Ballet Girl

The Ballet Girl is a creepy little story about a promising ballerina who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. This is based on a well-known Korean urban legend.

Ballet Girl

Twenty years ago, there was a young girl who was a talented ballet dancer. Her mother was very proud of her and had ambitions that, some day, her daughter would become a famous ballerina. However, the girl’s hopes of a bright future were dashed when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The doctors told her she had less than a year to live.

As the months went by, her mother tried to make her as comfortable as possible, but the girl’s condition worsened. Soon, she was unable to walk or even stand and had to spend most of her time lying in bed.

One night, the mother was downstairs watching television, when she heard bumping noises coming from her daughter’s room. She raced up the stairs, opened the bedroom door and was shocked to see that her sickly daughter was out of bed and moving around. Not only that, her daughter was jumping and dancing around the room, just like she had when she was healthy.

The mother watched in delight as the young girl performed leaps and pirouettes. She grabbed a camera and started taking photos of her beloved ballet girl. Marvelling at her daughter’s miraculous recovery, the mother snapped picture after picture until the camera was out of film.

In the end, the girl finished in the arabesque position. The mother gave her a round of applause, but when she looked at her daughter’s face, she suddenly stopped clapping. The girl’s eyes were rolled back in her head and her face was deathly pale. Suddenly, she keeled over and collapsed in a heap on the bedroom floor.

The ballet girl was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. The doctors said that the ballet dancing had been too much for her weak heart to withstand. She had literally danced herself to death. The mother was inconsolable.

After the funeral, the mother took the pictures to be developed. When she got them back, she flipped through the photos, remembering that last happy moment when her daughter had danced so beautifully.

Suddenly, her hands started shaking and a scream died in her throat. The photographs fell to the floor and she collapsed.

The pictures revealed that, the entire time her daughter was performing the ballet moves, there was a ghostly green hand clutching her by the head and pulling her back and forth, forcing her to dance.