I Survive by Strategizing the Ghost Teacher

The day I was assigned to that abandoned middle school, one name was already missing from the welcome roster. The fourth-floor dorm light burned all night, and the classroom door at the end of the hallway opened on its own every night at three. My roommate vanished on the third day; his bedding was still on the bed, as if he had never been there. The principal said he had simply transferred, but he wouldn't meet my eyes when he said it. I started writing down every sound I heard each night: when the door opened, which classroom had footsteps, who was called out and never came back. I don't rely on being brave; I rely on figuring out the rules one by one. On the seventh night I followed the pattern to the innermost classroom on the fourth floor, and the ghost teacher stood behind the lectern. Watch free on Palmbox.