THE GHOST WHO SAVED MY LIFE One thing that I hated about staying away from college campus was waiting for buses to reach college from home and back home after college. I guess in my case the wait was usually too long everyday. One day after waiting at the bus stop for forty minutes in heavy downpour, I got really tired and I decided to board this bus which wasn't exactly the one that I had to board, but I knew that it would drop me at a close distance from my home. I got off at my stop. The rain had now changed into light drizzle and I started to walk towards my home. What I didn't know was that I was about to encounter one of the scariest experiences in my life on my way. Due to the rain, most of the streets looked deserted and, well, for a girl to walk alone in such circumstances is scary in itself. However I am a brave girl and kept on walking briskly towards my place. After five minutes or so I came across this street which had really few houses and most of them were old and looked dirty from outside. I had never been to that area before and my house was still 15 minutes away. I was now regretting my decision of boarding a different bus. While I was cursing myself, I heard a voice. It seemed as if someone was crying for help and in that spooky street the voice seemed to echo and grow even more louder. I looked around and found a pit in the wet and muddy ground. The voice seemed to come from there and I heard the first word that I could understand “help”. I thought that some old man had fallen into the pit and was trying to get out. “What a pity!” , I thought and I moved towards the pit. I was right. An old man with shiny white hair was crying in the water filled pit. I asked “gentleman, can I help you?” and then he looked at me. My blood froze. It was the most horrible face that I have ever seen. No, it wasn't like the one that they show in horror movies but it was still horrible with heavily wrinkled and scaly skin and large popping out eyes. He looked at me and shouted “never ever come near to me”. I ran for my life. The rain had resumed but it couldn't stop me from running at my fastest pace. I reached home and told my mother about it. She was shocked but relieved to see me safe. She advised me never to experiment again with bus routes no matter how long it took to wait at the bus stop. Six months later, I had shifted to a new place. New house, new neighbors , the memories of my previous experience had nearly faded away. Also, I had got my own car so there was no problem about waiting for buses. A day before my birthday that year I went to my friend’s place at an all night party. But we got tired of fun and frolic too soon and I decided to sleep at her place along with two other friends. My friend suggested that we all could go for dinner at a nearby restaurant along with her family. My excitement knew no bounds. Victoria (my friend) introduced me to every member of her family. Her parents were really nice and so was her little brother. Then she showed me the picture of her great grandfather who had died only an year ago. When I saw him I couldn't move. It was that face, that horrible face. The same heavily wrinkled and scaly skinned face. I couldn't utter a word but I realized that the man in the picture was still staring at me with those large popping out eyes. I decided I could not stay there and apologized to my friend and told her that I would prefer going back to my place. My mother woke me up next day (on my birthday). “I have bad news for you”, she said. “Last night Victoria and her family and your other two friends went out for dinner. They met an accident with another car. It was really bad. None of them have survived, not even the people in other car. I am so sorry, honey, but I am glad you came back. We should really thank and pray to god!”, she said and hugged me. I didn't know how to react. I had lost my three dear friends. I thought that if I hadn't met that old man ( or ghost, whatever it was ) six months ago and if I hadn't seen his picture in my friend’s house, I would have probably never seen my mother hugging me again. Even today I find myself unable to figure out whether Victoria’s grandfather or his ghost really wanted to save my life from that accident. He did warn me, didn't he. He said, “never ever come near to me”, and I am glad I never did. Submitted From: Christine Robinson, Delhi, India