Who's The Real Ghost?

A dark, quiet corner of the hostel library is where Mihika settled down with her book. In the library, jack-o-lanterns placed on the bookshelves and the moonlight streaming in through the glass window eerily lit the room. Gleaming eyes seemed to be lurking in the shadows.

- Niloy Kurmi

It was certainly not the best place to read a book, that too on a Halloween night. But it was the only place to escape the secret Halloween party being planned in her friend Revati's hostel room.

Mihika did not want to disappoint their warden Jonita Ma'am by joining her friends in their mischief. So, when she was sent to keep an eye on the warden and the guard while her friends decorated the room, she took it as a cue to escape to the library.

The grumpy old hostel guard, Uma Aunty, had scolded Mihika's friends for stealing ice cream from the hostel kitchen the previous night. She made sure that Jonita Ma'am cancelled the girls' Halloween party.

"But celebrate we will," a rebellious Revati had shouted, and Mihika's friends had cheered in agreement.

Not Mihika, though. She was content with reading an old and battered copy of Indian Ghost Stories in the library.

She was reading about a ghost with long hair, fiery eyes and expandable arms, when a chilling breeze blew across the room and the jack-o-lanterns flickered and went out. The moon had hidden behind the clouds and there was stark darkness, except for the glow of the mysterious blinking eyes.

Mihika felt like she was being watched. She felt long shadowy arms stretching out behind her. A shiver ran down her spine. Her breath quickening, she turned around and gasped a sigh of relief. It was just the shadow of the branches of the tree outside the window, not the ghost from the book that had come to life!

Mihika was about to return to her book when, horror of horrors, a hand extended from behind the shelf and grasped her by her collar! "Who-?" Mihika started, but the other hand clasped her mouth.

"Shhh!" it whispered. Mihika's heart thudded fast.