A Look in the Mirror

After bribing the housekeeper that kept watch at night, the horsemen were able to get out past curfew. They were just going to the back of the dorm after all. The housekeeper could see security cameras, and there was one eyeing the driveway in front of the dorm.

As long as the students did not cross that place, they were technically still inside the dorm premises.

The grassy vacant lot behind the dorm was a perfect spot to hide anything. This time, they were hiding themselves. Wen Taio scaled the building with his eyes and saw that no lights were left on by the owners. It was midnight, and everyone else should be fast asleep.

He turned to his bros who were looking around in caution.

Liu Xiaodan chose to call her out at a field so she could not throw anyone out of the window. He joined Xu Disung and Ruan Jin in looking around them. It did not take long before he spotted Ye Ling standing at the top of the boys' dorm.

She was wearing a long blue dress that flapped high with the wind up the building. She looked down at the father, ignoring Ruan Jin among the crowd. Ye Ling stepped out of the edge and dropped with the motion of a feather.

Instead of dropping at the side of the building, she suddenly appeared in front of Liu Xiaodan.

The father was not wearing his bracelet; neither one of them brought it with them. His eyes widened as he was facing yet another ghost.

Ye Ling suspended her body before him as if still falling with the slow rising motion of her hair and dress. She smiled at the father while piercing through his soul with her gaze. For some reason, she was not visible to anyone else but him.

"You must be with them. Are you going to kill me?" Ye Ling spoke into his mind, her lips fixed with her smile.

'You are trying to kill my friend…' he responded with thoughts.

"But there's nothing else but pain… pain…" The woman disappeared and reappeared next to Ruan Jin. She placed her arms around his neck, causing him to shiver and feel the weight.

"…and death…"

Before Liu Xiaodan could say something, she vanished along with his friend. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. The other two bros were alarmed by his sudden disappearance. Cusses were aired as they fling their flashlights around. Liu Xiaodan looked up to the top of the building, not seeing anyone.

"She just took Jin!" The father took off and motioned to run back inside.

"What?! She was already here?!" Xu Disung yelled back and chased the other. He knew Wen Taio followed them shortly.

While they were busy climbing the stairs, Ruan Jin was too shocked to make a sound. He was already in a different place as soon as he finished yawning.

He felt the strong night breeze ruffling his hair, and he knew he was at the rooftop of the boys' dorm. However, he could see the girls' dorm from there, meaning that he was at the east face while his friends were by the south face. He soon felt a hand hold his.

"Jin, don't you think it's pretty up here?" It was Ye Ling. She made a firm grip against the guy's hand. "This building had ten floors. Are you excited to go all the way down?"

"W-Why are you going to take me with you?" Ruan Jin fought back his tears and paralyzing fear, knowing that he might die for real. The first two times, he kept his mouth shut and had been in denial of the haunting. This time, he had to be brave to fight for his own life.

"I like you, Jin… but this place is bad…" She chuckled. "I'm going away with you!"

"I don't want to go." Ruan Jin began to pull his hand away from her hold. "I don't want to leave this bad place." He used his other hand to hold her wrist so he could have a better chance of getting his hand back. "Leave me alone!"

Ye Ling loosened her grip, and the male ended up wobbling. He fell on his butt and realized he was at the edge of the roof. The wobbling could have cost him his life.

He started to cry, but he refused to whine or sob at least. Tears dripped from his eyes, but he only stared at the view before him. He was too scared to choose a course of action.

The girl ghost stepped into the air and stood in front of the man. She smiled at him again and tilted her head to the side. "Why are you crying? Are you lost?"

"Stop it! I don't want to die!" Ruan Jin used a hand to swing before him to keep her away.

"…do you want to walk around?" Ye Ling extended her hands toward his direction. "Why don't you walk around with me again, Jin?"

The male looked up at her face, noticing that she was crying. She was trying to catch the hand that he was swinging to keep her at bay. He stopped moving his hand, and she took a gentle hold of it again.

"It's unfair. Why can't I stop you from crying?" She looked at her hands. "Everyone else went with me and stopped crying. Why can't I help you? It's unfair…"

"What are you talking about?! You're killing people!" Ruan Jin yelled at her, but he did not pull his hand back at all. "I don't want to die! I'm scared! I'm terrified! I don't like it here! But I don't want to die! Just leave me alone…"

"But… alone is… sad…" She let go of his hand and started crying louder, pressing her hands against her face.

Ruan Jin took the opportunity to pull himself away from the edge as she continued to cry. He kept his gaze at her as he crawled back, feeling suffocated by the depressing atmosphere around her.

He knew that she was the same ghost he met that night and that he was a bit responsible for the deaths of those seven students. However, he refused to shoulder that burden. It was not his fault that they messed with the wrong entity.

Then again, he could not resist a crying woman.

Liu Xiaodan and the others managed to reach the roof and bust the lock to get there. Instead of yelling for Ruan Jin's name, they went almost silent as they watched him get on his feet. The cries of the ghost went piercing their ears and hearts as well.

"Ling…" Ruan Jin whispered her name…

She made no response.

"Ling, I'm sorry. I-I don't want to go with you. Besides, e-even if I do, I'll just leave you! Because you'll be stuck here… because you're a ghost!" He tried to talk louder, each word getting a louder volume than the previous one.

He took a deep breath. "You'll never die! And you're always going to be alone!"

She stopped crying.

"Stop taking people with you just because you're lonely!" He inhaled with a sharp breath… following it with a whisper. "If only you weren't hurting anyone, I would be okay having you around…"

Ruan Jin forced words out of his throat. "Y-You know, you're a pretty girl! B-But you're killing people! I don't like that!

"If you only want to kill me, or anyone who helped you, then… you're always going to be alone!" The tech guy started stepping backward after glancing behind him and seeing his friends were already there. "Ling, stop. I won't walk around with you if you're going to kill me…"

"Jin!" Liu Xiaodan called out to him now that he was close enough for them to reach in seconds. He ran to his best friend and held his shoulder. He stepped in front of Ruan Jin as if getting himself in the line of fire. The silence coming from Ye Ling was making his chest pound so hard as if it was Guangru's dead gaze upon his soul.

Instead of attacking, Ye Ling just dropped her arms to her side. She also fell down from the height.

Xu Disung ran to the edge and looked down as if looking for her. Wen Taio came after him in case he might get grabbed from below.

Ruan Jin released a rather loud relieved sigh before leaning against Liu Xiaodan who caught him on time. The tech guy started crying and whining about the experience.

They decided to bring him back to their room and continue there. The night passed with no concrete answer for everyone.

…

The clock ticked minutes before six, and Ruan Jin was already yawning on his way to the toilet. He rotated his shoulders as they felt so sore. He started his morning routine, paying no attention to the blaring phone alarms coming from the berths at the next room.

He was the first one up, and so he was the first one who had the right to shower. He finished his business to the toilet and flushed it down, before heading to the sink to wash his hands and brush his teeth. His sleepiness was blurring his vision, and so he was not aware of the problem.

He bent down and washed his face first. The cold water had woken him up some more. He lifted his face and froze at what he saw.

Ye Ling… was clinging at his back. Her arms were around his neck, and her legs seemed to be fused with his shadow. She stared at him through the mirror. However, her gaze was light and soft. He felt no malice of murderous intentions unlike before.

"What…?" He whispered…

"Let me stay close to you. I won't hurt you..."

"G-Get down! You're h-heavy! Can't you just float around?" Ruan Jin tried to act cool even though he was almost frozen in fear.

She rubbed her face against the back of his neck, and he shivered at the cold air that kissed his nape. He started shaking around, effectively making Ye Ling get off of his back. He glared at her before turning away and curling up on the floor. He just could not best his fear at all.

However, she only giggled and pulled him up by the arm. He waved his arm to get her off and ended up brushing his teeth even though he knew she was still next to him. Ye Ling looked delighted just standing there and watching him.

They did not notice that the door to the bathroom was open by a crack. Liu Xiaodan was peering inside the moment he noticed something was not right with Ruan Jin's posture. He watched him and Ye Ling for a while.

For some reason, he could see himself and Liu Guangru as he gazed at them. He could see his now-dear child in that woman who only wanted to be not alone. His child just wanted to be born even though it was not that clear to him so much.

Perhaps, Ye Ling would be able to stay with Ruan Jin if she learned not to cross boundaries… like what his child was doing.

The father then pulled back and closed the door without noise. He walked back and saw Xu Disung sitting on his bed, stretching and trying to wake up through movements. Wen Taio continued to sleep through his alarms.

"Baba, what should I do to her?" Guangru asked as he appeared sitting on Ruan Jin's seat at their study table.

The father pretended to look through the bookshelf on the desk to whisper to the kid. "Nah, she's good." He patted the child's head, his back blocking Xu Disung's vision. "Let her stay with him… unless she starts hurting someone, okay?"

"Okay!" The child cheered and then reached out to hug his father, burying his face against his father's chest. "Baba's going to let me stay long, too, right?"

"Sure…"

Loud knocks came to their door again, and Liu Xiaodan accidentally opened the door again with his mind.

Cheng Fei was startled by the magic opening, but he still poked in to yell at the people in the room. "Guys! Get up! Someone just died again! This time we have a killer!" He put up a brave face to everyone, instead of dread and shock. He opened his mouth and glared at no one in particular. "Li Feng…"

END OF VOLUME 1