The Ghastly Axe Murderer

Do you think you know your friends well? Perhaps you should think again. This is the story of three friends who thought their friendship was above all others. Anju and Bhawna were the best of friends. They studied in the same class hoping to pursue their dreams to become reputed doctors, in a well medical institute of India. As they both were from Gurgaon, they got along really well. They shared a room in the college hostel which led to their friendship getting only stronger. Apart from these two there was another member in their group, Aditya. He studied in the same class alongside them and slowly became their good friend as well. He was a prankster and loved to irritate the girls. He never gave up a chance to tease them. The girls too were well acquainted with his nature and often played along in his pranks to get back at him. This story begins on a dark and windy night at the girl’s room.

“What do you want to do today?” Bhawna asked her best friend as they sat down on their bed.

Anju thought for a second, thinking of some weird activity that these two can enjoy.

She then replied in an excited tone, “How about we text in the class group irritating everyone there.”

“No!!” said Bhawna with a sigh. “It’s getting old and is not as much fun as it was before.”

Both of them looked at one another when suddenly Bhawna came up with something. “Why don’t we watch a horror movie together, its dark outside, how about we turn off the light and enjoy a horror movie with lots of chips, popcorn and junk food.”

Anju mirrored Bhawna’s smile and they both nodded in agreement. The two girls wasted no time in bringing the snacks and picking through their laptop to choose the horror movie they would watch. It was 10:30 pm and Bhawna scanned through the list of movies that she had on her. “What movie would you like to watch”, she yelled to Anju who scrounged through their cupboard to look for drinks and snacks.

“I don’t know; just pick any one at random. We just have to pass the time”

Bhawna closed her eyes and moved her finger randomly on the list and came to stop after counting to ten. She opened her eyes and found her finger on her favorite movie. She was happy with her choice and called out to Anju; who soon joined her friend. “Good choice” she said and proceeded to turn off the light. It was dark and the girls sat down in front of the laptop.

The movie started. Anju and Bhawna tore open the chips packet and drove through it like if they were hungry for months. The Cola bottle was granted no mercy either. Their eyes glued to the screen. When scary parts came they stopped chewing and held each other’s hands. Chewing, drinking and watching intensely at the screen, they remained still as a statue, waiting cautiously for the jump scares.

The movie went into a suspense part where they both stopped crunching the snacks and watched it with apt attention. Suddenly Anju heard a crunching sound that was ruining the suspense for her. She grew annoyed and told Bhawna, “Stop chewing, you sound like a hippopotamus.” To this Bhawna replied,”I am not chewing, it was you.”

Both looked at each other in horror. The chewing sound was still there as if someone was eating behind them. The room filled with tension, their hearts started to beat faster. The scene was exactly like the movie. There might be someone behind them. They were in a panic state, generally in horror movies; if you look back, you die. They closed their eyes wishing the sound to stop. Suddenly both of them felt a hand on their shoulder. Scared they looked back and at the same instant jumped back on seeing the jerk that broke into their room.

“YOU! What on earth are you doing in our room at the middle of the night?” Bhawna asked in a sort of disbelief. It was their friend Aditya that had once again got the better out of them. He was laughing uncontrollably at the state of the girls.

“How did you get in?”

Adi controlled his laughter for a second and pointed to the open window. The girls were humiliated; instantaneously they grabbed their pillows and started hitting him on the arm. He felt slight pain and cried out “Ouch! What was that for?”

Anju starred at him in disbelief and said in a sarcastic tone. “Well I don’t know, maybe because you broke into my room and scared the hell out of us.” With that she gave another good whack at his arm. Adi stood like a sad puppy starring into her eyes as if he had no idea what did he do wrong.

“Do you know what time is it? This is a girl’s hostel. What on earth are you doing here?” Bhawna asked with anger showing on her face, her arms crossed.

Adi said, “Look, I am sorry but I was getting bored in my room. Your phone was off so I had to come here to give you; one important news. Do you know what day is it today?”

“No!” replied Anju. “What are you talking about?”

“Today’s an important day.” His lips turned into a smile as he said the remaining words, “Tonight at midnight is the perfect time.”

“Perfect time for what”, Bhawna asked flatly, she was not interested in his story and sat on her bed giving a bored expression; she usually gives during her classes. Anju; on the other hand seemed a little interested and asked him to elaborate.

“Well, Tonight is the perfect night to go the abandoned temple behind the college gate.” He continued having the same smile on his face. “People say that on a no moon night like today, you can see the ghost of a man carrying an axe walking up that street. It is said that he claims at least one victim every no moon night. When you see him you should not attract his attention or else you would be his next victim.”

“What hogwash, don’t you know this thing is all made up?” Bhawna responded. She was skeptical on the matter.

“Well then if it is just hogwash then why don’t you both come with me tonight? We will see the ghost for ourselves. If that is you are not scared.” Adi’s smile grew wider.

Anju liked being challenged. She never could back down from such open invitation and hence agreed on the offer. Bhawna on the other hand was scared; she knew that Adi was playing with them again. On seeing her reluctance Adi teased her. “What’s the matter? Are you a chicken?”

“No, she is not and we will prove it”, Anju spoke for her and then signaled Bhawna to accept his challenge. After that she grabbed her jacket and shoes and went down after Adi through that open window. Bhawna still was not sure to go but she didn’t want to be left alone either and hence reluctantly grabbed her phone and went on after them.

The night was windy, Adi bought his car and hence they drove towards the old abandoned temple. It was around 11:50 pm as they reached the gate of the temple. They all got out of the car except Bhawna. She was still scared. She tried to convince Anju to return back as they still had time. Not finding her reply satisfying she turned to give Adi an intense look of hate. “This is your fault.”

Adi laughed at her and shrugged her words off as if they meant nothing to him.

“I am not going.” Bhawna told them and decided to stay back in the car. Unable to convince her otherwise Anju and Adi decide to head inside the temple. Bhawna looked at them walking on the deserted road, unknowing that it would be the last time she would see them again.

Inside the car Bhawna stared to pass time on her phone. She opened whatsapp and started texting. She was trying her best to pass the time. All she could do was wait for her friends return. The clock on her phone showed 12. It was midnight, if there were any ghost; it was time for his arrival. She looked around the car but could not see anything. Suddenly there was a cold wind that sent a shiver down her spine. She looked around the car to see that the source of it was the open window on the driver’s side. She reached out to it and tried to close it when suddenly there was a scream. It was Anju’s scream, she knew her friends voice well. She looked around but could see nothing. After a few seconds she heard Adi’s sound as well. She was scared out of her bounds. In a state of panic she dropped her mobile phone on the car mat. She went to go pick it up when a peculiar sight caught her eye. In the distance a figure was slowly walking. It seemed like a man walking slowly towards her; he held something in his hand which he dragged against the street. The noise of the axe rubbing the road was adding more tension to the scene.

Deep down her heart, Bhawna knew who that person was but she didn’t want to believe it. It was just a stupid story. She remembered Adi saying do not attract his attention and hence tried her best to avoid looking at him.

Bhawna held her breath and stared at the man with frozen eyes. She remained as still as possible. Suddenly the man stopped in his tracks. He looked towards the car which made Bhawna’s heart beat faster. She ducked under her seat hoping that the man had not seen her. She could hardly breathe. Her mind filled with questions. “Had he seen me?” She tried her best to be positive and wanted to look back up to see whether he was gone. She was just about to look when another part of her forbade her to do so,”What if the man was still there?” She was in an intense debate within her mind which was so strong that she was unable to move.

Finally after a few seconds she was ready for a decision, she decided to have a quick glance. Maybe the man had not seen her and left. She slowly let out a short breath and yanked her head to look out. As soon as she did that there he was, the man; starring right at her just outside the window. There was a smile in his face. It was pure evil. Bhawna let out a scream and dodged right out of the way of his axe which shattered the window separating them. She could now feel his stinking breath on her face. She wanted to drive off but realized that the keys were in Adi’s pocket. As the man tore open the door, she rushed out from the other door behind her. But she was too late. The man grabbed her hair just as she was about to run and pulled her back inside the car. He then continued to pull her through the broken door. He then threw her down on the pavement. He then raised his axe in the air while looking at the poor creature below. Bhawna had tears in her eyes. She tried to fight back but the man was too strong. Unable to do anything she let out a spine chilling scream one last time as she saw the axe coming down towards her.

Just as her scream was heard Anju and Adi burst out laughing. It was their plan to scare Bhawna. She was an easy target, it was easy to bring her here and let her stay in the car. They asked their friend Saurabh to dress up as a psycho axe murderer and scare the hell out of her. It seems that they were successful. They texted Saurabh to know where he was and he replied ‘near the car’. They both recorded the whole incident via a camera hidden in the car. They couldn’t wait to see Bhawna’s reaction to the whole incident. Together they walked towards the car, unable to control their laughter. There they saw Saurabh standing near the car wielding an axe and all dressed up as a ghost.

They went and patted him on the back and asked him where Bhawna was. Saurabh seemed confused. “What are you talking about, I just got here.”

Adi replied, “What are you talking about, according to the plan we gave out a scream and then it was your job to scare her in the car.”

Saurabh frantically replied, “Yes I was in position that’s when I got a call from home. I had to receive it; I was talking for two minutes and so unable to scare her. Finally after the call, I heard a scream and so I rushed here but could not find anything”

There was tension in Adi’s face. The three of them decided to look around for Bhawna but with no success. The car was all right with no signs of struggle. They looked around the temple but could find no trace of her. They tried calling her cell, but that too she was ringing continuously. There was no sign of her anywhere on the ground, no blood to suggest anything. The night was dark and the cold wind was further sending shivers down their necks. They checked the footage on the camera and were shocked. They saw a man carrying an axe tearing up the car but the car was in top condition now. Their fear grew worse. Where on earth was Bhawna???

Bhawna let out a spine chilling scream one last time as she saw the axe coming down towards her. The axe that rose to kill her was coming swiftly at her. She dodged at the right time just to be saved by just an inch. She got up and began running toward her hostel. She could hear the man running towards her but she didn’t dare to look back. She was out of breath. She heard her phone ringing but had no time to receive it. She was tired, her heart felt like that it was going to explode but yet she pressed on. She could see her hostel gate at a distance. She felt safe. She could no longer hear the footsteps following her. The psycho was no longer behind her. She finally reached the gate and held tightly onto it. It was finally she took a breath of relief. She thought that her friends were dead. What would she say to their parents?

Just as she was about to open the gate she felt the same stinking breath behind her. It was cold and its cold sensation behind her neck brought all her fears back. Her body froze up. There was nothing she could do. She turned around to see the figure, the horrific man starring at her with his blood thirsty eyes. She knew this was her end. The heavy axe rose again in the air and this time fell down on her head. She could not scream, her vision slowly blurring by all the blood coming from it. She fell to the ground never to wake up again.

The Axe Murderer had claimed his victim for the night…

–END–