150 Three Children

 

“Did you guys hear about what happened in Room 401?” A boy’s voice came out from Bed No. 3. He poked his head out to look at the other beds in the room.

“What? I only know that a few rooms on the 4th floor are sealed up and no one will be moving into them.” Another boy’s voice came from Bed No. 2.

“The four girls who stayed in that room have died!” The boy said in a whisper. “All the adjacent rooms are sealed up because of it. To protect the school reputation, the admin squashed the news. They even provided an official statement for the hostel manager and the girls to say if they were ever asked about it.”

“But why the cover up?” The boy from Bed No. 1 asked. He was very timid, he hid his head under the comforter after asking his question.

“Of course, there’s no need for a cover up if it’s natural death but the problem is the girls’ deaths are very weird.” Boy 3’s whispering became softer. “You’ve heard about the back to back ghost story, right? It’s about these two best friends. One of them went out late at night and never returned. The other called because she was worried but the calls went unanswered. The girl grumbled about her friend’s disloyalty because she assumed her friend had abandoned her to seek fun on her own. But later the girl found out that her friend was nailed to death under her bed and they were sleeping back to back throughout the night.”

“Can you please just go back to bed? Enough with the nonsense already!” Boy 1 curled deeper into his bed. He disliked these stories.

“Ignore him. What is the ghost story’s relation to the four girls?” Boy 2’s interest though was piqued.

“Apparently, the first girl to die in Room 401 was found pinned under Bed No. 1. That was her bed and she was the first to die but according to rumors, she was the last to be found.” Boy 3 said creepily.

“My goodness, doesn’t that mean the other girls had spent most of the night with the dead girl inside the room with them? Didn’t they notice her under the bed?”

“Would you have noticed if that was you? Would you pull open other people’s beds and look under them for no reason?” Once Boy 3 said that, a rustling came from Bed No. 1. Boy 1 appeared to have crawled out from his bed to look under it.

“You’re right, I probably would not have noticed. Even if there’s blood dripping, I would think it was the pipe leaking.” Boy 2 was the courageous and inquisitive one. “And then? How did the other 3 girls die?”

“The second to die was the girl in Bed No. 2. She had the most inexplicable death. During the night, she suddenly sat up from bed and stayed in that seated position for a long time. Then she heard someone call her name and she walked out from the room barefooted.”

“So did someone really call her?”

“Who knows. When the girl exited the door, the sound of the door opening woke up the girl in Bed No. 3. The latter thought the former was going to the bathroom so she did not pay her much attention but then Girl 2 had been gone for too long that Girl 3 got up from bed and went to the toilet to find her roommate.” Boy 3 slowed for tension. “As you all know, the layout of all the hostels is the same. The toilets are on the left side of the building. Room 401 is close to the left staircase and thus it is close to the bathroom as well. Girl 3 only took a few steps to reach the bathroom door. It was quiet inside the bathroom. She eased the door open and saw Girl 2 had her head under the shower, like she was washing her hair. But the shower was not on.

“Girl 3 was worried about her roommate. She thus called Girl 2’s name assuming she was sleep-walking but the latter did not give her any response. With confusion, she walked to Girl 2’s side. She reached out to shake her roommate’s shoulder and was surprised to find that Girl 2’s hair and shoulders were wet. She thought Girl 2 just finished showering but the problem was Girl 3 did not hear any sound of running water. Based on the distance between their bedroom and the bathroom, she would have heard the water if Girl 2 used the shower. Girl 3 slowly leaned forward until she was hit by a horrible smell. Only then Girl 3 realized her hands were stained with blood.” Boy 3 paused again for effect.

“Why did you stop? What happened to Girl 3?” Now even Boy 1’s attention was hooked.

“She was stunned into disbelief. She opened her mouth to scream but no voice came out. She turned to run towards the bathroom but Girl 2 was standing there blocking the exit!

“Girl 3 felt her body getting heavier. She whipped around and ran into one of the shower cubicles to hide. She locked the door. Through her panic, she remembered that she still had her phone with her. She took it out to call for help. Before she could make any call though, she saw the light from her phone fading away as if a pair of hands were closing over her eyes. She turned back to look and saw Girl 2 leaning on her shoulders and smiling at her.” Boy 3 was a master storyteller. His tone and cadence carried the story well. The content itself might not be that scary but the way he told it could send shivers down people’s spines.

“The girl who slept in Bed No. 4 was woken up by her phone. She answered it blurrily. She could hear the sound of dripping coming from the other end but no one said anything. She thought it was a prank call. Just as she was about to hang up, she heard the voice of Girl 3. She sounded very weak and she appeared to implore Girl 4 to run. However, the voice soon disappeared. Instead it was replaced by raucous laughter of Girl 2 and Girl 3. It was like they were sharing some kind of joke and could not stop laughing. Girl 4 was already annoyed that she was disrupted from her sleep. She wanted to shout into her phone and give them a piece of her mind when the call got cut off.

“Then the door to Room 401 creaked open. In the dark, 3 shadows crawled into the 3 beds which had just been cleared out that night.” Boy 3’s voice lowered even more.

“And then? How did Girl 4 die in the end?” Boy 2 asked.

“Girl 4 assumed it was her roommates returning so she did not mind it that much. But gradually she noticed something was not quite right. Instead of sleeping, the 3 figures in the other 3 beds kept staring at her and whispering among themselves, like there was something wrong with her. Being scrutinized so intently, Girl 4 was unable to sleep. She turned away from her roommates and tried to listen to what they were saying.” Boy 2’s voice dipped with eeriness. “But to Girl 4’s consternation, the other 3 figures were discussing her roommates’ deaths. The more she listened to them, the more afraid she became. She was already awake and her body shook but she gritted her teeth and pretended to be asleep.”

The comforters were pulled back. The irises had gone from the eyes of the children in Bed 1, 2 and 3. They stood up and walked deeper into the room. “The 3 figures who sneaked into Room 401 stood beside Bed No. 4. They reached their heads through the mosquito net. Girl 4 found herself unable to move. While she thought frantically about what to do, a strange nursery rhyme rang out behind her. Then Girl 4’s stomach twisted with pain, like she was suffering from appendicitis.”

The 3 children’s faces were pressed against the mosquito net. They had on horrible smiles as they reached their hands towards the girl’s stomach. Their lips sang that nursery rhyme in unison.

“Daddy look, mommy look, look at how pretty the baby’s hands are.

“Daddy look, mommy look, where have the baby’s hands disappeared to?

“Daddy look, mommy look, the baby’s hands have returned.”

…

Han Fei hid behind the door at the 1st floor stairwell. By now he had confirmed that there was someone standing right on the opposite side of the door. Just as he thought he was going to stay there through the night, suddenly a girl’s horrifying scream came from the 4th floor!

 

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