True TAIWAN Horror story

The moment she finished speaking, we were all frozen in fear.

No one dared to sleep alone that night. We pushed our sleeping bags together—boys, girls, it didn’t matter. No one wanted to be on the edge. No one wanted to be alone.

For once, Yu’s loud snoring didn’t annoy me. Instead, it was oddly comforting. Without his snoring near me, I couldn’t sleep well. My mind was restless.

I thought about how I almost gave up and went back down the mountain two days ago.

How we nearly got lost yesterday.

How our senior saw… something tonight.

How the lodge keeper’s ghost stories suddenly felt too real.

And now, I had to pee.

Damn it.

Yu was too far away, still clinging to our senior. And I—somehow—had ended up sleeping on the very edge.

I had no choice. I grabbed my headlamp and stepped outside.

And that’s when I saw it. Snow.

A fresh, white layer covered the ground.

Forgetting my fear, I sprinted back inside. “It’s snowing!” I shouted.

A second later, a dozen headlamps flickered on as everyone rushed outside. Laughter filled the air as we stepped into the snow, our earlier fear forgotten.

It was the first time I had ever seen snowfall at night. And it was breathtaking. I never imagined Taiwan could look like this—so silent, so white, so pure.

Our guides and teachers, however, weren’t amused.

“Go back to sleep,” one of them said, his face grim. “We summit tomorrow.”

Reluctantly, we returned to the lodge.

Yu finally behaved and slept beside me again. And, as usual, he snored—loudly. I smacked him and pushed him away. This time, I only had to do it once. I was too tired to care.

And finally, I slept.

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We woke to a breathtaking sight—an ocean of clouds stretching below us, a thin layer of snow covering the ground.

It was beautiful. But as soon as the sun rose, the snow began to melt.

After breakfast, our teachers handed out crampons and ice axes.

Crampons are metal spikes strapped to your boots for grip on ice—ours had six points. The more spikes, the heavier they are. The ice axe? Think of it as a hiker’s cane but for icy terrain. It helps you keep your balance and—if needed—stop yourself from sliding off the mountain.

With light packs, we began our ascent. The soil turned to frozen earth. The higher we climbed, the deeper the snow. And we felt it.

You ever tried walking through thick mud? That’s what hiking in the snow feels like.

Worse, snow kept getting into our boots. The warmth of our feet melted it, leaving us soaked and uncomfortable.

Then, someone suddenly shouted— “Wait… I can’t see properly.”

Another voice called out, “Yeah… everything’s turning red!”

Snow blindness.

We had underestimated the snow, thinking only the ground would freeze. No one brought sunglasses.

Then—strange.

If snow blindness turns your vision red, why was mine… black?

I couldn’t tell if I was seeing or not—sometimes, my vision worked; other times, it didn’t.

And my boots—damn these boots.

Since day one, my heels kept slipping out of them. Now, with crampons on, every time I retied my laces, I had to fix everything from scratch.

And I could barely see.

Was it exhaustion? A hallucination?

I lagged behind, hearing footsteps behind me.

Maybe it’s just another hiker?

I turned around.

Nothing.

Then, my boot came loose again.

Frustrated, I called out, “Yu, wait up!”

But my vision kept fading.

It felt like rolling my eyes back in my head—sometimes I could see, sometimes I couldn’t. I grabbed my ice axe in one hand, Yu’s arm in the other, and stumbled forward.

Not long after, everyone started struggling.

Tired. Half-blind. We had to stop. We took shelter by a frozen stream.

And I… passed out. When I woke, I drank some water. Ate half a piece of bread.

Then, we pushed forward.

Higher. And higher. I don’t know why, but after that nap, my vision came back. Maybe I had been dreaming? I couldn’t remember. But it didn’t matter.

Because now, we were standing above the world, and the snow was endless.

“Gogogo!” someone yelled.

And just like that, we all ran forward, laughing, diving into the snow. In short, everyone had a blast. Then we summited. The first thing I did was sit down and pull out an apple I’d stashed—eating an apple in the snow has always been my dream! (Don’t ask why, I don’t know either, haha.)

Barely seated, the guide shouted, “Let’s go!” What? Are you kidding? Already? His face turned serious: “Move, now!”

I followed his gaze—holy crap, a massive black cloud was rolling toward us.

“Run if you want to live!” he yelled. He wasn’t joking.

We bolted down the mountain like it was a 100-meter dash. Wet shoes, slipping, falling—it was chaos, but we made it.

By the time we reached a less snowy spot, we were inside that cloud. What’s it like? Just thick, heavy fog—so wet we were drenched. Qilai Mountain’s nickname, “Black Qilai,” suddenly made sense.

The fog was insane. We hightailed it back to the lodge to take shelter. Trust me, when that mist hits Qilai, you don’t want to be outside. That night, everyone was wiped out and silent. Exhausted.

Then Yu sat next to me, looking grim. “I need to tell you something.”

“Huh?” I said.

“Privately?” he asked.

“What’s this about? Can’t you say it here?”

“Not with others around,” he replied.

Everyone’s reaction—mine included—was “What the hell?!”

He shushed me, dead serious. I could tell he wasn’t messing around, so I followed him outside. It was cold, and I was annoyed.

“What’s up? Can’t this wait inside?” I grumbled.

He said, “I’ve been meaning to tell you since the first day …”

I freaked out: “What the hell?!”

Yu said, “You kept saying your bag felt heavy, right? But it’s our food—it should get lighter every day as we eat.” He went on, “And your shoes keep falling off, even when tied?”

“Yeah, super annoying—my feet are still wet!”

“Don’t you think it’s weird? Everyone’s snow blindness is red, but yours is black?”

“Yeah, so strange… wait… WAIT… what are you saying?!”

His face turned dead serious. “Since day one… I’ve seen someone clinging to your bag, following you.”

I froze. My heart pounded, legs went weak, hands shook. “You’re kidding, right?!”

“No,” he said. “He’s on your bag, matching your steps. Every time I looked back, I hoped I was wrong.”

The fear was indescribable. Two headlamps, cold, dark, foggy, windy—I was terrified.

“In the snow…” he continued, “you couldn’t see it… it was black… you slowed down, I turned, and… he was covering your eyes, clinging to your back!”

Time stopped. My hands trembled, heart raced.

Yu said, “I’m done, I’m going back,” and left.

I couldn’t move. Help… I couldn’t move. Then, through the fog, my headlamp caught a figure approaching. Yu was fading away; I tried to scream but couldn’t.

The figure spoke: “Hey! What’re you doing out here?”

“Huh? Teacher?!”

“Thought you two were sneaking around for something shady!”

“No, it’s not what you think…”

She eyed me suspiciously. “Get back inside! We’ve got an announcement.” An announcement?!