My Deskmate is Not Human​ - Chapter 5

Night fell quickly.

Afraid that evil spirits might be at work, I urged Shen An to go home early.

He nodded gently.

I said goodbye to him in the corridor, and only when I closed the door did I notice the black umbrella, still wet, standing upright by the doorframe.

He had gone downstairs quickly.

I picked up the umbrella and hurried downstairs, but under the gloomy sky, rain was pouring down, and the boy was already gone.

Maybe he took a cab?

I guessed, deciding to return his umbrella and thank him when school started on Monday.

Normally, I lived at school.

I only went home on weekends.

Eating alone was uneventful.

That night, I only made a little rice porridge, did some practice problems, and then, feeling sleepy, went to catch up on sleep.

Unfortunately, my sleep was not peaceful.

Half-awake, half-asleep, I seemed to hear strange noises on the stairs, as if some four-legged monster was crawling up, scraping its limbs along the concrete steps.

Withered, slender fingers scratched the floor, making a sound that set my teeth on edge. Then, it crawled to the door, and through the crack, those bleeding, pitch-black eyes met mine.

A large pool of blood seeped through the gap, spreading to my bare feet.

It let out a strange, rasping laugh.

A chill ran down my spine.

Just as it was about to break through the door with its scratching-

My throat dry, I jolted awake.

But I wasn’t in my bed.

I was outside, in the dim corridor.

“Pa, ta.”

There was a sound at the stairway above.

The voice-activated light cast a faint white glow.

I looked up. Shadows of ghosts flickered.

They overlapped, their clothes tattered, crawling down toward me on all fours, their knees and hands grinding blood into the steps, muttering strange whispers.

Their descent was extremely slow.

That was enough for me to run.

But the stairs beneath my feet seemed endless, pitch-black as far as I could see, and with each flight down, the white voice-activated lights grew eerily bluish.

The shadows behind me chased faster.

Panicking, I missed a step and fell into the bottomless stairwell, only to have someone urgently grab my wrist and pull me into their arms.

“Monster.”

I pushed him away, helpless and flustered.

But he held me tighter.

“It’s all right now.”

A familiar voice echoed in the empty stairwell, as he gently patted my back, soothing me with a warm tone.

“I’ve driven away all those filthy things.

“I’ll protect you.”

I froze, looking up at that delicate, pale face, and called out uncertainly, “Shen An?”

“It’s me, class president.”

My taut nerves relaxed.

It was as if I had been reborn. My eyes reddened, and I clung to his waist, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Shen An…”

“I’m here.”

The boy stroked my hair.

Patiently, he kept repeating that it was all right.

When he saw me gradually calm down,

Shen An wiped away the tears from my wet, red eyes, his lowered, unreadable gaze falling on my face.

“Class president.

“I want a little reward.”

He spoke softly, looking at me, his dark pupils reflecting only me, his pale, striking features carrying a chilling allure that tempted one to fall.

I blinked my tear-stained eyes in confusion.

The next moment, a cold kiss fell on my lips.

The boy patiently nibbled, and as I froze, his tongue pried open my lips and teeth, his hand tightening around my waist, pulling me into his embrace.

“Shen An…”

“Hm?”

My fingers, weak, clung to his clothes.

Shen An responded carelessly, but his fingers gripped my neck, swallowing the words I hadn’t spoken.

Time in the dream seemed to stretch far longer than in reality.

As his delicate kisses wiped away the tears at the corners of my eyes, shed from the intensity of the long kiss, he bit my earlobe, his voice hoarse beyond recognition.

“It’s time to wake up, class president.”

The moment those words fell,

I jolted awake from the dream.