Years later, this prison for serious offenders was requisitioned anew. After a renovation, it was transformed into a Juvenile Delinquent Management Center. However, no one ever saw the woman in red again, nor the rag doll. Perhaps they had vanished into thin air.
The story ends here, leaving one feeling somewhat spooked.
When everyone asked the Dormitory Head who had told him the story, he just chuckled and did not reveal his source. He simply said, "It's enough that you know, but don't go spreading it around to others."
Everyone just looked at each other and laughed, realizing that this terrifying tale was just a product of the Dormitory Head's own imagination.
Due to limited conditions, I had no choice but to give up my daily lessons and lay down in bed to sleep.
The night passed without incident, and the next day, I got up early, brushed my teeth, washed my face, tidied up my bedding, and after everything was ready, I gathered with my roommates for roll call and then had some breakfast.
Here, the morning was not for working, but for learning time. When I said I only had a fourth-grade education, the Warden was quite stunned. Being thirteen and only having reached the fourth grade, in the end, he resorted to giving me special attention to help me catch up with my studies as quickly as possible.
Seeing how eager I was to learn, the Warden was quite pleased, and patiently went over the lessons with me. Although his teaching was not as lively as Old Liu's, I was still very satisfied.
In my spare time, the Warden asked me how I had ended up here. So I told him all about the series of events that had occurred before and also disclosed my identity to him.
Of course, the Warden didn't believe that I had learned any spells, and promptly asked me to perform a spell to walk through walls. I hadn't learnt such an art, and could only scratch my head in embarrassment.
The Warden laughed and said to me that I was good in many ways and quite studious, but that children shouldn't lie. I had no response; it's not like I could summon a ghost just to open his eyes.
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by. I had completely adapted to life at the Management Center, studying in the morning and working in the afternoon. From time to time, we would even have a small evening party where everyone sang and danced, although I was always just a spectator.
"Liang Yueming, it's your turn today to clean up with Zhang Ye. Move quickly and don't delay mealtime." That afternoon, the Warden notified me that it was my turn to clean. I didn't mind; after all, I had done cleaning back at the Taoist Temple too.
Zhang Ye was the Dormitory Head who had told us the story. At sixteen, he was a remarkably bright and cheerful person, always joking and encouraging everyone to study hard. It was said he was here for excessive self-defense during an act of heroism that led to someone's death, and he was to study here for three years; now, he was already halfway through that time.
Zhang Ye and I shouldered brooms and began to clean. Though the prison had three floors, apart from the uninhabited third floor, the other two only required a sweep of the corridors.
Soon, we reached the third floor. We divided the work – one side for each – and started cleaning the corridor together.
Though uninhabited, the third floor wasn't very dirty, with just some dust and not a single piece of clutter.
About half an hour later, I finished cleaning my side. After waiting for several minutes, Zhang Ye was still nowhere to be seen. Bored, I swept the corridor again by myself.
As another half hour passed, I started to wonder what was going on. Why hadn't the Dormitory Head come out? Could it be that he had already finished cleaning and left? But that didn't seem like him.
I called out a few times, but there was no response. Left with no other choice, I began to search for him by checking each room on the side he was cleaning.
Not here... not here... still not here.
It wasn't until I reached the farthest cell that I caught sight of the Dormitory Head's figure. As soon as I entered, a musty smell assaulted my senses, and I quickly covered my nose. Taking a closer look, I couldn't help but frown. The place was supposed to be cleaned once a week, so why was it so filthy?
Scattered all over the floor were discarded newspapers covered in a thick layer of dust, and the wooden bunks were overgrown with verdant moss.
I reached out and tapped the Dormitory Head on the shoulder, asking what he was doing. It was dirty, sure, but there was no need to just stand there frozen.
He didn't answer me, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
When I followed his line of sight, I too broke out into a cold sweat. There… silently sat a cloth doll, grinning with a wide mouth and its eyes blinking intermittently.
I tried to pull the Dormitory Head out with me, but I couldn't budge him; he seemed as if he'd been hit by a spell of immobility.
Using all my strength, I dragged him out. Just then, he moved. He shook off my arm, grabbed the cloth doll, and tenderly stroked it before holding it tightly in his embrace.
He smiled at me and said that the doll was quite uniquely made and that he'd take it back to scare our dorm mates.
I was bewildered. Could the actions I witnessed earlier have been just an illusion? But if it was an illusion, it felt too real.
It took a great deal of effort for the two of us to clean up the cell. We filled an entire half-sack with just the discarded newspapers and such.
Lugging the heavy sack, we left the cell. Before leaving, I made a point to glance at the cell number—309.
Afterward, I felt some relief, sure that the Dormitory Head must have found the doll in cell 309 during a previous cleaning and concocted that story. Now, he was taking the doll down to frighten his cellmates.
When we reached the ground floor, the Warden saw Zhang Ye holding the cloth doll and scoffed. Ridiculing a grown man for playing with dolls, he then asked where we got it from.
Before Zhang Ye could speak up, I jumped in and said we'd found it in cell 309. The Warden's expression shifted slightly, but he didn't say much else, urging us instead to quickly dispose of the trash. From that subtle change in his expression, it was clear he had heard of the red-clothed woman's story too.
After dinner, we all returned to our cell. When everyone saw the doll sitting on the Dormitory Head's bed, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
I hurriedly explained, saying it was just the Dormitory Head trying to scare everyone.
The guys all cast contemptuous glances at the Dormitory Head, and a few even patted their chests, speaking in a mocking tone, "Oh my, that scared me to death. It's really too terrifying."
Lying in bed, as usual, we chatted for a while before each of us went to sleep.
Around midnight, a clattering sound came through, sounding like the noise of chains scraping across the floor.
I jolted awake and peered outside the cell door to see nothing, and the sound disappeared as if it had never been there.