Chapter 216
Chapter 216
Eileen walked up to the bedroom door on the left and said, “This room should be number 443 or 445.”
Then, she kicked the door open with a bang. But the room was empty.
Eileen turned around, went to the bedroom on the right, and kicked the door open in the same manner. She shone her flashlight into the room, revealing piles of stuff.
The room didn’t have any of the usual bunk beds, wardrobes, or desks that a girls dorm room would have. Instead, it was filled with all sorts of equipment. There were three computers alone. Besides, there were listening devices, external sound cards, video recorders, and even a telescope by the window. Eileen ran over to the telescope and looked out. Sure enough, it had a view of the building across, but the angle was a bit off.
Jarvis and Simon followed her into the room.
Simon was clearly surprised, saying, “This…”
Eileen turned to the two of them and said, “Let’s piece together the timeline. Five years ago, Sally jumped to end her life. Her mother, Darcey, was heartbroken and came to work as a RA at this school. We need to note that Tessie only appeared three years ago, while Darcey has been working as a RA for five years. This means, there were two years when nothing happened in the school.”
Simon quickly added, “Right, according to the diary, the tragedy only happened after room 444 reopened three years ago.”
Eileen laughed, saying, “The tragedy has nothing to do with the dorm. Darcey didn’t want room 444 to reopen because she was using it all along!”
Eileen pointed to all the stuff in the room, saying, “You see, this is a girls’ dorm building, and the only person who has the keys to all the rooms is Darcey. So, who else could own all these things?”
Jarvis frowned, “So, the secret of room 444 isn’t some ghost story, it’s just that Darcey wanted to use the room to store these devices and spy on the building across? What’s in that building? Is there a principal’s office?”
Eileen said, “Exactly! The principal has always been her target!”
She then turned her attention back to the ghosts outside the door. The ghosts were startled. They had been watching the three in the room and didn’t expect to be noticed! Some quickly looked away.
The less intelligent ones also lowered their heads at the reminder of their peers, pretending they weren’t eavesdropping.
Eileen pointed at the group of them and said, “You think I was touching their clothes just to steal their food? You’re too nearsighted! I’m not that greedy! I was checking the material of their clothes. Most of them are wearing school uniforms, but they are not the same style. This means they are from different eras, and not all of them died within these three years.”
Jarvis said, “Indeed, it’s impossible for so many people to have died in such a short span of three years.”
Eileen picked up the two stamps in her hand and said, “We already know that the stamp with the word ‘Benevolence’ can be used to control a group of ghosts. So, what does the stamp with ‘Academy’ do?”
As she spoke, Eileen walked up to Ruby and without a word, stamped her neck with the seal. As soon as the stamp was applied; she stared at Ruby.
Ruby stared back at Eileen. Their eyes locked. After a while, Eileen blinked and asked, “Are you okay?”
Ruby was still.
Eileen frowned, “Isn’t this stamp supposed to be applied to the neck?”
Eileen grabbed Ruby’s hand and stamped the back of her hand. However, stamping the hand didn’t work either. She tried the arm, then the thigh, back, face, and the top of the head.
Eileen scratched her head, tried all these places, and looked puzzled when none of them worked.
Ruby, who was covered in more than a dozen stamps, shouted, “What are you doing!!”
Eileen stared at the stamp for a while longer, then suddenly, she reached up and stamped the back of her own neck.
In the control room, the assistant director squinted his eyes and picked up the walkie-talkie to give an order, “All departments, attention!” As soon as the assistant director finished speaking, with a ‘pop’, a white light suddenly lit up on the playground outside the dormitory window.
Eileen immediately ran to the window to see. A huge projector had been sneakily set up at some point. And then, it started playing an open-air movie!
Eileen understood and laughed, “I used the ‘Academy’ stamp. I triggered the mechanism of this stamp, and it’s not an open-air movie. It’s a memoir.”
Eileen then waved to the ghosts behind her and said, “Everyone come over! We’re gonna watch a movie. The memoir that I triggered is supposed to be visible only to me. But I’m generous and treating you to a free movie. No tickets needed!”
The ghosts didn’t want to pay her any attention. But they did.want to watch the movie. it was free after all, and it would be a waste not to watch. So, the ghosts quickly gathered around.
At this time, the scary sound effects that had been playing in the dormitory building were turned off, and the dialogue in the open-air movie started playing, “Decker, wait for
me…”
The first scene was a young Decker, carrying a stack of books and walking ahead, and a young girl behind tried to catch up with him.
Eileen immediately pointed to a female ghost behind her and said, “That’s you! You’re in the movie!”
The female ghost blushed and lowered her head shyly.
There were many familiar faces in the movie. Eileen had a good memory and soon pointed at a ghost and shouted, “That’s you! Your short hair looks awful, and you’re almost bald! Look, this your scene. My god! You have quite a lot of screen time. Just a random question, since you have so many lines, does that mean you got paid more than them? How much did you make from filming? I know you can’t say it out loud, but you can make a hand gesture to tell me. Don’t be stingy! Tell me how much you made!”
Eileen kept chatting with the ghosts.
Simon gave her a gentle nudge, saying, “Ms. Lopez, you should really focus on the plot in the memoir. It’s quite tragic.”
Eileen turned her attention back to the movie.
For the next fifteen minutes, they all watched Decker’s life unfold. Decker was a student at “Benevolence Academy”. He met his first love there, but after she was assaulted by a man, she chose to end her life.
Upon seeing this, Eileen immediately turned to the ghost playing the first love, saying, “You should demand a higher fee for this kind of storyline. Did the director not pay
you? Don’t worry, you’re my subordinate, and I’ll help you get your pay!”
The ghost playing the first love nodded enthusiastically. She was immediately smitten with Eileen!
The story continued. Decker stayed at the academy as a teacher. He married the principal’s daughter. Although she was seven years older than him, looked average, and previously married. He chose her for the sake of promotion.
A few years later, “Benevolence Academy” was renamed “Benevolence High School”, and Decker became the principal. In the memoir, both seals belonged to Decker. But they were just historical relics, and kept in the principal’s office.
Until Decker met Sally, who bore a striking resemblance to his first love.
They were deeply in love. Decker even gave one of the old school seals to Sally. Each of them had one as a token of their love. But unexpectedly, Sally never returned after a winter break.
After some time, Decker got a phone call saying Sally had passed away. He wanted to pay his respects, but was harshly rebuked by Sally’s mother. In the scene, Sally’s seal ended up in her mother’s hands.
Then, the scene on the screen changed. The image became the school dormitory management office.
In the office, Darcey, Sally’s mother, put the seal into her drawer.
At this moment, someone outside the door called her, “Ma’am.”
“Ma’am.”
Darcey turned around and saw a girl at the door, “Tessie, why are you back so soon?”
The girl named Tessie handed over a can of vegetables, saying, “Ma’am, thank you for opening the door for me the other night.”.
Darcey stood up, took the can, and smiled, “No worries, it’s my duty.”
Tessie said, “I’ll go to class now.”
“Hold on!” Darcey suddenly grabbed Tessie’s hand, and slowly said, “Tessie, I need a favor.”
Tessie was taken aback, “What kind of favor?”
Darcey pulled out a document, “This is the payment for this term. Could you deliver it to the principal’s office?”
“The principal’s office?” Tessie asked.
Darcey’s voice suddenly softened, “Yes, could you?”
Tessie didn’t think much of it, and cheerfully agreed, “Sure.”
The scene ended there.
Jarvis took a deep breath, and said with clenched teeth, “So in this script, everyone is the villain. Tessie was sent to the principal by Darcey, and Ms. Lopez, you…”
Just as Jarvis was trying to speak to Eileen, he saw that she was already gone. Simon gave him a nudge, coldly saying, “She’s over there.”
Jarvis turned and saw Eileen squeezing into a crowd. She found Tessie, and asked her, “What’s the rest of the plot like? Is there a sequel? Tell me how much you were paid, and I can guess if there’s a
possibility of a sequel based on your pay!”
Jarvis felt helpless. He said, “Ms. Lopez, she can’t tell you that.”
Before he could finish, Jarvis saw Tessie looking around cautiously and then secretly gesturing a number to Eileen.
Eileen quickly said, “I see. Based on this payment, there probably won’t be a sequel.”
Tessie nodded, and she seemed to agree it was a pity too.
Then, someone else made two gestures for Eileen. Another person also made a gesture. Eileen kept nodding, “Yeah, I think she did a great job too. Her facial expressions were very nuanced. She’s definitely talented!” This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.
Jarvis was speechless. He looked numbly at Eileen, then at the people huddled together, communicating with Eileen through gestures. Finally, he couldn’t help himself and blurted out, “You’re all such bad influences!”