The Grey Lady – a short story for English reading comprehension

I should have left Karl’s house earlier.

Then I could have caught the last bus home.

But we got talking, listening to music, laughing about stupid things.

I pulled my jacket collar up against my neck as the cold air wrapped itself around me. And cursed at myself for the hundredth time for missing the bus.

Stupid, so stupid.

It had to be at least seven kilometres back to my house. The walk didn’t bother me. It was The Hollow that unnerved me.

Everyone at school had stories to tell about it.

The Hollow. That’s where she died.

The Grey Lady. You can see her there at night.

She’s waiting for someone. Waiting for revenge.

And we all rolled our eyes and laughed at those that told the tales.

There’s no such thing as ghosts, I heard myself say.

But now I was just two minutes away from The Hollow. And things didn’t look the same here when I was on the bus.

Things seemed too quiet. Too still.

On either side of me, trees whispered in the shifting breeze that slid between them. Their voices called out to me in hushed tones.

Not too late to go back, not too late to go back…

The road rose up ahead. I never noticed it on the bus. It always seemed flat.

But now, on foot, it was as if the road itself was trying to make me turn back.

After the crest in the road, just blackness.

No light, no sound. Nothing but all-encompassing dark.

I took a breath and increased the pace of my walking.

On the bus, The Hollow seemed less than a minute. But how could I be sure? I never timed it. I didn’t pay much attention to what was outside.

Either staring in a daze at the road in front and the back of the driver’s head. Or lost in a series of dumb messages from Karl and our friends.

I increased the speed of my walking as I got to the top of the small rise in the road. When I got to the top of it, I gazed down into The Hollow.

Nothing but total darkness.

I looked back over my shoulder and saw the dim cone of light that shed out from a street lamp way back in the distance. I turned to the front and squinted my eyes to try to make out the next street light.

Nothing. Only sheer blackness.

Another breath and I took the first step down into The Hollow.

The memory of another Grey Lady tale slithered into my mind. The voice of the kid at school as he told the story.

My aunt said that she killed all her children.

She killed them all one by one, then took her own life.

People said she had lost her mind.

I saw the face of the boy who spoke these words. An unpopular student at my school who everyone laughed at behind his back.

He spent too much time by himself, and usually I never gave him a second thought.

So why were his words of The Grey Lady so prominent in my head right now?

I marched ahead into the darkness.

The outline of the trees disappeared from view on either side of me. Like they no longer existed. Like they were no longer part of this world.

Once again, the breeze danced through the branches and their voices called to me.

You can’t go back. You can’t go back.

I shook my head, pulled the collar tighter around my neck and quickened the pace.

My breath came in sharp puffs now. I told myself because I was walking so fast, but that little gremlin of doubt whispered in my ear.

Because you’re afraid.

My hands thrust so deep into the pockets of my jacket, they restricted my movements and made it difficult to walk.

I pulled my hands free and found that I could walk even faster. I broke into a half-trot. Stopped, walked again, and walked faster and faster still.

That boy’s voice in my head again.

She cut their throats.

His face clear in my mind.

Then cut them into little pieces and buried them in the trees in The Hollow.

People didn’t find their bodies for years.

They put The Grey Lady in a mental institute.

She screamed every night until she died.

I swirled around. The street light I saw before was now completely invisible. I was surrounded by the gripping darkness. Enveloped in its arms.

Panic took hold of my breathing. I swallowed and forced a lungful of air inside my chest. I turned on each foot. My eyes darted into the eternal blackness all around me and for a second, I could not remember which direction I was going.

I leaned down and saw the white lines of the road and raced along them. They could lead me out of The Hollow and into safety.

The wind hissed through the trees as I ran ahead. It was racing with me, keeping me company, or mocking me. I could not tell.

As I ran down deeper into The Hollow, my head filled with tales of The Grey Lady. Stories and fables that I paid no attention to before now all surging back into my memory. My mind showed the speaker of each story as the words unfolded in my ears.

She stays in The Hollow, waiting.

Waiting for someone.

Waiting for revenge.

I tumbled forward, but more voices filled my ears. Stories of The Grey Lady.

She was driven insane by a curse.

She was the daughter of a rich landowner, and a local witch put a curse on her.

She loved her children. Even though she took their lives.

My feet stumbled ahead and my hands clawed at the cold air in front of me. Then I found myself going uphill again.

I had done it!

I had got to the bottom of The Hollow. Now I was on my way out again.

I let out a laugh of victory. My lungs burned as I took deep breaths and lurched ahead into the dark.

Then the sheer relief of a silvery-white light ahead. The next street light!

Thank god.

I slowed and gave myself permission to walk. My heart pounded in my chest and my breathing slowed.

The light grew brighter and I could make out the trees on either side of the road again.

How stupid of me, I said out loud. I’ll laugh about this tomorrow with Karl.

The light ahead grew brighter and brighter. I could make out the trees more clearly.

I bowed my head and laughed to myself again. I turned behind and looked into the blackness of The Hollow.

How small it looked now. Before it seemed like a huge chasm. Something inescapable.

I faced the front and peered into the light.

Then my breath stopped.

A figure.

All grey.

Surrounded by light.