The Haunted Neighborhood: Break the Rules and Die

My rent was due, so I took a cheap room in Wutong Court. On the day I moved in, I found a yellowed list of rules stuck to the door.

1. After 10 p.m., never turn on the living room light.

2. Don’t answer the door, no matter who’s outside.

3. If you see a woman in a red dress wandering downstairs, hide in the closet at once and stay there until dawn.

4. There are only three rules. If a fourth appears, destroy it at once. Do not read it.

I thought it was a prank, until the living room light came on by itself late that night. Someone knocked, and my own voice came from outside the door: “Open up. It’s me.”

As it turned out, following the rules only makes your death slower. Break them, and you die on the spot.