I was a high school senior when I experienced this terrifying incident at one summer night. I was studying in the reading room until late at night as usual.
Just past midnight, me and my other two friends went to the playground to get some fresh air.
"Hey, who bought you this?" One of my friend asked my other friend showing the camcorder.
"My mom."
My friend, Ji Hoon recorded videos as his hobby. And he brought a camcorder to the playground. So, we were filming this and that, just having fun.
While he was filming, he suddenly said, "Hey, look at this."
"What is it?'
"What is that kid doing here walking around at this hour?" Ji Hoon said.
It was a boy who seemed about 6 or 7 years old. It was past midnight. It was odd that a kid came to the playground by himself.
What was more stranger was the way he was dressed. His clothes were really shabby. He was wearing a ragged white T-shirt. It looked as if he was wearing his dad's shirt. The shirt came down to his knees. And something was around his neck too.
The kid came to the swings we were on and stopped in front of us.
"Did you want to ride the swing?" I asked him.
"You can take it." I got off from the swing saying that.
Even then the kid didn't say anything.
"You don't want to ride the swing?" I said approaching the kid who hadn't said a word.
At that moment, I spotted something which made me stop in my tracks. Ji Hoon was recording all of this.
Something was hanging around the kid's neck. It was a small frame that had a family photo inside. At a glance, it looked like a photo he took with his parents. It looked like a typical family photo.
But the eyes in the family photo were dark as if they were punctured.
"What?" My other friend said while looking at the picture.
"What's wrong with this photo?" I asked the kid. "What are you doing here alone this late?" I added.
"Where are your mom and dad?" My friend also asked the kid.
But that kid didn't answer any of our questions. I had some snacks with me. And he kept staring at them.
"Do you want some snacks?"
"Here. Take it. You can have it." I offered a packet of snack to him. And he took it.
Then he went to a corner and quietly ate it. He stayed there.
Thirty minutes had passed and we had decided to leave the playground to go back for studying. The boy was still sitting in the corner of the playground.
"What are you still doing here? Where do you live? Is it far from here?" I asked him again.
"Do you want us to walk you home?" Ji Hoon said.
The kid shook his head in denial and said, "There is a ghost in the house."
He suddenly said there was a ghost. All of us got the chills. We basically froze at the kid's creepy statement. But keeping in mind that we were high school seniors, everything was fun as long as we didn't have to study.
"Don't worry. We will chase away the ghost." Ji Hoon told him.
"It's dangerous at night. So we will walk you home." I said.
"Here, take my hand."
We decided to walk the boy home. But..
"Is this the way to your house?" I asked him because as we kept walking, we were the only ones on the street. The kid led us in the front without saying a word. And I was thinking that this was an interesting boy as I followed him.
At that moment, I saw a silhouette moving across the street. I was startled, so I was looking around. Just then, my friend called me.
"Hey, can you see that?"
"What is that?" I said in a shock.
It looked as if the arms and legs were twisted. It was a silhouette of someone lying on their stomach. I was staring at the silhouette in shock. Then it just passed by from where it was initially to an alley ahead.
We looked around us, flustered, and the kid was standing at the point where that strange figure passed by to the alley.
"Don't stand here by yourself." I said approaching him.
He was quietly staring at the alley.
"No." The kid said in a small voice.
"What?"
"What do you mean, "No?"
It was as if the boy couldn't hear me. Without saying a word to me, the boy started to walk in the alley that was engulfed by the dark.
(You can check out my original story. Its title is 'The Reddest Red')