We Were There

Chapter 1: Hold

" Do you ever believe in urban legends?" Yhan asked with such glow in her eyes. As she asked me that, everybody in the restaurant looked at me. Like they're waiting for my answer. An answer that would label me as a skeptic or not. And I, of course, shook my head.

" No. Definitely not! They are only stories." I smiled. " MADE UP stories." I made sure to emphasize the made up part.

Yhan then rolled her eyes and smiled. " You and that surface."

She was right. I DO believe in ghosts. But I just don't want everyone to believe that I do. I had an experience with the supernatural when I was still a kid. And that experience was unforgettable.

When I was young, my father and I went fishing in a lake. The water was calm and murky, but all in all, it was peaceful. My father would often brag about his catches to me, like I cared, at all but I pretended to listen anyways. My father then turned towards the end and had his back at me to continue his fishing ( but still continued to brag) when suddenly, I felt a slight chill. I froze and waited. I must be getting a cold, I thought. I scoffed and thought how lame I must have looked. 

Behind you. I froze. That WAS just a whisper. A whisper, like a breath away from my left ear. Now who would whisper behind me when it's the lake for crying out loud. Not unless...

... they're floating. 

I panicked and turned back frantically. And what I saw carved an eternal memory.

A pale clammy hand was reaching out from the depth of the lake. Towards me. TOWARDS me! Like it's reaching out to me to bring me to the depths with it. I stood up and screamed. The boat swayed and swayed as I panicked for my life. And then there, the boat tipped over and both me and my father were now, in the lake. 

I opened my eyes and all I saw was green murky water. I tried to swim to the surface but something was tugging off my boot. I looked down and saw a cadaver with traces of brown hair from its scalp and she or it was wearing a white silky dress. Its empty eye sockets looked at me with pain. And she then once again said, " Behind you." I let out a scream and water came rushing inside my mouth. I panicked. And then I felt someone pulling me by the collar and into the surface. 

So far in my life and up until now, I am really grateful to my father. I told my father about it but like all adults, he thought I was just making up stories ( You know, being a kid and all) and laughed it off. 

I can still feel it, you know. Her engraving hold of my leg. 

Since that day, I have had nightmares of the unknown. Flashing scenes of a woman running away from something. Away from pain. From fear. It's as if I was the one running. And there were nights, I would scream at the top of my lungs in the middle of the night every time that man would take a hold of my throat. I would gag and wake up with my bed soaking with sweat.