Ah! This is driving me crazy! I need to stop thinking about it and get home quickly.
To reach home faster, I decided to take a shortcut. The shortcut I usually take was closed today due to road repairs. If I took the main road, it would be dawn before I reached home, and even then, I might not make it.
So, I decided to take another route. There was another road right next to the usual shortcut. Although I had never taken that road before, the signboard indicated that it connected to a road near my house. I chose this path.
For the first ten minutes, the road was straight. After ten minutes, I saw the road split into three directions. The straight path would take me farther from my house. The right path would lead to the main road. So, I decided to take the left path.
As I was turning the car toward the left road, an old man suddenly appeared in front of my car. I rolled down the window and started talking to him.
Old Man: "Where are you going, child? Why are you taking the left road?"
Me: "Uncle, I'm going home. This is the only road that leads to my house from here."
Old Man: "Are you new to this area?"
Me: "Yes, uncle. I've never been here before."
Old Man: "I see. Listen to me carefully—don't ever take that road. There's danger ahead."
Me: "What kind of danger?"
Old Man: "They are there."
Me: "Who are they?"
Old Man: "You must not even utter their names."
Me: "Why? Who are they?"
Old Man: "I don't know much, child. Just don't take that road. That's enough."
Me: "But who are you talking about?"
I didn't get an answer to my question. The old man seemed to vanish into thin air.
Ignoring the old man's warning, I entered the road leading to my house. On the side of the road was a large graveyard. A group of people was carrying a body there for burial. I thought I'd join the burial. Praying for someone brings peace to their soul, and I'd earn blessings too. So, I got out of the car and approached the body.
When I saw the face of the corpse, the ground beneath my feet seemed to disappear. It was the same old man who had warned me not to come here. He was perfectly healthy just moments ago! How did this happen so suddenly? And if he had died, how was the burial arranged so quickly? If he died here, how did his family get his body?
I asked the girl standing next to me:
Me: "When did he die? How did you arrange the burial so quickly?"
Girl: "Why are you asking? And who are you?"
Me: "I'm a passerby. He was perfectly healthy just moments ago, wasn't he?"
Girl: "What are you talking about? My father died three days ago."
Me: "What! When?"
Girl: Three days ago.
Me: "What are you saying! I just spoke to him ten minutes ago!"**
Girl: "Why are you talking nonsense? We are already mourning my father's death. Just go back the way you came."
Me: "But…"
Girl: We didn't come here to listen to a madman's ramblings. Get away from here."
The girl dismissed me coldly.
I was utterly confused. What was happening to me? Just moments ago, I had talked to this man, and now they claimed he had been dead for three days! How was that possible? I had never seen him before, so how could I be hallucinating about him?
I was lost in thought as I headed home. Then, I felt the urge to listen to some music—to clear my mind.
Reaching for my phone, I realized it wasn't in the car. Had I dropped it somewhere on the road? Determined to find it, I drove back to the graveyard.
But what I saw there froze me in place. My heart pounded violently, and my breath caught in my throat.
The entire family had been brutally murdered!!!
It was a scene of pure horror.
Some had been decapitated, their heads separated from their bodies. Some had their eyes gouged out. Another was tied up and shot—not once or twice, but five times. The rest had suffered even more gruesome fates.
Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me. I turned around.
The old man stood there.
I felt an icy chill course through my body. My throat went dry. My voice refused to come out.
I couldn't move.
What was this nightmare I had stepped into?
"A-a-are you…?!"
"I warned you not to come this way. They are here. I am one of them."
I tried to run. But I couldn't move.
My body felt as if it had turned to stone.
"There's no use trying. You cannot escape so easily. My family has been searching for their murderer for centuries. They haven't found him yet."
"What have I done to you? Let me go!"
"Not so easily."
Suddenly, the entire family began rushing toward me—still in their lifeless forms.
It was so horrifying that even the most terrifying ghost scenes in a horror movie would seem insignificant compared to this.
Their disfigured faces, hollow eyes, decaying limbs— they moved toward me, their presence suffocating.
My mind screamed, but my voice was trapped inside me.
I barely managed to jump into the car.
Glancing at the rearview mirror, my blood ran cold.
The old man was sitting in the back seat, smiling mysteriously.
His once serene face had twisted into the ghastly visage of a demon.
I lost control of the car.
**CRASH!**
The vehicle slammed into a tree at full force. Pain surged through my body—I was injured.
But amidst the chaos, something pierced the madness.
Azan (The call to prayer) echoed in my ears. Everything faded.
I lost consciousness.