It was a dark winter night and Professor Hawkins had already warned us to not step out of our rooms after midnight. I have been living at St. Angels for past five years but was shifted to this part of the building only last week. Ghost stories and folklore were part of the schools folklore and institution’s culture and this made our nightlife exciting as we got to hear stories from our seniors and professors .The Professor who looks after this part of hostel had already warned me to not wander off after midnight on the very first day; not even in the case of an emergency, which only increased my curiosity.

I had a thing for fantasy books, ghost stories and magical stuffs always. So I made a plan to experience the truth about all the stories I have heard. I knew if someone comes to know about my wandering, I will become a hero among my peers and will be called into the Principal’s office for sure but who cares. Nothings gonna happen happen. I was SURE.
As soon as the clock on the bell tower struck twelve, I was out of my bed, dressed in all black clothes. I tiptoed to the door, put a pocket light in my pocket and was excited. I mean who does not like breaking rules.
I had not prepared an excuse because I knew even the Professors don’t patrol the corridors after midnight. I silently closed the door behind me and started walking slowly on the corridor. I was on the third floor, the top floor.
The night was so silent that I could hear an owl’s hooting and could feel the chilly wind blowing across my face. It was spooky and was the perfect setting for a ghost story!(which made it all more adventurous)

Just then, just for a second I thought I saw a girl; a girl dressed in complete white but that was not my mind playing games but there was really a girl. Her white dress made her completely visible in the moonlight. She looked my age, about my height but there was something mystical and unearthly about the way she walked and how her white dress moved in the winds.

I should have run but I did not.
I should have shouted but could not…
I just stood there frozen, not even blinking.
I was staring at her in complete awe.

By now she was just a few feet away from me and just then I recognized her and the identity I had in my mind could not possibly be true. But what I think would justify the mystical aura around her and I tried to remember Ryan telling us the tale-

“She wears a white dress,
Wait for her;
As she must bless …
Run and you will be in distress

She comes along with an owl hooting loud
YOU can’t get the words even when you shout ……
Child you have lost the bout
Cause no matter how much you shout
Only the name ANGELICA will come from your mouth.”

She feeds on your fear
Enters like a deer
And gets lost in the winds
Making you pay for your Sins.

YES, she was ‘Angelica’ from the most famous ghost story of our hostel. She fits the whole damn description.
With the white dress and the owl thing.
Was I scared? HELL yeah! I was. I could have peed in my pajamas if I was not paralyzed.
I tried to shout out loud but the only words that came out were A-N-G-E-L-I–C-A and my voice so cold and barren that I could not recognize it. Then I looked into her almost involuntarily, those blue cold eyes, one look into them sent shivers down my spine, her face had a certain charm not expected in a ghost and it made me feel calm for a while but then she disappeared. Yes, she disappeared the moment I became calm.
It felt like she had turned into wind and the air around me became heavy, it was hard to breathe . Now i remembered the rest of the tale, now it her sudden disappearance even made sense .

‘She feeds on your fear ,
Enters like a deer ;
Gets lost in the winds,
Making you pay for your Sins.’

I did not waste my time admiring Ryan’s great story telling skill as I was now able to control myself again and so I RAN, as fast as I had never ran before, dashed into my room, locked it and slept by covering myself with a blanket and the last thing that came to my mind was not that I will never leave my room at night but what I was thinking was

SHE’S KINDA CUTE. The Ghost!!!!!!!!