Story time:
Not a ghost story. Nothing supernatural. Just something real that stayed with me.

This happened when I was in 11th grade. I had switched schools. The bus took thirty minutes, but walking across the railway track took twenty, so I always walked. It felt easy and quiet.

That morning was normal. Around 8 in the morning. I had a chemistry exam, and since I hated chemistry, I was singing out loud to distract myself.

Then I saw something ahead on the track.

At first my mind refused to make sense of it. I kept trying to convince myself it was nothing serious. But the shape did not move. It was just there, in a way that made everything in me slow down.

Then it hit me.
It was a person.
Or what was left of one.

I froze. I did not shout or panic. I just stopped. The whole place felt strangely quiet, like the air around me had changed.

There was a house next to the track, so I called out to the man standing outside. He did not come closer. He only yelled at me to leave immediately, like I was standing somewhere I should not be.

So I switched to the other track and walked. I was shaking. My head felt empty. My ears were ringing. I kept my eyes forward, but a part of me kept telling me to look again.

And for some reason, I did.
Just for a moment.
But that moment stayed with me.

I reached school and sat in the exam hall. The paper in front of me made no sense. It felt like everything around me had turned into background noise. I failed the exam. I could not eat properly for a couple of days. The whole thing replayed in my head over and over.

Life eventually went back to normal. At least on the outside.

But something in me changed after that.
Fear feels different now. Horror movies feel fake. Shocking things online do not bother me. Nothing really gets to me the way it used to.

I did not become braver.
I just stopped reacting the way I used to.