The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 116 Is there a Ghost

When I got there I found a few of the boys from my class. They introduced themselves and continued chatting with my roommate. The one who caught my attention the most was a boy named Gao Xinying. When they left for the night, I asked my roommate about him.

"Who Xinying?" He asked in surprise, "Yeah, we made fun of him too at first, having a girl's name and all." He gave a half embarrassed smile. "Apparently he was very sick when he was born and the master his family hired told them to raise him as a girl. I think it really screwed him up. I mean- you heard how he was talking about the girls earlier." I nodded.

"Melons for the girl with the chest and Donald Duck for the girl with the butt. Yeah I heard." I crossed my arms. "He's not that clever." I told him. Gao Xinying had mentioned You Xiaoqing too, but he wasn't ballsy enough to give her a nickname. He even had the gall to ask whether I was interested in her.

My roommate read my expression, "You're thinking about You Xiaoqing aren't you?" He asked with a light smile.

"Maybe." I told him, feeling my face grow hot. "We're just friends." I told him, just like I'd told you earlier.

The dorm buzzed with the chatter of excited roommates that night. After the conversation about You Xiaoqing, I'd almost forgotten the locked door. We fell asleep listening to our neighbors fraternize through the concrete walls.

The next day my life started in senior high school.

We had our routine classes in the mornings. The afternoons were filled with military training that tightened the bonds in our class groups. By the end of the week we were almost in sync when it came time for physical drills.

The last military class of the evening was competitions, after training all afternoon I was dreading it, but it turned out to be pretty cool. Our instructor was a kind little man who told us we'd be singing. The class rallied in a boys-versus-girls singing contest. Having almost zero musical talent, I quickly faded into the audience to watch. You Xiaoqing however, was a star of the show. The boy team fell silent in awe as she got on the make shift stage and sang a song.

The days passed and the empty dorm with its rusty lock fled from my mind. I was exhausted by the end of the day from military training and studies. I'd pass it every now and again and promised myself to look into it, but I never did.

The very supervisor who told me that the room still housed his things was in charge of checking our bunks for disarray. He'd come by once every two days and reprimand us if anything was out of order. We became very familiar because as it turns out, I couldn't make a bed to save my life. It wasn't my fault! I swear it was the blanket.

The thing was brand new and very elastic. I'd stretch it around the mattress and tuck it under, but the damn blanket would bounce out and wrinkle all over the bed every single time! My roommate and I started getting low marks on all of the room inspections until it became a thing of shame. I started to hide my blanket under the bed, until that stopped being a reasonable solution, which was after only one inspection. In a panic, I asked him if I could show him that it wasn't my fault.

"Very well." He said, frowning deeply at me. I'd never seen him annoyed with any of the other boys.

I picked up the crisp blanket and went about making my bed. Moments after I finished tucking the corners and resumed my spot by the door, the blanket let out a cartoonish twang sound and wrinkled itself across my bed.

"I'll be damned." He said under his breath. "Hold this." He instructed, handing his clipboard to me. He walked into our dorm and bent over my bed, repeating the steps I took to make it. He finished up, turned around, and walked back out the door. Behind him, the blanket seemed like it was curling in a grin at the corners. Before he reached me to take back his clipboard, the cartoon twang sounded again. He rounded on the blanket with amused shock on his face. "Ha." He said, with only the slightest amusement. "All right. You two will be given a pass for a while," He gave me a small smile. "Until that blanket of yours learns who's boss." He patted my shoulder and went onto the next dorm.

The supervisors name was Xuan Hailin. His name stuck in my memory because I'd never heard another like it before. He was from Guangxi province, but came north several years ago. He'd been with the school for many years, moving up the ladder from a P.E. teacher to dormitory supervisor. Story was that his wife died more than ten years before I met him. I liked him. After the blanket incident I saw him in a new light, he was a funny guy.

A couple weeks later we had a going away party for one of the military drillmasters who'd received a promotion. Our class had a pizza party and sang songs to bid him farewell. I didn't pay much attention to the party, that particular drillmaster never worked his way into my mind, so I wasn't very invested. When the party lasted past final dismissal I started to get bored. People were chatting in circles and a few girls got onto the makeshift stage and were serenading their goodbyes. Trying to make a stealthy exit, I moved towards the dorms just as the sidewalk lights came to life.

The dormitory was desolate when I arrived. The lights were on, but no one was in the common area. The halls were silent. It was weird. I listened to my shoes clack on the floor and echo down the empty hallway as I walked to my room.

I reached out my hand to open my door when a girl's scream shattered the silence.

I whipped my head in the direction of the noise. My eyes fell on the door at the end of the east hall. The light above the locked dorm was the only one not beaming white fluorescence.

I took my hand from the doorknob and began walking down the hallway. I was careful to place each foot heel first and then slowly lower my toe. I was so focused on walking silently that my throat began to ache it was so dry. I swallowed far too loudly and approached the door. As I neared, the light flickered on above me. I reached out and grasped the knob.

Giving it the lightest imaginable turn, I silently acknowledged that it was still locked. I leaned ever closer and turned my head to press it to the door. "I know I heard her…" I thought.

It was silent, but wait…

I held my breath and listened closer.

A hand clapped on my shoulder out of nowhere, causing me to release a very high pitched scream. My heart felt like it was leaping out of my chest.

Behind me, Xuan Hailin looked down at me. He was wearing a smile that didn't touch his eyes.

"Uncle Xuan, you scared me!" I told him.

His expression didn't change. "Why're you listening at my door?" He asked.

"I thought I heard someone," I told him. "A girl screamed or something…" It sounded very lame without evidence.

His expression remained constant, that dismal smile didn't even waver. "It was probably a mouse." He said. "You kids have crazy imaginations. Go on back to your room."

I did as I was told, eager to get away from his frozen expression. "He's hiding something." I thought and made sure to close the door behind me. "How did he know I was looking?"

My roommate came back with our neighbors, Gao Xinying included. I cut into their conversation as soon as I could.

"Do you guys know what's in the empty dorm at the end of the hall?"

Gao Xinying answered for everyone, "I heard it was full of Uncle Xuan's stuff. Why?"

I shook my head and dropped it.

I couldn't sleep that night. I tossed and turned at every sound. After dozing off for maybe a second, I swear I heard footsteps and the low voice of a girl trying to be quiet. It woke me up at once. I clambered out of bed and got the Peach Blossom Mirror out of my bag. I took it into the hallway and shone it either direction. There was nothing there.

The next day You Xiaoqing caught on very quickly. "You look like you haven't slept in days." She whispered during study hall.

I shook my head. "I think there's something in our dorm." I looked around to make sure no one was listening, "Something foul." I raised both eyebrows and mouthed the word 'ghost' a few times until I could see understanding dawn in her eyes.

She leaned closer until our foreheads almost touched, "Really? My roommate told me there were ghosts in the boy's dorm! I thought she was just trying to keep me out of there!" She smiled at a joke that I didn't get.

"Who's your roommate? I have to talk to her!" I whispered back.

She pointed at a very pretty girl wearing her hair in a ponytail. She had two perfect dimples on her cheeks.

"That's her," You Xiaoqing said, "Xiong Ying."

Chapter end