There was once a rumor that went around in a high school that if you got a déjà vu and saw a ghost right after, then you slept through classes or at school, you will be taken into another world where not a single living being was there, except you and the people who went through the same thing as you in the same day.

And when you got there, you couldn’t go back.

It was such an old rumor that the students didn’t believe it and thought it was just a way for them to behave and not sleep through classes, a joke that was made by the teachers to scare them.

Until the other day when suddenly, a girl from class A said she got a déjà vu and said it was so clear and so strong. Right after that, she felt a presence behind her and when she turned around, she saw a woman standing not very far from her, probably only 2 meters away, wearing a white dress and her black hair covering her whole face. She couldn’t describe it with words, but that woman brought such a chilly and eerie atmosphere with her that she got goosebumps all over her body.

She said her body froze and she couldn’t move a single muscle, she couldn’t even blink.

It lasted for a few seconds before the ghost disappeared.

Everybody thought it was a joke, because the girl was famous for telling nonsense stories.

She was upset that not a single person believed in her, so she purposely slept through classes to prove that she wasn’t wrong.

That girl, didn’t wake up for the rest of her life.

“That’s just bull, Jiho” Mihyun rolled her eyes while taking a bite of her sandwich.

“That is not! I was surfing the internet about our school and I stumbled upon that article. There was even a picture of the news in the newspaper with it.” Jiho shrugged. She always thought things like this were always fun and cool.

“How long ago is that article anyway?” Yoobin asked.

“It’s in 1995 if I remember correctly.” Jiho said while eating the food in front of her like crazy, such a contrast with her visual.

“That’s like what? About 20 years ago?” Mihyun rolled her eyes.

“Mmhm, the article also said that the school has been hiding that fact for a while now, because around that year, a lot of students went out from the school in fear. Now that time has passed, the rumor has died down since only that girl experienced it.” Jiho cleaned .

“How can you like such a thing? That’s just creepy. I’d rather watch zombies than listening to those stories.” Yoobin shrugged.

“Hell no! Zombies are disgusting!” Jiho cringed. She then drank her milk before she spoke up again, “then I searched up for the thing to help guiding us back if we’re taken to another world and I bring it with me” She rummaged through her bag and took out a compass.

“A compass? Really?” Mihyun burst out laughing, “That’s just lame”

“It said, if you’re taken into another world, everything seems perfectly the same except for the deafening silence. The clock will stop at the number 12 and there will be no one there. It also said that if you take out this compass, it will point at the North all the time, no matter where you go.” Jiho ignored Mihyun’s remark.

“To get out from there, you have to walk and walk to all places in the school, until you find the gate that separates the real world and that other world. The trouble is, the gate is invisible and the only way to know is by looking at the compass. If it moves from North to South then that means you have found the gate, and you can escape from there by saying ‘I came from the real world and I want to go back’. If you can’t escape within 24 hours, then you’ll be forever trapped there.” She added.

“Then, why can’t we just say that to every place we’ve been, we could’ve been lucky, why need the compass?” Yoobin raised her eyebrows.

“Because you’re only given 3 chances to escape. If you said the spell more than three times, then you’ll be trapped there as well. And you can’t just go everywhere while yelling that, because there’ll be other things there.” The girl explained.

“Where did you get all of that information? That seems shabby, cheesy, and fake. It’s like that movie I watched the other time, it’s just so lame” Mihyun shook her head.

“What other things?” Yoobin ignored the blonde as she was getting interested in the story.

“It said a lot of weird things, ghosts, weird looking creatures, dead people hanging from the ceiling, blood scattering everywhere, and I don’t know, there are a lot more. It said if you met ghosts and other creatures you’re not supposed to look into their eyes, I don’t really know the reason.”

The bell then rang, stopping their conversation.

“Well, it’s been fun listening to that story” Mihyun sarcastically said while standing up.

“Wait, here” Jiho took out another two compasses and gave each to Mihyun and Yoobin. “Just in case.” She shrugged.

Mihyun wanted to just laugh, but she held it in as Jiho seemed to be serious about it. She took the compass anyway and put it inside her bag, just in case she got lost in the forest if she met one.

The blonde groaned. She looked at her watch and sighed when it was already five in the evening. She had spent the whole hour trying to get the choreography down for the school’s anniversary but she couldn’t really get it right. Maybe her condition wasn’t good today, she wasn’t able to concentrate as much as she used to. She stopped the music and went out of the practice room to take a breath of fresh air.

She walked around the school’s empty hallway, since not many students stayed in school at this hour except for a few club activities. She looked out of the window and saw the basketball team practicing hard for their upcoming competition, as well as the cheerleader team. She suddenly got a strong sensation that she had seen this before.

Was that a déjà vu?

Mihyun then remembered the rumor that Jiho talked about and shrugged it off. She kept on staring at the basketball team when she noticed, there was a woman standing right beside the field, where the basketball team was. The woman was wearing all white with her black hair down, covering half of her face. She didn’t remember seeing her there earlier and neither the basketball nor the cheerleader team paid any attention to her.

Who is she? Mihyun squinted to take a better look. She had never seen her before.

Suddenly, the woman raised her head slowly and their eyes met.

As soon as their eyes met, Mihyun froze in her spot, she couldn’t move. The woman was staring at her, her face was pale white, and her eyes were bloodshot. She tried to turn her head away, but she couldn’t move a single muscle in her body, she couldn’t even close her eyes.

She unwillingly stared at the woman in fear. She could feel blood rushing through her body as her heart was pounding in her chest. She gulped the lump in as the woman kept on staring at her.

Mihyun then got goosebumps all over her body.

The woman put on a wide terrifying smile and laughed.

Her voice was ringing in her head.

A really really sadistic laugh.

“Where have you been? I thought you went home” Mihyun came back to the practice room and was greeted by her senior.

“A-ah, no… Um, I was just walking around the school.” The blonde grinned between her pant.

“Why are you sweating so much? Have you been running?”

“Well a bit.” Mihyun chuckled.

“Maybe you can rest a bit on the couch, but I need to go home so clean up the room after you finish using it okay?” The girl said, waving at her while walking out of the door.

As soon as the door closed, Mihyun’s smile fell, her legs had given up as she collapsed to the couch. Her eyes were wide, horrified at what she had seen earlier. She buried her face on her palms and sighed, the woman’s terrifying laugh was haunting her. She shivered in fear as she could remember vividly how disturbing her laugh was.

Mihyun lay down on the couch with her arm covering her eyes. Her chest heaved up and down. Her energy was drained and she was totally exhausted for some kind of reason.

Everything is going to be alright. She said over and over in her head as she drifted to the dreamland.

“Ugh…” Mihyun groaned as she got up from her uncomfortable position. God, her back ached so bad. She stood up from the couch and stretched her body to loosen up the tension.

How long have I been asleep for? She thought.

Mihyun then looked at her watch and frowned when it stopped at 12. Is it broken? Why isn’t this thing working? She shook her watch several times but the hands wouldn’t move.

She then looked around the room and found the clock above the mirror in exactly the same state.

“That’s a weird coincidence” She mumbled.

She then went out of the practice room to the hallway. Her footsteps echoed through the hallway and she stopped in track. She looked outside the window, it was the same condition as earlier, the sky was orange as the sun set, the only difference was there were no people on the field, not a single person was there, not even the guard.

She tilted her head in confusion, now that she noticed, it was dead silent here.

She shivered, it was kind of eerie.

Suddenly it clicked in her head.

The clock and my watch all stop at 12, and so is the clock here at the hallway. There is no single person and the silence is deafening, not a single sound is heard except my footsteps. I got a déjà vu, saw what likely to be a ghost and slept.

.

Mihyun rummaged through her bag frantically and took the compass Jiho gave her earlier. She swore she saw it moved earlier when she got it, but now, it was stuck pointing at the North.

Oh my God, what kind of ty karma is this? Just because I thought the story was hilarious? Mihyun groaned, she kind of regretted laughing at Jiho’s face.

She continued walking with the compass in her hand carefully. She stopped in her track and took a deep breath to calm herself down. Her heart seemed like it was about to get out of her chest and her whole body wouldn’t stop shaking.

She gulped the lump in .

“You can do this” She mumbled, eyeing the seemingly endless doors from side to side. She had just realized her school had so many rooms.

She stopped in front of the first door. It was a door to a classroom.

Mihyun took a deep breath again, eyeing the door which seemed totally in a perfect condition.

She hesitantly reached for the door and quickly slid it open with a loud thud.

The blonde gulped, looking around the empty room. She carefully took a step inside, everything looked the same. She didn’t know being in school alone would send chills down her spine. She wiped the cold sweat on her forehead and braved herself to walked around the room while glancing at the compass which she held tightly in her palm.

When she reached the back of the classroom she found a table, which was located in the corner, it was full of red, messy, and random handwritings. She walked closer to the table in curiosity and saw a lot of disturbing words, such as, ‘DIE’ ‘YOU CAN’T ESCAPE’ ‘WORSHIP HIM’ ‘THE DEMON IS REAL’ and other things she would rather not read.

She shuddered.

When Mihyun turned around and was about to walk away, she heard someone whispered right in her ears with a raspy voice.

“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE! YOU CAN’T!”

She quickly turned to the source of the voice but found no one, not even a sound of the wind was heard, there was absolutely nothing there. She looked around frantically and no one was in sight. She felt chills ran down her spine.

Mihyun then quickly ran outside the room without thinking twice and shut the door close. She slid down to the floor and panted. Tears were b in the corner of her eyes, “Whatthewhatthewhatthe!” She rambled. “What the actual is going on?!” She said in frustration. She muffled a scream as she covered her face in her palms.

It was just one room and she felt like giving up already.

She shook her head as she looked up, so what? I’m literally dead anyway, what am I afraid for? She nodded while trying to convince herself.

Mihyun’s ears then perked up when suddenly she heard a faint voice from downstairs.

“Hello? Is there anyone there? Hello!”

It was a girl. She turned her head quickly to her right and heard footsteps echoing through the building. It was dead silent here, she could just literally hear every single sound.

Mihyun got up and slowly walked to where the stair was located. She was in the third floor and judging from the faintness of the voice, the girl was probably in the first floor, wandering around the hallway.

The blonde suddenly stopped in her track when she heard a scream.

“What happened?” She mumbled as she now heard footsteps urgently running up the stairs. She heard a series of panting and squealing as the footsteps got faster and closer to where she was.

Wh-what should I do?