That year, I was a
freshman in the C college in臺南, which is a big
college for its five campuses. In December, there was a campus marathon
for all students and teachers, and the freshmen all had to take part in
the campus marathon. It was really a terrible news for me.
When I entered the college, I played computer games all day and I took
few exercises. So I didn』t think I could finish the campus marathon.
To avoid fainting in the campus marathon, I decided to go in for
physical training and I chose to run at night after the day classes. I
would run from my dorm in the S campus to the C campus, and then make a
turn to the K campus, and go straight down the road to my dorm. Four
days passed, I wanted to try a new route from my dorm to the C campus
then change to pass through the campus underground passage to the K
campus and go straight to my dorm. The fifth day was the first time I
ran the new route -it was also the last time I ran the new route.
That night was a melancholy one and the moon loomed in the midnight
sky. The streetlights were so dim that I could see only a vague view of
the road that I was running on. It was a breathless night but the shady
trees moaned continuously as if they were saying something strange to
me. As my breath quickened, a strange atmosphere cast a shadow over my
heart when I ran close to the campus underground passage. I walked down
the stairs slowly into the underground passage and I shivered
unconsciously with the chill of it. A creeping feeling invaded me so I
started to run instinctively. However, the moment I set foot on the
first step of the stairs to the exit, a sharp and loud sound was heard
behind my back…the echo, along with the dripping of the water from the
ceiling of the underground passage, made me stop. Then I turn around.
The passage was quite dim so I could look for the source of the strange
sound only by the light reflection of the white ceramic tiles in the
underground passage. I noticed that one ceramic tile had fallen off so
I breathed a sigh of relief and was ready to turn around toward the
exit. Suddenly, I caught a glimpse of a person sitting on the balustrade
near the other exit. Out of curiosity I walked near the person…a girl
who seemed to be quivering with weeping.
Inch by inch, as I got closer to the girl, I felt something strange
about the girl. 「 She has no legs!? 」 「Yeah…she has no legs and her
skirt was just fluttering…just fluttering..」 I screamed as I saw the
girl floating into the walls swiftly. I turned around to move my weak
legs toward the exit. However, a chilly gale was felt behind my
back…」She was on my back!? 」 My heartbeat was accelerating at such a
fast pace that I almost couldn』t breathe. I couldn』t walk anymore and I
started to crawl… The moment I lowered my head I saw a part of her skirt
float on the air behind my legs… 」What can I do now? Just keep going…」
I walked and crawled toward the exit. As for her, I could feel that she
was following me, perhaps only at the distance of an arm』s length. I
climbed toward the exit with her floating in air behind me. With my
weak body, I finally climbed to the top and I saw a person, a real
person who I thought was approaching me. 「 Hey! Guy! 「 I did my best
to call the man. 「The end…the end…」 Those were the only words in my
mind.
After the scaring experience, I had nightmares every night- the dark and
chilly campus underground passage, the girl who has no legs… Every time
I had to pass through the passageway in order to go to my classes, I
would run as fast as I can and hope that the terrible memory would never
appear again.