Spooky Encounter in the Gym(Moo)

The sun was still in the sky, the weather warm, even though it was late afternoon. The birds were singing still, flocking across the still blue, but slowly darkening sky. It was still quite warm, despite the time of day it was. A bell rang out, sending more birds to wing, before the sound of cheering and loud chattering completely shattered the tranquil scene. Girls burst from the doors of the various buildings of Fukui, talking and laughing, glad that the day was over as they headed to either their dorms on campus or their homes in the city.

In the gymnasium, Ritsuko sighed as she watched the last of the girls file out, the door shutting behind them.  She turned from the exit and looked around the gym itself. It had been tided up, but it was still a mess. With another sigh, the dark haired teacher went around, straightening the benches, making sure things were as they had been before. She smiled, then headed to the storage room.

She flicked the light on and looked around. It was a spacious room, more than large enough to hold all the equipment for both the gym and the sports classes, with room for dance as well. A quick scan showed her that, while the equipment had been put away, it hadn't been sorted out. Those hoops were in the wrong order, that vault horse was out of alignment. Those ribbons had been screwed up and just shoved in the box. She shook her head and went around sorting things out the way she had it before.

There was a rumor around campus that started up about two years ago, involving that very storage room.

Rumor, legend, myth... Whatever one might have called it, chances were that it wasn't actually a valid story, right? There was an unspoken rule among students that kept them from entering the place after dark, lest they chance never coming back out again. Just last year, shortly before summer break, several students claimed that a friend of theirs had actually gone missing after performing the ritualistic "test of bravery" that was common with Japanese youth, and had done so after visiting this very storage room.

True, after investigating it a little bit, they'd found that the student in question had simply moved out of the city... But those students who'd made the missing report never backed down on saying it was supernatural in nature.

With school finally out and campus just about empty, the sun hiding behind thick clouds that were not uncommon in the spring, the atmosphere was gradually becoming darker as the sun progressed down over the horizon. Everything seemed to be going smoothly within the storage room as the teacher cleaned up, but soon a loud "SLAM" echoed throughout its interior. Light no longer filtered down from the fixtures on the ceiling, leaving only the dim luminescence peering through the window and nothing more... for the source of that slamming sound was the storage room door closing.

And unless the teacher happened to have brought the key in with her, the automatic lock was likely going to be a great inconvenience.

... Strange. It almost sounded like there was a faint, childish giggling from somewhere in the room, hardly audible but unnerving nonetheless.

The sound of the vault horse scraping on the ground echoed through the storage area. It was beginning to annoy Ritsuko, as the blasted thing wouldn't go back to how it was supposed to! A gentle nudge and it was finally, finally!, between the marks. She stood and wiped her hands off, before heading over to the hoops.

They were out of order, the patterns and colours all mixed up together. She pulled them off and piled them besides her, then, when they were all off, started putting them back on. In the correct order of course. She had only just begun when a loud bang echoed through the room. Ritsu jumped to her feet and spun. Her heard was pounding in her chest and she felt a little light headed from getting up to fast. She frowned. The door had closed somehow. She cursed and made her way over to

Everything seemed to be going smoothly within the storage room as the teacher cleaned up, but soon a loud "SLAM" echoed throughout its interior. Light no longer filtered down from the fixtures on the ceiling, leaving only the dim luminescence peering through the window and nothing more... for the source of that slamming sound was the storage room door closing.

She walked over to the door, managing to not trip over anything, mainly due to her knowing where everything was, even in the dim light. She tried the door, only to find it locked. She cursed. She didn't have the key, as she didn't have pockets in her leotard. 'Now what?' she muttered, hands on her hips. There probably wouldn't be anyone around at this time. So she was stuck here for a few hours at least, until the cleaners came around.

Just then she heard what sounded like giggling, coming from somewhere in the room. Ritsu spun around, scanning the dark room, her eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the darkness. She was sure she was alone in here just a moment ago.

Wasn't she?

Perhaps Ritsuko was alone. But that thought only made the cheerful giggling that much more worrying.

The voice faded after several moments and silence fell over the storage room again; the loudest sound that could be heard was Ritsuko's own breathing, and there existed no evidence for the presence of another. The darkness might have been to blame for that, but which scenario was really worse? If someone was in the storage room, these actions were likely an implication of ill intent. If not, and someone wasn't in there but something as the rumors suggested... were the implications any different?

"Don't blink."

Those words came as a whisper, almost right into the teacher's ear, as if there were someone standing right next to her. But if she chose to look, she would find no figure in sight, only empty space and an ominous realization. There was no mistaking it at that point. Someone was there, or something posing as someone. In either scenario, Ritsuko was not alone, nor was it reasonable to assume that she was entirely safe.

Then, toward the back of the room, there came a quiet, repetitive commotion as if someone was kicking a box of equipment.

Repeatedly.

Frustratedly.

Angrily.

With the door locked and not opening, the sun retreating further toward the horizon and the room growing darker by the second, there was very little chance of anyone coming to help. School had let out quite some time ago and campus should have been just about empty by now. If anything happened to Ritsuko, if anyone really intended to harm her, there would be no help.

Save for whoever was causing these odd happenings, Ritsuko was all alone.

Her heart was beginning to beat fast now, and not just from the adrenaline of the slamming door. That laughter was beginning grate on her nerves. She kept her back to the doors as she scanned the room. Not out of fear, not yet, but out of the need to minimise where she needed to look.

Then the laughing stopped. And the storage room was quiet again. Save for the heavy breathing of an unnerved Ritsuko. As the silence stretched on, and Ritsu couldn't see nor hear anything more, she began to allow herself to calm down. Though she cursed herself for allowing herself to get wound up.

"Don't blink."

The words, whispered, would have been enough to make Ritsu jump. But the fact that they sounded as though they were coming from right besides her, whispered into her ear, almost brought a scream from the gym teacher. 'Who's there?' she called out, glad her vocal practice had allowed her some control over her voice. It didn't break or quiver as she spoke. But a quick scan revealed no one was there.

Before she could swallow, another sound echoed through the storage room. The sound of someone kicking equipment. Repeatedly, angrily. Somewhere at the back of the room. That did draw a small eep from the normally calm teacher. She swallowed and, gathering her courage, marched towards the back of the storage room, where the sounds of kicking were coming from.

*kick*

Louder.

*kick*

And louder.

*kick*

And louder.

The more Ritsuko approached the source of that sound, the easier it became to hear, and the easier it became to hear, the faster those alleged kicks were performed. They grew harder as well, to the point where small pieces of equipment within a box sounded as if they might have broken, as if whoever was kicking was becoming more and more frustrated--perhaps a warning not to approach? If this was actually the malevolent force that it seemed to be, after all, the mere presence of this teacher had put her at risk. What if she became just another supposedly-missing person, like those rumors suggested..?

Evidently, the vocalized warning was a literal one; the next concerning happening came only when Ritsuko finally blinked.

As the teacher's eyes opened again, the kicking stopped, and there was a very humanoid silhouette that her eyes had not picked up before, standing just two meters ahead. Perhaps her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and had only managed to catch sight of them now? Either way, the poor lighting made it hard to discern any distinguishing features on this person, whose only visible characteristic was an almost inhumanly pale-white face. Female, by the looks of it, and holding a malicious grin that was unmistakably aimed directly at Ritsuko.

"You broke the rule," the figure seemed to speak, though the mouth on her did not move, giving the eerie impression of a disembodied voice; one projected, rather than actually spoken, and in a low, raspy tone as if uttered on her death bed. A gentle, fluid movement forward that looked almost like hovering instead of stepping, preceded a tilt of her head to remove the bangs from over her eyes. Crimson red irises appeared almost to glow amidst the window-filtered moonlight, aiming a cold gaze toward the teacher along with the following declaration: "Now you break."