"Are you the janitor here?" Richard wasn't too surprised to see Lauren. It was inevitable to bump into her while wandering around, given that everyone here was from their school.
"Yeah, I'm in charge of cleaning this room." Lauren held a broom, pointing towards the shelves behind her, while nervously keeping an eye on the surroundings.
This was a storage room, with boxes of various sizes on the shelves, likely storing documents.
"Why hide here?" Richard was puzzled. Despite wearing a uniform and doing her job, ghosts wouldn't harm them, but Lauren seemed fearful and uneasy.
"There's a ghost in the hallway. It keeps leading us in circles whenever we try to pass through," Lauren explained. Many students were harassed by the hallway ghost yesterday, causing quite a mess.
Despite wearing uniforms, ghosts still harbored malice towards humans. They wouldn't harm you physically but would play pranks and make life difficult for you.
So, that's why she dragged Richard in.
Richard knew she was talking about the ghost inside the walls and said, "Don't worry, I gave it a good telling off. It won't dare to cause trouble."
Regardless of whether she believed him or not, Richard asked, "Is Simon responsible for the area with the bathroom?"
"Yes, he shares a dorm room with me, but he didn't come back last night. You saw that dark misty door, right? He's been trapped in there since yesterday and still hasn't come out."
"He seems to have offended the ghost in the restroom. Perhaps..." Lauren, aware of Richard and Simon's relationship, didn't continue.
Richard's expression darkened. "Can we go in?"
"We can't. The door is locked, and the key is with the old lady in the lobby."
Although they were just classmates, Lauren was considering asking the old lady to help rescue Simon from the bathroom.
But seeing the old lady, whose eye sockets were bloody hollows, Lauren couldn't gather the courage.
"Alright, thank you," Richard nodded.
Lauren knew Richard was going to get the key and advised him, "Simon has been stuck for almost 48 hours now. The chance of him still being alive is very slim. Though you might get angry hearing this, that ghostly old lady is terrifying. If you provoke her, you won't be able to walk out of this building."
"It's okay. Actually, ghosts are quite reasonable. You just need to reason with them," Richard said.
"???"
Reasonable? Lauren looked at Richard in shock.
Richard waved his hand, ready to leave. "You keep busy, I'll head out."
"Wait!" Lauren called out to Richard, a mix of pleading and fear in her expression.
"What's wrong?" Richard inquired.
Lauren stepped aside, pointing to a messy shelf in the corner. "I can never tidy up this shelf. Every time I arrange it, things on the shelf get knocked off."
"It's almost time now. If the old lady sees that I haven't cleaned properly, I'll be in deep trouble!" Lauren's eyes were red with urgency.
She wasn't sure if Richard would help. Despite being classmates, they rarely interacted in class. Moreover, who would willingly provoke a ghost?
"You can't put anything up?" Richard, confused, picked up a box of tape and placed it on the second shelf of the rack.
But the next moment, the box flew off. The entire shelf started shaking, emitting eerie laughter.
A pair of hands emerged from the shelf, grabbing items and wildly throwing them around, creating a chaotic mess on the floor.
Evidently, Lauren was being targeted by a shelf ghost.
As a human, she was helpless, picking up items and trying to place them back on the shelf while crying in fear.
After two hours, despite her efforts, the items remained scattered on the floor, as the shelf ghost was determined to torment her.
In tears and desperation, Lauren finally begged Richard for help.
The eerie laughter echoed through the room, full of sinister satisfaction.
After a brief silence, Richard smiled, "This is an easy fix!"
With that, he took out a bone mallet and bone nails. With a swift strike, a bone nail went half an inch deep into the shelf!
White smoke hissed out as the shelf ghost let out a miserable cry, "Human, how dare you pierce me?"
The shelf shook violently, almost like it was transforming into a gaping maw, ready to consume Richard.
Without a word, another strike sent a nail in another half-inch.
"I'll tear you apart!"
Another strike was the response!
As a plume of black smoke billowed out, the shelf oozed dark blood and became blurred and indistinct.
At that moment, the ghost realized it was dealing with someone not to be trifled with and quickly begged, "Brother, please speak nicely! Stop hitting me, or I'll vanish!"
The voice trembled with fear.
Gone was the earlier arrogance and hostility.
Richard then chuckled lightly, "It would have been better if you'd spoken like this earlier. I'm quite easy to get along with."
The shelf ghost remained speechless.
"How much time do you need?" Richard turned to Lauren.
"Five minutes." Lauren kept an eye on the clock on the wall.
Addressing the shelf ghost, Richard said, "Five minutes to clean up this room. If there is even a speck of dirt left, and my friend faces consequences, you won't live to regret it!"
The shelf ghost dared not resist. It had long been tainted by ghostly energy, a conscious entity formed with autonomy, but not even a proper ghost. It bullied newcomers to this place, quickly backing down in the face of a stern authority.
"Everything will be spotless, brother, you can rest assured!" the shelf ghost responded.
As the items, which lay scattered on the floor, seemed to grow legs and hop back onto the shelves, Richard raised an eyebrow at Lauren, "Ghosts are like us, they'll bully the weak but fear the strong. You're fiercer than it."
Lauren, too astonished to utter a word, was probably thinking you definitely have a way with these things!
"The problem's sorted, I'm off." Bid Lauren farewell, Richard returned to the lobby on the ground floor.
The ghostly old lady was dragging two mutilated bodies out of a room, tossing them into a meat grinder.
Approaching her politely, Richard greeted, "Madam, I'm back again."
The old lady continued her work, paying no attention.
"Madam, could I borrow the key to the second-floor bathroom? I need to use it." Richard got straight to the point.
The old lady remained silent, as though she hadn't heard.
After pondering for a moment, Richard proposed, "I can make a deal with you."
With that, he produced some ghost coins.
The old lady suddenly looked up, her eye sockets pitch-black, the eyeballs missing. "You want to save the boy in the bathroom?"
Richard nodded.
"Help me find my mischievous grandson, and I'll give you the key."
Richard's expression lit up.
For the old lady to say this meant Simon was still alive!
"Sure, could you tell me where your grandson is?"
"He's very mischievous, always running around. He could be in the basement, on the rooftop, or in some corner."
"You'll have to find him yourself."
"Alright, please wait here, Madam."
This indicated that he would only be within this building, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find him.
Turning to leave, the old lady stopped him and added, "And, help me find my eyeballs."
"..."