3:34….
I stared at my watch, practically oblivious to my surroundings, waiting for time to pass. I hadn’t gotten any sleep before my first day back. I had been sick, injured, sleep deprived, basically every inconvenience under the sun. Travelling was a waste of my break.
Anyway, there were only a few more seconds to go until I could leave. Maybe I could compose myself by tomorrow.
3:35
Oh, thank god. It was finally over, no matter how temporarily.
I chucked everything into my bag, and dragged myself into the hallway. At least I didn’t have to worry about concentration anymore. I saw Steve approach me as I entered the stairwell.
„Hey, uhh.. Remember how you said you’d have time to.-„
„Not now, Steve. I don’t have the energy for this.”
„What do you mean? We haven’t talked in weeks.”
„I’m too sleep deprived to waste my time on this, okay? We’ll talk tomorrow.”
„Sure…”
I pushed him to the side lightly, as I continued to drag myself accross the hallway. This level of exhaustion couldn’t be normal, right? I had caught multiple diseases across the break, including Covid, but I had managed to pull myself together to the point where I could return to school. A shitty decision. I’ll just skip tomorrow.
As I passed the bathroom on the second floor, my stomach began to sting unbearably. I had to stop and lean against the door, in too much pain to move my legs.
I recognized this bathroom. It was infamous for it’s lack of any form of maintenance, and was subsequently avoided by most students. The only people who frequented it used it to watch anime, or some similar shit during the breaks. the fourth stall was the only usable one, as the other toilets where either clogged beyond repair, or damaged beyond use.
I pushed in the door, and collapsed into the fourth stall and sat down, now struggling with both exhaustion and excruciating pain.
I sat there, partially unconscious for a few minutes, on the verge of screaming as the pain intensified. As I was about to consider calling the ambulance, I blacked out.
I sat there, lapsing in and out of consciousness for an uncertain length of time, until a voice woke me.
Crying.
It came from the stall directly next to me. I could make out the shadows of two figures from under the divider. The crying seemed to come from a child, sitting in the stall. It eventually faded. A second voice broke the silence. It was deep, slightly distorted, yet strangely coherent.
„Red or blue?”
The kid in the stall started whimpering.
„Answer me, kid”
„Who are you?”
„ANSWER MY QUESTION, OR I’LL SNAP YOUR NECK! RED OR BLUE?”
I heard the kid attempt to run across the stall, screaming, only to be forced back by the man.
„Answer me.”
„No”
„Alright then… Knife, or throat?”
Silence
I heard the man advance towards the kid, raising something above his head.
„Throat…”
Silence. I sat there in utter silence as I waited for the mans reaction. I heard him step aside. The kid left the stall and walked through the bathroom in a dazed fashion, only collapse in front of my stall, twitching and coughing as blood pooled on the ground.
The pain in my stomach had been replaced by numbness. I couldn’t bring my legs to twitch, let alone run. My arms where mobile enough for me to be able to lock the door as the man approached my stall. He kicked the corpse aside and knocked on the stalls door. I didn’t react. I just sat there, too numb and horrified to move.
„I know you’re there.”
I stared at the door.
„Open the door.”
I spoke involuntarily.
„I won’t open the door… Just leave.”
„OPEN…THE…DOOR…NOW!”
The numbness began to fade
„JUST FUCKING LEAVE!!”
„Really?”
He began to rhythmically tap his fingers against the door, pressing his hands against it’s surface.
He was trying to climb the door.
My legs started to become mobile, allowing me to lean forward and place my hand on the doorknob, ready to unlock it.
I looked up, staring at his hands as they reached the top of the door, allowing him to force himself up. I had to wait for him to be balancing on the door for this to work.
I couldn’t make out any of his features, except for hiss hands. He was covered in an oversized red cloak, covering most of his body, except for his emaciated fingers. He didn’t look at me. He kept staring forward as he attempted to climb over the door. I could finally make out his face, or at least the areas that were visible from under the cloack. He had wrapped a piece of red cloth around his face, leaving his eyes, and part of his nose exposed. He stopped moving and stared at the wall.
Finally.
I unlocked the door and bashed it against another stall, sending the man flying into it. I took this opportunity to run. As far as possible. Just run.
My energy faded as I reached the car park. The pain returned as I collapsed on the concrete, blind and in excruciating pain, blacking out once again.
I woke up in a hospital. They told me they had found me unconscious in my schools car park. They were able to trace back my movement by following a trail of blood.
I had been bleeding.
They found the kids corpse in the bathroom I escaped from. His name was Kyle, apparently. The security cameras caught almost everything. The only thing they couldn’t find was where the man had come from.
That was 5 years ago. They haven’t found him. They had to amputate one of my legs, temporarily leaving me in a wheelchair. I underwent surgery to get an artificial leg a few years later.
I did some research. His, no, ITs name is Aka Manto. A japanese demon that allegedly appears in bathrooms.
They won’t find him.
Every time I walk past a public bathroom, I can always see the man, his face now visible, mouthing a question.