we have to dial a number in it. It will give a distorted signal instead of ringing and we will hear a voice. According to the legend some people hear a man's voice while some people hear a woman's voice. It is said to connect us to a different world. Whoever calls the number mysteriously disappears and no one finds any traces of their bodies. One of the attention seeking things is in his website Daisuke mentioned that after he heard their voices, he started experiencing paranormal things with him and mentioned that he felt someone's presence moving around his house in the dark. His teammates started to disappear slowly. And later he too mysteriously disappeared and nobody could find his body. Some people says that he got so traumatized from that incident that he eventually committed suicide while some says he is still alive but completely shut hinself from the outside World." , as Sami finished a dead silence engulfed the room.

" umm... no no.. umm... how can you be sure that this is true... like the website can fake too or maybe it's a dirty prank..", Dave said giving a fake smile.

" Why would someone prank about this?" Nina said, rolling up her eyes.

" How about we know whether it is true or not?"They paused their conversation and all of them looked at Rachel who stood up from her chair behind them. She had a grave countenance on her face, her eyes staring at the floor.

" What do you mean?"Dave asked impatiently.

" Well...", she let out a deep sigh, everyone looked at her eagerly.

" I know a woman who does research about paranormal phenomena. I have learned many things from her about spirits and otherworldly stuff. There is almost nothing that she doesn't know.. so how about we ask her? I am sure he knows about this legend."

" Yess! I am down for it! We can ask her now!", Nina squealed again impatiently without waiting any further.

" huh! Must be a crazy woman", Dave rolled his eyes.

" Who is asking you to even come with us", Nina snapped

" Oh , come on guys.." Sami said, dragging Nina to her side.

" Fine then.. lets go"
They all seated themselves and Rachel started the car. They spent the next half an hour chattering and talking about stories and legends related to it, a soft music coming from the radio , crept into their ears keeping them alive and excited.
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" We are finally here", Rachel said, pulling up the gear and the car gradually stopped its pace. They all got down the car, it was in the midst of a lonely grassland with a lake beside it surrounded by reeds and a few dead trees. The sky was no longer blue and clear but covered with gray clouds when their eyes went to a small cottage a few meters away from them.

" What is with this place? Does she stay here?"Dave asked, gaping at the cottage.

" Woah.. no wonder she knows so much about paranormal stuff", Nina said looking around the area.