How I got stuck with a ghost!

A funny ghost story

Before I begin my tale I must ask you to keep your judgement aside and listen to me as I narrate the peculiar story how I got stuck with a ghost.

It was during the mid-sem break of my college that I and my friends decided to visit my parent’s new residence in a town in Uttar Pradesh. Since my parents are civil servants, they often have to live in almost ancient houses which were actually built by the British around a hundred years ago. (Yes, these buildings are still standing their ground). At one point I remember I had lived in the house in which Sir A O Hume (The founder of ‘Indian National Congress’)  lived once upon a time when he was a district magistrate.

Anyways, this new residence was called Pennville and had been constructed in 1910 (as the inscription read beneath the small structure of a hand holding a pen in front of the main building). It was a fairly huge and beautiful house surrounded by rice fields and kitchen gardens. The best part for me about the house was a small pond in the backyard. Having a water body in the premises was always soothing. We had come to stay there for one week and then were to go back to college. The day started off really well and I and my four friends (Saijal, Abhinav, Akash and Ishita) were feeling truly relaxed.

In the night we decided to take a walk around the estate and the pond to get some fresh air. The air was particularly chilly that night and became colder as we approached the pond. My friends were all walking in the front while I lingered behind a little. Ishita came running to me. ‘Come quickly! I have to show you something’ she said and dragged me to the edge of the pond. Pointing to the water she said, ‘can’t you see anything weird there?’ Everybody was staring into the lake and then Akash started laughing, ‘seems like someone is hallucinating. There is nothing there.’ I looked at the lake and was unable to see anything and started laughing as well. That is when I saw her.

It was just a little glimpse. A white girl of about 11 or 12, dressed in a frock looked at me with her big eyes. I blinked. She was gone. Then suddenly, somebody pushed me from behind and I fell straight into the pond. I opened my eyes and there she was. Very close to me. I felt a chill down my spine as I looked at her ghostly figure. She floated closer and whispered in my ear,’ I am glad you are here’. I swear to God I haven’t been that scared in my entire life. I tried to come out of the water gasping for breath but it seemed like my friends were pushing me inside with their hands. I dug my nails into the skin of those hands and they quickly pulled away. They were laughing and I was certainly not happy. Abhinav was the person standing closest to me and I started punching him with the fury of a mad woman. They had to physically restrain me. When they realised that I was actually not feeling well, my friends apologised and we went back to the house.

Saijal, I and Ishita were sharing a room. I was glad for company in the night and there was no way I was going to that pond again. I had gone to sleep when I heard her voice again, ‘I’m really glad you are here’. And the girl was there, sitting on my bed and I was certainly not glad to see her. She said,’ my name is Anna. I used to live here’.

 Although I did not want to respond, I thought it would be rude if I didn’t. So I said, ‘my name is Sanya and my parents live here.’ She said, ‘that is good’ and vanished. I will be lying if I say I wasn’t scared. But she did not seem to want to harm me and I did not want to hold her ‘ghostliness’ against her. It was probably not her fault that she was a ghost. So I decided that I would behave cordially but in a very limited way in case she approached me again. I prayed with all my heart she wouldn’t.

If God had decided to answer a few prayers that night, mine was certainly not among them. She visited me again the next night. She was sitting on my bed and smiling at me. ‘Hello Sanya. It’s nice to see you again’, she said. I couldn’t really reciprocate her feelings and did not say anything. At this she seemed sad, dejected. Although I was scared I felt bad for the little ghost and so I said,’ it’s nice to see you too’. She smiled childishly. Since we were anyways talking I wondered whether I should ask her how she died. Would it be too rude to ask? Before I could think it over properly my lips had already uttered the question. She became slightly uneasy and said,’ oh! That...I fell in the pond. Nobody was around to save me. I drowned. I died.’ ‘Oh. I’m sorry’ I whispered and she vanished.

To be honest, that wasn’t a very interesting death. Perhaps a murder through the betrayal of a caretaker would have been more interesting. Anyhow, I had bigger things to worry about. Had she been angered by my question? Or perhaps she had been saddened and decided that I was not worth her time. Either ways I did not want her to visit me.

Over the next few days, she kept giving me glimpses here and there. It was certainly creepy but I thought that I would be gone in a week so there was no point in being rude to her. Moreover, she clearly didn’t seem to be a problem to anyone else so I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. Mostly her visits were just glimpses, but sometimes she really terrified me with her sudden appearances. One time, I was combing my hair looking into the mirror in a very narcissistic, self admiring manner when she suddenly appeared in the mirror. I let out such a scream that everybody came running and I had to pretend I had hurt my foot. There were only two days to go and I was waiting restlessly for this trip to end.

The day of departure finally arrived and there was no soul in the house happier than me. She had visited me twice that day but I didn’t care because now I was going away from that place. When all our bags were packed and we were set to leave I asked everybody’s leave for a few minutes. I thought that since she had showered me with her attention for the past one week and also didn’t seem a very bad ghost, I must pay her a visit before leaving. So I walked to the pond for the second time. I could see her beneath the water. I waved at her and said ‘bye’.

Now that I think about it, it was by far the stupidest thing I have ever done .Because what happened next changed my life forever. She simply glided out of the water. As I hurriedly walked back, she followed me!!!! She was there with me through the entire journey. In the car, in the flight, everywhere. She simply decided to leave her pond and live with me. Right now as I write this story in my hostel, she is sitting on my bed.

Do not get me wrong, it is not like I don’t appreciate her love for my companionship. But now it’s crossing a line. Although she is very nice to me, I don’t want her in my life. I am getting used to her but there is no getting away from the creepiness. Some people might like interacting with the occult and the supernatural but I clearly don’t. I have tried everything from ignoring her, abusing her to physically running away from her to make my point. But she just doesn’t leave.

Author's Note

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