24/08/2026
One night in Hola, Tana River, a young fisherman named Hassan was returning home after checking his fishing nets. It was around 2:30 a.m. The entire village was silent. There were no cars on the road, no people walking, and even the usual sounds of the night seemed to have disappeared. Hassan carried his fishing net over his shoulder and followed the narrow path beside the Tana River.
Suddenly, he heard a woman crying. At first, Hassan stopped and listened carefully. Then he heard a soft voice coming from the river. โPlease... help me.โ A chill went through his body. He looked toward the water and saw a woman standing alone near the riverbank. She was wearing a long white dress, and her long black hair covered most of her face.
Hassan became nervous but still asked, โWho are you?โ The woman slowly raised her head. Her face was extremely pale, and her eyes looked completely dark. She stared at him for several seconds before whispering, โPlease... help me cross the river.โ
Hassan was confused. โCross the river? At this time of night?โ The woman didn't answer. She simply pointed toward the other side. For some strange reason, Hassan felt himself moving closer to her. He took one step, then another.
But suddenly, something caught his attention.
He looked down at the woman's dress and froze.
Her feet weren't touching the ground.
Hassan's heart began beating violently. He slowly looked toward the river, hoping he was simply imagining things.
But what he saw terrified him even more.
The woman had no reflection in the water.
Hassan immediately dropped his fishing net and stepped backward. The woman remained completely still. Then, slowly, she began to smile. Her mouth stretched wider than any normal human mouth could.
She whispered, โI've been waiting for someone to take my place.โ
Hassan turned around and ran.
He didn't care where the path led. He just wanted to get as far away from the river as possible. But as he ran through the darkness, he heard something following him.
Splash... splash... splash...
It sounded like wet feet running behind him.
Hassan ran faster.
Then suddenly, the footsteps stopped.
He stopped too.
For a few seconds, everything was silent again.
Hassan slowly turned around.
There was nobody there.
He breathed heavily and whispered to himself, โI'm safe.โ
Then a cold voice spoke directly beside his ear:
โYou forgot to help me cross...โ
Hassan screamed and ran until he reached the village.
The next morning, fishermen found Hassan's fishing net floating in the Tana River.
But Hassan was nowhere to be found.
Some people searched for him for days, but they never found his body.
And to this day, some people in Hola say that if you walk alone beside the Tana River after midnight, you might see a woman dressed in white standing beside the water.
And if she asks you to help her cross...
Whatever you do, don't look at her feet. ๐ป๐
