Chapter 58. Red Dancing Shoes |
Chen Ge was only half a finger away from the mirror, so he got a much better view than he would have liked. The elegant school uniform was dripping with fresh blood that caused it to stick to her body. Her face was hidden behind her hair, and the overly pale skin that was exposed looked scary.
The cold light from the phone screen twisted, and Chen Ge could feel his limbs becoming frozen. He used every ounce of energy in his body to stabilize his lips before he could utter the girl’s name.
“Zhang Ya?”
As if hearing Chen Ge’s voice, the girl slowly raised her head. The curtain of black hair parted to the side, and an unblemished face appeared in his view. However, the mirror started to mist when her head was only raised halfway. She took a step forward, and she disappeared from the mirror.
“Where did she go?”
Chen Ge stared at the mirror, and something even more curious happened. Cast from the phone’s light, his shadow slowly stood up to stand behind him.
Chen Ge could see that the shadow was about 1.7 meters tall. As the dripping sound of something like blood entered his ears, the shadow started to gain color. The bloodied uniform stuck to its body, and it was all red.
Chen Ge stood where he was and did not dare move. The chilliness from his back had climbed up his spine to his brain. Right then, the red shadow took another step back to lean against his back!
Standing back to back, Chen Ge’s body froze. Even as he gasped for air, the sensation that he was running out of air would not go away.
Standing back to back was sometimes quite scary because you could not know who was standing behind you.
Something cold seemed to reach for his fingers. Chen Ge did not dare turn to take a look. His frozen fingers slowly opened to allow the phone to slide to the floor. The light flickered twice before it switched off suddenly.
Surrounded by darkness, the coldness behind his back continued to spread. Chen Ge couldn’t even imagine the things that were happening to him. 2 am, inside an abandoned school’s dance studio, facing a tall mirror, standing back to back with a Red Specter… in a way, I guess one could call this romance.
Various thoughts crossed Chen Ge’s mind. Something was holding his hand, and it made him feel increasingly cold. The hair of the girl behind him was moving as it entwined itself with Chen Ge’s hair.
What is she planning to do? My mission here is to find the red dancing shoes. I’ll fail the mission if I am unable to do that before dawn.
However, Chen Ge’s body was frozen in place, and the only thing he could do was stare at the mirror before him. He did not notice it initially, but several seconds later, he realized with a start that fuzzy shadows were forming inside the mirror. He widened his eyes as the shadows started to become clearer.
Wait, aren’t these the girls who are trapped inside the chairs?
Inside the mirror, five girls in clean uniforms entered the dance studio. Their outfits were completely different from what Chen Ge had seen earlier, so he suspected that the images he saw now were reflecting scenes that happened years ago.
The five girls walked toward the mirror, laughing among themselves. Soon after they entered the studio, Zhang Ya showed up. Even though they were wearing the same uniform, Zhang Ya carried herself in a different way than the rest of the girls.
She was carrying a bag in her hands. Chen Ge had seen this bag before inside the girl’s dressing room; it was holding the five candy boxes.
Zhang Ya seemed to be in quite a good mood. She walked into the dressing room with hurried steps, and several minutes later, all six girls came out wearing their ballet dresses.
The situation had not changed much. The five girls were in their little group while Zhang Ya tailed behind alone.
Not long after they started their training, the dance studio’s door was pushed open. A female teacher walked in holding the Swan Lake winning certificate in her hand. She was talking animatedly with the girls, probably encouraging and congratulating them.
That day was probably not a normal school day because Chen Ge didn’t see any other students. The six of them were likely there to do intensive training to prepare for the state-wide competition.
The female teacher left after half an hour. After making sure the teacher had left, the five girls stopped practicing and started playing on their phones and chatting while lying on the floor. The only one practicing was Zhang Ya.
Then, one of the girls said something while pointing at Zhang Ya. The rest of the girls laughed with the exception of Zhang Ya. However, she did not seem to mind it too much. After practicing for a little while longer, she stopped to rest. Then she turned to walk into the dressing room and came out with the bag of candy boxes.
Zhang Ya passed them to the girls, but as one of them reached for it, she was stopped by one of the other girls, who was as tall as Zhang Ya. She said many things while pointing her finger assertively at Zhang Ya. She then ran into the dressing room and came out with a school bag. She pulled out several love letters from it. From the name, Chen Ge knew they were all addressed to Zhang Ya.
This could not really be considered an argument because it was totally one-sided, dominated by the other girl who was weirdly agitated.
Zhang Ya’s candy boxes were thus rejected. She placed them back into the bag and left. Chen Ge thought that was the end, but not long after that, the door to the dance studio was pushed open again. The few girls were startled. Thinking it was the teacher, they quickly climbed up from the floor and started to ‘practice’.
A fuzzy shadow of a male walked in. He was about 1.8 meters tall, slouching, and very large in size.
The man said something to the girls, and only two said something in return to him. Chen Ge was confused by his identity.
The girls soon returned to their practice, and the man entered the office. Later, he opened the office door and waved for Zhang Ya to come to him. Zhang Ya appeared like she did not know or even trust the man. She walked toward the office with hesitation and stood at the door but did not go in.
The mirror could not reflect what was inside the office. However, about eight seconds later, the scene on the mirror darkened as Zhang Ya ran out of the office. Holding his arm, the man chased after her while cursing all the way.
All five girls in the dance studio saw this, but all of them sat where they were. None of them were willing to go to Zhang Ya’s aid. Soon, Zhang Ya was cornered at a space that was nowhere close to the door. She screamed loudly for help, but it was not answered. The girls acted like they did not even hear her.
The man said many unsavory things as he closed in on Zhang Ya. Zhang Ya’s hands had reached the edge of the window behind her—there was only one exit left.
Looking at the scene that played itself on the mirror, Chen Ge was suddenly reminded of the lines that appeared on the black phone when he won the love letter.
Her eyes exposed, cheeks white as ash, the moment she fell off the building, she became the taboo of the school. Red dancing shoes and blood-dyed uniform, even her name became something that was only uttered in frantic whispers.
The man studied the empty window closely but did not rush down to save Zhang Ya. Instead, he took several steps back to stop beside the five girls, who were in complete shock.
Comments 10