The Woman With A Lantern

The woman with a lantern
A Short Story By G.S.Vasukumar

Rahul was returning home by a lonely path which passed by a cemetery after attending a late night party. His friends had insisted to drop him home, but he preferred going by walk so that he could get some fresh air.

He didn’t believe in ghosts for he had never seen one so far in his life. However, he had watched many horror movies some of which had sent a chill down his spine.

His heart started to beat fast as he approached the compound wall of the cemetery. He had heard tales that ghosts from this graveyard used to wander during late nights, especially during full moon nights. He glanced up in the sky and caught the sight of the full moon shining above him in the sky.

‘Dame it!’ He said.

A cool breeze stared blowing behind him, rustling the dry leaves which were scattered on the path. He started walking as fast as he could. As he approached the cemetery, the gates of the cemetery opened. He stood still and watched holding his breath as a woman came out dressed in a white gown, and she had a lantern in her hand.

She started walking ahead of him. He wondered what he should do now. He couldn’t walk back and the only thing he could do was walk forward, which meant following her. He continued walking as the gates of the cemetery closed back.

He peeped through the gates and saw no one inside. He continued walking behind her as slowly as he could, with his heart still pounding fast. He found that he was approaching her fast even though he was walking slow, which meant that she had slowed down to catch up with him.

He looked at his digital wrist watch and it show 1.30 AM. He looked again in the front, but she was gone. It seemed as though she had vanished into thin air.

‘Thank, God!’ He said, with a sigh.

However, his relief was short lived as he felt someone following him behind.
Could it be her? He wondered.

But he didn’t have enough courage to turn back to have a glance. He started walking fast. The sound of the footsteps increased behind him too.

Then he halted and everything became silent, except for the noise the crickets coming from nearby bushes. He picked up enough courage and turned back. She was standing behind him. His heart almost skipped a beat as she lifted the lantern which she was holding in her right hand and pulled up her veil to reveal her face to him, with her other hand. He could see the wicked grin on her face.

His hand clenched his chest as if he had a stroke in fear then he dropped down to the ground unconscious. When he opened his eyes it had dawned. He had a smile on his face as he had outwitted the ghost by pretending that he got a stroke and passed away.

Another night, the breeze was blowing gently in the graveyard. The girls waited patiently seated under the banyan tree with a lighted lantern, for someone to pass by the lonely path outside the graveyard. One of them would have fun scaring the wits of the person at this unearthly hour. It was Nikita’s turn tonight, and she was really excited about it.

‘Remember, the last time,’ Sonam said, ‘when Priya had almost scared that person to death.’

‘Yes,’ Priya said, ‘I never thought that he would get so scared that he would get a stroke and fall down unconscious.’

‘Shhhhhh! Listen…’ Nikitha whispered, with a finger on her lips.

‘Yes, I could hear some footsteps outside the compound wall.’ Priya said, giggling.

‘All the best!’ Sonam said, handing Nikita the lantern.

Nikita rushed towards the gates of the cemetery as fast as she could. She was followed by the other two girls behind her. Priya and Sonam positioned themselves at the two side of the compound wall. They started pushing the gates outside, while hiding behind the compound wall.

As Rohan approached the gates of the cemetery, he found the gates slowly opening. He saw a woman dressed in a white gown, with a lantern in her hand stepping outside the graveyard. She started walking in the path ahead of him.

The gates of the cemetery closed once again. He passed by the gates, and found no one behind the gates. His heart started to beat fast as he started to follow that girl.

‘Hello!’ He cried.

But she didn’t respond and continued walking.

He started walking as fast as he could so that he could catch up with her. When he reached her, he held her hand and turned her towards him. Her face was hidden in a veil. He slowly lifted it up to see her face.

He was spellbound as he hadn’t seen such a beautiful face in his life before.

‘Who are you?’ He asked, taking the lantern into his hand. He took the lantern up, so that he could see her face more clearly.

‘Nikita’ She said in a sweet voice ‘and you?’

‘Rohan’ He said still mesmerized by her spellbinding beauty. She too was lost seeing such a handsome man for the first time.

‘Did I scare you?’ Nikita asked.

‘No, not really,’ He said with a smile on her face. ‘I hope you didn’t have much fun this time around.’

She only smiled back at him in response.

They both walked together and sat on a bench on the side of path.

They heard howling from a distance. She got scared and hugged him. He patted her gently on her head and lifted her face, and looked into her eyes.

‘There is nothing to fear while I am there by your side.’ He said, with a smile on his face.

‘I need to go, now.’ Nikita said, standing up and waving her hand to him.

‘When shall we meet again?’ He asked, standing up and waving back to her

‘On the next full moon night’ she replied smiling and walking away towards cemetery.

Suddenly, she vanished into thin air.

He was quite shocked to realize that she was a ghost indeed.

He heard the howling once again.

He lifted his face and gave out a piercing cry. He now had fangs along with his teeth. He turned into a vampire and leaped on to the nearby tree. He started leaping from one tree to another moving in the direction of the cry.

The End