“Listen, can you hear that? We are close!” Simant whispered, he was my fellow hosteller. “Yes, let’s stop here for some time”, I replied. Old trees, bushes over fences, cracks on moss covered walls constituted a mysterious melancholy around. Different sounds of concealed birds and insects were breaking the uncanny silence. Suddenly everything calmed as we approached that old house. Every noise faded and now the silence was deafening. I gave a look at my watch, it showed 5:00 pm. Patches of clouds encircled when we started, sky was completely surrounded with thick dark clouds now. After a long time we managed to get closer look of that old house. Rumors made the house somewhat famous, maybe there was really something strange about that house. Who would leave such a place like that? Or the question is what made them abandon this beautiful home! My mind was clouded with thoughts. This old house was near our boarding’s playground, many things were trapped inside but no one ever tried to collect them. We observed every corner, a huge old rusty lock rested on the main entrance. As if it was for protecting others from what’s trapped inside. A water drop fell on my nose, followed by a distant thunder. I looked up, it was about to rain, “Damn rain! We made it so far till now” I said. “We should head back to hostel and that too, fast” added Simant. Soon water droplets started pouring on us with a loud thunder. We ran towards hostel, one of the thorny bushes scratched my right leg. I stopped for a moment, but it was raining heavily so I ran again. Simant’s room was near; I reached my room and dried myself. A sudden, loud thunder burst. Our hostel was situated outskirts of the city area; seats were less as we have many students as day boarders who come for classes from city. Our vacations were about to start, many left already and handful of others were staying.  I took a story book out of my closet and started reading; it was one of my favorite books by R.L. Stine, a horror genre writer. I was so lost in the book that I forgot about the dinner. The rain stopped, Simant called me out for dinner. Mess was nearly empty; about eight to ten people were having dinner. Soon I found myself dragged in the midst of discussion about the old house. Simant was telling others about our exploration today. He was good in narration and his eyes shone when he narrated his exciting experiences. No doubt others were attracted in his story. “There must be an unusual story attached with the old house!” he concluded. “Looks weird too”, I added. After dinner we were strolling in our lawn. Our hostel compound consisted of a secular temple and a garden. We used to sit in the temple or garden benches after long strolls. We were walking on the granite passage which ran along the garden. It was a cloudy night; lightning were seen across the night sky. Cool winds flapped our night suits. Smell of wet grounds was in the air; maybe it was raining somewhere far. There was a power cut due to rain and hence generator lights were put on. Our hostel comprised of three blocks and each entrance of the respective block was mounted with a generator lit tube. So it used to give a nice appearance during power cuts. Thunders were going loud again. Simant changed the topic to our hostel; there were rumors about our hostel too. They used to tell that our hostel was constructed over an old graveyard. People used to hear creepy sounds at night, sometimes anklets and footsteps. The strangest thing was, there used to be nobody in the hallway when they were heard! “Have you heard any of these?” I asked. Simant spoke, “When I heard that first time, I was soaked with fear and nearly paralyzed, but now I am used to it”. Simant used to be quite excited and amused talking about his spine chilling experiences. I kept looking at his face, sometimes I never believed him. We came back to our room, lights were still out. Tomorrow we were leaving for our home so we decided to stay together for tonight. We went to bed early but thunder wasn’t allowing us to sleep. It started raining and soon our room flashed with lightning strikes. I couldn’t sleep; it’s been so long power was out. I walked to window facing our playground and opened it. Flashes lit my face, it was raining very heavy and nothing was visible. Tiny splashes of water sprinkled on my face. After sometime rain slowed down, it was visible to some extent now. Everything was wet; each flash of lightening gave a clear picture of surroundings. I saw the old house, there was a strange bluish green aurora emerging from that house. The mysterious luminescence surrounded the house too. House remained closed for years, how could it be possible. Maybe it is sort of unexplainable scientific phenomena! I tried to wake up Simant but all in vain. After sometime aurora faded and stopped, now it was dark again. For the first time an incident ran a streak of terror inside me. I stayed at window for some more time then I returned to bed. That picture of unearthly fluorescence around that old house still encircled my mind. I kept thinking about that old house and its rumors, only owners knew what the real story was. I was tossing over the bed and sleep was too far from my eyes. Maybe Simant really heard those sounds in hostel; I imagined his face when he might have heard it for the first time. I felt bad and was trying to distract myself. I started thinking about my home, it’s been over a year almost and tomorrow I have to leave. It was late, my eyes were heavy now. I don’t remember when I drowned myself in dreams. It was the strangest night in my entire life. I woke up early and went to the window again. Everything was still wet and green. I woke Simant up and prepared for breakfast. At mess I told him about last night’s incident. He listened carefully, “Let’s go there again”, he said. We packed our bags and went there again but everything was normal. Same old rusty lock right at its place where we left it before. Same creepy silence, I felt strange! No one ever saw those lights before. God knows what happened there. We decided to return back! While returning I brought today’s newspaper from guard room. There was some weird news about my place, strange things were going on. Locals reported that they saw some strange lights encircling in the sky. Few were saying they saw some semi-transparent objects nearby. They had no particular shape, neither they were humanoid. People were disappearing strangely, locals were horrified. Police neglected the news as hoax and hence stood indifferent. We had lunch afterwards and took rest. Our bus was at 4:30 pm, it took about 7 hours to reach. After informing at home about our arrival we boarded the bus. We handed our luggage to conductor and took our seats. Bus left at right time. I was thinking about my parents, it’s been so long I saw them. For a hosteller there was nothing happier than vacations. Simant and I live in the same town but different streets. Simant was reading the book he bought from stands, ‘Tales of Myth and Reality.’ About 60 kms passed mountains, greenery, tall trees, deep pits and valleys accompanied our journey. Sun was setting far behind the mountains amongst clouds. It was a cloudy day, we reached toll! I gave a look at my watch it was 7:30 pm. Passengers were less today than usual and were dropping off at their respective stops. Maybe it was due to these news and rumors that less people travelled this route. I saw Simant he was asleet, my eyes were heavy too. Soon I fell asleep. Light showers had started, which gradually increased to heavy rainfall. Nothing was visible from window. Bridges, valleys seemed all alike in this rain. Water drops condensed on the glass window, it was cool outside. Night grew with time, only two of us were left. It was the last bus to its destination. Lightning flashes showed a quick view of outside. Rain slowed down and finally it stopped. Moon came out and was tossing in midst of clouds. It was about 11:30 pm, no vehicles were passing by. Conductor told us that we are crossing that region where those sightings were reported. It gave me a spooky feeling. Bus was moving with its normal speed. Simant was awake and was strolling inside the bus. Suddenly he screamed and ran to driver’s cabin passing by my seat, I felt fear in his eyes. I joined them in cabin, he was screaming at the driver to increase speed. All three of them were soaked into sweat despite of the cool weather. I was asking them what happened but it appeared that nobody heard my question. Suddenly I froze when my eyes stopped on the rear view mirror. I never saw such a weird and horrible thing in my life! There was no proper body structure, just outlines made a semi-transparent creature, it gave me Goosebumps. They were approaching near us and I noticed our speed was gradually dropping. I couldn’t believe at my eyes, speedometer was showing 110 kmph but bus appeared to be slowing down, as if something was dragging us from behind. Suddenly engine stopped! Simant almost fainted. We were dead scared, there was no one outside. Those creatures were disappeared. Clock was struck 12:00 am and we were about 15-20 kms away from our destination. Our engine failed in the middle of nowhere. Clock was ticking fast, we somehow consoled driver to check the engine. He was scared to step outside but somehow he managed to the front and opened bonnet. We immediately sealed the doors for safety. We were continuously watching him from cabin’s screen. After about half an hour he told us engine is ok. Now we can start! We took a sigh of relief. Suddenly there was a loud screech and there was no sign of driver outside. It happened very fast! He was gone with the blink of an eye. We stood aghast as if blood drained out of our bodies. Time was passing and still there was no sign of anyone outside. Conductor wanted to search outside, but we were restricting him. Our efforts for stopping him went effortless when he stepped out despite of our requests. For a moment he was visible to us but then he disappeared in the shadows. After a long time, still there was no sign of driver neither conductor. We were too frightened and shocked. We were thinking about other alternatives like who could drive amongst us. Suddenly there was loud thud on the door. Conductor was outside, we immediately turned him in. He was soaked in mud and face, white from fear. He told that he never found driver but those creatures followed him back. “Come on, fast” he said. I stood clueless and conductor took the driver’s seat. He turned the key but it didn’t start. He was trying hard and those creatures were coming nearer. “They are close”, Simant screamed. Conductor screamed in the name of god and engine roared but it sounded bit different from before. At first it was moving slow then caught speed later. I was screaming in happiness. The bus was running fast on the wet road. Maybe we were out of luck that night! After 12-15 kms, engine failed again and stopped near a tree. Creatures disappeared again! We were too scared to step outside, it was 2.30 am and there was no sign of humans nor the creature on the road. We decided to walk but Simant wasn’t agreeing with me on this. I explained to him our current situation then he agreed somehow. We took our bags and looked silently from the glass. Conductor said he wasn’t feeling well, he was hurt but we were not ready to leave him alone. Finally he decided to come with us! He said that he will walk behind us. I said we will start on the count of three, one… two… three…… and we ran. Soon we saw houses, on the roadsides. There was no one outside and the creepy silence was killing us. This incidence was affecting our mind and we wanted to reach home quickly. I turned back to see conductor, he was moving slow but was within our sight. We looked back from time to time to watch him if something else was following us. Finally after a long sprint we reached our street. Street lights were gleaming, placed at some distance from each other. Moon vanished somewhere along with the stars. Neither the wind blew nor did an insect buzz, dead silence and terrifying atmosphere. I reached my home with Simant and knocked the door. To my surprise, no one replied. Maybe they were sleeping! I started banging hard. The sound echoed in the whole street. After sometime when no one showed up I kicked the door and it opened with a thud. A loud scream came out from my mouth! There was nothing inside, no furniture, no bed and no people! Just a void abandoned house. I fell on floor trembling with fear as if I touched a live wire. Simant ran to his home and he came back screaming too! A terrible thought crossed my mind, I went to my aunt’s place and it was empty too along with others. Simant went to the next street and came back terribly scared! It was understood, there were no people in our street, nor others. Whole town was empty, people vanished nowhere. What could have happened in just twelve hours? We talked to our parents before boarding. We stood aghast and dead scared at the same time. In this haste we both almost forgot about the conductor. We heard a noise from behind. On looking back we saw him approaching towards us. He was about three blocks away. Street lights were placed in distance so there was shadow between the blocks. When he was near, to my surprise, I saw he was smiling. How could he smile at the moment like this? Suddenly I observed the same mysterious bluish green luminescence appeared from the roadside houses. I looked at above; the aurora was covering the whole sky. We turned white and were shaking with horror. Conductor came near us, his appearance was not clear even in the street light. He was no more normal! “Oh my God, he is changing!” I uttered. He was gradually disappearing and changing into something else! No, that creature! “It’s him”, Simant shouted. We both screamed loud and everything turned black! I wasn’t able to move, I tried to open my eyes but couldn’t! Slowly I opened my eyes. I found myself in the bus; I couldn’t believe what just happened. What a nightmare it was! Appeared almost true! I saw Simant was awake too. It was about 12.00 am and he was strolling inside the bus. I was soaked in my own sweat. Still my heart was beating fast. I told Simant about my dream in detail. He was shaking with fear after what he heard! He had an exact same dream with exactly same details. We both turned white with terror! I drank water and walked to driver’s cabin along with Simant. To my surprise I saw conductor was driving the bus. It appeared little weird and scary too, so I asked him in choked voice, “Where is the driver?” He turned towards me, smiled and said, “HE NEVER MADE IT BACK, DON’T YOU REMEMBER SIR?”