The clock had just struck midnight as I stepped off
the last bus at 39th Mile on KK Road, near Peruvanthanam. Alone in the thick silence of
the countryside, my backpack felt heavier than usual—
not from books, but from the weight of the night
pressing in on me.

The narrow path to my house wound through a dense rubber plantation, a place that looked harmless by day, but now, under a full moon sky, felt like a different world altogether. The trees stood like sentinels, tall and unmoving, their shadows stretched across the dirt road like dark crooked fingers.

The stories I heard from neighbors and friends came back to haunt me — tales of ghosts wandering through rubber trees, whispers in the dark, and the smell of burning incense with no temples anywhere in sight. I had laughed them off then. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

A sudden gust of wind howled through the trees. I stopped to pull out a candle and a match box from my bag and lit the candle. Whoosh — the flame was snuffed out by a sharp wind that came from nowhere. Goosebumps prickled up my neck.

And then it happened. Footsteps. Soft and deliberate… just a couple of steps ahead.

Through the haze I could just make out the silhouette of someone walking in front of me, moving slowly as if gliding. There was no sound except the chirping of crickets and occasional crack of dry leaves under the feet.

“Hello?” I called out, my voice more uncertain than intended. The figure
didn’t stop.

I hesitated… then started following the specter; my curiosity battling with fear.
The figure turned and walked into a clearing known as Karinilam, a place the locals avoided after dark. I remembered why as I stepped into it: an old story of a young woman who had gone missing here decades ago, last seen walking with a lit candle in her hand.

I swallowed hard. The apparition had stopped… then slowly turned around.
It was a woman with long hair, pale face and dark eyes. A faint, sad smile stretched across her face.

She raised a hand and pointed behind me. I turned around and peered deep into the darkness. There was no one. When I turned back, she was gone.

The wind whispered through the trees. What she left behind was silence.
And in the place where she stood… a single candle was glowing, perfectly still, untouched by the wind.