piecing together the soul

Chapter 2 Exploring the Book Club
When I woke up the next day, I realized that my dream was very real.Difficulty in choosing does not exist in me, so I made up my mind to go to that book club to have a look.

At four or five o'clock in the afternoon, I had dinner, then I packed up and went out. I told my dormitory classmates that there were foreign affairs activities and I might not come back at night.I didn't bring many things, that is, mobile phone key money and bus card, and I didn't even carry a bag.It was September, a rare few days in Beijing that could be counted as autumn. I put on a ponytail and went out in a sweater, jeans, and sneakers.

XX Book Club is not too far from our school. Let’s put it this way, our school is on the West Third Ring Road, and the Book Club is on the North Third Ring Road. It takes about 20 minutes to get there by bus.It was almost six o'clock when I arrived, and the book club was quite big, probably because it sold various review materials, so there were quite a lot of people, it seemed that most of them were college students, and the shopping guides and responsible staff were mostly graduate students. Seniors and sisters.

After shopping around for a while, I asked a shopping guide: "Senior, what time is this place closed?"

"Before, it was usually open until around 09:30, but it closed at [-] o'clock in the past few days." The shopping guide replied, "None of us work here are from the same school, some have to take the subway back, and there are girls, too late convenient."

"Then why did it close early again recently?"

The shopping guide shook his head, but did not answer.

I took out the chocolate I bought at the supermarket outside the door and handed it to him: "Senior, you must not have eaten in class at this time, so you take the chocolate and eat it. I am very curious, so please tell me."

The shopping guide took the chocolate and looked around again: "There are too many people, come in the storage room and I will tell you."

Seeing that this little bribe worked, I followed the senior.

Looking at his expression, I feel that something really happened, otherwise what can't be said?Although the person in the dream may not really exist, but since there is indeed a problem with this bookstore, I am not in vain.Then should I stay here overnight and wait for that voice?Or do you want to leave after listening to the senior?
While walking and thinking, the senior led me to the storage room.There is no furnishings inside, just big boxes, piled up from the ground as high as library bookshelves, no table or stool, just sit down with books, and put a few cups on the taller book mountain as a table , there is a kettle for boiling water in the corner.The wire of the kettle is plugged into a large power strip, and there are several chargers plugged into the power strip, some of which are connected to the mobile phone, and some are obviously disconnected from the mobile phone.

Seeing me staring at the power strip in a daze, the senior said with a smile, "There's only one socket in this room."

"It's not easy for seniors and sisters." I said politely.Of course, this is just foreshadowing, I still think about the main topic: "By the way, senior, what did you just say?"

"Actually, it's nothing." The senior was a little embarrassed, "It's just that, not long ago, a boy who just entered the first year of graduate school also came and said that he wanted to work part-time. He came from province A and was admitted to university Q."

"That's amazing. Even those from our school may not pass the exam."

"Yeah, our boss saw that he was a college bully and was very helpful in compiling review materials, so we let him come over." The senior said while aiming at the door, "But he only took three classes, and the third class The first time was the night shift, and he never came again after that.”

"Not here?"

"Yes. Our boss called him. The phone was turned off a long time ago. Then he called his landline and finally got in touch with his dormitory classmates. As a result..."

"His dormitory classmates haven't seen him for several days, and they contacted the family, but they didn't see him. Is this person missing?"

"how do you know?"

I smiled and said, "Please, senior, isn't this plot too old-fashioned? Is it true? You saw me buying food, and you want to lie to me about chocolate?"

At this time, a senior opened the door and came in, glanced at me, then at the senior, and teased, "A new undergraduate girl?"

The senior smiled and said, "No, we just met by chance."

The senior sister said to me seriously: "Sister, sister reminds you, this brother, being a buddy is absolutely loyal, and being a boyfriend will waste your life."

I immediately understood: "Senior, what you just said just now is not just to trick me into saying a few more words here? Senior, you are too crazy, I mean you are not picky eaters or you are not I've seen the world."

"What did he tell you?" Senior sister asked, then said helplessly, "Anyway, don't believe what he says."

"Did I provoke you?" the senior said to the senior.

The senior sister ignored him, unplugged the charger and cell phone and went out.

The senior said very seriously: "Don't listen to her, what I just said is true."

Although I am not a particularly extroverted person, I am a very joking person.So I said very seriously: "Senior, I don't listen to her. But I do have a boyfriend."

"What nonsense?" The senior said with a contemptuous expression, "you would come here by yourself if you have a boyfriend? Well, well, even if you have, it must be a long-distance relationship."

"Really not," I imitated the senior's expression and tone and continued to talk about the mountain, "You see, there is a big difference between a female man like me and those soft girls who cling to their boyfriends all day long. It's a trivial matter, why do you have to drag your boyfriend?"

It may be that I am really masculine, and the senior seems to believe it: "Really? But, female man, do you need a boyfriend?"

"Nonsense, a female man is not a woman? Is it possible that I want to have a girlfriend?" I pretended to understand, and said, "Senior, you don't have a boyfriend, do you?"

"Do I seem to lack masculinity?" The senior was a little anxious.

I deliberately glanced at him up and down: "The gender characteristics are quite obvious, but who can tell the orientation?"

"I have a girlfriend, okay?" The senior seemed really annoyed by me, and took out his phone to find a photo to show me, "This is my girlfriend, isn't she pretty?"

Not to mention, he looks pretty good. After I flipped through a few photos, I suddenly realized: "There are so many photos in your phone, you are in a long-distance relationship, right?"

Seeing that he hesitated in his response, I knew I was right, so I guessed again: "Because your girlfriend is not around, you plan to find another girl behind her back, right?"

He was finally convinced: "Dude, are you majoring in reasoning?"

"I've seen you like this a lot." I said, "You are just like the story you just made up. It's so clichéd!"

"No, you did guess right about me, but what I said just now is absolutely true."

I was helpless: "I already said that I have a boyfriend, it's not from another place."

"It has nothing to do with what happened just now. It is absolutely true."

"Then tell me, what's the name of the missing man?"

"I... how do I know?" He was very anxious, "He has only been here for a few days, and I have only met him once, and I have never said hello. How do I know what his name is?"

"Come on, let's make it up."

"I didn't make it up. I reported this to the police. The Public Security Bureau is assisting in the search. It was also forwarded on the Internet. If you don't believe me, I will find it for you."

He was flipping through his phone when suddenly it rang, and the word "baby" was clearly displayed on the screen.

"All right, all right," I laughed at him immediately, "My girlfriend is here to check the post, go out and answer the phone quickly, and be careful here that I will make trouble for you." He gave me a blank look and went out.

I lay on the crack of the door and saw that he had indeed gone a long way, so I turned around and pulled out a charger that could match my mobile phone, and walked into the storage room.Some of the boxes inside were empty, and it was easy to hide someone, so I hid in it and put the lid on it.

The reason why I want to hide is because I decided to spend the night here.Just now, with the seriousness and caution of that senior when he said that someone was missing, I don't think it's fake.It was the senior sister, whose eyes flickered when she spoke, and seemed to blame the senior, as if the senior had done something wrong.In other words, the fact that someone disappeared should be true, but everyone in the book club regards it as a taboo and doesn't want others to know about it.

Since they feel that they don't want others to know, it is the best choice for me to cooperate with them and pretend not to believe it.As for the misunderstanding of the senior's plan for me, it is also for the sake of not telling me now, so don't find a suitable reason.

Just as I was thinking, I heard the sound of the door and the voice of the senior just now: "Hey, where is he? He ran away after so long? I still want to develop such a girl with characteristics."

Kao, it seems that his plan for me is not my misunderstanding!Of course, these are all minor details. I turned on my phone and it was already past seven o'clock.In order to wait for time, I planned to play games for a while, so I turned off the sound of the phone, even the vibration, and turned on my favorite game.

The time of playing games passed quickly. At about [-]:[-] or [-], the doors of the storage room kept opening and closing, and people came and went, as if they were going to leave work one after another.

The most interesting thing is that one of the seniors couldn't find the charger, and she kept blaming others, saying that others didn't take care of it strictly, and a thief came in the storage room.The other one is very innocent, he said, if a thief comes, why don't they leave the mobile phone and steal the charger?The senior sister had no choice but to say nothing, and left angrily.

I can only apologize secretly: I really didn't mean it, I just came here in a hurry, I never thought that I would not be able to survive playing with my mobile phone, just now I looked at the power strip in the corner in a daze, in fact, it was because I thought of it I'm sorry about this, sister, I will definitely pay it back tomorrow morning!

Taking advantage of the noise in the room, I used a key to open a hole on the box where I was hiding, facing my eyes. It was not too big, but it was enough for me to see a part of the road outside, but I couldn’t see it. The place where I was sitting and drinking water was blocked by a mountain of books.

The last person to leave turned off the light and locked the door, and I suddenly felt that my phone was too bright.Locking the screen of the phone, the surroundings suddenly fell into silence and darkness.Not to mention, the back is really a little cold.After thinking about it, I smiled again, thinking I was afraid of something, wasn’t it me who watched ghosts blowing out lights at two or three o’clock in the middle of the night? There is nothing to be afraid of.

My task is to stay here for a night, feel what's weird about this place, and see if the sound is real by the way.As for college students, they usually don’t go to bed until the middle of the night, and a little bit of staying up is just one night.Of course, it's not a problem to just stay here, it's better to go out and take a look.

So I walked out of the box lightly, turned on the flashlight function of the mobile phone to take a photo, thought it was wrong, and turned off the flashlight.It seems to be read in a novel about tomb robbers. If you hold a light, your target will be exposed. Once you have an enemy, you will be at a disadvantage if you are open and the enemy is in the dark.

I went to the power strip, charged the phone, and walked around the storage room twice, thinking it was boring too, staying next to the phone and waiting for it to be fully charged before unplugging it.It was already nine o'clock at this time, and according to the ancient algorithm, it should be the second watch.

Nothing happened yet, I couldn't help but feel a little restless, I was so whimsical, I just had a dream and came here to stay overnight, isn't this mentally abnormal, could it be that I have a lurking Mental illness?

Thinking of this, I suddenly had a feeling of being tricked, so I decided to go out of the storage room to see where I could get out, and I would go back while there were still buses and subways.

But as soon as I touched the lock of the storage room, I suddenly heard footsteps outside.

(End of this chapter)