The Horrifying Apartment

I stood in the corridor, watching as the movers put the last cardboard box into the room. The old corridor lights flickered on and off, casting swaying shadows on the mottled walls. There was a faint musty smell in the air, as if it were the dampness accumulated over the years.

"Miss Lin, all the things have been moved," the mover wiped the sweat off his face. "This place is really eerie."

I forced a smile and handed him a bottle of water. He was right. This old building built in the 1980s gave people an indescribable sense of oppression. The windows in the corridor were so small that even during the day, it was hard for the light to get in. There were several faded talismans pasted on the walls, with the corners curling up and fluttering gently in the draught.

After seeing off the movers, I began to tidy up the room. This one-bedroom and one-living-room apartment was old, but the rent was cheap, and it was close to my company. I opened the suitcase and hung the clothes one by one into the wardrobe. There was a faint smell of camphor in the wardrobe, along with a faint sweet smell, like a certain perfume.

Halfway through the tidying up, I heard a commotion next door. Through the thin wall, I could hear the sound of heavy objects being dragged, and there was also a low whimpering. I stopped what I was doing, held my breath, and listened carefully, but the sound disappeared again.

The night fell quickly. I cooked a bowl of instant noodles and sat on the sofa, scrolling through my phone. It started to rain outside, and the raindrops pattered against the glass. Suddenly, there was a rapid knock on the door.

I looked at my phone. It was eleven o'clock at night. Who could it be at this time? I walked to the door and looked out through the peephole. The light in the corridor was out, and it was pitch black.

"Who is it?" I asked.

The knocking stopped. Just as I was about to turn around, I suddenly heard a "rustling" sound under the door. Looking down, I saw a yellowed piece of paper slowly being pushed in from under the door.

My heart skipped a beat. There were strange talismans drawn with cinnabar on the paper, glistening with a dark red sheen in the dim light. I squatted down and picked up the paper with trembling fingers. Just then, I heard a soft laugh outside the door.

The laugh was very soft, but it made all the blood in my body freeze. It wasn't the laugh of an adult, but the clear laugh of a little girl with a hint of eerie emptiness.

I took a few steps back suddenly and knocked over the water cup on the tea table. The sound of the glass breaking was especially harsh in the silent room. There was another rustling sound outside the door, as if someone was pacing back and forth.

I stared at the crack of the door intently and suddenly found a strand of black hair slowly seeping in from under the door. The hair seemed to be alive, wriggling on the floor. I let out a scream and rushed into the bedroom, locking the door behind me.

My phone showed no signal. I curled up in the corner of the bed, listening to the faint footsteps outside the door. The footsteps were very light, like the sound of bare feet stepping on the floor, getting closer and closer, and finally stopping outside the bedroom door.

"Sister..." A childish voice sounded outside the door. "Play with me..."

I covered my mouth, not daring to make a sound. The doorknob began to turn slowly, making a "click, click" sound. I looked around and found that the wardrobe door had opened a crack somehow.

Just then, my phone suddenly vibrated. I almost dropped it. It was an unknown number.

"Don't make a sound," an old voice came from the other end of the phone. "I'm Grandpa Zhang who lives opposite you. Don't open the door, and don't make any noise. You'll be okay until dawn."

I held the phone tightly, and tears streamed down my face uncontrollably. The doorknob stopped turning, but that voice was still lingering outside the door.

"Sister, I know you're in there..." The little girl's voice was tinged with sobs. "I'm so cold..."

I heard a soft sound coming from the wardrobe. By the moonlight, I saw several strands of black hair seeping out from the crack of the wardrobe door. Those hairs wriggled like snakes and slowly crawled towards me.

"Help... help..." I whispered into the phone.

"Don't be afraid," Grandpa Zhang's voice was steady. "Remember, no matter what you hear or see, don't respond. Don't fall asleep before dawn."

I nodded, suddenly realizing that the other person couldn't see me. More and more black hair came out of the wardrobe and had already spread to the side of the bed. I smelled a strong smell of blood, mixed with the stench of decay.

The little girl outside the door began to sing a children's song, but the lyrics made my hair stand on end: "Little rabbit, open the door. No, no, I won't open it. Mom hasn't come back..."

The wardrobe door suddenly flew open, and a little girl in a red dress crawled out of it. Her skin was deathly pale, her eyes were two dark holes, and the corners of her mouth were stretched to her ears, revealing white teeth.

"I found you..." She smiled.

I let out a scream and jumped up from the bed, only to find that it was already dawn. The sunlight shone through the curtains, and everything in the room was back to normal. I was covered in cold sweat and opened the bedroom door tremblingly.

In the living room, that talisman was still lying on the ground. But what scared me even more was that there was a strand of black hair under the door crack.

I immediately called the landlord. The phone rang for a long time before it was answered.

"Mr. Wang," I tried to make my voice sound calm. "I want to ask about the previous tenant who lived here..."

"Oh, you mean Miss Chen," the landlord's voice was a bit vague. "She moved out. She suddenly said she wanted to move out."

"What about the tenant before that?"

"Before that?" The landlord paused. "It was a young woman. She left after living here for less than a month. What's wrong?"

I took a deep breath: "Mr. Wang, is there something wrong with this house..."

"Miss Lin," the landlord suddenly interrupted me. "If you don't think it's suitable, you can move out at any time. I'll return your deposit."

I hung up the phone and decided to go find Grandpa Zhang next door. But after knocking on the door for a long time, there was no answer. The door next door suddenly opened, and a middle-aged woman stuck her head out.

"Are you looking for Lao Zhang?" she asked. "He's in the hospital. He had a sudden heart attack last night."

I was stunned: "But he called me last night..."

The middle-aged woman's face suddenly turned ugly: "Impossible. Lao Zhang was taken away by the ambulance at eight o'clock last night." After saying that, she closed the door.

I stood in the corridor, feeling cold all over. At this time, I noticed a doll in the corner, wearing a little red dress and having a strange smile on its face. The doll's hair was very long and pitch black.

I turned around and ran, but I bumped into someone at the stairs. It was the landlord.

"Miss Lin," he smiled. "Where are you in such a hurry to go?"

I noticed that he was holding a rusty key in his hand, with a strand of black hair wrapped around it. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was a strange smile on his lips.

"I... I'm moving out..." I stammered.

The landlord's smile disappeared: "Moving out? But you haven't met my daughter yet." He took a step forward. "She's very lonely and needs someone to play with her..."

I turned around and ran, but I heard the little girl's laughter behind me. The lights in the stairwell suddenly went out, and in the darkness, I saw countless strands of black hair surging from all directions.

Just then, a hand grabbed my wrist. It was the middle-aged woman.

"Run!" She pulled me downstairs. "Everyone in this building is crazy! They..."

Before she could finish her words, she let out a scream. I looked back and saw her body being wrapped up by countless black hairs and being dragged into the depths of the darkness.

I ran desperately until I rushed out of the corridor. The sunlight was blinding, and I collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath. Behind me, the old building stood quietly, with all the windows tightly closed, like tightly shut mouths.

But I will always remember that at the last moment when I ran out of the corridor, I saw a little girl in a red dress standing behind the window on the fourth floor, waving goodbye to me.

I collapsed by the roadside, shaking all over. The sunlight was so blinding, but it couldn't dispel the chill in my bones. Passers-by looked at me with strange eyes, but I didn't care anymore.

My phone suddenly vibrated. It was an unknown number. I hesitated for a moment but still answered it.

"Miss Lin," it was Grandpa Zhang's voice, weak but clear. "Did you escape?"

"Grandpa Zhang? Weren't you..."

"I'm calling you from the hospital," he coughed a few times. "Listen, you're in great danger now. They won't let you go."

"They? Who?"

"Everyone in the building," Grandpa Zhang's voice suddenly became urgent. "Including me. We were all involved in that matter..."

There was some noise on the other end of the phone, and then the nurse's voice came: "Sir, it's time for you to rest."

The phone was hung up. I held the phone, feeling dizzy. That matter? What matter was it?

I decided to go to the hospital to find Grandpa Zhang. In the taxi, I kept thinking about what had happened last night. That little girl in a red dress, those strange black hairs, and the key with the hair wrapped around it in the landlord's hand...

The smell of disinfectant in the hospital made me feel a little more awake. I found Grandpa Zhang's ward, but there were two policemen standing at the door.

"Excuse me, who are you?" One of the policemen stopped me.

"I... I'm Grandpa Zhang's neighbor," I stammered. "How is he?"

The policemen exchanged a look: "Mr. Zhang passed away last night. It was a sudden heart attack."

I took a step back: "Impossible! He just called me..."

"Miss Lin?" A familiar voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw the landlord's pale face.

"Mr. Wang..." My voice was shaking.

"What a coincidence," he smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "I'm here to visit an old friend. I heard you moved out? What a pity. My daughter really liked you."

I noticed that he was holding the doll in his hand, the same one I had seen in the corridor. The doll's hair seemed even longer than before, almost reaching the floor.

"I... I have to go..." I turned to run, but the landlord grabbed my wrist.

His hand was ice-cold: "Don't be in such a hurry. My daughter wants to invite you back as a guest."

Just then, I heard a scream. A nurse rushed out of Grandpa Zhang's ward, her face as white as a sheet: "The patient... the patient's hair..."

I took the opportunity to break free from the landlord's hand and rushed into the ward. The sight in front of me almost made me scream.

Grandpa Zhang's body was lying on the bed, but his hair was growing at a visible speed. Those white hairs seemed to have a life of their own, wriggling on the bedsheet. Even more terrifyingly, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, as if he was smiling.

"See?" The landlord's voice came from behind me. "This is the price of betrayal."

I turned around and found that the door of the ward had closed somehow. The landlord was standing at the door, holding that rusty key in his hand. The black hair on the key was wriggling, coiling around his arm like a snake.

"Ten years ago," the landlord said slowly. "We held a ceremony in this building. My daughter... she was a special child. She could see things that ordinary people couldn't."

I stepped back to the window and found that the window had been sealed somehow.

"That night, we followed the instructions of 'that person' and did something to her..." The landlord's voice suddenly choked up. "But she didn't die. She became something even more terrifying. Since then, this whole building has become her playground."

I heard a "rustling" sound behind me. Looking back, Grandpa Zhang's hair had covered the entire wall, like a huge spider web.

"Now," the landlord raised the key. "It's your turn."

Just then, the lights in the ward went out. In the darkness, I heard the little girl's laughter and the sound of countless hairs crawling on the floor.

I closed my eyes and waited for the worst to happen. But the expected horror didn't come. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself standing at the entrance of the hospital. The sun was shining brightly, as if everything that had just happened was a nightmare.

But I knew it wasn't a dream. Because on my wrist, there was a strand of black hair wrapped around it.