INTRODUCTION BEFORE THE MAIN STORY
This is one of Canada's most well- known ghost stories.
It is located near Niagara Falls, Ontario, beneath the railway tracks that run parallel to Warner Road.
The tunnel itself is made of limestone and has a dark, damp interior even during the day.
According to the tale, over a century ago, a young girl met a horrible fate within the tunnel.
There are so many versions of the path of her tragic story.
One claims she was set on fire by her own father during a bitter custody battle with her mother, while another says she escaped a burning house nearby, only to collapse and die in pain within the tunnel.
It is said that her screams of pain and agony were so horrific that they were burned into the very walls of the tunnel.
Visitors brave enough to enter the tunnel at midnight often attempt a ritual that's associated with the legend.
They say if you light a match in the center of the tunnel, a ghostly scream will be heard, and the flame will be blown out by an unfelt breeze.
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It was October 31st; Halloween, and currently it was pitch black except for the weak glow of our flashlights.
You see, five of us------ me, Rachel, Kyle, Marcus, and Jenna------ were standing on Warner Road where the old limestone tunnel sat beneath the train tracks,
Above us, the trees were busy moving their leaves lightly and whispering in the wind, and in front of us, the tunnel's mouth was yawned open.
The stones on the ground and sides of the tunnel were slick with damp moss, and inside the tunnel was... darker than outside here.
"This is it," Kyle said, his voice cracking slightly.
"The Screaming Tunnel."
Jenna scoffed, "It looks so old. I expected it to look better."
Marcus grinned, holding up his camera and taking a picture. "Don't complain now Jenna; this is still the perfect place for a Halloween video, or don't you think so?"
"Of course she does," Racheal said, cutting in before Jenna could say anything.
"This is more than perfect; let's see who chickens out first."
Jenna grimaced at that, so I nudged her and placed my hand on her shoulder gently.
"Come on."
We walked inside together, our footsteps echoing off the stone with each step we took.
And as we went further inside, the air got colder by the second.
The tunnel was long and curved, maybe about fifty meters, but honestly it felt endless.
Plus there was this awful smell of wet limestone, mold, and God knows what, but it smelled faintly metallic.
Rachel shivered just then. "It's freezing in here."
"Yeahhhhh," I said, while my own teeth started to chatter.
"This place's got bad ventilation."
The others didn't make any comments, so we continued walking straight ahead until finally we reached the middle of the tunnel.
Then Kyle turned off his flashlight, causing darkness to shroud us all instantly.
"Alright," he said, his voice trembling.
"Let's do this."
I was the one with the matchbox, so I dipped my hand in my pocket, fumbled around and quickly brought it out.
As I opened the box, the sound of its sheke sheke movement of the matches inside the box, along with the sounds of our breaths sounded too loud, bouncing off the damp walls.
Then I took out a match and struck a match, watching its tiny flame flicker to life and casting our faces in orange light.
"Okay," Marcus whispered, eagerly rubbing his hands together.
"Now we wait."
"Shhh," Rachel gasped.
"Did anyone else hear that?"
"I didn't hear anything," Jenna replied tilting her head to the side.
I didn't hear anything either.
The match was going down quickly, so I tilted it to rest horizontally between my fingers to avoid getting burnt from it.
"Hey Marcus, what happens if the match dies down," Kyle asked, looking pointedly at the dying match between my fingers.
"I don't know; light another one."
"Ohh," Jenna muttered, but she didn't say anything else.
Suddenly there was a faint sobbing sound, coming from deeper in the tunnel.
It was low at first, as if someone was crying quietly in the dark, then it got louder.
"Hello?" Rachel called out.
Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello, hello.
Her voice echoed all around us, then as suddenly as it started, the sobbing stopped.
I swallowed hard, still keeping my eyes on the match, "Emm guys, do you think we should-------"
A loud shriek cut me off, and it was so loud, so pitched till it sounded so raw, startling me so much that I dropped the match.
And the light went out instantly, plunging us into darkness.
The scream echoed on and on through the tunnel, bouncing from wall to wall, and growing higher.
I groaned, my hands flying up to press against my ears, still the sound grew louder.
It hurt till the point I thought it was inside my head, and I could hear Rachael screaming and Kyle cursing.
"Why did you burn me?" The voice reveberated all around us, the tunnel trembling as it spoke.
"Fuck this! Everyone run." Marcus told us, but I didn't hear him.
My eyes were shut so I didn't see them leave, and I was drowning in pain on my knees now, I could hear the screams directly at my ears.
... Everywhere felt so hot.
Suddenly someone grabbed me by my arm and yanked me up.
Startled, I swung my fists about but a hand connected to my cheek, slapping me and causing the pain to force my eyes open.
Jenna was in front of, pulling my arm, "Stop standing there and run."
Following her, we sprinted through the tunnel and I didn't dare look back but...
... Strangely I could hear footsteps behind us.
We burst out of the tunnel soon, running a few more meters before collapsing to the ground on the grass and gasping for air.
I heaved, sucking in a deep breath.
The wind outside felt cool and warm compared to the unbearable heat I felt in there.
Heaving again, I pushed myself up from the ground with my arms only to see Marcus walk backwards suddenly and trip on nothing.
He fell on his ass, his camera clattering to the ground somewhere beside him.
Sighing softly, I turned to help him, but his face was pale, his eyes were wide and he was staring right past me.
"What?" I hissed, annoyed and wondering why he was acting up when he was the one that left me behind in the tunnel.
But then he pointed his right index finger over my shoulder, causing me to turn around to see what he was pointing at.
Kyle, Rachael and Jenna were puzzled, and turned just as I did...
"Araaaaaghhhhh!!!!!!" Rachel screamed and fled, leaving us and what we were looking at behind.
At the tunnel entrance was a girl, of maybe fourteen.
Her hair was burned off in patches as was her sooth covered white nightgown which clung to her skin as though it was wet with something.
Even with the slight distance we were from the tunnel's entrance, I could smell the kerosene on her.
Her eyes were empty and glowed with live flames of fire from within them, in the process casting some lighting on the tunnel behind her.
Dazed by what I was seeing, I gazed right into her gaze of fire and smoke curled from her mouth while she opened it...
But she said nothing.
We were frozen in place while she silently stared at us, and we in turn were mute.
Perhaps it was due to fear.
It was so much that I felt like I was completely paralyzed to move and inch away from the spot I was standing on and away from her gaze.
It felt like she was looking right through my soul.
Then her face moved, and we jerked, stumbling backwards, expecting her to come after us.
... But she didn't. Instead she looked down to the floor and turned around.
Breathlessly we stared on at the tunnel entrance till the darkness inside looked thicker than before.
None of us could say anything for a while, then Kyle was the first to speak.
"What the hell was that?!"
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The next morning after that, November 1st, school resumed as usual with everyone excitedly talking about what there Halloween night was like.
Everyone except us that is.
Marcus didn't show up for school so we all went to check on him.
However on getting there, his parents said he'd locked himself in his room all night, saying things about fire and that he didn't want to talk to anyone.
They were very protective about Marcus and thought we had bullied him or something.
With that we had to go back to our houses and revisit later, but when we did they next day, he still hadn't come out.
And again his parents sent us away.
Three days later we came back yet and finally this time his parents were getting worried as well.
They broke the door to his room down, and we all stood in horror as we saw his bed badly burned and...
... His lifeless body laying right there in middle of the room.
Numbly Jenna, Kyle, Rachel and I watched while Marcus parents threw themselves over him breaking down in screams, cries and tears.
But it wasn't more painful than the profound fear we all felt now that one of us was dead.
However what shook us more were the burn marks shaped like hands that were burnt onto his neck in a scar.
Obviously it was from the tunnel ghost girl, and we were pale faced.
... As pale as ash.
Then things spiraled down for us after that.
Rachel left town the next week and changed school, and she wouldn't talk to any of us again no matter how many times we tried to reach out.
Kyle swore he kept hearing the tunnel ghost girl's shrieking crying in his dad's basement at night.
For Jenna, she started sleepwalking and her parents were always staying awake to stop her numerous attempts to walk into their fireplace each night.
They said she always whispered something about 'the match.'
Sigh.
And me?
... I've been bleeding frequently from my ears everyday and apparently, tomorrow is the last day I'll ever be able to hear again.
The doctor said that my eardrums are rapturing from the inside.
I don't know how I can live without hearing for the rest of my life.