The Spookiest Hour

Note: The places Kashmir and Mumbai are in India.

This is a one shot story.

I was going to Kashmir from Mumbai on a vacation. It was the month of December. Kashmir is considered as the Heaven of Earth, the most beautiful place which is a must visit before you die, that attracts lots of visitors around the world. It turns into pure heaven in the month of December when its winter and it snows over there. It is also known as the 'Crown of India'.

All my friends has already reached there two days ago and I was all alone stuck behind because of a stupid business meeting. And when I tried for flight tickets even they were not available so unfortunately I had to catch a train and endure this journey.

I got my first class cabin tickets. At the beginning of the journey a family of three were in my compartment by from past six hours there was no one, I had the whole cabin all to myself. I did get bored a little bit thinking about the fun my friends were having.

I left yesterday morning from home. The destination was just three more hours from now on. The sun was on the horizon, turning the whole sky into orange by striking its rays into the water clouds, that gave the signal that it can rain any moment.

'What a beautiful sight' I thought to myself. As the sun began to set more pulling on the evening from the other said, the twilight started to rise. The noises of the canteen men and passengers gave the hint that next station was up. Most of the train got empty at this station whose name I barely remember or bothered to give it a read. I was in no mood to pay attention to the passengers.

I got up and walked outside my cabin so that I could stretch my legs a bit, they were numb because of sitting for so long. As I got out of the cabin to my shock almost whole bogie got empty, and there were just two passengers. Somehow this sight did not give me any positive vibes. I went back and sat in my cabin. I check my watch and still there were two and half hours to go for Kashmir.

A moment later a man walked in my cabin and had no luggage. He sat right across me. His face looked well shaved and his hairs were combed up with hair gel to keep them in place. He wore black suit and his shoes were nicely polished. The black suit looked perfect on his fair complexion which pretty much gave me complex. He was looking typical, classy and elegant businessman.

The train started moving.

"Hello" I greeted him to start the conversation so that we could easily pass away the time. He just grinned back in response.

OK! So that was bit rude.

I sat there for a moment not saying anything but this silence was eating me away specially after having a person and not speaking gave my patience a whip lash.

"Hi I'm Aryan. So you going to Kashmir too?" I asked again so that this time we can begin the conversation.

"No." he replied in one word. Without asking where he wanted to get down I just ignored it.

"You know I'm going to Kashmir, me and my friends were planning this trip from a very long time." I said with enthusiasm.

"So where your friends?" he asked, his language felt a bit peculiar and odd to me.

"Uh! They all reached there two days ago." I said.

"And you?" he asked.

"Uh! I had this stupid business meeting which delayed my trip so I left yesterday morning, there was no way I was going to cancel this trip." I said.

"You excited." he said which seemed more like a question.

"Yeah pretty much excited." I replied with forced enthusiasm this time.

Two hours passed and our conversation was still the same. He was replying and asking in one word and I was talking on and on continuously. I didn’t mind if he was getting bored or was not even concentrating. All I knew was that I was excited to meet my friends. I was excited for this trip. There was now just one more hour to reach the destination.

True they say 'the more you wait for the time to pass the more it makes you feel the wait.'

I sat near the window and saw that there was a tunnel coming ahead.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" I asked him.

"Yes". He replied in one word.

The next moment it began to rain, and with wind blowing so heavily the rain drops started to get inside. I got up to shut the window. The lights in the compartment were fluctuating I guess because of the rain. The window was jammed and was not shutting down. I got up from my seat to close the window and after putting ample pressure it got shut, but still the window of the other passenger side was open. I applied pressure on that too to shut it.

The scene that was reflecting on the glass of the window was horrifying. My body shot sweat even in this cold season and I was near to losing my senses. A shiver ran down my spine giving me strange and horrifying chills. My knees felt weak and my eyes popped out of its sockets. My body became rigid in fear and was resisting to move even a bit.

His reflection was missing. I could see myself in the glass but his reflection was missing. He was not visible in glass. With some courage that I gathered I turned around and suddenly the lights went of. The sound that was coming from outside meant that we were in tunnel. The whole train turned into darkness as the power was gone.

I was dead cold because of what I saw. I sat back on my seat without moving even an inch or saying a word. I was completely still and numb as if I were dead long back. My mind was not responding. What would I do when lights would come back? How would I talk back? What if he tries to attack me or kill me? Should I run? Should I leave this compartment now? There were so many questions running on my mind suddenly.

As soon as the train passed away from the tunnel lights came back. And once more I got the horrifying shock of my life.

He was gone. That man was gone.

Where did he go? Where did he disappear?

My body became more rigid and my clothes were near to wet because of the sweat that my body shot out in horror. My senses were now completely dead and my head was spinning. My body went from hot because of depression to cold because of fear.

So for once and for all the legends were true, they were true about everything. They were true about the haunting of spirits, they were true about the ghosts, more over they were true about this spooky train.

Even before I left from home my friends warned me about this train and said me to leave this train and come in the other one, they even told me about what legends says.

Legends says that every night whenever this train passes from this strange spooky tunnel ghosts do come in this train. All my life I never believed in ghosts and spirits but this one incident changed my life forever. The train arrived at the destination. All my friends came to pick me up. They came inside the compartment to pick me up.

I was still sitting in my seat, completely stunned, not moving at all like a statue. I was sweating bad even in this cold winter season. The collar of my shirt became wet because of the sweat that was dripping from my temples. My pants were wet from sweat on the knee spot where I kept my hand. It felt like I would collapse any moment. My nerves denied to respond to the things my friends were saying.

The last one hour was the most horrific hour of my life. The last one hour has changed my life forever, it gave me the memory for life which wasn’t cheerishable at all. The most deadliest one hour.

It was 'The Spookiest Hour.'