Trickeries of the Night

It was a moonless night, and Varun, just a thirdyear university student, returned home late after a tiring day of assignments, assignments for which he was running seriously behind schedule, it now being so late that all the streetlights flickered and glowed like fireflies outside. The illusion created by these dancing shadows was that something, or somebody, was moving around in the apartment.

Varun gave short shrift to the unpleasantness and entered inside, turning on the light. To his shock, the lights in his living room, too, were flashing. He was accustomed to electric problems in his apartment, so he turned a blind eye to it and went to his bedroom.

He walked by the hallway mirror sometimes, and something strange seemed to appear there: just a fleeting glimpse of a shadow which was not him. His reflection was present, but behind that a dark figure loomed for what must have been just a fraction of a second. He turned fast and it was empty there.

He's experiencing palpitations. "It's just stress," he thought. Maybe he worked too hard in the afternoon. He went to his room, flopped onto his bed and sleepily somnolent in mere minutes.

It was around 3 AM when Varun was woken up by the soft footfall sound. He first thought people were entering his apartment at night, but the footsteps sounded as if they had stopped right in front of his room. Slowly he sat up and listened attentively. The footfalls had stopped right in front of his bedroom door.

She placed the book on the table. Fear had gripped him. He hadn't locked the door when he came in. The doorknob was turning, slowly, as if someone was on the other side. Varun was holding his breath and gripping the bed frame tightly.

The door creaked open, but no one entered.

He reached out from the bed and pulled out his mobile from the bedside table. He quickly flipped it on so that it became a tiny flashlight. But before he could use it, its battery was dead again. Once again, darkness enveloped the room, except for the faint illumination through the open door.

Varun's heart throbbed in his chest. Who was there? He gathered enough courage to speak aloud. "Who's there?" His voice broke.

There was no response.

The tall, dark figure with red glowing eyes that he had seen standing in front of him in the mirror now stood in the doorway, staring at him. It didn't move. He wanted to scream but nothing emerged from his mouth. He was paralyzed with fear.

The figure took another step forward. And yet another. With every step, the temperature in the room seemed to drop. Varun's breath began to appear in the freezing air.

It was as if suddenly lights in the room flickered on, and the figure disappeared. The door was open wide, but not a soul was there in it.

Varun didn't sleep for the rest of the night. He left the apartment the next day and never came back.