To escape late-night seminars and mandatory study halls, I forged a medical record claiming I had night blindness. Everyone believed that once the lights went down, I was effectively blind. Then, one night, a murder occurred in my dorm hallway. When the killer was dragging the body at the dark end of the corridor, I was standing right at the other end. He saw me, but he didn't panic. Because he knew me, and he thought I couldn’t see him. Right before my eyes, he calmly dragged the body away and cleaned up the blood. I could only stand there, pretending to enjoy the evening breeze, pretending to be blind. But the truth was, I saw his face perfectly. 1 It took me a long time to stop shaking. I thought about going to the cops, but I had my doubts. First, the killer was my roommate, Toby. Second, when he was dragging the body toward the stairs, someone else was clearly there waiting for him. I had no idea who the accomplice was. I couldn't even make a guess. School was out on break now. We were just a few stragglers left behind in the dorms. My dorm room only had Toby and me left. So, his partner in crime definitely wasn't one of our roommates. There were barely any other students left in the entire building, which is probably why he felt brave enough to kill someone in the hallway. Killing me wouldn't be much harder. So, rushing to the police right now felt way too dangerous. Plus, if the cops couldn't find where they hid the body, I'd be screwed. I could leave campus immediately, but if the police never found the body... Would I even be able to come back next semester? I could watch out for Toby, but how could I watch out for an unknown accomplice? And Toby was absolutely convinced about my night blindness. He must have believed it, otherwise, he would have come over and dealt with me right then. I should be safe, at least for tonight. I had to survive the night and wait for the body to be discovered; then I could make my move. Thinking this through, I exhaled, preparing to go back inside. But just as I turned around, Toby’s face was inches from mine! 2 I jumped. He must have taken the other set of stairs and circled back around behind me. That was definitely not part of my plan. But my long-term training as a patient had perfected my acting skills, and I held it together. I quickly defocused my eyes, frowned, and forced a smile. 「Is someone there? Wh-who is it?」 Toby’s expression was still tense, but his tone was casual: 「It’s just me, T-man... Are your eyes that bad you can’t see me this close?」 I nodded, still smiling, and explained: 「It’s not total darkness. Up close, I can make out a blurry shape, that’s why I asked. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have asked, or come out here in the first place.」 Toby’s gaze was icy, a total mismatch with his casual tone: 「Heh... Good... It’s getting late, though. Ready to head in and crash?」 I nodded again, keeping up the harmless smile: 「Yeah, I am getting a bit tired. Let’s go.」 Then we walked into the room. My performance was relaxed and natural, exactly how I always was. I couldn't let him see even a hint of suspicion. He, on the other hand, was still super tense—classic signs of someone who just did something monstrous. That meant my act had worked. He believed me. That's why he wasn't bothering to hide his own anxiety. Before climbing into my bunk, I turned around and casually asked him: 「By the way, where were you so late? Out partying?」 Even with my eyes unfocused and my voice relaxed, the question hit a nerve. He instantly got more tense, staring at me intently. He paused for two seconds before explaining: 「Yeah, out grabbing late-night snacks with some guys. Eating this late is normal, you know...」 I thought back; he actually did grab late-night snacks a lot. I think I’d even met those friends. The one he was tightest with was Kyle. So, as I climbed into my top bunk, I continued nonchalantly: 「With your boy Kyle? He’s still stuck here on campus too?」 Toby answered without hesitation: 「Yeah, that’s right. It was him. I was out with him.」 I felt a pang of disappointment. This meant the accomplice wasn't Kyle. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have admitted it so directly. 3 「Tired, tired... sleep, sleep...」 I lay down on my bed. But sleep was out of the question tonight. I just didn't realize that even if I could have slept, I wouldn’t have been allowed to. About an hour later, Toby slowly sat up. The dorm room was dark; I could only see his shadowy upper body like a ghost. He turned his head slowly, appearing to be staring directly at me. He was checking to see if I was asleep. I pretended I was. Even if I was awake, I should be seeing nothing... That thought made the night even more excruciating. Not long after, I realized Toby had climbed down from his bunk. We have lofts with desks underneath, so it was darker down there. I could slightly squint my eyes and peek. I saw Toby put on a face mask, probably to remind himself not to make any sound. I saw him open the dorm door. And then I saw another person outside dragging a body in! They hadn't disposed of it yet. I tried to see the accomplice’s face, but he was wearing a mask too. That wasn't a huge problem, though. Because they brought the body into the dorm room, it meant they planned to hide it here. Wherever they hid it, come morning, one phone call to the cops would end this entire nightmare. But their next move was a little confusing. They very carefully looped a rope over the ceiling fan. I was stunned. Because I slept on that end, I was relatively close to the fan. And yes— The two of them looped the rope around the body’s neck and slowly hoisted it up. I stood there, watching a head rise up, rising until it was almost level with my gaze. In that moment, my heart was hammering against my ribs. Especially when I saw the body’s face— I really lost it. 4 It was our third roommate, Chris. But he was supposed to have left campus ages ago, and he wasn't from around here. Why was he back? Why did Toby strangle him? And it was obvious Toby and the accomplice were staging a suicide. Even though he wasn't actually hung, the face of someone strangled to death is just as terrifying. Because it was so close, I saw everything. His face was ghostly pale, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as if they were about to fall out. His nostrils were flared to their absolute limit, the corners of his mouth pulled back painfully to the sides, revealing a few terrifyingly white teeth. You could see how desperately he wanted to gasp for air, or scream, before he died. But it was all useless, and he died with that expression of pure agony. The worst part was, I had to pretend I couldn't see him. An actual dead guy was swinging right next to my head, and his eyes... it was like they were staring right at me. Even if I closed my eyes, I could still feel that non-existent gaze. I knew tonight would be bad, right from the start. But I never imagined it would be this bad. A short while later, they finally finished everything, including cleaning up the tracks. They were seriously talented—they didn't make a single sound the entire time. It didn't even give me a reason to “wake up.” Then, the accomplice opened the door and left, and Toby slowly climbed back into his bunk opposite mine. So now, the two of us and the hanging Chris formed an isosceles triangle with a top angle of over 150 degrees. As soon as I opened my eyes, Chris’s horrifying face was right there above me. I really wanted to turn toward the wall, but I knew I didn't usually roll around much when I slept. Suddenly turning over now would just raise suspicion. If I got caught, I would definitely be killed. There was zero doubt about that. But on second thought, this situation actually brought me a tiny grain of comfort. The body would definitely be discovered tomorrow morning, and I could smoothly point the finger at Toby. Even if I didn't, he wouldn’t escape the forensic team’s eyes. Because strangulation and hanging have very different marks. How could a crime scene investigator not see that? And right then, something creepy happened— Toby’s cell phone actually started ringing! The sudden sound sent a jolt through my entire body. It was an involuntary reflex action I couldn't control. Immediately, Toby’s apology floated over: 「Sorry, sorry. Forgot to turn the ringer off and woke you up...」 I realized instantly— He did that on purpose. 5 Given how meticulous he was about cleaning up the body earlier, there was zero chance he “forgot to turn the ringer off.” And it was so loud—loud enough to scare me. So this was definitely intentional. He wanted something from me. Because night blindness has a specific feature— After dark, in poor light, patients can’t use their phones. Because the phone screen’s brightness will actually worsen the condition, potentially leading to total blindness. And the dorm room was incredibly dark, much darker than the hallway outside. So he was banking on the fact that I wouldn’t discover the hanging Chris. Thinking this through, I adjusted my mindset and replied in a drowsy voice: 「Scared the crap out of me... but it’s fine... go back to sleep...」 I was deliberately saying that, because that’s how someone waking up in the middle of the night should act. Sure enough, Toby used this opportunity to keep talking to me: 「Hey, by the way, do you know anything about Chris?」 I couldn't not respond to this topic. Because Chris was swinging right there in the middle of the room, near the head of our beds. I lazily countered: 「What? I thought he went home... did something happen?」 Toby immediately followed up: 「He didn't go home. He’s out there ghosting... and it sounds like he’s in trouble. He said he was coming back tonight, but at this rate, he’ll probably have to scale the wall.」 Hearing that, I got it instantly. Toby was setting the stage for "Chris’s return." And he stressed "scaling the wall," because the main dorm entrance has surveillance cameras. Scaling the wall meant there would be no record of when he returned... I got it. Total clarity. He was trying to play me, to fabricate evidence! He was misleading me into thinking Chris came back later in the deep, dark night after we were asleep. And after he came back, he silently hung himself in a suicide... That way, Toby would naturally be cleared of suspicion. I chuckled inwardly. Did he really think the cops were idiots? Strangulation versus hanging—how could a medical examiner possibly not know the difference? 6 Toby was still making casual conversation, pretending nothing was wrong: 「You probably didn't know, but word is he got into a heap of trouble, owed a ton of money, practically ready to skipped town.」 I ignored him, but he kept talking: 「With that kind of pressure, who knows what kind of state he’s in right now...」 My eyes drifted again to the hanging Chris. Caught sight of his face, made even more horrifying by the hanging. This state, yeah, it really wasn't great. But I also got that Toby was planting the seed of the idea that "Chris was in enough trouble to commit suicide" in my mind. That way, when the body was exposed tomorrow morning, I would "unconsciously" tell everyone, including the police, this exact idea. Thus indirectly confirming that Chris’s death was a suicide. If this was Toby’s goal, then as long as I bought it, he would let me go to sleep. So I obediently countered: 「No way? What kind of major trouble did he get into? Is it that serious?」 Toby immediately opened up like a dam, words flooding out: 「You have no idea. He hid it so well in the dorm, you probably couldn't even tell.」 「I’m telling you, he got mixed up in gambling, owed a massive, massive amount to loan sharks!」 「That’s why he was afraid to go home. Right at the beginning of break, he said he was going to make some money to win it back...」 「My guess is he lost it all this week, didn’t even have a place to stay tonight, so that’s why he said he was coming back.」 「Anyway, when he comes back, if he’s in a bad mood, just try to ignore him. Don’t get into any arguments with him...」 「I’m afraid he might do something stupid... sigh, life is hard...」 He sounded genuinely concerned, but all I felt was a hair-raising sense of the absurd. Because Chris’s body was hanging right next to us, and he was even facing me. 「I had no idea...」 I sighed too, ready to end the conversation with Toby. As long as I agreed with him and let him know the seed was planted. I chuckled again inwardly, thinking his plan was genuinely stupid. They spent so much effort staging Chris as a "suicide," even guiding me to back them up, but it really wouldn't work. Suicide or not, it wasn't about what we said; it was about what the police found. Just as I was about to say the thought "I know Chris has suicidal thoughts" out loud... I suddenly realized things weren't right. Because they weren't stupid. From the clean, efficient killing method to the silent body transport, even staging this suicide scene without making a single sound... They were far from stupid; they were actually a lot smarter than the average person! And they definitely did a ton of prep work! How could they possibly not know that the police would definitely tell the difference between "suicide" and "strangulation"? So since that was the case, why were they doing this? I just felt my scalp go numb. Because another possibility hit me— Could dragging Chris back to the dorm and hanging him up all just be a performance put on for me?
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