The Hostel

The Screaming Woman

1:24am.

Pretty late, but not too late. I'm walking back to the hostel after a grueling night posting with the Ob and Gyn dept. My coat is swung over my shoulder and I can feel my eyes drooping as I cross the road and head for the barred entrance. The security guard's head droops. Obviously he'd be sleeping on the job as usual. I can see him behind the doors. I groan. It's such a pain to wake them up and ask them to pull open the chained doors. 

The wind picks up. Howling. I trudge forward against it.

The howling gets louder. I turn around. It's just the mortuary in that direction. A strange vibe shakes me. I can feel my hair rising. I walk faster. 

The howling stops. I check behind me once more. There's just an old crooked tree. Its arms are bent like a wizened person's back and the leaves have fallen off... I watch the wind shake its frame in a futile attempt. Its shadow stretches across the deserted road. The shadow grows longer and longer... And I watch part of it detach and form the shape of a figure.

It walks, no crawls towards me. I try to turn around, but something holds me rooted in place. 

The figure becomes more distinguishable as it moves. A woman? She stands up slowly, head lolling to the side, wild unkept hair floating with the unwavering wind. I can see her open her mouth. The wailing starts again. There are no words to describe that noise. The shrieks that fill the air. I step back. Why isn't the security guard moving? Why isn't anyone coming?

I take another step back. Come on legs move! Why won't they move? OH GOD, She's coming closer. The wailing was getting worse. Her voice was gutteral, strange, spitting at times. Her head spun slowly and then stopped, eyes foocusing on me slowly. I could see the whites of her large eyes. She smilied at me and then stopped moving. Her eyes gazed over me and came to rest on the white coat on my shoulder. The smile changed slowly into a grimace. And that grimace became a snarl. 

"No.... don't come any closer!" My voice was barely a whisper. 

"Ugh.... Ugh....AHHHHHH" A blood curling shriek pierced my ears. I broke free of her glance and turned and ran. 

The entrance was close by. 

There, finally reached the hostel!!

"Security! Security! Open the door!" I pounded against the chained entrance. 

"COME ON! Hurry up!"

The shadows grew from behind me. I could see them reaching me. The security guard's head lolled, from behind the door.

"Open the fricken door!!" I yelled.

"AHHHHHH" She was getting closer. I turn around and hold my shoulder bag against me. At least a good aimed swing with the bag would probably knock the wind out of her. There were at least 5kg of books in there. I stand ready, and wait. 

Her arms flail wildly and she begins to run, that strange thick black hair flying behind. Her torn hospital pajamas trip her and she lands at my feet. I lurch back and turn to run. 

Clench! Her bony fingers wrap around my ankle. They tighten. I could feel the sharp nails digging into my skin. 

"Let go!" I yell, kicking back. 

She snickers and grabs the ankle with her other hand. 

"Stop!"

She began to pull herself up, using me as an anchor, clutching my leg. Standing straight, her face was inches from mine. A strange smell. A mix of gastric acid and decaying flesh. She clenches my shoulders and whispers something. It was in the local language. 

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're saying, " I squeek. 

She repeats the words louder. I shake my head slightly. Her eyes widen and then she began wailing. 

Plink...Plink... I look down. Blood?

Looking back at her face, her eyes were bleeding. Instead of tears, it was blood, tracing down her cheeks. 

"RWEgsfs EFfslklsd" She screams. Her hands reach up, towards my face, towards my eyes.

"No!" I swung my bag at her, knocking her back by a few feet. She totters in place, hands falling to her side, head lolling once more. And then... Her face begins to morph. Or was it melting?

Eyes swimming down her cheeks and nose displacing to the side. I gasp and step back. What the hell was going on? She screams and screams as her mouth slowly melts shut, the lips completely disappearing. Her nails crawl at what had once been her mouth. The noises stop and the face disappears altogether. The woman stood there, wind shaking her hair. 

"Let me take your face." A gentle whisper in my ear. 

"Oh Freaking Macaroni! GET AWAY FROM ME!" 

I ran. 

And ran. 

And found myself in front of the hostel again. 

"What the hell?"

She's next to me. No-face reaches towards me. A large gash appears across her face, where a mouth had once been. It begins to bleed. Tiny rivulets run down the sides. The gash widens, a gaping black hole. 

"Give me your faaaace!"

I unzip my bag and pull out the first thing my fingers touch. I stuff a half-eaten sandwich into the monster's mouth. It stops moving. A strange gurgling noise fills the air. The gash closes as I see the sandwich disappear. Yeah, that happened to be a sandwich from the hostel cafeteria. 

Her hands grab her throat and she scratches, eyelids reappearing and nose reforming. The eyes open wide, fear filling them. The mouth appears slowly and she begins to speak. 

"Why?...." and collapses.

The shadows claim her once more and the body disappears. 

"That's right. Hostel food is that bad..."

I walk back to the entrance and knock at the door. The security guard jumps up and fumbles for the key, sleepily. As I walk in, I see a man run down the empty road, with a police officer behind. 

"My wife ran in this direction! I saw her go this way!" He yells pointing forward. The police officer nods and runs towards the tree. He gasps, pulling a woman from behind the trunk of the old, droopy tree. 

"We found her! Man, what the hell happened to her? How did she even escape from her ward?"

The man shakes his head, almost in tears. 

"I don't know...I thought she'd be safe here at least..."

I turn around and walk into the hostel. I'd had enough... I begin to walk up the stairs when I step in something squishy. I stare down at my feet. 

"Oh crap" 

Yep, that sandwich was entirely uneatable now, with that footprint in it. 

Hi! So about this story; Yeah I really did hear a woman screaming like this one night, (from my room) and apparently she really did run , unawares, into the street. I have no idea whether she came from the hospital or from outside, and what happened to her later. All I know was, that night I couldn't sleep because of her haunting screams. It was freaky...

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