Originally posted by: ohophelia
Okay this is not something that happened to me, but my uncle when he was in his early 20s.
He is a smoker and used to be a chain smoker back in the day. Wouldn't go a day without inhaling nicotine. Anyway it goes that he got down in a small town railway station because the train was delayed for a long time. Since he was anyway supposed to get down in the next station which was 10 minutes journey, he thought he'd take an auto/bus to get home. Now this small town was sonewhat like a barren land. No development all around and one has to walk few kilometers to be able to catch a bus/auto. So he started walking with a backpack on his shoulders. As the habit goes, he was itching for a ciggie. He took one out while walking and noticed his lighter was not working. He was getting frustrated. He walked on and on and there was no sign of civilisation. He thought he'd lost his way but then he saw a lady walking in his route. He called her out. She did not respond. So he walked towards her. The faster he walked, the faster the woman walked too. He thought perhaps the woman was scared having him call her, so he stopped and decided against asking her for help. He looked around and there was still barren land and dead trees. He soldered on as he saw a board that the nearest bus stop was 2 kms away. As he was walking, he saw the same woman again. Now he was confused because he had seen her leave before, out of his sight. How was she back again? He did not pay heed to her because now he knew the way to the bus stop. But he kept seeing her walking in his path. He was very thirsty as the sun was hot and it was a dreaded afternoon. He walked exhausted and noticed that he was surrounded by much larger dead trees than before. He was genuinely confused because he thought he had walked more than 3 kms but the bus stop was no where in sight. So he sat down under a tree to rest for a while. He heard anklets sound and turned his head and saw the lady from before. She was pretty but had a melancholic look in her eyes. She had draped just a saree with no blouse, uncle thought she was a tribal woman from the nearby village. He stood up and took out his cigarette and signalled her if she had a match box because he was desperate for a smoke after all that walking. She set aside the firewood that she was carrying and lit a match stick and came near him. He lit his ciggie and took a large puff and sighed a relief. He took a second puff and casually looked down at his feet. There, he noticed. Her beautiful feet with anklets were turned backwards. He felt like the wind out of his lungs was knocked. He looked at her face frightened. And, she smiled. The most beautiful smile, only that there were maggots coming out of her mouth. He screamed and ran like his life depended on it. He ran and ran without ever looking back all the way to the railway station of the quaint small town. Luckily, the train was still standing as it was already delayed. The next when he came back home, he had a temperature of 103 degrees. He was burning up.
He's in his 40s now and still swears by this experience. He doesn't like revisiting it either.
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