Terror at the Gym

Evelyn's brows furrowed as she quickly walked out of the office, with Logan following close behind. A sense of unease gnawed at him.

The gym was already in chaos. The front door had somehow been locked, leaving a group of panicked customers trapped inside, frantically shouting to be let out.The trainers, despite their own fears, were doing their best to calm the customers, trying to prevent a full-blown panic.

"What's going on? Tell me everything!"Evelyn demanded, her voice steady and authoritative, immediately commanding the attention of everyone in the gym.

In the weightlifting area, two or three trainers stepped aside, revealing a horrifying scene. A male customer lay lifeless on a bench press, a heavy barbell pinning him down. His face was pale, and it was clear that he had died from asphyxiation.

The man had been crushed to death."Who was the trainer responsible for him?"Evelyn's voice was sharp as she demanded answers. This was an unforgivable mistake—someone should have been spotting the customer.

"I went to the restroom, but I told him clearly to wait until I got back before continuing! He didn't listen!"A middle-aged trainer, clearly distressed, tried to defend himself.

"You..."Evelyn was furious but knew she was powerless in this situation. She wasn't the police—how could she possibly determine the truth?

"Let's check the security footage. Even if you weren't there, someone else should have noticed. How could a grown man end up like this without anyone intervening?"Logan suggested, sensing that this might not be a simple case of negligence.

Evelyn nodded in agreement, signaling to Lily, who quickly ran to the front desk to pull up the security footage on the gym's large screen.

Logan watched closely as the footage played. The middle-aged trainer, as he claimed, had spoken briefly to the customer before heading to the restroom. However, the customer then acted as if he was in a trance, lying down on the bench and attempting a lift on his own. After a weak attempt, he suddenly let go, allowing the barbell to crush him without making a sound, his face turning red and his eyes bulging. Within minutes, he was dead. It took several minutes before the trainer returned and discovered his lifeless body.

"It's a supernatural event."Logan's heart sank. This man's death had all the hallmarks of a supernatural occurrence. He had barely survived an encounter the night before, and now another one was happening right here, in broad daylight.

"Where there's one supernatural event, there's usually more,"Logan recalled a phrase from the website dedicated to tracking these events. As someone now half-supernatural himself, Logan knew that his presence might be attracting these entities.

"Has anyone called the police?"Evelyn rubbed her temples, trying to process the situation. She hadn't expected to walk into such a disaster when she decided to visit the gym to tease Logan.

"I did, but they said no one is allowed to leave the scene. They need to question everyone," Lily answered quickly, her voice tinged with fear.

"So many people... Today's gym session is quite lively, huh?"Suddenly, an eerie voice echoed through the gym's speaker system. It was a man's voice, raspy and unsettling.

"Who is that?"The people in the gym began to look around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

Lily started trembling, on the verge of tears. "Ms. Sanders, there's no one at the front desk!"

Evelyn suddenly remembered that the speaker system was controlled from the front desk, used to make announcements and play music. If no one was there, then who was speaking?

"Mr. Johnson, please do a set of standard sit-ups now!"The voice on the speakers began issuing commands.

"Who's playing tricks?"Mr. Johnson, the middle-aged trainer who had been responsible for the deceased customer, was already on edge. Being the first one named by the voice only heightened his anxiety. He shouted back, trying to mask his fear.

"Mr. Johnson, don't argue. Just do what it says!"Logan quickly advised, fearing the consequences of disobedience. This was no ordinary prank—it was a supernatural force, and defying it could lead to something far worse.

Logan had a good relationship with Mr. Johnson, so the trainer listened and immediately lay down to start doing sit-ups.

The other trainers and customers watched in fear, realizing that this might be another supernatural event. They weren't fools; they could sense something was terribly wrong.

"Well done, everyone, give him a round of applause!"The voice from the speakers spoke with satisfaction after Mr. Johnson finished his set.

But the people in the gym were too stunned to react. No one clapped.

"Clap!"The voice suddenly grew sharp and angry, the tone so piercing that everyone instinctively covered their ears in pain.

Oddly enough, the sound didn't seem to affect Logan as much. He was the first to start clapping, and Evelyn, quickly catching on, followed suit.

The gym echoed with reluctant applause, a mockery of a normal work meeting, only this time the atmosphere was suffocating, filled with fear and dread.

"Stop!"The voice commanded, and the clapping ceased immediately.

"There's a trainee who didn't listen, trying to skip class!" The voice grew sinister. "So the punishment for the trainee is: death!"

A young trainer who had been hiding among the crowd suddenly found himself moving against his will. His face contorted with terror as his body, stiff and unresponsive, began walking towards the center of the gym.

"The door wouldn't open... I just wanted to escape!"The trainer's forehead was covered in sweat, his head locked in place, unable to turn as he cried out in despair.

The gym's door was controlled by an electronic lock. Usually, a simple press of a button would open or close it, but now, with the supernatural involved, it seemed even technology was useless.