Haunted Naked

Its 5 AM, Saturday morning. The temperature lingering in the early teens. I have my thick winter coat pulled over me as I walk across the empty parking lot of the University. Its one of those moments where you get up at 4 AM and feel the urge to hit the books and your bedroom does not provide the ideal setting. Somehow the study room at the University beckons.

I swing my bag over my shoulders and tuck my hands in the pockets of the winter coat as I cross the road. I can hear my footsteps, a faint slushing sound masked by the snow on the ground. Opening the door to the University building seems to create a sound which disturbs the perfect silence of the night. The hallways feel eerie. This is the same place that I walk in two days of the week and its bustling with students. Different colors, different people. Now, it feels like walking into an empty church. Silent, but full of energy. As I walk through the hallways, passing by many a classroom, I wonder the amount of knowledge these walls might have taken in. Every square is the alma mater of tomorrows Steve Jobs or an Indra Nooyi. But now, so silent.

I make my way into the study room and lay out the books. And I have soon forgotten about my surroundings and have my nose buried in some geeky literature. This is when a slight movement catches the corner of my eye. I look up and notice a human figure having walked past the door and turned into the hallway. My eyes follow her. And I notice she is wearing a loose pink top. And thats the only piece of clothing she has on. The light in the hallway throws out the outline of her body through the clothing. Brown hair, pink shirt and one of those perfect figures. Thats all I get to see as she sashays down the hallway, her back towards me. My eyes follow her all the way till she turns the corner and I go back to my books, ever so sure about my belief - weird is normal.

A minute passes by and she reappears, this time walking in the opposite direction. Down the hallway. I see her face. Somehow beautiful doesn't seem to do justice. I shouldn't stare, but I do. She must be 20, or 21, or older, I cant make out. She notices me as she gets closer and smiles. I smile back.

"Hitting the books on a Saturday morning? Those got to be tough times!", she says.

"Nah. Only a shirt and nothing else to wear in the middle of winter, those are tough times", I reply.

She laughs. Its the regular girly laugh. "You shouldn't be complaining", she says, and walks on.

I have seen weird things during college life. But nothing like this.

Perhaps the University is haunted. Or perhaps I missed a quickie. I wouldn't know. But I sure know where I'll be 5 AM this coming Saturday.