My Experience as a Urban Legend Buster | Teen Ink

My Experience as a Urban Legend Buster

November 9, 2016
By Schoolboy_Tommy BRONZE, San Diego, California
Schoolboy_Tommy BRONZE, San Diego, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Favorite Quote:
It's impossible to be entirely good to everyone or entirely bad to everyone. To some, you are a good person, while to others, you are a bad person.


   It was late at night, with darkness masking the path ahead. I was on my way to Ghost Hill, where it was rumored that if you buried a dead body under the dead oak tree, it would come back to life. If you were spotted that night, the ghost of the dead animal would come back to life and start haunting you for the rest of your life. Many of my classmates had tried it, and apparently the body of the dead animals were gone after a few days. I was one of the kind of child who was incrediblely curious, even to the point it was annoying. So it would make sense that I would want to know if the rumor was true or not. As I was playing in a playground one day, I had found a rabbit that was close to dying, and watched, horrified, at its desperate, gray, eyes which rolled back after it had taken its final death. I immediately thought of the Ghost Hill, and promised myself that I would bring this rabbit back to life, no matter what. As young and naive as I was back then, there was no way I could’ve foreseen what happened that night...
   As I neared the hill, I realized I was getting nervous. My palms started getting sweaty, even though it was freezing outside, and I kept thinking of the consequences if I got caught holding a dead animal in the middle of the night. I would probably get in all sorts of trouble, and just the thought of what the other people would think of me made my skin tremble. When I got to the base of the hill, I looked around. The hill was bare, like the flat surface of a desk. The only thing on the hill was the dead oak tree that was rotting away ever since it fell a few months ago, when lightning struck a year ago. It was declared off-limits until the tree was cleared, but that didn’t stop the public from going there other than some wired fences, which were soon cut open by  the children that used to play there. It wasn’t like clearing the hill was on the authorities’ list of priorities. They had better things to do, like go to parties hosted by other authorities and talk about politics for hours. I walked for a few more minutes, and finally got to the top of the hill. It was around 11 at night. I worked gruesomely, until the hole was just about deep enough. I placed the bag in, and started covering the hole with dirt.
   The bushes suddenly rustled, as if someone was behind it, and I flinched. Was I found out? Did my parents wake up after all? I slowly got up, and ran behind the tree. The bushes rustled some more, and all was silent. I could hear the crickets, and I wondered if it was just a wild animal. That could make sense. As I slowly poked my head out from behind the tree, I saw a dark figure leaning over the hole I had dug. I quickly got back behind. What the heck was that! I became weaker at the knees as my body reacted to the lack of oxygen, it was so hard for me to hold myself up with all this shaking, why couldn't I stop? My mind was in a primal-like state, where I could only think about one thing, and that was: I had to get out of here. NOW. I got into a sprinting position, and darted down the hill.
   I heard a noise that had a close likeness to an animal’s cry but I sprinted on, with the cold air hitting my face. I heard hurried footsteps behind me, and I couldn’t hear anything but the thumping of my heart. I ran on and on, gasping for air, with the dark figure still following. After running for what seemed to me like hours, I finally reached my house and sighed. Was I safe? I looked back, and saw off into the distance, what seemed to me like a white blur, kind of like a mirage in a desert. It had that eerie weightless feeling, as if it was not chained down to the ground by the force of gravity. Then the thought hit me. It was the ghost of the rabbit! It had come back to haunt me because I was seen! The ghost continued towards me, swirling around in a zigzag-like movement, first flying to the right, then slowly floating down to the left. I screamed, and broke out in a run in the opposite direction. So the rumor was true after all! I ran, so focused on getting away from everything, not even noticing where I was going. Still running, I looked back, making sure I was outrunning the ghost. Suddenly, I felt all of the air inside me go out. I gasped, and I crumpled to the ground, and the final thought I had was: “Maybe I shouldn’t have gone out”, before everything around me turned black.
   When I gained conscious again, I could feel the soft, familiar feeling that was my bed. When I went downstairs, two very angry people were sitting in the dining table, waiting for me. I considered running away, but decided against it. They would find me in the end anyways. Oh well. Might as well try. I gulped, and defeatedly sat down, ready for a lecture, and the usual grounding for a month. I stared at my parents, eyes full of anticipation, and they stared at me in disbelief and disappointment.
   “Hey! Nice weather we’re having today, am I right?”
   My parents stayed quiet, and I sighed. There was no way I was getting out of this one.   My brain was flooding with questions about the day before. Was the rumor true? Who was the dark figure that chased me? What was the ghost-like object?



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This article has 1 comment.


Mr.Gr said...
on Nov. 14 2016 at 5:29 pm
Mr.Gr, Cupertino, California
0 articles 0 photos 78 comments
You used so many of the strategies for good narrative writing. Details, making the reader wonder, sprinkling in setting and balancing inner thoughts with external action.