The Teacher

"Have you ever had the same dream, night after night?"

The answers to this question always vary. Some people talk about climbing an endless mountain, never quite reaching the top. Others mention eating so much food that they feel sick, yet they keep stuffing their mouths. These are strange dreams, lacking any clear logic. Many try to interpret them, analyzing their lives as though they might uncover hidden meanings in these surreal images.

Until someone responded.

"I never dream the same thing. In fact, I've only had one dream my entire life. For as long as I can remember, every night without exception, I find myself plunged into darkness. A constant rustling fills my ears, I can't close my eyes or speak, and someone slaps me. Sometimes the details shift, but the feeling is always the same: an endless nightmare."

"Once, I dreamt of a man who kept asking if I was listening, if I understood, and if I still had the courage to defy him."

"He grabbed me by the throat, pulled my ears, lifted me up, and threw me to the ground. I was terrified, but I didn't dare cry. My eyes burned, but I had to stay silent."

"Eventually, the man opened up my abdomen and stuffed it with dry grass before burying me beneath damp, foul-smelling earth."

For most, this would have just been a bad dream to forget. But someone suggested:

"What if you were murdered in a past life? Is that why you keep having that dream?"

The response came slowly, like a whisper: "I don't know. The dream feels so real... When I was little, I thought everyone had the same dream every night. It wasn't until fifth grade that I realized other people had different dreams, and I was completely shocked."

Then, one day, the same person spoke up again and added:

"I had the dream again. This time, I was standing at a crossroads, holding a red balloon. There were lots of people around me, but I kept crying."

The image of a child holding a red balloon at a crossroads was too vivid, too familiar. In recent days, the web had been flooded with posts commemorating the victims of the Red Balloon Case, and now, after reading those words, many began to feel unsettled.

"Are you saying you're one of the victims of that murder seventeen years ago?"

"Some say that after being killed, people are reincarnated, forgetting their past lives. Are you just trying to draw attention by using this story?"

"How do you think the families of the victims feel, seeing these things?"

The response came quickly: "I'm just a high school student. I don't know anything about what you're saying. I've had this dream for years, and I just wanted to share it. I'm not seeking attention."

Someone checked her profile.

She really was just a student, an ordinary girl who shared her thoughts and dreams on weekends. It seemed she had only discovered the site a few months before, and since then, she had continued talking about the same dream... always the same dream.

Usually, she would talk about how she had been having the same dream since she was a child. In the dream, her dream self would repeat a phrase, but every time she woke up, she could never remember it.

Her words were strange, but they didn't seem calculated or intended to attract attention.

She was just an ordinary high school student, so eventually, people stopped taking her seriously. She never garnered much attention, at least not until that fateful weekend in March.

That time, the girl went online and updated her status with three cryptic sentences:

"This time, something was different in the dream. I saw a woman calling out to me, crying, begging me to come home. I wanted to respond, to tell her I was there, but I couldn't open my mouth."

"When I woke up, I realized I had been sleepwalking. I found myself in a construction site for a basketball court, in a neighborhood three kilometers away from my house. I've never been there, and I don't know how I ended up there. It was the first time I ever sleepwalked."

She attached a photo: the morning sunlight reflecting off the still-fenced construction site, where work hadn't yet begun.

"While I was there, I felt something strange, like I wanted to lie down on the ground."

The online community exploded with comments. One user dared to ask: "You're really brave. Are you suggesting that you were buried there in a past life?"

"I've already told you, stop exploiting these cases for attention."

"Don't play with tragic stories to gain visibility. This case has destroyed many lives, and the victims' families still haven't recovered. Just a few days ago, one of them took their own life. Aren't you afraid of the consequences for what you're doing?"

"The police should have already reported you."

On the third day, a shocking piece of news hit the city: during construction work on a basketball court, a body was found. The investigation to identify it was already underway.

The most liked comment under the article said: "Could this be one of the victims from the murder case seventeen years ago? Investigate in that direction!"

Many people didn't understand and asked, "Why are you saying that? There's no proof it's connected."

"There's a thread going viral on a forum, go check it out. It's really unsettling!"

More and more people started following the story. Comments under the girl's post continued to pile up.

"Impossible, right?"

"Could it just be a coincidence? Is it really the same place?"

"Yes, look at the two pictures: they're identical."

"It's mysterious, but there are things in this world we can't explain. I remember a TV show where a sister dreamt of the exact place her missing brother's body was found. The police followed her description and found him. She had no connection to the case, but the dream was real."

A few days later, the authorities provided an official response. From the long report, everyone focused on one phrase:

"The victim has been confirmed as part of the serial murder case."

Someone went to the site and carefully compared the girl's photos with those of the construction site.

They were a perfect match.

One user commented: "Looking at these pictures at night gives me chills. She must have been right there, sensing the presence of her past life's body buried beneath her."

"This is really strange. I can't understand how she could have sensed the body."

"Don't be fooled. The photo could have been taken earlier, and someone used the information to create a story. It's all a setup."

"No, I live in that neighborhood. When she posted that photo, construction had been halted for three days due to local protests. Yesterday, they started again, and an hour later, the body was found. The police arrived immediately."

Users searched for confirmation and discovered that the girl's post had indeed been published before work resumed; there was no timing discrepancy.

"So how do you explain it? Could it be that the killer orchestrated everything? Some murderers are twisted and enjoy confusing the public."

"No, this case is too serious. There's no statute of limitations for crimes this severe."

"The killer wouldn't be stupid enough to talk about it openly. Now that things have escalated, the police will definitely investigate her."

The unease grew. Many users kept returning to the girl's post, and every time they read it, they felt increasingly disturbed.

"I remember the last victims found were a mother and daughter. The other bodies were never recovered."

"What she described in the dream… all that darkness, the inability to open her eyes or speak, her stomach torn open and filled with dry grass… it gives me chills."

"Could this really be connected to a past life?"

"If it isn't, how do you explain the accuracy of the dream and the discovery of the body?"

"I don't care about past lives. I just want to know if she dreamed of who the killer is. This monster is still out there, and I need justice."

On the internet, people from all over were starting to take an interest in this girl, waiting for the high school student to respond.

In the meantime, many believed that, even though they didn't fully understand the situation, it surely had nothing to do with past lives. They felt certain that the girl would eventually come forward to retract her claims, admitting that she had made a mistake.

Two days later, the student reappeared online. Contrary to what some rational users had hoped, she didn't avoid the issue. Instead, she responded directly.

"The police have already come to see me. I told them everything I knew. I'm not looking for attention, I'm not selling anything, and I'm not the killer. I'm only seventeen. Believe it or not, I just shared what I know."

The comment with the most likes said: "We believe you. But we want to know—do you remember what the killer looked like?"

At that moment, both those who believed in past lives and those who didn't were glued to their phones, refreshing the comments, waiting for her reply. Every second felt like an eternity.

One second. Two seconds.

The curious comments kept pouring in, but there was still no response from the girl.

Just when everyone thought she wouldn't answer, a reply appeared.

Two words, and an image.

"I remember."

The image was a simple sketch, drawn with just a few strokes, depicting the face of a middle-aged man.

Even though the drawing was minimal, it was clear that it showed an ordinary man with honest, unremarkable features.

At that moment, a senior student who had been scrolling through the comments couldn't help but take off her glasses as she stared at the image.

Had she imagined it after a sleepless night?

Her teacher?!