What Do You Expect?

Walking forward, Euna suppressed a sob as she scanned her surroundings to discover a broken vase lying in a pool of thick blood. The vase's tulips were now drenched in the crimson bodily fluid, lying in the epicenter of the mess.

Euna only assumed that this was the result of the sound, which while it should have calmed her, it only made her nerves more restless. She didn't bother with cleaning it, and frankly, she didn't want to. If she didn't involve herself, nothing would happen. However, she found it strange how the blood didn't seep into the carpet, but rather, stayed on top.

Euna took to some storage bins lying in a corner of the room. In the dark, she could discern that they were gray woven bins stacked one on top of the other. She squatted down, letting her fingers run over the grooves of the material before inching her hands closer to the lid of the box. She pulled the lid off and groped the inside of the bin in order to scour every corner of it.

After checking most of the contents with no luck, Euna began to slowly move her hand out, only for it to be pulled right back in. A yelp escaped her lips as she felt her heart pound against her chest. She attempted to take her hand out again, but this time, nothing happened. A look of confusion makes its way to her face but she didn't question.

Fumbling with her flashlight, Euna slowly made her way to the meeting space of the staffroom. As soon as she entered, moonlight from a nearby window illuminated onto her, calming her nerves just a little. She headed for the window, gazing outside, only to see that it was pouring. She turned from the window, figuring that she should hurry up as she didn't want the outside to be any more puddle-infested when she would leave the school.

Euna eyed a shelf in the corner of the space and stumbled to it on her shaky legs. She lifted a trembling hand and started ransacking its contents. Whenever her hand landed on something that didn't feel like a key, she'd rip it off the shelf. After much of the shelf's items ended up on the floor, Euna spotted a mini closed compartment box in the corner of the shelf. She wasted no time in reaching for it and tearing it open.

"This is it!" Euna practically rejoiced at the key lying in her palm, using her other hand to toss the box to the side. Since she didn't want to spend another second standing around idly, she immediately sprung up from her spot to get out of the staffroom, bursting through the meeting space door. Her pace slowed to a brisk walk once she exited the room to the staffroom exit, her hand extending to the knob of the door. As soon as Euna stepped outside, she witnessed a gruesome, unsettling scene, leaving her in a state of shock.

The locker opposite of the staffroom, which Euna could have sworn was completely normal before she entered the room, was wide open and pooling with blood. Inside the locker was a mutilated body that had its head detached from its neck. The head had the words 'tubby boy' written across its forehead and was sitting in the lap of the body, slightly tipped to the side. Euna felt her legs wobbling as she took a step forward to examine the bloody scene. Aside from the bleeding decapitated body in the locker, there were blood splatters on multiple lockers on either side of it. Euna brought her flashlight to a bloodstain, touching it lightly with her hand and feeling it. She couldn't comprehend how this happened and didn't want to either.

Euna's head started pounding, a ringing sound blaring in her ear while she struggled to stay standing. She brought her hand to a bloodied locker and leaned on it, while her other landed on her chest to feel her heartbeat. Euna began to breathe heavily as she sat down from all the discomfort. Amidst the pulsating pain radiating throughout her body, she barely made out a high-pitched screech coming from down the hall. Hyperventilating, she forced herself on her feet while grabbing onto the locker for balance.

The scream died down as fast-paced footsteps coming from the same direction ensued, sending Euna's heart rate skyrocketing as she began to sprint to the direction of the maintenance room. She felt her feet stagger with every step she took but kept racing away from the footsteps that were now getting louder and faster.

Because of her childhood fear, Euna constantly felt as if she needed to check behind her, but something told her that it wasn't a good idea to do that at the moment. She rounded a corner, slipping slightly and hearing the clacking of steps grow nearer, throwing her into panic. Tears streamed down her face as she wailed from the growing soreness in her thighs and chest.

From a distance, Euna barely made out the maintenance room with her tears peppering her vision. She whipped out her key and made a final dash for the door. She forced her shaking hand to shove the key into the keyhole as the footsteps near closer than ever. To Euna, they sounded only 5 meters away. She hastily ripped open the doorknob and shut the door, feeling only a slight brush of her hair before disappearing into the maintenance room.