Story 1....

26th December,2019

12:36 a.m.

John: "I saw her standing in the shadows. It was not the first time I saw her, nor do I remember the first time, but there was something about our last meeting that made my spine shiver…."

26th December,2019

12:30 a.m.

It was stingy and laden with snow on Vinscon Street. A cold and dreary wind blew through the bleak roads that night. That very night at G.R. Mansion, a flickering light was glimmering in one of the rooms, and it belonged to the only person, breathing in that primeval building, Mr. Grayson.

Mr. John Grayson was on his bed having a blank look on his face, when he closed his laptop and moved towards the kitchen for rehydration. 

John was a tall, well proportioned, twenty four yeared young lad. He could always be seen wearing his blue suit, even at night, not very normal to many people who saw him first, but a habit of John. The suit consisted of a blue, well ironed pants and a coat, a white shirt, a tie, well polished black shoes, a pair of black gloves and a chain locket around his wrist. He had black hair with a hint of brown in them and brown eyes as well. He had a serious, yet  grinning face. He also had an addiction to smoking and drinking. He could be seen with a cigarette in his mouth all day long. 

He had a very old cut mark on the left side of his neck and also one near his right eye.

John moved towards the kitchen through the hallway, which was filled with sulkiness and void of any light, but the moon's. The windows in the hallway were shivering in the cold winds as if screaming to be opened. The very white curtains in the hall were swaying with the little wind coming from the stairways. The street dogs were howling one after the other and lightning could be heard at a distance.

26th December,2019

12:34 a.m.

John reached the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and bent to pick up a bottle, when suddenly it felt something or someone moved in the hallway. Attention of all the senses of John moved towards the hall. His hand moved towards the back from where he took out a gun, fixed a silencer on it, picked the bottle of wine and moved towards the hall. 

John with a gun in one hand and a bottle in another moved towards the hall. He took a sip of the bottle and moved his head from one end to another, looking for the intruder. He tip-toed in the hall pointing the gun, where he had the glimpse of the prowler.

The hall ceiling was supported by twenty columns and was a great hiding place for the intruder.

John: "Come on out! No one can trespass here. Maybe you don't know about this place or the grave next door. You have nerves to come here. Now come out! I won't say it again. Out!"

The strong winds opened one of the windows to the left and John turned towards it, when once again there was movement behind the columns. John hurried toward it, firing the bullet after bullet from his gun but none hit. John was surprised, it was the first time his bullets had missed it's target. Was it the wine? No, he had never been that drunk. 

The stranger's figure ran towards the kitchen and so did John, astonished and eager to see the person who dodged his bullets. The figurine ran towards one corner of the kitchen and was followed by the gun man to the dead end.

26th December,2019

12:36 a.m.

John: "You're as good as dead now. Say your prayers now. Before you I would really like to see who you are..re....!?"

But it was not as it looked like. Gun dropped from his one hand and so did the bottle and smashed into pieces. Wine spread near John's feet. It was a big deal, because wasting a drink was the last thing he would ever do. John had a ghastly look, it was like he was petrified, yet his hands were shivering. It was the figure who had done this, not itself but by just looking at it John was turned to a standing, living corpse! He was alive, yet his body was just as good as dead at the very moment.