The Tale of the Ghost Eyes Chapter 119 The Red Hair Elastic (3)

I'd thought it was empty. Gao Xinying came up the stairs and half stepped on, half tripped over me.

"What're you doing, you jackass?" He cried, regaining his balance. His eyes landed on the hairband in front of me and he gave a grand guffaw. "Ooooh, girls been sneaking into our dorm have they?" He grinned obnoxiously and bent to pick it up.

"Don't touch it!" I hissed at him, catching his right hand before he could.

He shot me a look of contempt. "Why? Is it yours?"

"No, but it's definitely not yours!" I shot back.

He jerked his right hand back and darted his free hand down, scooping up the hairband before I could stop him. I looked at him stunned, silently cursing myself for being too slow.

He looked at it for a second and then offered it to me. "It's nothing special." He said.

I opened my mouth to try and explain when someone called my name from down the stairs.

I turned to find Xuan Hailin waving at me from the stairwell.

"Well go on." Gao Xinying said, "He's calling you."

I turned back to him. "Throw that thing away. Do not take it into your room. I'll explain later." I whispered and then turned to go downstairs.

Xuan Hailin saw that I was coming and went down the second set of stairs. He led the way to his office and held the door open for me, gesturing to the chair once I was inside. His office smelt thickly of incense. I found the culprits half burnt away around a statue of Bodhisattva on the corner of his desk. My eyes wandered to a string of beads hung decoratively across a radio behind his chair.

"Have a seat." He said behind me.

The room was very small, with both us seated there was barely enough room to breathe.

"Is all this," I waved the incense smoke out of my face. "Good for you? I've heard it brings back luck to the living."

Xuan Hailin stared blankly at me, "It's for God, not me."

I gave a laugh that came out more like a cough and said, "Well you're definitely enjoying it. I suggest you open a window. Even God needs fresh air." I cast a look at the window and found it obscured by newspapers.

Xuan Hailin only shook his head, folded his hands, and placed his elbows on the desk. "What do you know about the dorm on the second floor? I've seen you snooping around it, you must be very curious."

I nodded at him. "I am curious."

His face unfolded into a sharp grin. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know. Shi Yong, I will only warn you this once. Leave that room alone before you bring trouble down on you and your friends."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Maybe I'd be less curious if you told me more about it." I said, thinking, "I'll drop it when the ghost is gone."

Xuan Hailin took a deep breath, pulling incense smoke towards him. "I know what you know. Let's leave it at that. Stay away from that room. There's history there that doesn't need to be uncovered."

"Uncovered or unburied?" I thought.

"Yes sir." I said. "May I go?"

He nodded and waved his hand in a shooing gesture. I left his office, suddenly very frustrated that he had wasted my time. I bit down the influx of anger and marched up the stairs, remembering the red hairband. I rushed to my room and found Gao Xinying asleep in my roommate's bunk.

"You're in the wrong room." I said, but he didn't stir. "Asleep already huh?" I asked, again no response. I looked him up and down, but found no sign of the hairband. His face was pink and restful, not pale or suffocated. I shrugged and went to my bunk on the other side of the room. I lay on my bed and stretched, feeling something beneath my pillow. I sat up and moved the pillow to reveal a bright red circle.

"Agh!" I yelled, pulling away from it.

Across the room Gao Xinying burst into laughter. My roommate and his opened the door from the hallway and asked, "Did you get him?" They were all grinning like fools.

"Why didn't you throw this away like I said?" I asked. "Did you guys put him up to this?"

They all shook their heads innocently.

"What's so special about it anyway?" My roommate asked.

Gao Xinying answered for me, "It's some ghost legend about this dorm. I overheard Prissy McMirrorpants over here getting the low down from a couple of girls last week." He turned to me. "There aren't any ghosts here. Don't be such a pansy. Somebody's clearly playing pranks on you."

"So you didn't put it in the hallway?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"Not us. Somebody's probably screwing with you." He said with that obnoxious smile.

I didn't want to fuel the fire. I took the hairband from under my pillow and threw it out the window. "As long as it's not here." I whispered.

I waited in the dorm until it was time for afternoon classes and gathered my things to head out with everyone else. The mirror was safely tucked in my bag and I followed my roommate into the hallway. We walked towards the stairs with everyone else when I noticed something strange. The students ahead of us were stopping and pointing in front of the locked dorm. Some of them were even reaching out and touching the lock as they went past it. When we got nearer I found out why.

The red hairband was wrapped tightly around the doorknob. It's crimson bow curled out and lay lightly in front of the deadbolt. "Somebody musta brought it back in." My roommate said to me in a whisper as we passed it.

"Or a ghost moved it." I thought to myself, not daring to look at it for too long. "If that is connected to a ghost that can kill eight girls in one night, how on earth can I take it down?"

I spent the afternoon ignoring my classes and pondering how I could gather enough power to fight a spirit without the green ghost's help. "If I use my own power, then my amulets will be even weaker. I can't harness nearly enough supernatural air without him…"

You Xiaoqing noticed my distant look way easier than my teachers. "What is wrong with you?" She whispered during a particularly boring lecture about trade routes.

I snapped back to the present and smiled at her distractedly. "Whnothing. I saw something. That's all."

"What?" She pushed.

"The red hairband."

Her expression darkened. "Did you see the ghost?"

I shook my head and smiled when our teacher glanced our way. "No." I whispered, "But there's something going on. We need to be ready." I told her quietly.

"What does that even mean?" She whispered.

"Amulets." I hissed back, ducking my head behind the kid seated in front of me. "I'll go get what I need tomorrow. No one is safe if we don't even have amulets."

Her face twisted into a beautifully mischievous grin. "I'm coming with you." She said before turning her attention back to the book. Her timing was perfect because the teacher started to walk up and down the row between us.

"It's a date." I thought and smiled to myself.

"It may have been still the past ten years because no one was around to sense it, until me." I thought. "I guess I might as well give it something to think about then."

That night was peaceful. I didn't hear anything except the random pattering of steps. The hairband was gone the next morning. I suspected it was Xuan Hailin who moved it and confirmed that while going to meet You Xiaoqing.

The hairband was sitting on Xuan Hailin's desk next to the statue of Bodhisattva. Only now, the bowknot was undone and lying loose.

"He must know everything." I thought.

Chapter end