Super short scary stories for Halloween - Part 2

Below is a story I've heard so many times (each with slight variations). Sometimes it happened to someone they knew only distantly - but sometimes there were claims of it being an old relation.




It's a dark night. Dark as only those who live in the country can truly understand. This is in a time when street lamps are only now catching on in the very populous first world and aren't even dreamed of in a land which has just gained its independence. All he has to see by is the silver of the moon, which isn't quite full.


Ramroop is riding his bicycle slowly home. It was a long day working in the coal pit, stacking wood and filling bags of the completed black stuff.


He rides slowly because it's the one time of day when he isn't required to be in a hurry to be somewhere. Not like mornings when he has to rush to get to work. Dinner will probably be ready but his mother and sisters would never dream of being upset with him if he is late.


He's also tired. When he was a little boy he had dreamed of going to the city and getting an exciting job. Now this is all he has to look forward to.


A glimmer of white up ahead catches his eyes and he peers at it. As he gets closer, he can't believe what he thinks he's seeing.


She is absolutely beautiful in a long, flowing white gown, her head tilted forward under the broad sweep of a hat. Her hair is pale and silvered by the moonlight where it flows over her shoulders. The hat hides her eyes but he can see the perfect curve of her cheeks, the small nose and the sultry smile of her lips. It's enough to know that he has never seen anything so captivating.


"Hello Ram," her voice is music to his ears, "I've been waiting for you. Walk with me awhile?"


Not even conscious of what he's doing, he gets off the bike and starts to walk. He curses his stupidity when he realizes that he dismounted in a way that put the bike between him and her. She doesn't seem to have noticed and has started walking so it would be too awkward to change things now.


She walks in the grass on the side of the road, even though he has given her more than enough space to walk on the road itself.


"How did you know my name?" he eventually asks.


"Oh, I've been watching you for a while now," her voice puts him into a daze. He wants only to hear more of it. "You work very hard Ram...I think you may work too hard..."


He thinks of possible answers but it's as if he's under a spell. "Maybe you should come with me..." she says. "I'll take very good care of you..."


The craving for a cigarette is sudden and more than unexpected. It's been months since he smoked, even though he carries the matches and a couple cigs at all times. Just in case.


They walk for a bit further and get closer to the silk-cotton tree. Everyone fears the silk-cotton trees. They are supposed to be used by evil spirits for all kinds of evil things.


Somewhere inside him a voice of caution is screaming. Then, as clearly as if he were still alive and walking beside him, his father's voice says, "Light the match son. You have a chance if you light the match."


 He looks around him in fear but there's no one there except the beautiful woman beside him. The voice of caution wins and he reaches into his pocket with one hand. As soon as his hand closes on the match he lets go of the bike with the other.


Whenever he replayed that moment after, he wondered what would have happened if the bike hadn't fallen towards her. She leapt out of the way to avoid it falling on top of her and turned to look at him accusingly.


"What are you doing?!" There is nothing attractive about the shriek of her voice now. But it's too late. The match has flared and he lights the cigarette as added insurance.


The light of a bare flame strips the illusions away and the remaining haze from his mind. The first thing he notices is that when she leapt away it exposed her legs for a minute and they are those of a goat. He looks up and into the face of a corpse. The beautiful wide-brimmed hat no longer tilts forward and he can see her eyes are like burning coals.


"La Diablesse!" He exclaims. All the horror stories his father told coming back to him. A La Diablesse was the soul of evil, one would lure the unwary traveler off the path and they would never be seen again. She did unspeakable things to anyone stupid enough to be captured by her wiles.


Her laughter is horrible as she disappears. A disembodied voice says, "Do you have enough matches to take you all the way home Ram?"


He gets on the bike and starts pedaling like his life depended on it. Because it does. He keeps one wary eye on the road but the other is on the cigarette. He stays away from the silk cotton tree and to the centre of the road.


It's a nightmare ride that he remembers for the rest of his life. Three times his cigarette was nearly down to a stub when he stopped to re-light it awkwardly. Each of those times he glimpsed the figure in white at the side of the road and heard her mocking laughter.


He almost can't believe it when he sees the light of home. He drops the bike at the end of the path and runs the rest of the way. His hand is on the door but he feels compelled to look back. The horrible apparition is there under the trees.


"I will see you again Ram!" her laughter chills him.