About the Contest

This article is an entry to @logiczombie’s Contest. If you fancy participating, you can find the contest here.

Prompt/Ask

Now, Logiczombie contests are one of the peculiar kind which calls for new and some times, unchartered ways to look at the situation. If you understand the case, then you come out with a story to explain the situation.

The situation that is expected to be discussed here is the Cyber Pirates vs Werewolf Ninjas. What are they? And how do you participate? Go ahead and check the link that I have shared.

Have fun participating!

The Haunted Tunnel

The walk through the neighbourhood at 2:00 a.m. in the night was a bit scary for Omar and James, the renowned ghost hunter pair of YouTubers. They weren’t afraid of the haunted sight they were about to visit instead the chances of a house owner seeing them and reporting to the cops. After all, when two unknown people roam around a neighbourhood with flashlights, it is bound to raise some doubts; what an irony, two humans afraid of other humans and not the spirits! They were streaming the video LIVE, and there were viewers from all over the world glued to the screen. Of course, the YouTube viewers watching them weren’t sharing their concerns of cops, rather they were hoping that they got to the tunnel sooner.

“All those houses,” Omar pointed, “I hope no one is watching us,” as he held the camera pointed towards him and the apartments in the background. It was doubtful that someone would be awake at 2 a.m.

“Yeah, bro,” James said, “the last we want is to explain to cops what we are doing here.”

The tunnel was located between a gated community to the north and open woods to its south. The best access was through the gated community as the duo could drive their cars up to half a mile of the tunnel. Compared to that, they would have to walk through four and a half miles of mud trail through the woods to reach the tunnel from the south. The funny part with the gated community was that people entering such location in cars would be stopped and asked about their destination, while those that walked-in were hardly stopped. That is one loophole that the YouTubers used, though for all the right reasons.

The tunnel was hardly scary from the outside, barring the fact that it was pitch dark around and only the flashlights from the headgear were lighting the surrounding. They both entered the tunnel.

“While you see the path lit in the video, it is quite dark behind us,” Omar spoke into the camera.

“And eerily silent,” James added.

Just then they heard a whistle.

“What the hell?” James freaked out. They were hardly a few seconds into the video and were already recording paranormal incidents.

“Was that you?” Omar asked.

“Bro, I am right behind you,” James said, “ that came from inside the tunnel.”

The tunnel was made famous by another YouTuber who had visited to record the graffiti along the tunnel walls. He was showcasing the graffiti work and ventured about 500 meters into the tunnel, and that’s when all hell broke loose. There were whistles, a girl giggling and a scream which scared the guy to death. He ran fast enough to put Usain Bolt to shame. When he did post the video on YouTube, all the ghost hunters across the globe took note. And that’s how many visits to the site started, and many confirmed reports followed.

“We have just scratched the surface and are already experiencing activity,” Omar said. They kept walking and in some time crossed the mark where the first YouTuber, Sam, experienced all the voices.

“So, we’ve just crossed Sam’s point,” James laughed, “that’s where Sam got freaked out and ran.”

“Cut him some slack,” Omar said, “he wasn’t a ghost hunter.”

The duo continued walking further in until they came across a doll on the floor of the tunnel.

“Oh, look at that,” Omar pointed his camera to the doll, “where did this come from.” Omar bent to pick up the doll while James spoke into his camera.

“Guys, we’ve just come far inside, and this is way farther than anyone before,” James said.

“Mommmmyyy.”

“Oh, sh*t, what was that?” the horror was visible on Omar’s and James’ face as they heard the voice crystal clear. It was a girl’s voice.

“Dude, we must have even recorded it,” Omar was calming down. Paranormal activities, most of the time, remained subtle for human experience and recording them was even more challenging, but this one was different. Not only was the voice audible but also recorded on cam.

“Wow, so, this is phantom girl,” James said.

“I wonder if that doll belongs to her,” Omar turned back to the doll which he had dropped when he heard the voice. He went to pick it up. Just as he touched it, he heard a blood-freezing shrill scream. All the video recorded after that was splashes of water and heavy footsteps. Both ran out like crazy.

Day 2

James and Omar returned to the same tunnel the next day, but this time around 11 p.m. Omar started his video.

“What’s up, Fam!” Omar cried out his usual intro, “now those of you that saw the video that I uploaded early morning today, would have seen us running like little kids out of that tunnel.”

James laughed, “yeah, and we laughed at Sam for doing the same. But we had to come back.”

“James and I were thinking, what if that was a girl needing help? And we just ran away from there. So, today we are going to find out.”

The visit remained more or less the same as the previous day only this time, the doll was not at the same place as the last day. It was further inside the tunnel.
“Dude, how on earth could the doll move over a single night?” James looked at Omar and then his camera, which was recording, “no way.”

“Maybe the water flow was a bit stronger, and it pushed the doll further down,” Omar always tried to remain practical. It was this approach that made them come back and check if a girl was in trouble.

Before Omar could finish, they heard splashes of water as if someone was running over the trickle of water that was flowing inside the tunnel.

“Damn,” James went back a couple of steps, “there is somebody there.”

Omar cautiously moved ahead and panned the camera towards the dark abyss ahead. He switched on his headgear and instantly witnessed a shadow figure with two ponytail, avoiding the light and stepping into the darkness.

“Sh*t,” Omar freaked out, “did you see that?”

“Yeah dude,” James was already a step behind, “let’s get out of here.”

They turned to leave and the shrill voice screaming from a distance inside the tunnel was heard again. Both froze for a moment until Omar yelled in pain.

“Bro, I felt like someone scratched me.”

“Let’s get out of here.”

The duo reached the tunnel exit and stopped to check Omar’s side. As he pulled up his T-shirt, there were claw marks on his abdomen with a trickle of blood. But the T-shirt showed no signs of tear, and yet Omar got scratched.

“Damn, I am outta here,” Omar concluded his video, “I don’t think I am coming back here.”

Day 3

“I don’t get this,” Omar was at the breakfast table with James at the hotel, “two days, two experiences and I still want to go back there. It’s like something is drawing me back to the place.”

“That’s why I called Paddy,” James said, “she will join us today.” Paddy was another paranormal investigator who was also a psychic. She had her own YouTube channel, and she could not only investigate but also attempt interaction with the spirits. The exchange, usually, moved towards fulfilment for the spirits as she tried to find the reason for their haunting.

Paddy joined them a while later, and all three were back at the tunnel.

James led the three into the tunnel.

“You think I will be scratched again, Paddy?” Omar asked as he was recording the visit.

“Maybe,” Paddy smiled, “maybe, not.” Then they heard the all-familiar whistle out of nowhere at 1 a.m. in the night.

“See that?” James turned with his camera pointing to Paddy, “that’s what we heard the two times that we were here.”

“You feel anything, Paddy?” Omar asked.

“There are a lot of spirits here but only one that seems to be a bit disturbed,” Paddy said.

“Did we disturb the spirit?” James asked.

“No, it is trying to get your attention,” Paddy said, “it’s a little girl.”

“What the heck?” Omar freaked out, “Paddy, we haven’t yet told you that most of what we witnessed was of a girl. How did you guess?”

“I did not guess. I am experiencing her right now.”

The three of them walked further into the tunnel, and Paddy sensed something. “I can feel her here.”

“This is where we found the doll the first time,” Omar said while this camera was still recording.

“She’s tried calling out the last time,” Paddy said.

“Calling out? I was scratched.”

“That happened when you could not perceive her calls for help.”

“What? The girl was calling for help?” James was surprised.

“Yes,” Paddy said, and just then Omar found the doll again. It was right under a manhole.

“That’s the doll that we had seen earlier.”

“And that’s where she lies unnoticed,” Paddy added.

The cops were swift with the excavation work, and they found a badly decomposed corpse of a girl. She was estimated to be around ten years old. After a month of investigation, they found a report of a lost child about eight years back. It was traced to a family who lived not more than fifteen miles from the place.

Omar and James visited the family, and they showed the family the doll.

“That’s hers,” the father said, “where did you find it?”

“We found it near the place Martha was found,” Omar said, referring to the kid’s name. The parents wept while Omar took leave from them, placing the doll on the chair close-by. As Omar and James walked out, he heard a faint “thank you”. By now, they knew who that could be and felt a sense of fulfilment.

Author’s Note:

In a world where we still struggle to understand the spiritual world, here is an attempt to bring both together where one tries to communicate with the other. In this setup, the humans – James and Omar – become the Cyber Pirates while the young girl’s spirit forms the Werewolf Ninjas.

In such a setup, a person like Paddy who can understand both the worlds forms the Logiczombie. I hope you all enjoyed the story.

Image Courtesy: Logic Zombie Logo and Pixabay [Source]