Third Story: A Night to Remember

Chapter 6

19 October 2021

Without even uttering a single word, the four of us scatter and find hiding spots. This time, nonetheless, is not as scary as last night because the team became disenchanted with supernatural occurrences in this school. There they are, wearing the same outfit and sporting the same unkempt, bloody appearance. The 'ghost' looks around and turns even paler than they are supposed to in a sudden. Shoot, the door to the lab is open, that's why they are getting suspicious. Our dear 'ghost' enters the lab and looks around, alerted.

"Why don't we take that accursed person down?" Nam whispers to me from under the adjacent bench.

"We need to catch the perpetrator red-handed because we don't have proof," I lean against the solid leg of the bench, trying to enunciate the words softly. "And if we whack them now, it'll be considered assault."

He flashes a thumb-up out of his hiding place so that the three of us can see it.

"What a stickler for rules," Vân suddenly leaves her position and creeps up behind the 'ghost'.

Nam immediately drags her back under the benches forcefully while covering her mouth with his right hand and we stay silent for what feels like an eternity. Seconds felt like centuries. Finally, the 'ghost' does not manage to find us, despite Vân's attempt to bludgeon them, and promptly leaves the room.

"They're gone now," the karate girl remarks as she gets out of the bench, bumping her head in the process. "What were you guys doing though?? That was such a perfect opportunity!"

"Ow! What gives?" Xuân cries when Vân kicks her friend hard just to lash out anger.

Nam spends some minutes placating his unofficial girlfriend while tending to her bump. I wonder about what kind of surprise fate has in store for us tonight. I try not to think too hard about it: my life's crazy already.

As soon as I follow Xuân out of the accursed chemistry laboratory, thoughts strike me: I begin to wonder if the terrible noise we heard before entering the main building was caused by the prankster so as to attract our attention. When I think about it, it makes sense. For some reason, they are trying really hard to scare us away, as if they are hiding something at this school. But I wonder if the idiot realises that the plan has backfired spectacularly because we are drawn to this school. God knows if others have also attempted to break into the premises at night.

"What should we do next?" Xuân plays with her hair flirtatiously.

"To the Music Room next, I'll expose the trick behind the so-called self-playing piano," I reply. "We don't have much time left, it's already midnight, so get a move on."

Standing in front of the music room, we stare awkwardly at one another as we wait for the music to play. Xuân refuses to unlock the door now because she apparently postulates that the phenomenon would not occur if we were to intrude too soon. Nonsense, haven't I been explaining those strange, separate incidents to you just now? Besides, if they want to scare us so much such that we run home with our tails between the legs, it will be more effective to play the piece while we're stuck in the room.

"Quiet!" I shush the noisy people around me and they obey almost immediately.

The 'wrong notes' of the first part of Chopin's étude sound and are swallowed by the stifling silence but I decide to violate the unspoken rule of interrupting the (fake) performance by telling the smartphone addict to pick the lock. The door opens unceremoniously and we split up to search the room at once. I notice a suspicious gap between the score drawer next to the door and the wall so I reach inside, hoping that I would find something. Jackpot. A speaker and a recorder. The music is indeed coming from the apparatus and I turn off both devices. Before I knew it, a bright smile has already spread across my face.