The Cursed Dormitory: The Lament of the Last Resident

The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a crimson glow over the dormitory that stood on the edge of campus. It was a place of whispered tales and unspoken fears, a place where the laughter of students once echoed, but now, silence reigned supreme. This was the Cursed Dormitory, and it had a new resident, a girl named Mei, who had no idea what she was about to face.

Mei had moved into the dormitory at the end of the semester, a last-minute decision made in a moment of desperation. The previous residents had been so eager to leave that they had practically pushed her in. "You're next," they had said with a mix of fear and excitement. But Mei, being the optimist she was, had dismissed their warnings as mere superstition.

The dormitory was an old building, its walls adorned with peeling paint and creaky floorboards that groaned under the weight of her steps. She unpacked her things, the scent of newness mingling with the faint, lingering odors of the past. As she settled in, she couldn't help but notice the oddities of the place: the door that would sometimes open by itself, the shadowy figures that seemed to dance in the corners of her vision, and the cold air that seemed to seep through the walls.

One night, as Mei lay in bed, the dormitory's peculiarities began to seem less like quirks and more like signs. She heard a faint whisper, faint but clear, "Help me." Startled, she sat up and listened harder. The whisper grew louder, insistent, and she realized it was coming from the room directly across the hall. She had never met the resident of that room, and now, she was curious.

Determined to uncover the source of the whisper, Mei approached the door. It was slightly ajar, and through the crack, she could see a dimly lit room. She pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was empty, save for an old, dusty mirror that stood against the far wall. The whisper grew louder as she approached the mirror, and then she saw it. Her reflection was joined by another, a face twisted in pain and sorrow, and a name appeared above it: "Lan."

Lan had been the last resident of the dormitory before Mei. According to the whispers and legends that had preceded her, Lan had been a brilliant student who had taken her own life after being accused of cheating. The dormitory had been cursed, and Lan's spirit was trapped within its walls.

Mei felt a chill run down her spine as she realized the truth of the whispers. She had entered the room of the cursed resident, and now, she was being called to help. She took a deep breath and stepped closer to the mirror. "What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

The spirit of Lan appeared in the mirror, her eyes filled with a mix of sadness and desperation. "I need to be free," she said, her voice echoing through the room. "But I can't leave until the truth is known."

Mei's curiosity had turned to determination. She was going to uncover the truth behind Lan's death. She spent the next few days researching, talking to the faculty, and piecing together the story of Lan's last days. What she learned was shocking.

Lan had been falsely accused of cheating, and the accusations had driven her to the brink of madness. She had tried to clear her name, but the school had covered up the truth, and she had taken her own life in despair.

With the truth in hand, Mei returned to the dormitory. She stood in front of the mirror, the spirit of Lan watching her intently. "I have the truth," Mei said, her voice steady. "I will tell the world."

The spirit of Lan nodded, her face relaxing for the first time since Mei had entered the dormitory. "Thank you," she whispered. "You have saved me."

As Mei spoke the truth to the world, the dormitory's curse began to lift. The whispers grew fainter, the cold air vanished, and the dormitory returned to its former state of tranquility. Mei had freed the spirit of Lan, and in doing so, had freed herself from the dormitory's curse.

The Cursed Dormitory remained a place of whispered tales, but now, the whispers were of hope and redemption. And Mei, the girl who had once dismissed the dormitory's legends, had become its guardian, ensuring that the truth of Lan's story would never be forgotten.