They All Say I've Met a Ghost

7

This time the school bus wasn't so cold. It was very comfortable.

The driver didn't speak. In the dimness I fell deeply asleep in my seat. In my sleep, I felt a bitter gust of wind around me. When I opened my eyes, it seemed that the cold wind was swirling away from me. The driver must have had his air-conditioning on a very distinct setting.

I dozed uneasily all the way to Benevolence Middle School. The driver stopped the bus and said to me, "Get off. The classes usually take two hours. I'll pick you up at two o'clock. I'll wait for you until five o'clock in the morning at the latest. If you haven’t come out by five…”

The driver looked at me very seriously. His eyes were shining in the night.

I quickly said, "You don't have to wait until 5 o'clock, dage. It’s such hard work going out in the middle of the night. If I'm five minutes late, you can go home and rest. I'll get back on a bike share. It's summer, the nights are pleasant. I can get some exercise. "

The driver ignored me and stubbornly said, "I'll wait until 5 o'clock. I hope you can get out."

He really was a dedicated and kind-hearted colleague. As a new professional, I wanted to take the driver as an example and be a serious and responsible teacher.

As soon as I got out, the driver drove the school bus away, not even leaving me with the exhaust. He really was an efficient person.

I looked up at my future place of employment. Benevolence Middle School had been closed for three years. It looked very desolate from the outside. The gate was covered with dust and cobwebs. Evidently no one had come here for a long time.

Looking at the locked door, I worried about how to get into the school. Since Principal Zhang had rented the school classroom, couldn't she also have hired someone to manage the door?

Seeing that the class’s start time was approaching, I took out my phone and sent a message to Principal Zhang: The gate of Benevolence Middle School is locked. How can I get in?

Principal Zhang must have been keeping an eye out for news of her new employee. She immediately replied: The east side, a little door.

Then she sent another message: The students are very naughty and may pretend to be ghosts to scare you. If you are not afraid, it will be OK.

Of course I wouldn't be afraid of some pranks. When I was a student, the male students often played pranks to scare people.

I quickly ran to the east side with my book bag on my back. I did indeed see a small red door standing open. It looked like the red paint hadn’t dried yet. I took out a tissue paper from my bag and pushed the door open with the paper to prevent the paint from getting on my hands.

The Fourth Class, Third Year classroom was very easy to find. That classroom was the only place in the whole school where the lights were on. I could see it as soon as I looked up.

Thinking that the students would be waiting for me in the classroom, I felt hurried and rushed inside. The automatic door opened for me.

The hall and corridor were unlit. The Fourth Class, Third Year classroom was on the fourth floor. I didn't dare to walk too fast in the pitch-black surroundings. First I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight to illuminate the first flight of stairs. Then I climbed up.

Every time I went up a flight, I first lit up the whole stairwell to make sure of my path before I started climbing. When had I climbed halfway between the third and fourth floor, I saw something in the corner of the stairwell. The flashlight wasn’t bright enough to see it clearly. I went up to the corner and saw a red dress.