Lights. Camera. RCNM.

It was still green. Her eyes on the signal and her foot on the brake, she ignored the honking cars behind her. The traffic rush was maddening at this hour and in a way, so was she. 3…2...1 The signal turned red. Her foot shifted to the gas pedal and the car shot forward amidst a whirl of screeching and honking. The car twisted and turned, missing the other vehicles by a hairsbreadth. Two blocks later, seeing another green light, she screeched to a halt.  Besides her, he sighed. “Why on earth do you do this every time? Putting yourself in danger isn't going to bring her back.” Stone faced, she kept on her eyes on the traffic signal. Her foot itching to press down on the gas, she impatiently waited for the light to turn red and as always,   ignored the angry crowd behind her. Just as the col ours changed and the car zoomed ahead, they both heard the tell-tale sounds of a police siren behind them. He groaned. She smirked. Expertly avoidin...

Do you really think that after losing someone, who at a certain point of time meant so much to you, will leave you unaltered? Well, it changed my life for sure. Completely.  “LOOK OUT!” And I jarred awake yet again. Yup. Body clocks are definitely a thing. Time for a smoke I guess. It’s been 6 years and I still jolt awake every night, at 3:03, completely drenched in sweat, with that choking feeling, lost. Though now, after all these years, I’ve finally found a few escapes. And I resort to them time and again. Nowadays, more than often. We had gone for a drive to Marine Drive. Raj was driving. It was 3 A. M. and I had almost dozed off. That is when it all happened. I woke up to the screeching sound of the tires and saw that our car was skidding forward. We smashed against a street lamp and the next thing I know is that I was lying on the footpath with shards of glasses all around me. My vision was getting blurry. Trying to make sense of what was happe...

“The poor bastard never saw it coming.” He spoke these words sitting on the kerb with his head in his hands.  I didn't know what to tell him. I’d been watching all along. I was at the sink rinsing my coffee cup when he left at 7:30, as usual. And as soon as the garage door closed, I saw their curtains disappear. Well, that caught my eye.  She was ripping them down. I knew then something was wrong, this being mid-December and no time for spring cleaning. I stood for awhile, peeking between the blinds.  I like to know what’s going on in my neighbourhood. She stood at the bare window for a minute or two, staring wide-eyed at the neglected lawn, naked trees, and the cement-coloured sky.  I raised my hand up just in case she looked but she didn't–she saw the dog, his dog, big stupid thing licking himself on the front lawn like it was the only thing to do. She took the things he never liked: the pillow she’d embroidere...

The Shining by Stephen King The movie version of  The Shining  is a pop culture touchstone — but as usual, the book is even better than the movie. There's a reason King is considered a horror master: The tense atmosphere and freaky supernatural occurrences get into the reader's head and make you begin to doubt your own grip on sanity, along with that of the characters. Most people are probably familiar with the premise of the book: An alcoholic father takes a job as the off-season caretaker of an isolated mountain resort, in order to work on his writing and become closer to his family. The son is a psychic, a "shiner", who can see the haunting in the hotel. Sure the book is chock full of supernatural visions — but equally disturbing is the human-on-human violence. The child's-eye view of his parents' deteriorating relationship — and sanity — is meant to dredge up uncomfortable memories of childhood's confusion and powerlessness. 2. Haunted:...

As young boys we were all very fascinated by the creepy ghost stories. Every camping trip from our school had this one occasion when some guy would narrate us a ghost story or some other scary incident which he either recalled or made up. We would all huddle around him and listen to him carefully, trying to soak in the supernatural aura created by the story. It was all in good humor, only, not on that night. The night was rife and we were all set for a story. Our bus was about to leave in the next hour on our our journey back home. We had early dinners during our camping trips and hence we were all stuffed. We all huddled up in a small tent and a torch was passed on to the guy who was going to narrate the incident. He began his story, ironically in the way all fairytales begin.  " Once upon a time, there was a small village of poor farmers. They were harassed by the local landlord for money. The landlord used his influence and muscle power to acquire more land. H...