SHORT HORROR STORIES

THE GIRL IN THE RED DRESS

I will never forget the happenings of that night, nothing so terrifying had happened before in my life and I am sure nothing so bizarre will occur in the near future with me again. It was just like any other night I finished my shift and was driving home at around midnight. The highway road was quite lengthy so whenever I finished my shift late like that particular night I would take a short cut road which went through the woods, no cars ever passed by on this road so I was able to reach home within minutes I was not afraid driving on that lane alone as I have gone this way many times. Up until that incident.

I had driven for a while when I saw a young girl standing at the side of the road she was wearing a red dress and she held a red purse she signaled for me stop. I slowed down and stopped the car right in front of her.

I glanced around to see if anyone was with her there was no one around there was only this girl standing alone by the forest. She smiled and walked up to me "Hi would you please give me lift to the nearest town so I can make a call to my family as my car just slammed into a tree", she asked. "Are you okay?" I asked her. "I am absolutely fine but my car won't start and I am unable to find my cell phone", she said. "Okay, come on in", I said and she got inside the back passenger's seat. As I began to drive she spoke again "Thank you so much I have been waiting for so long for someone to drive by", she said sadly. "Yes this is actually an abandoned road no one drives through here", I told her. "But you are here", she said. "I go through this place a lot, it saves time to reach your destination", I smiled. "How did you end up on this road", I asked. "I got late at my friend's birthday bash she suggested I take this road", she said. "I am Josh by the way", I said. "My name is Ashley", she said. "Are you in college or are you working somewhere ", I asked her. "I just finished High school and I am thinking about doing arts and music in college", she said. "Wow do you play any instruments?" I asked her. "I play the piano, how about you do you play any musical instruments?" she asked. "No I am more into sports especially football", I smiled.

We talked a lot about ourselves especially about our interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, she seemed nice and I was beginning to like her a lot I thought about asking her out for a date when we reach town, she was still talking to me when I glanced at the rear view mirror.

My blood turned cold and a chill ran down my spine. The entire back seat was empty...Her reflection was not showing and she was still talking. I began to feel dizzy as I was hit by what was happening. I slowly turned around and saw her sitting there smiling at me "are you okay, you look like you've seen a ghost", she giggled. My face turned pale white I turned and accelerated and drove at high speed I just wanted to reach home safely. She continued talking I looked into the mirror again and this time I lost control of the wheel and the car skidded towards a tree and crashed into it.

I must have hit my head hard because I became unconscious after that. After sometime I gained my consciousness my vision was blurry and there was white smoke around me. As my eyesight became clear I saw that the front of my car was badly smashed and my head was throbbing badly. I touched my forehead and felt a deep gash my hand became stained with blood. I inspected my body and thanked god that I was okay. I got out of the car and checked the backseat the girl was gone but she had left something I placed my hand on it and took it out. It was a red purse I remembered that she held a red purse I took it with me and saw the main road was right ahead of me; I walked towards it and asked for a lift from the first vehicle that stopped by. The driver immediately took me to the hospital.

A few days later I opened the purse and found a single piece of paper there was writings on it, it seemed to be an address. I decided to go the place, the next day I drove to the location and took the purse with me the address belonged to a small shady house it almost looked like it was empty. I walked up to the front door and knocked on it an old lady opened the door and stared at me "Hello, how may I help you?" she said in a small voice. I thrusted my hand out and showed her the purse "I think this belongs to you ma'am ", I said. She stared at the purse for a while and then her eyes widened and she took it from me "where did you find this", she asked sobbingly. "that doesn't matter it seems to be yours so I will leave now", I said and I tried to go but she grabbed my right hand and exclaimed "this purse belonged to my sister Ashley she died forty years ago in an accident ...it doesn't make any sense why this thing is with you please tell me", she demanded.

I told her everything and she thanked me a lot for returning the purse back. There were many times when I had to work late but I never ever drove through that forest road again.