“It was raining that night.” The woman said, “The rain was pouring. Although I had an umbrella, half my body was wet. When I put the umbrella away and rushed to Block C, I realised the door was locked by two thick iron chains.”
Zhou Taifu’s face dropped when he heard that. He turned to say something to Xu Wen, but the latter didn’t even acknowledge him.
“I was so nervous. I had just moved here and had no close friends. I was too embarrassed to ask the other teachers for a room to stay overnight. Just to try it out, I gave the door a push. Maybe the guard made a mistake and forgot to use the lock…”
At this point, the woman’s expression shifted.
Xu Wen stopped writing and looked at the woman expressionlessly. “It sounds like a mistake was made.”
The woman eventually nodded. “Yes. Both locks were open. It felt like someone had left them purposely as such. Back then, I was only thinking about grabbing the key. I didn’t think about anything else. I opened the door and ran to the office.”
“Where was your office?” Xu Wen raised her head.
“Third floor.” The woman added, “Room 304.”
Xu Wen jotted it down. This might be something important.
Zhou Taifu was drawn into the story. When the woman reached these scary points, he became anxious.
“I had to use the flashlight on my phone. I ran to the third floor. I opened the office door, rushed in and locked it. I didn’t know why I did so. If I had to explain it, it must be intuition.”
Zhang Yinyin, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, “What did you find?”
“I… I don’t know.” The woman shook her head. “Even now, I have no explanation. It felt wrong. That sound… That sound…”
Xu Wen stopped writing. The way she looked at the woman finally changed.
“Sound?” Zhou Taifu curled up between Zhang Yinyin and Xu Wen. He asked weakly, “What… what sound?”
“Footsteps.” The woman turned to answer Zhou Taifu. “It was the sound of me running. Since it was so quiet, the running footsteps echoed so clearly. But…” Her expression shifted. “The sound of the footsteps sounded off!
“It was not just my own footsteps!” The woman gasped.
“Do you mean someone was following you?” Xu Wen frowned.
The woman shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone else.”
“Then, how did you know the footsteps sounded off?” Zhang Yinyin continued. Her tone was gentle. With her cute looks, she easily gave people a good impression. “It was probably just your imagination.” She consoled her. “The creepy atmosphere amplified your fear. The other footsteps you heard might just be the echo of your own.”
What the woman said next caused Zhang Yinyin’s smile to freeze.
“Impossible!” The woman whipped her head. Her eyes were bloodshot. “I was wearing sports shoes that night. The other footsteps were made by heels!”
Zhou Taifu froze for a few seconds before chills ran up his spine.
“However, all the sounds disappeared once I closed the office door. I hid behind the door, not daring to move. I stayed to listen for about ten minutes. It was indeed very quiet outside the door. I switched on all the lights in the office.”
“Did you stay overnight in the office?”
The woman shook her head slowly, “I did think about it. But… I changed my mind.” She glanced out the window. Her brows twitched unnaturally.
“I… didn’t have the guts. The building gave me a strange feeling. I didn’t want to stay there for one second more. After I found the key, I stopped to think for a long time. In the end, I chose to leave. I thought about using my flashlight and then ran without stopping to the exit. However, as I gathered my courage and attempted to leave, the phone in the office rang. You might not feel it now, but at the time, I almost fainted from fear.
“I hesitated, but eventually, I moved to the phone. Thankfully, I recognised the number it showed. It was a call from the security department. After I answered the call, I found out they were calling because they saw the lights in the office of Block C come on. They called because they wanted to see what was happening. I almost cried. That was the happiest to get someone’s call. After they found out the situation, they told me to stay inside the office. They would come to fetch me.”
Xu Wen’s expression darkened, but it soon disappeared. The woman didn’t notice it.
“Soon, I heard a series of rushing footsteps. There were three to four people. Then, someone knocked on the door. When I opened the door and saw them, I felt like I was being reborn. My tears couldn’t help but fall.
“The leading person was a man. He was bald and quite large around the waist. He looked tough. There were two people behind him. They were both females. They were in guard uniforms. They instantly berated me, questioning me why I was violating the school rules.
“I was too stunned to do anything but to apologise profusely. I did trouble them. The weather was not helping.
“Other than that, I didn’t want to report my incident to the school board. I just moved here, and I didn’t want to give a bad impression…
“They pitied a new teacher like me, so they didn’t scold me much. However, the bald leader kept glancing down the dark corridors as if he were wary of something.
“He was the one who berated me the most.” The woman thought of something, “I kept on repeating that I didn’t want to live anymore. He was exaggeratingly scary.
“Then, they told me to pack up my stuff and prepare to leave. But as I moved to leave, I suddenly remembered I left my umbrella inside the office. I turned to fetch it…”
At this point, she paused. She looked at the people before him with a paling face.
“I suddenly noticed something.” The woman’s body started to tremble unnaturally. Her pupils slowly narrowed. She said the rest with great difficulty.
“They… the guards didn’t carry any umbrellas. They didn’t have raincoats either. Their uniforms looked brand new. Their clothes were not wet at all.”