Head teacher

I never imagined that the homeroom teacher of Class 3, Senior Grade 3, would appear in front of us in such a terrifying way.

It was a rainy and gloomy morning. The continuous drizzle beat against the windows, and the classroom was filled with a damp and stuffy atmosphere. Our former homeroom teacher was hospitalized due to a sudden heart attack, and the school urgently arranged a new teacher to take over our class. When that tall and thin figure silently appeared at the classroom door, I shivered involuntarily for no apparent reason.

She was wearing a long black dress, the hem of which almost dragged on the ground. When she walked, there was not a sound. Her skin was as pale as if it were translucent, drained of all color, as if she had never been exposed to sunlight. The most spine-chilling thing was her eyes. They were as black as ink, and when she looked at people, it seemed as if she could penetrate their very souls, sending a chill creeping up my spine.

"My name is Chen Jing. From today onwards, I will be your homeroom teacher," she said in a soft voice, yet there was an unyielding authority in it. "I hope you remember that no disciplinary violations are allowed in my class."

I noticed that her fingers were unusually long, and her nails were neatly trimmed but had an abnormal bluish-white color, like those of a corpse. When she turned around to write on the blackboard, I caught a faint smell of formalin. That smell immediately reminded me of the specimens soaked in jars in the biology laboratory, making me feel a wave of nausea in my stomach.

The first class was Chinese, and Teacher Chen asked us to recite "Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng". The classroom was deathly quiet, and the only sound was the faint rustling of turning pages. Suddenly, a soft chuckle came from the back row. It was Zhang Hao, who was secretly playing with his mobile phone.

Teacher Chen stopped teaching. Her head turned towards Zhang Hao at a strange angle, and her neck made a slight "clicking" sound, like a rusty gear turning with difficulty. I clearly saw the corner of her mouth curl into an unnatural arc, a smile devoid of any warmth.

"Student Zhang Hao," she said in a still gentle but spine-chilling voice, "come to the front of the platform."

Zhang Hao stood up reluctantly, still wearing that indifferent expression on his face. But when he reached the platform, Teacher Chen suddenly reached out her hand, and those long fingers gently rested on his shoulder. Zhang Hao's expression froze instantly, as if he had been cast with a body immobilizing spell. Then, his body began to tremble violently, and large beads of cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

"Remember," Teacher Chen whispered into his ear, her voice echoing in the empty space as if in a vast valley, "no disciplinary violations are allowed in my class."

At that moment, I clearly saw Zhang Hao's pupils suddenly contract, and his face turned as pale as a sheet of paper. When he returned to his seat, he seemed to have lost his soul, mechanically flipping through the textbook and not daring to raise his head again.

From that day on, the atmosphere in the classroom became even more oppressive, as if shrouded in an invisible layer of haze. Teacher Chen seemed to have a pair of X-ray eyes, and every move of ours, no matter how subtle, could not escape her notice. What was even more terrifying was that whenever a classmate violated the discipline, she would "punish" them in that strange way. After being punished, the classmates would always return with a look of fear and despair in their eyes.

One week later, in the morning, the monitor, Li Ming, didn't come to class. He was the most disciplined student in the class and never late or absent. Such a situation was absolutely unprecedented. Teacher Chen stood on the platform, wearing a faint smile on her face, and said calmly, "Student Li Ming has transferred to another school."

But I knew clearly in my heart that this was impossible. After school yesterday, Li Ming had secretly told me that he was going to investigate Teacher Chen's background. He said he had discovered a shocking secret: in the classes that Teacher Chen had taught over the past ten years, one or two students would mysteriously disappear every year, as if they had vanished into thin air.

Thinking of this, a chill ran down my back. Subconsciously, I looked up at the platform and happened to meet Teacher Chen's gaze. Her eyes were as black as the deepest abyss, like two bottomless black holes, and the corner of her mouth curved into a chilling smile, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

That night, I sneaked back to school with a nervous heart. The moonlight shone through the windows onto the empty corridor, stretching my shadow very long, like a lonely ghost. The biology laboratory was on the third floor. I remembered that Teacher Chen would stay there for a long time every day after school. There must be some secrets hidden there.

The door of the laboratory was slightly ajar, and there were faint noises coming from inside. I held my breath, my heart pounding like a drum, and peeked through the crack in the door. Teacher Chen had her back to the door and was fiddling with something. The moonlight shone on her black dress, casting a strange shadow on the ground.

Suddenly, she turned around without warning. I almost let out a scream. She was holding a glass jar in her hand, and there was a human organ soaked inside. Looking closely, I recognized the birthmark on it. It was Li Ming's right hand!

My legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and I wanted to turn and run, but I found that my legs seemed to be nailed to the ground and I couldn't move. Teacher Chen seemed to sense something. She slowly turned her head, and that pale face looked extremely hideous and terrifying in the moonlight. Her neck made a "clicking" sound and twisted at an incredible angle, as if her neck didn't belong to her own body.

"Since you're here, come in and have a seat," her voice echoed in the silent laboratory, and every word was like a heavy hammer striking my heart.

I turned around and ran, but I hadn't taken a few steps when I bumped into a "wall" solidly. Looking up, it was actually Teacher Chen! She had somehow stood in front of me like a ghost, and her black dress fluttered without any wind, enveloping me like a thick black fog. I wanted to scream, but my throat seemed to be blocked by something, and I couldn't make any sound.

Her fingers gently caressed my cheek, ice-cold, like a thousand-year-old block of ice against my face. "Do you know?" she whispered, her voice filled with a sick obsession. "Every disobedient student will become my most precious collection."

By the faint light, I finally saw her eyes clearly. They were not human eyes at all but two black whirlpools, as if they could suck in people's souls. An overwhelming sense of fear instantly engulfed me. Then, her body began to distort and transform, and countless tentacle-like things stretched out from under her black dress, wriggling menacingly in the darkness.

"You are all my students," her voice became distorted, as if coming from hell. "Forever."

Just then, the sound of police sirens came from a distance. Teacher Chen's body froze suddenly, and for the first time, a look of panic appeared on her face. Those tentacle-like things quickly retracted under her skirt. In the blink of an eye, she changed back to that tall and thin female teacher, as if the terrifying scene just now had been nothing but an illusion.

"That's all for today," she adjusted her skirt, her tone terrifyingly calm. "Remember to come to class on time tomorrow."

I stumbled out of the teaching building and ran into the arriving police officers head-on. It turned out that Li Ming's parents had reported the case. They had found Li Ming's diary at home, which recorded his investigation of Teacher Chen in detail, so the police were able to arrive in time.

The police searched the biology laboratory, but strangely, they found nothing. Teacher Chen still came to class on time every day, acting as if nothing had happened, as usual, teaching, assigning homework, as if those terrifying things had never occurred. However, whenever I looked at the platform, I could always vaguely see something wriggling under her skirt, making my heart feel uneasy.

And in the storage cabinet at the back of the classroom, a new glass jar somehow appeared, and inside it was a familiar right hand floating. It was Li Ming's right hand. It seemed to be wordlessly诉说着冤屈, enveloping the whole classroom in an eerie atmosphere.

I curled up in bed, wrapping myself tightly in the quilt, but I still couldn't get rid of the bone-chilling cold that spread from the bottom of my heart. The image of Li Ming's right hand floating in the glass jar kept flashing in my mind, along with Teacher Chen's pitch-black eyes and her distorted body. I just couldn't shake them off.

The next morning, I dragged my heavy steps into the classroom. Teacher Chen was already standing on the platform. Her gaze swept over every student entering the classroom like a searchlight and finally landed on me. I felt as if my blood had frozen, but she just smiled slightly, and there was an unfathomable meaning in that smile. Then she turned around and started teaching.

The class was deathly quiet, and the air seemed to have solidified. The atmosphere today was even more eerie and oppressive than ever. I noticed that there were several empty seats in the back row of the classroom. The classmates who had been sitting there yesterday didn't come today, and an ominous premonition welled up in my heart. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Teacher Chen's skirt swaying gently, as if there was some living thing wriggling restlessly inside.

When the bell rang for the end of the class, Teacher Chen suddenly said, "Lin Xiaoyu, stay after school."

My heart skipped a beat, and my palms were instantly covered in cold sweat. The whole afternoon, I felt extremely uneasy, as if I could feel Teacher Chen's gaze on me from time to time, like countless needles stabbing at me. Whenever I looked back, she would always show that spine-chilling smile, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

After school, the classmates left the classroom one after another. I sat in my seat, listening to the sound of my own heartbeat echoing in the empty classroom. Every beat seemed to hit my heart. Teacher Chen closed the door, and the sound of her high heels was particularly clear in the silence, "tap-tap-tap" as she walked towards me, and every step seemed to step on my nerves.

"Come with me," she said, her voice devoid of any warmth.

I stood up mechanically, my legs feeling as heavy as if they were filled with lead, and it was extremely difficult to take each step. She led me through the corridor towards the biology laboratory. The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the windows onto the ground, stretching our shadows very long. I noticed that her shadow seemed a bit strange. Its outline was blurry, as if there were countless tiny tentacles dancing, exuding an indescribable eeriness.

The biology laboratory was filled with a strong smell of formalin. The pungent odor drilled straight into my nose, making me feel nauseous. Teacher Chen turned on the light. Under the pale light, I saw a whole wall of glass cabinets filled with various specimens, including organs, limbs, and some things that I couldn't even tell what they were. My stomach churned because I recognized some of them. They were the clothes and personal belongings of our classmates. These once familiar items now seemed like terrifying symbols, telling unknown secrets.

"Do you know?" Teacher Chen said with her back to me, her voice filled with a morbid fanaticism. "Every student is a unique work of art." She paused and then slowly turned around, holding a syringe in her hand. There was some dark red liquid in the syringe, shimmering with an eerie light under the lamp. "I've always been searching for the most perfect work."

She advanced step by step, and I instinctively took a step back, bumping into the laboratory bench behind me. I had nowhere to retreat. Teacher Chen's body began to distort and transform. Countless tentacle-like things stretched out from under her black dress, waving wildly in the air. Her face began to peel off, revealing the decaying muscle tissue underneath, emitting a revolting stench.

"Don't be afraid," her voice became distorted, as if coming from the depths of hell. "It won't hurt soon."

Just then, the door of the laboratory was suddenly broken open. It was the police! It turned out that Li Ming's parents had been investigating secretly. They had discovered more cases of students disappearing during Teacher Chen's tenure. The police had tracked me and finally found this place.

Teacher Chen let out a shrill scream. The sound was so sharp and ear-piercing, like countless claws scratching across glass. Her body completely distorted and transformed into a monster formed by the resentment of countless students, surrounded by a black mist, exuding an overwhelming sense of evil. The police officers fired their guns, but the bullets passed through her body as if passing through a void of air and caused no harm at all.

"You are all my students!" she shrieked, her voice echoing in the laboratory, making my eardrums ache. "Forever!"

I took the opportunity to rush towards the door, but a tentacle wrapped around my ankle like a flash of lightning. A bone-chilling cold spread up my leg, and I felt my consciousness gradually fading, and the scene in front of me slowly becoming dim. Just then, I heard a familiar voice: "Xiaoyu!"

It was Li Ming! His soul emerged from the glass jar, emitting a soft white light all over his body. Together with the souls of other victimized students, they turned into a dazzling white light and rushed towards Teacher Chen. In the blinding light, I heard Teacher Chen's shrill scream, and her body began to disintegrate, turning into countless black fragments and dissipating into the air.

When I woke up again, I was already in the hospital. The police told me that they had found a large number of human specimens in the laboratory, all of which were the students who had disappeared over the years. This was conclusive evidence. Teacher Chen's body was also among them. After identification, it had been dead for many years, but she had appeared in front of us like a living person before, controlling everything. The truth behind this was truly terrifying.

But I will never forget those pitch-black eyes and her last words: "You are all my students, forever..."

Now, whenever I pass by the school, I can always hear the faint sound of teaching coming from the classroom. That voice is like the whisper of a ghost, floating in the air. Sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I will see a blurred figure standing at the head of the bed, wearing a black dress, quietly looking at me. Every time it makes me wake up from my dream in a cold sweat, soaking through my back.

I know that she is still waiting for me to go back to class...