Some of us push away scary thoughts and incidents from our consciousness. Others hide them away in deep, dark corners of the memory place. But a few take out their pens and transfer their fears onto paper. The second-year students from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) fall under the latter category.

Video and pictures by Haris Khan, Aaj News

When their teacher Sana Nasir asked them to draw comic books based on personal experiences with the paranormal or fear, none of them shied away from the challenge.

Their work in black and white is not only versatile but also offers a glimpse into how fear is perceived.

For Abqurah Shaukat, a photography assignment became the stuff of nightmares, literally.

“My comic was about my trip to Chaukhandi Tombs and the grave of a toddler, which made me sad,” she said. “I stayed there for a long time and joked about finding a new friend for the next three days.”

It wasn’t till Abqurah returned home that she felt the full impact of visiting the grave.

“I was feeling exceptionally cold one night even though there was no air-conditioning. I made my way to my parents’ room and got into bed but could not sleep. I suddenly couldn’t move and saw a shadowy figure over my head.”

The medium used to illustrate her thoughts was the ballpoint pen and marker.

Some students like Bilawal Panwhar chose to work with the broader term of fear or trauma instead of focusing on the paranormal.

“I came to Karachi for a taekwondo tournament from Mirpur Khas in 2018 and I had my first fight for the Sindh Games. I was able to knock the opponent out but also damaged his nose. He was bleeding profusely and even though I wanted to apologise, I was told to stay away,” he said.

The image of the bleeding nose stayed with Panwhar. He decided to quit the contact sport as soon as he got back home effectively ending a potentially promising career.

He worked with basic sketches and didn’t use any special medium apart from a pointer to illustrate his comic.

Anusha Nasir felt the entire impact of the paranormal, and even drawing the experience was re-traumatising for her.

“Last November, I was going upstairs while texting a friend around midnight. I heard my mum telling me to come sleep. I told her that I would sleep in a bit after getting done with some work. I felt a bit creeped out since I felt someone was following me and could feel like something was mimicking me,” she shared.

Anusha ignored the feeling and the fact that things were rustling in her room without the fan being on. But suddenly something went flying behind her and smashed into the wall. This prompted her to run down the stairs and rush to her mother, saying she wished she had listened to her and not gone up to work.

“My mum had not called me downstairs.”

“I could not work on the comic at night. I could not work on it alone. This meant I could only work on campus,” she said speaking about her experience.

Another student Omer Syed borrowed from his experience with the paranormal as a young boy for the assignment.

“I was slapped by a jinn (ghost) while on a short religious trip with my uncle to a mosque near Charna Island,” he said. He added that his friends were accompanying him as well.

The area was riddled with frogs and one of them made it to Omer’s dream. The frog attacked him in his sleep and he woke up startled only to find something hovering above him.

There is a slight change of colour on Omer’s face as he narrates the incident. “It proceeded to tell me off for sleeping where I was, while also slapping me across the face,” he said.

Some students like Abiad, Zarbab Rehman and Fasih Cheema had to rely on their imagination for the assignment. They pointed out that while they had heard many horror stories from friends and family, they had no personal experience of the paranormal.

Zarbab opted to centre her comic, The Strangest Thing in my House, on her brother’s newly constructed room.

She used clear lines and typography to illustrate her comic with prominent black and white spaces to further exaggerate the effect of the story. “I decided to ask about people’s experiences on Instagram because I wanted to ensure my comic was scary. Many people spoke about blood dripping from their ceilings, which I found exceptionally creepy.”

Fasih on the other hand relied on his drawing to make the comic truly horrific - in the best possible way. His basic concept revolves around how paranoia can affect the way we react to things. His detailed black pointer and marker drawings of decapitated heads and monsters have the potential to give you nightmares.

“I was really happy when the instructor asked us to make a black and white comic because I hate using colours.”

Abiad drew the comic Dayyan based on his uncle’s experiences of guarding their family property in a remote area.

“My uncle was sleeping on the roof when suddenly a steel glass fell even though there was no wind. When he sat up, he saw a woman standing near his bed. She was looking at him with eyes that looked like dots and a huge grin across her face,” he said.

His uncle decided to duck his face into the blanket because the woman, who had appeared out of nowhere, came close to his bed and started circling it, he narrated. It was not until the sun rose that his uncle took his face out to find that the woman was gone.

Abiad used simple line drawings with lots of white space to drive home the remoteness of the area.

Mustafa Tariq drew Don’t Look Out the Window, using a childlike style of drawing to depict his younger years.

“I was playing a game on a console with my elder brother when something I can still not explain happened. I suddenly felt like I was in a daze even though I was wide awake and still had the controller in my hand. I kept glancing out the window and saw a shadowy figure but decided to ignore it,” he said.

Since Mustafa was losing, his brother paid no heed to him and encouraged him to keep playing.

After a while, he could not ignore the presence in the window. When he finally looked at the window again, he saw a hand that started moving towards his face, eventually coming so close to him that he got scared and fell off the bed.

Saad Awan decided to draw his mother’s experience from the time when she was a student at IVS and was returning home late one night from the university. Saad was also in the car when his mother stopped at a signal.

“I could not see much since I was not very tall back then and could only see a woman with dishevelled hair and a white dress with broad shoulders slowly crossing the road. I did not at the time realize why my mother was panicking. It was later that I found out the woman had no arms or legs and was literally floating across the street.”