Darkness swallowed everything.
I couldn't see my hands anymore.
I couldn't see the door.
I couldn't see the twelve picture frames on the wall, either.
Only the sound of sandals remained.
Scuff...
Scuff...
Twelve pairs of sandals were walking in circles around me.
Not fast.
Not slow.
Just gliding steadily across the tiled floor.
I stood frozen in the middle of the room, afraid to move.
The flashlight had gone out.
My phone was still lit in my hand.
The last message was still on the screen:
"Day 1 has only just begun. You've already broken a rule."
I swallowed hard.
What rule had I broken?
The first rule was:
Don't trust the mirror.
The second rule:
Don't open the door after midnight.
The third rule...
Don't turn around when you hear your name being called.
I had never opened the door after midnight.
And I hadn't heard anyone call my name.
So which rule had I broken?
I glanced at the clock on my phone.
3:02 a.m.
Suddenly...
All the sandals stopped.
Silence.
That silence was even more terrifying than the noise.
I held my breath.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds...
Then a voice rang out in the darkness.
It wasn't Mrs. Lan.
The voice was hoarse and murky, as if it were echoing up from beneath the floor.
"Day 1..."
A chill ran down my spine.
"Mission 1."
BAM!
The flashlight in my hand suddenly switched itself on.
I jumped and nearly dropped it.
But the beam didn't shine ahead of me.
It shot straight up at the ceiling.
I raised my head.
And screamed soundlessly.
On the ceiling...
there were hands everywhere.
Twelve pairs of hands.
Twenty-four pitch-black hands clung tightly to the plaster ceiling.
Their fingers were unnaturally long.
Their fingernails were cracked and broken.
They kept clawing downward.
Scratch... scratch... scratch...
Chunks of plaster flaked away.
A thick black liquid streamed down from their fingertips.
Drip.
A drop fell.
Drip.
Then another.
Every drop landed exactly in one of the twelve picture frames below.
I followed them with my eyes.
The last drop hit my picture frame.
Immediately...
the person in the picture blinked.
I screamed.
The flashlight fell from my hand.
Crash!
The room plunged into darkness again.
But this time...
I heard laughter.
A giggle...
Very faint.
Very close.
Right behind my neck.
I went rigid.
Cold air breathed against my throat.
Then the voice from before rang out again:
"Mission one..."
A giggle...
"Find all twelve pairs of sandals before five in the morning."
I gripped my phone tightly.
"If even one pair is missing..."
The voice fell silent.
A laugh rang out right beside my ear.
"...you'll take the empty picture frame's place."
I spun around.
There was no one there.
Only darkness.
I quickly turned on my phone's flashlight.
Its weak beam swept around the room.
The twelve picture frames were still there.
But underneath them...
there were only eleven pairs of sandals.
I looked down at my feet.
The red sandals were still on me.
Slowly, I bent down.
Then I looked back at the eleven pairs beneath the picture frames.
A horrifying thought flashed through my mind.
I was the twelfth person.
I wasn't the one looking for the sandals.
I was...
the twelfth pair of sandals.
I wanted to take them off.
But my feet wouldn't obey.
My toes had gone stiff.
I tried to bend down and pull at the straps with my hands.
I couldn't.
They felt as if they had fused to my skin.
Knock.
I jumped.
Someone was knocking at the door.
But it wasn't the door to Room 13.
Knock.
This time, it was closer.
Knock.
Slowly, I turned toward the picture frames.
The eleven people in the pictures...
were all raising their hands at once.
Their pale fingers tapped against the glass.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
One after another.
Then they all stared straight at me.
Their mouths opened.
Eleven mouths...
but only one voice came out.
"Give us back our sandals..."
I backed away.
"No..."
"Give us back our sandals..."
I shook my head.
"I didn't take your sandals!"
The woman in the first picture suddenly smiled.
She pointed down at my feet.
"You're wearing them."
I looked down.
The red sandals on my feet...
were dripping black water.
Drip.
Drip.
My toes began to go numb.
I looked down.
The skin on my toes was changing color.
From white...
to gray...
then black.
A thick, sticky mud began oozing out from beneath my toenails.
Panicking, I wiped at it with my hands.
But the more I wiped...
the faster it spread.
From my toes.
Up over my feet.
Then to my ankles.
"No... no..."
The phone in my hand vibrated.
A new message.
I looked at the screen.
"MISSION 1: 2 HOURS 58 MINUTES."
"BEGIN."
I was stunned.
Two hours and fifty-eight minutes.
Until five in the morning...
I had less than three hours left.
Out in the hallway, a woman's voice rang out again.
Gentle.
Familiar.
Like a mother calling for her child.
"Sweetheart..."
I raised my head.
It was Mrs. Lan's voice.
"Are you cold?"
Plastic sandals dragged across the hallway.
Scuff...
Scuff...
Mrs. Lan let out a soft laugh.
"Come into my room and warm up..."
I stared at the door to Room 13.
I wasn't allowed to open it.
I knew that.
But right then...
the door slowly opened a crack.
Creeeak...
Mrs. Lan wasn't in the hallway.
There was only a woman standing with her back to me.
She was wearing clothes exactly like Mrs. Lan's.
In her hand was a pair of red sandals.
Exactly like the ones I was wearing.
She slowly turned her head.
Before I could make out her face...
my phone vibrated again.
A line of text appeared:
"Don't let her see your face."
I stood frozen.
Because the woman outside the door...
had turned her face fully toward me.
And she had no face.
Only a smooth expanse of black skin.
No eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
But I could still hear her laughter.
A giggle...
At the same time, a sharp pain shot through my foot.
I looked down.
The black mud had crawled up to my ankles.
And from beneath the layer of mud...
a very small voice whispered:
"Come find us..."
I trembled.
"Where are you?"
The eleven people in the pictures all turned their heads toward the end of the hallway.
I followed their gaze.
There...
another door had appeared.
There was a number on it.
12.
But this boarding house...
only had twelve rooms.
So why...
was Room 12 inside Room 13?