The doorknob was stuck tight.
There was still laughter outside. Quiet laughter. But enough for me to know it wasn't the wind.
"Give me back my sandals..."
A woman's voice. Hoarse. Like she'd been choking on water.
I backed away. The fruit knife in my hand shook violently. My phone had just shut off after I called the landlady. When I called back, the number you have dialed is unavailable.
_Knock... knock... knock..._ This time, it was the window.
I spun around. At some point, the window overlooking Tea Hill had been thrown wide open. The white curtain whipped wildly in the wind. Cold air blew inside. And right at the edge of the window... was a pair of red plastic sandals. Honeycomb sandals.
They were mine. I'd left them neatly outside the bathroom last night.
I didn't dare look for long. When I turned away, I saw three wet footprints stretching across the floor to the edge of the bed. They stopped.
Under the bed.
"Ma'am... Mrs. Lan..." I screamed. My voice cracked.
The only answer was the wind and that laughter. It was closer now. As if it were right behind me.
I remembered the landlady's warning: "After midnight, if anyone knocks on the door... do not open it."
I hadn't opened the door. But it had come in by itself.
The room light flickered. Off. On. Off.
In the one second the light was out, I saw it. In the old mirror hanging on the wall, there was someone else. Her long hair hung loose, and she wore a blue raincoat. Her feet were bare. She stood right behind me, her head bowed as she stared down at my feet.
The light came back on. No one was there.
I screamed and lunged toward the window. I climbed out. The third floor. But the moment I put my foot on the windowsill, an ice-cold hand grabbed my ankle.
"Come up here with me... give me back my sandals..."
I kicked hard. I fell onto the corrugated metal roof of the second floor. It hurt. But I was still alive.
I dragged myself along. Crawled. Ran down the stairs. The entire single-story rental building was pitch-black. Not a single room had its light on.
When I reached the front door, Mrs. Lan was standing there. She was holding a broom. She wasn't surprised to see me. She only sighed.
"If you can run, then go. Don't ever come back."
"Who... who was in there, ma'am?"
She swept tea leaves without looking at me. "The girl who rented this room before you. She fell behind on her rent. She left in the middle of the night. It was raining hard. The next morning, people found her... in the pond behind the hill."
She looked up. Her eyes were red.
The wind blew over Tea Hill again. This time, I heard it clearly. Outside, plastic sandals scuffed across the dirt. Coming from Tea Hill... into the yard... and stopping in front of the gate.
Mrs. Lan shoved me. "Go! Hurry!"
I ran. I didn't dare look back.
Behind me came the sound of knocking. Not on the boarding house door. It was knocking against my back. _Knock... knock... knock...._
It jolted me awake in a panic.
I sat up. The clock said three in the morning.
I was drenched in sweat. It had all been a dream.
But when I looked down at the foot of the bed...
My red plastic sandals... were wet.
And mud was smeared across them.
Outside the window, the wind was blowing.
The scuffing of sandals... scuff, scuff... circled the boarding house...
I didn't dare go back to sleep. I sat with my knees pulled to my chest until morning. At five, the sky was just beginning to lighten. I worked up the nerve to call Mrs. Lan.
Beep... beep...
"Hello?" Her voice was hoarse.
"Ma'am... I... am I going to be okay?"
There was silence on the other end for three seconds. Then she spoke softly:
"You're fine. But those sandals... don't wear them anymore. Throw them away."
"What did you say, ma'am?"
"I said throw them away! Throw them into the pond behind the hill!"
Click. She hung up.
I looked down at the red sandals. The mud was still there. And a long strand of hair... was wrapped around the strap. But it wasn't my hair...