The Silent Call of the Dormitory's Cursed Calendar

The old dormitory on the edge of the campus had always been whispered about in hushed tones. Its reputation as a haunted place was well-earned, with tales of ghostly apparitions and unexplained noises floating through the corridors. But for the new batch of freshman students at the University of Eldridge, the dormitory was just a place to sleep and study. That was until they stumbled upon something that would change their lives forever.

On the third floor, amidst the musty smell of old furniture and the echoes of forgotten laughter, lived the quiet and reserved Li Wei. A bookworm by nature, Li Wei spent most of his time in the dormitory, his only companionship the countless volumes of literature that filled his small room. But on one fateful evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows through the dormitory, Li Wei's life took an unexpected turn.

Li Wei had been organizing his books when he noticed a peculiar calendar tucked behind a stack of textbooks. It was old, with a leather cover that seemed to have been worn by countless hands over the years. The calendar was dated, but there was something distinctly off about it. The pages were blank, except for one word etched in blood-red ink: "Departed."

Intrigued and slightly unnerved, Li Wei decided to investigate further. He flipped through the pages, but they remained blank. The word "Departed" was the only enigmatic entry. Li Wei's curiosity was piqued, and he decided to show the calendar to his roommates, a group of diverse and curious individuals: the adventurous Zhang Li, the skeptical and logical Wang Wei, and the sensitive and empathetic Liu Meiling.

When the calendar was shown to the group, their reactions were varied. Zhang Li dismissed it as a mere curiosity, while Wang Wei was intrigued but skeptical. Liu Meiling, however, felt a strange sense of dread that seemed to emanate from the calendar itself. It was then that the first incident occurred.

As the days passed, strange occurrences began to happen. At night, whispers could be heard in the dormitory hallways, voices calling out the names of the students. At first, they were dismissed as the result of a prank or a figment of imagination. But the whispers grew louder and more persistent, until they became inescapable.

Wang Wei, who had been trying to maintain a logical perspective, decided to investigate the source of the whispers. He spent hours searching through the dormitory, checking every room, but found nothing. The whispers seemed to come from nowhere, only to vanish as quickly as they appeared.

Liu Meiling, however, had noticed something odd. The calendar seemed to be reacting to the whispers. Whenever a name was called, the word "Departed" would glow faintly on the page. It was as if the calendar was tracking the departed spirits, waiting for the right moment to make its presence known.

As the days turned into weeks, the whispers grew more insistent, and the incidents began to escalate. Students started to disappear one by one, leaving behind no trace. The university authorities were called in, but they could find no evidence of any supernatural activity. The students were left to their own devices, their fear and confusion growing with each passing day.

It was then that the date on the cursed calendar finally caught their attention. It was a date that none of them could forget: October 31st. The day of Halloween, when the veil between the living and the departed was said to thin. The students knew that they had to do something, but they were unsure of what.

On the night of October 31st, the dormitory was abuzz with activity. The students had barricaded themselves inside, their nerves on edge. As the clock struck midnight, the whispers began once more, louder and more insistent than ever before. This time, however, they were accompanied by a cold wind that swept through the corridors, chilling the bones of those trapped within.

Suddenly, the whispers stopped, replaced by a sound that was both familiar and terrifying: the sound of footsteps. They were not the normal clomping of shoes, but a light, ghostly sound that seemed to echo through the walls. The students knew that it was too late to run. They were trapped, and the departed were coming for them.

One by one, the students were confronted by the spirits of those who had gone before them. Their faces twisted in terror, their eyes filled with sorrow. They were the departed, the ones who had been called, and now they were here to take the living with them.

In the midst of the chaos, Li Wei found himself face to face with the ghost of a girl, her eyes filled with pain and regret. "You must escape," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the din of the other spirits. "The curse can be broken, but you must do it together."

Li Wei, along with his roommates, realized that the key to breaking the curse was the cursed calendar itself. They had to gather the spirits and confront the force that had bound them to the dormitory. It was a dangerous proposition, but they had no choice.

The spirits of the departed, led by the ghost of the girl, followed Li Wei and his friends into the heart of the dormitory. There, amidst the chaos, they found the source of the curse: an ancient, enchanted mirror that was the focal point of the haunting.

With the spirits gathered, Li Wei took a deep breath and approached the mirror. "This is over," he declared, his voice filled with determination. The spirits echoed his words, their voices a chorus of release.

The mirror, which had glowed with an eerie light, began to dim. The spirits, now free, began to fade away, leaving behind the students who had faced the departed. The curse was broken, but the cost was great. Many of the spirits had been bound for so long that they could not bear to leave their former lives behind.

In the aftermath, the dormitory was cleaned and restored, but the students never forgot the night they faced the departed. They had been saved, but the experience had left a lasting impact on their lives. The cursed calendar, now a relic of the past, was locked away in the university's archives, a reminder of the thin veil between life and death.

As for Li Wei and his friends, they continued their lives, but they knew that they would never be the same. They had faced the departed and come back to tell the tale. The dormitory was no longer haunted, but the memory of that night would always linger in their hearts.