Prompt word: Prey

Some say it’s an urban legend. Some try to convince you it’s true. They tell you it happened to  a friend of a friend in a medical school in Delhi. One can never really be sure.

She had just started a course at one of India’s best medical schools in Delhi. Her parents had gotten teary eyed when she left. Their little girl would be alone in a big city. She cried a little as she left her parents behind. Sometimes if she was alone at home; the rattling windows scared her out of her wits. She couldn’t really imagine living alone.

Her first week in hostel was difficult. They had paired her with a girl in the third year; ‘a senior’. When she moved into her room, the senior smirked. She meekly introduced herself. The senior laughed. The laughter was mirthless. That night, she found out why. They called it ragging. She had never heard of it. She didn’t really buy it when they said, “It’s a hostel tradition.” But she didn’t protest other. Her nervous demeanor left her helpless, more often than not.

It was harmless in the beginning. They asked her to sing a song, to dance. She obliged, her face flushed with embarrassment. It got worse. Soon they asked her to stand on the bed and strip. She refused; they insisted. She finally ran out of the room, crying. When she returned, the seniors were gone. She sat on her bed. Her room-mate returned shortly and apologized. Even to a naïve girl like her, the apology sounded fake. She didn’t respond. She fell asleep that night wishing she was home. A few days later she came home after class. As she sat on her bed, she felt something under the sheets. Must be a book, she thought and reached for it. She screamed until her voice went hoarse. It was a broken skull.

 In very tiny letters it said- ‘Property of AMJ College, Anatomy department.’

The seniors came in a minute too late. They had planned to burst in to see her shocked face. They miscalculated. When they entered she was nowhere to be seen. They were confused. Had she not come in at all? That wasn’t it. They had vaguely heard a scream. Then they heard her ragged breath. They followed the sound. She was sitting on the top of a steel cupboard. The cupboard wasn’t too high; they could see her face clearly. Her eyes had a blank expression. She was gnawing at the skull.

Her parents came a week later. They had come to take her back. Even after a week, her eyes still had the same blank expression. She was never the same again.