CHAPTER ONE
It was a cold afternoon; students from Malayan International School were preparing for their annual Halloween Challenge. The date was October 31, 2025.
Joseph Regis, described as tall and lean, has an angular face shape with a defined jawline. He has short dark hair with a textured faded style on the side. His eyes appear to be brown in color, and his lips are of medium fullness, while his distinguishing features would be his dark and thick eyebrows.
He is in his senior year and part of the student body committee as one of its directors. He has always been active in any activities, such as sports, festivals, and this one. Lastly, he loves to read books. So, he is usually found inside the library during his free time.
Tonight, instead of wearing their school uniform, he wears this D.I.Y. mummy costume and sneakers for their Halloween challenge. It was still 4 in the afternoon; there were no more students inside the library except him and the librarian.
As he was finished checking for the decorations and props for the haunted library. A few minutes later the librarian bid her goodbyes to him, as she will not be attending the said event.
Librarian “Joseph, once your group is finished with this activity, kindly clean afterwards, okay?”
Joseph “Yes, Ms. Ellis.”
Ms. Ellis “Here are the keys to the door; kindly close up once you’re finished, okay? I’ll get them from you tomorrow.”
Joseph “Yes, ma’am, don’t worry.”
Ms. Maria Ellis, in her mid-30s, has a small and chubby figure. She has light brown hair in a messy bun hairstyle. Her eyes are striking blue, which is her distinguishing feature. Her face is heart-shaped with delicate features such as a well-defined jawline. She has pale white skin.
She always wears this type of school uniform for school facilitators. And a colored scarf. She is always found inside the library or outside the biggest tree located at the back of the Holy Cross Building, where the library is located.
This time, Joseph was the only one left in the library; when Ms. Ellis left, he then soon went to every corner of the room for final checking. When suddenly, he noticed this one student sitting near the window, crying.
She has this long wavy hair; her face appears to have a soft oval contour with a slightly pointed chin and a gentle curve to the jawline. Her skin appears to be clear, smooth, and pale white. She wears this long, white, kimono-like robe.
He tries to scold the girl, but upon seeing her up close, her serene beauty is displayed when the moon shines upon her.
Joseph “Hey, excuse me! Students shouldn’t be allowed here till this hour, miss; the event hasn’t started yet. Can you please go out now?”
The girl then notices him and starts to walk away. He saw her leave the corner. But as he was about to go out of the library, he didn’t notice the girl leaving the room; he didn’t even hear any sound from the door. Nothing at all. He then tries to call her out.
Joseph “Hmmm, that’s weird. Hello? Are you still there? You really need to leave!”
No one answers. only pure silence inside the library. He suddenly felt something eerie, it became cold, and his hands started to shake. And suddenly, the door began to open. He stopped and stared at it, acting brave, and then a head popped up; Joseph almost was frightened. It was just his classmate.
classmate 1 “Dude! Is it finished yet? We have to start the challenge. It’s already six; we only have till 8 to use this room.”
Joseph “Yeah, I’m finished.”
Joseph felt relief that it was just his classmate; he almost thought that he saw a ghost or something. They then left the room and went to the gymnasium, informing the team that the library is ready.
Their Halloween Challenge is like their annual initiation of juniors by their seniors. In their school, there are only 6 sections for juniors and 4 for seniors. All of the juniors must go through the challenges given by their seniors. Joseph’s class handled the jump scare inside the library.
As Joseph and his classmate went down from the building, they then went through this big tree at the back of the building as a shortcut to the gymnasium. He suddenly takes a glimpse of that girl he saw in the library earlier. Instead of leaving her, this time he went to her and grabbed her hand and guided her to the gymnasium.
Joseph “We should be in the gym now, miss, as the challenge is going to start.”
The girl was startled as she was dragged to the gym. She looked at him scared and anxious.
As they reach the gym door, one classmate opens it, and it makes both of them startled.
Classmate 2 “Joseph, there you are. Are we ready?”
Joseph nodded as he forgot about the girl he brought in.
Joseph “Wait, where’s the girl who was with me?”
Classmate 2 “Huh? I didn’t see anyone coming in.”
Joseph “Are you sure?”
Classmate 2 “Hey, are you trying to scare me?”
Joseph “No, I’m not!”
Classmate 2 “Maybe she went inside as we spoke. Never mind her; the challenge was about to start.”
Joseph went backstage, where the committee was waiting. All has been set and prepared, so all of the student body committee went up on the stage along with Joseph to start the challenge. This is where the class president starts to enter, hold the mic, and start announcing the challenge procedures.
Class president ”Okay juniors! Let’s start our annual Halloween challenge! Each of the seniors has set up a challenge for you to participate in. The building you need to enter is in the Holy Cross building, and these are the chapel, science hall, activity hall, and lastly, the library.”
“As you can see, all who are participating must wear their different types of costumes; some are wearing monsters, witches, fairies, etc., so are you ready?”
The crowd went wild and got excited. But for Joseph, he was out of himself. He was thinking and curious if the girl was there in the crowd; he tried to look for her, but there was no girl in a white kimono robe.
Class president “Ok, let’s start the challenge in 3, 2, 1, go!”
All of the juniors hastily walked towards the gym doors and started participating in the challenge. And as the night progressed, all of the juniors were already finished with the challenge. Joseph tries to look for the girl and asks her name in every junior he meets. But that night ended; the mystery girl just vanished.
Class president “Ok guys, the challenge ended with the blast! Let’s now proceed to the field for our annual bonfire!”
All the juniors and seniors went to the field and started the bonfire as their closing ceremony. But the class assigned for the props inside the library leaves the bonfire for as long as they need to clean the room up.
Classmate 1 “Ok guys, let’s hurry this up so that we can catch up on the bonfire.”
All “Yes.”
As they were busy tidying up, Joseph then tried to open up about what he saw earlier.
Joseph “Guy, I’m just hallucinating, right?”
Classmate 3 “Why?”
Joseph “Earlier, I saw this girl inside the library wearing white. Upon checking all the students here, I haven’t seen her anywhere since.”
Classmate 2 “Argh! Joseph, here you go again; you’re trying to scare us.”
Joseph “No, I’m not.”
Classmate 1 “Dude, you’re just imagining things. You’re with Ms. Ellis, right? Maybe you just mistook her for that girl.”
Joseph became skeptical and doubted everything he heard. He’s really sure about what he saw that night.
When they got finished tidying up, they then closed up the library. Joseph starts to look for her in the bonfire; maybe this time he will meet her there.
He looked and looked, checking every student, especially the ones wearing white. When suddenly he notices her standing below the big tree, staring at the students enjoying themselves.
Joseph took up some courage and decided to approach her. This time he truly asks her name.
Joseph “There you are! I thought I had missed you! I’m Joseph, by the way. May I know your name, miss?”
The girl got startled and decided to leave the scene, but Joseph got ahold of her. She was shocked at why he did that.
Girl “Wait, you can see me?”
Joseph “What do you mean? Well, duh! I can definitely see you! I’m not blind, you see.”
Girl ”But"
Joseph ”But who are you? What section are you from?”
Girl “Wait! Too many questions.”
Joseph ”Anyways, do you want to go near to the bonfire? It’s quite cold out here.”
Before the girl could react, he just grabbed her and brought her to the bonfire. They sat in the open field filled with students: mixtures of couples and friends.
Joseph ”Seriously, what’s your name?”
Girl “It’s Alena.”
He got mystified by Alena’s serene beauty, especially when the light from the bonfire hit her face. She was glowing, and it made Joseph fall in love at first sight.
When he was about to ask what class she was in. A classmate came to him asking something important.
Girl classmate “Joseph, can I talk to you in private?”
Joseph “Sorry, but I’m quite busy.”
He then turned to Alena, but she disappeared again. He turns back to his classmate.
Joseph “Did you see where my friend went?”
Girl classmate “Huh? Nope, I didn’t see you with someone. But anyways, Joseph, I really do like you!”
A shocking confession was made, and it caught Joseph off guard and shocked him.
Joseph “Sorry, but I already set my eye on someone else.”
And that girl was Alena.
A few days later, the students just got back from a small school vacation. Joseph’s mission is to find her mystery girl from the Halloween challenge last week.
He needs to start with all the juniors; there are 6 classes, with 20-23 students in each class. Half of them are girls, so there are an estimated 70 junior girls. And while for seniors, there are 4 classes with 20 students each, so there are an estimated 40 seniors and a total of 110 girls. But 50% of them he already knew. So, that will lead him to 60 juniors and seniors.
But, in order for him to find these 60 students, Joseph might need a little help from his friends.
Joseph “Guys, I really need your help this time!”
Classmate 1 “Hey, what is it this time, Joseph?”
Joseph “I really need to find that girl, Mark.”
Mark (classmate 1) “Wait?! Last time you said it was a ghost?!”
Joseph “No dude, she is real! She was there in the bonfire!”
Classmate 2 “Wait, I heard you turn down a junior last Halloween?”
Joseph “How did you know that, Sheila?”
Sheila (classmate 2) “Well, she asked me about you; I caught her crying that time.”
Mark “Joseph, my man! Such a heartbreaker!”
Joseph ”Guys, guys, you’re changing the topic. I really need to find that girl.”
Mark “Okay, okay, dude, I know most of the girls here on the campus. Can you describe her?”
Joseph ”She has this long wavy hair; her face is oval with a slightly pointed chin. She has a pale white complexion. And she’s this tall, like you, Sheila.”
Mark ”Maybe that’s Anne? From section D, she’s a junior.”
Joseph “Nah. Not her.”
Mark “Well, there’s only 4 girls with long hair in our year and 1 for the juniors, dude.”
Sheila “Wait, I heard that some of the juniors invited some outsiders last time. So, she’s maybe an outsider?”
Joseph “Argh! That’s hard to look at! I might not find her this time!”
Joseph got disappointed by what he just discovered, but this doesn’t make him stop looking for her. He hopes that she’s a student here at Malayan International School; maybe she’s a sophomore. The only option for him is to wait inside the library; maybe she will be there. Every day, every free time, even after school hours, he always passes by the library and checks if she is there.
Ms. Ellis “Joseph, I’m about to close the library now; kindly please leave if it’s okay?”
Joseph “Okay, Ms. Ellis”
But these past few nights, Joseph keeps on dreaming about her. On his first night, he dreamed of what he saw last time; she was just standing there looking at the window. The next night, he dreams the same dream again, but this time, she was there, standing and looking at him.
The 3rd night was still the dream, but she was crying, looking at him. But on the 4th night, it’s getting weirder; he dreams that she was there, her face filled with blood. This continues on the 5th night, where his dreams turn into nightmares. Night after night, Joseph keeps on waking up from a terrible nightmare, same situation, same person. But this time it gets weirder. He saw himself filled with blood, while she was still crying in blood.
JOSEPH’s POV “Since I met you that night, Alena, I can’t stop thinking about you. I still remember everything: the gaze of your eyes while looking in the window, how your hair glowed from the moon, and how your face shone that night.”
“I want to meet you again; I want to talk to you, Alena. I can’t help it, but I kinda missed you!”
“I don’t know what those dreams are meant for, Alena. Why am I having nightmares about you? Are you okay?”
