Third Story: A Night to Remember

Chapter 5

19 October 2021

Here we are again. 'A' High School courtyard at 10:30 pm. This time we have relocated the metal sheet to a further place from the hole as insurance. There won't be a repeat of last night. Surprisingly, Nam and the girls have finished all of the homework for today; I am almost impressed if not for the silly reason that they are hunting for 'ghosts'. I have my own personal stake in this, though: I am here to gather decisive evidence to debunk this urban legend that my schoolmates have been discussing left and right, during class and during break time, on social media early in the morning and after school.

I usually go out to shop for groceries for my entire family at night, but this is one of the few times that I have some time to stop and appreciate the scenery of Hanoi. The city at night emanates a mysterious, yet strangely welcome aura. Hanoi is akin to a shy girl, who turns out to be an interesting person once you get to know her better. The rich, the poor, the damned, the sinners, the intellectuals, the workers and the farmers are all welcome and treated equally in Hanoi, unlike Saigon, where vice lies hidden every corner and wears a façade to lure in gullible, honest village people from surrounding provinces.

The faint neon lights of various bars and hotels flash in a rhythmic manner around Sword Lake, while the headlights of motorbikes dash past like fireflies. The school and the area around the lake are eerily quiet. The moon silently watches over us, its profile partially blurred by the clouds drifting in the night sky. A few navigation lights flash among the stars, and I soon find myself gazing at the mysterious sky over our dear city. Too bad, I don't have time for stargazing now. Scanning the school grounds again like a hunter searching for a prey, I notice that the lights are off inside the forgotten warehouse behind the annexe.

Vân is making sure that the guard at the guardhouse has not spotted us. It seems like today he is enjoying a game of football and some doughnuts, as well as a cup of coffee. I'm sure it's tempting for the rest of the group to take a picture and send it to the principal but that would be exposing our trespassing to the school, defeating the purpose of blackmail.

All of a sudden, we hear a loud smash from the main building. Simultaneously turning our heads in the direction of the sound, we were definitely caught off guard. I quickly glance behind and to my genuine surprise, the guard seems unfazed by the noise. I inch closer to the guardhouse to find out that he is peacefully snoring away all his troubles of the day. Oh dear, what use would our school have with a guard who is sleeping during his night shift?

"Do you want to go investigate the noise?" Nam steps forward, not looking back at us.

"Do we have a choice?" I ask incredulously.

We hurry up the stairs and decide to investigate the classrooms again. To do it in a more efficient manner, Xuân unlocks all the padlocks on the doors to the classrooms beforehand before we get down to business. There does not seem to be anything wrong with the classes. Just to make sure we are being covert, I watch the guardhouse again. Thankfully, he is still engrossed in the match. I won't need to kick another desk and anger another upperclassman tonight.

"Found anything suspicious?" Xuân asks me as I go back to the staircase.

"No, what about you?"

"Still the same as usual. Here come the other two," she says as she points at the two figures slowly ascending the stairs.

"We didn't find any clues," Nam announces.

"Then the biology lab, it is," I point upstairs and begin climbing the cold stone steps.

The laboratory looks as ominous as always, even during the daytime. As if this case was not enough, there were even rumours that the skeleton can move by itself after school and the place was haunted by the spirits of the dead animals experimented on by students. It does not take us too long to notice the bloody handprints on the windows again, this time on a different position from yesterday.