Unknown Figure

Knock, knock!

In the middle of my thoughts about the forsaken, there was a sudden knock.

A knocking sound at this hour? Who could it even be?

Lucy usually sleeps early and I never saw Hiroshi at night before, so it couldn't be them.

Though I wasn't sure, it might be an emergency or something important.

But something like that never happened beforehand. For some reason, it felt a bit familiar, but I had a hard time remembering what it was. My brain is vague.

Moments later I remembered the familiar sensation. It was Lucy, her entrance was like this. If I recall my memories correctly she was the one who randomly knocked on my door. But she had a purpose, yes, it was to send me to that mysterious room.

Eventually, the knocking slowed down and slowly stopped.

"Tired, I see," I muttered in a half-arrogant tone.

I could hear a small sigh of disappointment. I can't identify the gender, but they seemed kind of young, like a little child.

I wonder what business they have with me, or was it just a child who lost. But that's unlikely, because why would there be a normal person here in this place?

And the fact that it's likely to be a child scares me.

A mysterious little child who I never met before was standing right in front of my door. It sounds off, a child knocking on my door.

It would maybe be referred to as 'normal' in a typical neighbourhood but not here. No, this can't be normal, what the heck is wrong with me.

But after knocking for a while, the child just stood there.

I don't know why the child isn't backing off, perhaps it's that important?

However, the childish figure didn't talk, and it was around nighttime, which made everything even more suspicious. First of all, why is a child doing this in a place like this? Secondly, it's damn nighttime. Everything just seemed off, perhaps it was an intruder.

But once again, it's unlikely that an intruder would even find this place. Because the outside is like an ant compared to the inside.

There are dozens of rooms inside, but I haven't seen many people.

Then suddenly something came to mind.

It could be that the child is just lost since dozens of rooms look similar to each other which makes everything seem a bit complicated. Well, it technically is, though I wonder why they did that.

After concluding that it was just a child who lost I decided to open the door.

I took a few steps before opening the door.

"…"

"Huh?" I said, my voice a bit cranky, while I wore an expression of both confusion and terror.

"It's gone…"

"The child is gone…"

"But I was sure that…"

I was sure that there was someone. I could feel the presence right before I opened the door.

There was no one. There wasn't anyone or anything in sight…

There wasn't even a single noise, so the figure couldn't have slipped away right?

There was no way… It couldn't have been a ghost right?

But I was sure that there was someone, a figure that seemed to be a child.

That's right, there was a continuous knocking before as well.

I was standing right outside my room, one step away from leaving my room.

The tension was killing me.

"Just what the hell was that?" I muttered to myself, still feeling anxious.

What was that supposed to mean…

Great… Why do strange encounters always happen to me…?

Is this supposed to be a one-month anniversary surprise?

Well, it was exactly a month ago that I started to live here.

Most of the days seemed normal, but today was different.

And I'm having a hard time sleeping because of the incident that just occurred.

Also, I can't ignore the feeling that I'm being watched the whole time.

This was the first night that something strange like this happened.

Normally the days would pass smoothly, without anything strange happening.

Well, on some days 'strange' things did happen, but today was a different story. It seemed like the child was a ghost.

But it wasn't as if I believed in ghosts, but this incident might change my mind. Besides, I was sure that someone was knocking, and when I opened it there was nothing. It was like the child disappeared through the air.

Though the figure didn't interact with me at all, besides I didn't even see 'its' face.

The figure did let out a sigh that I heard, and it seemed like a usual human.

Well, everything seemed off from the beginning. A child being in a place, and at a time like this was suspicious enough.

- - -

The next day.

I woke up with frizzy hair, my head was a complete mess. Because of the incident that occurred last night, I barely got any sleep. Even though my face was a complete mess, there were dark spots beneath my eyes. It was probably the first time that I woke up like this.

Also, all my energy was drained as well, I barely had the strength to even think. Yes, it was both physically and mentally. The continuous thoughts about that child taught me a lesson that I shouldn't overthink everything. Well, it wasn't like I had anything else to think of besides that incident.

Moments later, I got up, even though I had no energy I still made my bed which was quite an achievement.

After I made my bed I groaned as I rubbed my eyes. "I should… probably take a shower," I mumbled, suggesting that I fix myself.

Come to think of it, I completely forgot to take a shower last night, and once again it was caused by that damn incident. The figure caught me off guard back there.

While being half asleep, I hopped into the shower.

My vision was blurry because of the lack of sleep, so I reached out for the handle.

"Ahh!" I screamed, stumbling back as the water hit me.

Half-asleep, my hand rushed to the handle to turn it off.

The water was as hot as the sun.

"Being half asleep indeed has benefits!" I said, in a sarcastic tone.

Turned out that I "accidentally" used the wrong handle. Instead of a normal warmth, the water was boiling.

"Well, at least it woke me up…" I said, muttering my thoughts out loud.

Luckily I stepped back in a short moment after the water hit me. My skin would've burned by the boiling water if I didn't back off in time.

"I can't believe myself…" I hopelessly said.

Another lesson learned.