The Secret Under the Bed

In March 2025, in order to save on rent, I moved into this old apartment. As soon as I opened the door, a stale smell rushed over me. The furniture exuded an antique flavor, as if quietly narrating the vicissitudes of time.

After settling my luggage, I immediately noticed that old-fashioned solid wood bed. The bed board was very close to the ground, only about ten centimeters away. Out of curiosity, I knelt down and turned on the flashlight of my mobile phone to shine under the bed. There was only a thick layer of dust inside, and there was nothing unusual. But for some reason, I always felt that there was something hidden in that dark crevice, and an inexplicable sense of unease gradually spread in my heart.

On the first night after moving in, I tossed and turned in bed and couldn't fall asleep. There was a faint musty smell in the room, as if it was seeping out from under the bed. I tried hard to close my eyes and fall asleep, but there were always slight noises in my ears, which annoyed me.

"Creak - creak -"

The sound was like nails scratching against the wooden board, sharp and piercing.

I suddenly opened my eyes, and the sound stopped immediately. The room was deathly quiet, and I could only hear the violent thumping of my own heart. I quickly turned on the bedside lamp. The warm yellow light dispelled the darkness, but the fear in my heart couldn't be driven away.

Early the next morning, I went to buy new bed sheets, pillowcases, and air freshener, trying to cover up that strange smell. But the musty smell seemed to have taken root and couldn't be removed no matter what. It was as if it had seeped into every crevice of the walls and floor.

As night fell, that sound came again. This time it was clearer, directly below me, one after another, as if rhythmically pounding on my nerves. I held my breath, my back felt cold, and my palms were covered in cold sweat. Reason told me that I should turn on the light and check immediately, but my body seemed to be frozen in place and I couldn't move at all. The sound was getting closer and closer, as if something was slowly crawling under the bed.

Suddenly, my mattress vibrated slightly, and then a piercing chill shot up my back.

I let out a terrified scream, jumped out of bed, and stumbled to the wall to turn on the big light in the room. The blinding white light filled the entire room in an instant, and I stared fixedly at the bottom of the bed. It was completely silent there.

I trembled as I dialed the property management's phone number, but they said that the maintenance workers were off work at this time and could only come the next day. After hanging up the phone, I curled up on the sofa, not daring to take my eyes off the bed for a moment, and just endured until dawn.

The next day, the maintenance workers came. After they checked, they said there was nothing under the bed, and it was probably rats. They sealed all the gaps under the bed for me and sprayed insecticide. But I noticed that when they lifted the mattress, a strange expression flashed across their faces.

"This bed..." The older maintenance worker stopped halfway through his words.

"What's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"Nothing. It's just that this bed is quite old," he shook his head. "If you don't feel comfortable living here, it's better to get a new bed."

I wanted to change the bed too, but I had just paid the rent and deposit, and I really didn't have much money left. Besides, I always vaguely felt that the problem wasn't with the bed itself.

That night, to give myself some courage, I deliberately left the light on when I went to bed. But when I woke up in the middle of the night, the room was pitch black. I groggily reached out to press the switch of the bedside lamp, and when my fingertips touched the lamp holder, I found that the lamp holder was warm - obviously, the light had been turned off by someone.

My heart skipped a beat, and an ominous premonition welled up in my heart.

Just then, that sound came again. This time it wasn't under the bed, but right next to my ear. I even felt a cold breath gently brush against my cheek, carrying a decaying smell that made me want to vomit. I wanted to scream, but my throat seemed to be blocked, and I couldn't make a sound. I wanted to run away, but my body was firmly pinned to the bed, unable to move.

In the darkness, I heard a woman's voice, very soft, as if humming some eerie tune. The voice was sometimes far away and sometimes close, sometimes clear and sometimes blurred, as if wandering around in the darkness. Then, I felt cold fingers slowly slide across my arm, then my neck, and finally stop on my temple. Each touch made the hair on my body stand on end.

"I've found you..." That voice said faintly.

I suddenly sat up in bed, gasping for breath. The sunlight had already shone into the room through the curtains, and everything seemed normal, but I knew in my heart that what had just happened was definitely not a dream.

I decided to thoroughly check under the bed. I found a flashlight and a broom, lay on the ground, and carefully searched every corner. Finally, near the head of the bed, I found a loose wooden board.

My hands were shaking uncontrollably, but I still gritted my teeth and lifted that wooden board with all my strength. Under the board was a hidden compartment, and inside it was a rusty metal box. The box wasn't big, but it was quite heavy, and its surface was covered with strange scratches, as if something had clawed at it.

I carefully took the box out and placed it on the table. The box didn't have a lock, but the lid was stuck very tightly. I struggled for a long time and used a screwdriver to pry it open after much effort.

Inside the box was a yellowed diary and a faded photo. The photo showed a family of three, the parents and a little girl. Strangely, the faces of the parents in the photo were scratched beyond recognition, while only the face of the little girl was still clear. Her eyes were empty, and her expression was eerie, making people feel a chill in their hearts.

I slowly opened the diary, and the first page made me take a sharp intake of breath:

"They locked me up here and said I was crazy. But I know that it's them who are really crazy. Every night, my mother would come and give me an injection, saying it could make me 'quiet'. But I'm becoming more and more awake, and I heard them discussing where to send me..."

My hands started shaking uncontrollably, and I continued reading:

"Today I found a hidden compartment under the bed, and I decided to hide my diary here. If they find out that I'm writing a diary, they will definitely burn it. I can't remember how long I've been locked up here. The trees outside the window have withered and then turned green again..."

The last page of the diary read:

"I heard them say they want to make me 'forever quiet'. I know what that means. But I won't let them succeed. If I die, I will also stay here forever, waiting for the next person who moves in..."

My back was already soaked with cold sweat, and a strong sense of fear welled up in my heart. Just then, I suddenly heard soft footsteps behind me, "creak, creak", slow and heavy. I froze in place, not daring to make a sound, let alone turn around. Through the reflection in the mirror, I saw a little girl in a white dress standing quietly behind me. Her face was as pale as paper, her eyes were empty, and her hair was scattered messily.

"You've found me..." Her voice was as cold and gloomy as if it came from the underworld.

I let out a terrified scream and rushed out of the room, wanting to escape this terrifying place. But the door seemed to be stuck tightly by something, and I couldn't open it no matter how hard I tried. I turned around in despair, but the little girl had disappeared without a trace. But I knew that she was still in this room, hiding in some dark corner, quietly watching me.

From that day on, my life completely turned into a nightmare. I would always hear faint singing in the middle of the night, ethereal and eerie, as if someone was softly singing in the dark. A white figure would often flash in the mirror and disappear in an instant, making my heart skip a beat every time. The hidden compartment under the bed would always open inexplicably. Even if I nailed it shut with nails, it would still be open the next day, as if silently provoking me. I knew that the little girl was waiting for me, waiting for me to become her next "friend".

In order to get rid of this terrifying entanglement, I planned to figure out the origin of this little girl before moving out. Maybe only by understanding her story and finding the root of her resentment could I let her rest in peace.

I went to the local library and searched through a large number of historical archives for information about this apartment. The archives showed that this apartment was built in the 1960s and was originally a private clinic run by a Dr. Chen. But in 1978, the clinic suddenly closed, and the reason wasn't clear. The archives only mentioned it briefly and vaguely.

When flipping through the old newspapers, I finally found a news article from 1978: "Well-known psychiatrist Dr. Chen and his wife died mysteriously at home, and their only daughter went missing." The report mentioned that the police found a large number of medical records in the basement of the clinic, which detailed that Dr. Chen had been conducting illegal psychiatric drug experiments, and most of the experimental subjects were innocent young girls.

When I saw this, my hands couldn't stop shaking. I thought that the parents in the photo were probably Dr. Chen and his wife, and that little girl was their daughter. She must have had a happy family like other children before, but because of her parents' madness, she was involved in this terrible disaster.

After returning to the apartment, I decided to explore the basement. Maybe there was the key to solving all the mysteries. But when I asked the property management staff about the basement, they dodged my eyes and faltered, telling me that the basement had been sealed up twenty years ago, claiming that it was "structurally unsafe". But their flustered expressions made me more certain that there must be some dark secret hidden in the basement.

That night, I had a really terrifying dream. In the dream, I was tied to the operating table in the clinic, with my hands and feet tightly bound by thick ropes, unable to move. Dr. Chen and his wife stood beside me, with strange smiles on their faces, holding bright syringes in their hands and approaching me step by step. I struggled desperately, trying to escape, but my body seemed to be under a immobilization spell and I couldn't move at all. They injected me with an unknown drug, and my consciousness began to blur, and the scene in front of me gradually distorted. Just then, I saw a little girl hiding in the corner, looking at me with frightened and desperate eyes. There were tears all over her face, and she kept saying, "Save me..."

I suddenly woke up from the dream, only to find myself standing at the entrance of the basement. I had no idea how I got there at all. I just felt my head was groggy, as if I was being controlled by something. My hand was tightly gripping the doorknob. The door lock was rusty, full of the marks of time. But for some reason, when I pushed gently, the door creaked open slowly, and a pungent smell of must and disinfectant rushed out, making me almost vomit.

It was pitch black in the basement. I tremblingly turned on the flashlight of my mobile phone, and the scene in front of me made me gasp in horror. The walls were covered with medical records and photos, all of young girls. Their eyes were dull, their expressions numb, and some of them had deep fear and despair on their faces. In the center of the room, there was a dilapidated operating table, with dark brown stains remaining on it. Under the faint light of the flashlight, it looked like dried blood, exuding a nauseating smell.

Just then, I suddenly heard a slow and heavy sound of footsteps behind me, "tap, tap, tap", each step was like stepping on my heartbeat. I turned around in horror and saw that little girl standing at the door. Her appearance was clearer and even more terrifying than before: her face was as pale as paper, without a trace of blood, her eyes were empty, like two bottomless black holes; her white dress was covered with dark red bloodstains, and in some places, it had dried and formed hard patches, which were particularly glaring in the dim light.

"They gave me injections," her voice was empty and plaintive, "saying it could cure my illness. But those injections made me feel even worse. In the end, they decided to make me 'forever quiet'." There was a sob in her voice, "I didn't want to die, but I didn't want to become what they wanted me to be even more. So I chose my own way..."

Suddenly, I felt a whirlwind in my head and blacked out. When I woke up again, I found that I had been tied to the operating table, and Dr. Chen and his wife were standing beside me, holding syringes in their hands. But their appearance was very strange. Their skin was grayish white, without any blood color, their eyes were empty, and their lips were chapped. They were just like two walking corpses.

"Another disobedient patient," Dr. Chen's voice was hoarse and cold, "needs to be 'treated' properly."

I wanted to scream and call for help, but my throat seemed to be blocked, and I couldn't make a sound. Just when I was in despair, that little girl suddenly appeared behind them. Her appearance had changed. Her eyes had turned blood red, full of hatred and anger; her nails had become long and sharp, like sharp claws.

"It's time to end this," her voice was full of power, "You have tortured too many people."

After saying that, she suddenly pounced on her parents, and shrill screams and painful groans immediately filled the operating room. I closed my eyes in horror, not daring to look at this terrifying scene. After a long time, everything finally quieted down. I opened my eyes cautiously and found that I was lying on the bed in the apartment, and the sunlight was shining on me through the window, warm and bright.

I turned my head to look under the bed. The hidden compartment was open, and there was nothing inside. That disgusting musty smell was gone, replaced by fresh air.

Later, I quickly moved out of that apartment. But the story of that little girl has always been deeply engraved in my heart and I can't forget it. Later, I heard that the apartment was demolished. The workers found a large number of human bones in the basement, as well as a secret room filled with medical records and experimental equipment. Those records were irrefutable evidence of the heinous crimes committed by Dr. Chen and his wife.

I don't know if that little girl really found peace. But every time I think back on that terrifying experience, I seem to still be able to hear her faint voice ringing in my ears: "Thank you..."