The closer she got, the heavier the atmosphere became, suffocating me. All I could do was watch in horror as the vengeful spirit crept closer, her form barely human anymore.
Is this really happening? If yes, then I won't die without fighting. "You ugly fake ghost! Sadako and White lady is more beautiful than you! Who are you even trying to impersonate, you-"
The ghost stopped in her tracks and she was gone. As if it was a hallucination. I thought it was finally over but I suddenly felt chills on my back as strands of hair slowly suffocated me.
The cold grip of her hair tightened around my throat, constricting my every breath. I gasped, struggling to inhale, but it was as if the air itself had been stolen from the room. My body trembled, frozen in place as the ghost's voice, icy and menacing, whispered into my ear, "You should have begged."
My vision blurred as the suffocation deepened, her hair wrapping tighter with every second. Panic surged in my chest as I tried to scream, but no sound escaped. My limbs were heavy, helpless against the force that held me captive.
"I told you," the ghost's voice hissed. "He's mine, and now you will pay for your defiance."
I fought with everything I had, clawing at the hair constricting my neck, but it was no use. My strength was fading, my mind clouding with fear. I was losing, and I could feel the ghost's grip tightening with each passing second. My lungs burned as I struggled for air, and spots of darkness began to invade my vision.
Just as I was about to give in, I heard a sharp noise—like a distant echo cutting through the haze of fear. The suffocating hair loosened ever so slightly, enough for me to take a shallow breath. I heard it again, louder this time, and through the ringing in my ears, I could make out a voice calling my name.
It was Xavier.
"Return to where you came from. This isn't a place for you to wander around carelessly."
As he spoke, I felt the force constricting my neck loosen, the hair that had been suffocating me retracting inch by inch. The cold, suffocating pressure that had wrapped around me began to fade, as if his words held some kind of power over the entity.
I gasped, gulping in air, my body shaking from the sudden release. The oppressive presence that had threatened to consume me just moments ago was retreating, vanishing back into the shadows. I could still feel her eyes on me, her cold malice lingering in the air, but she was no longer right in front of me. Slowly, the room seemed to return to normal, though an unsettling chill remained.
I couldn't answer him, my body still trembling as I knelt on the floor, trying to catch my breath. The room felt cold, the air heavy with lingering dread. Xavier bent down, his expression unreadable, and wrapped an arm around me to help me stand. But my knees buckled, still too weak from the ordeal, refusing to support my weight.
Without a word, he effortlessly scooped me up, carrying me in his arms. I felt too disoriented to protest, and a strange sense of vulnerability washed over me.
"Is this real—" my words caught in my throat as I noticed something unbelievable behind Xavier. A large, transparent figure loomed over him.
My breath hitched as I realized it was a tiger—a massive one, with wings spreading out like those of a majestic creature from legends. Its glowing eyes were fixed on me, exuding an intense, almost predatory aura.
My body stiffened, my heart pounding in my chest as I tightly clung to Xavier without thinking. My eyes couldn't tear away from the tiger as it stared back at me with an otherworldly presence. The piercing aura I felt wasn't coming from Xavier; it was radiating from this spectral beast, silent yet terrifying.
The more I stared, the more I felt like it was testing me, as if gauging whether I was a threat or something else. I buried my face into Xavier's chest, my mind racing with questions. Was this tiger his? Did he even know it was there?
Xavier carefully placed me down on one of the seats, his movements calm and steady as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened. I watched him as he silently went about cleaning the mess inside the staff room, but my gaze kept darting to the now-vanished tiger. It had been real. The aura, the pressure—it wasn't just my imagination.
As I sat there, my mind raced through everything. The warnings, the strange stories, the cryptic comments from the others—they weren't just to scare me. They were trying to tell me the truth. I thought it had all been some exaggerated joke to frighten a newcomer, but now I realized how wrong I'd been.
The weight of everything—both the fear and exhaustion—was too much. My body gave in. The mental strain, the creeping dread, and the physical fatigue all crashed into me at once. My vision blurred, and the room spun around me.
Before I could even process it fully, darkness overtook me, and I fainted right there in the staff room.