空房间的脚步声

Every afternoon, Nia heard footsteps in the empty classroom above the library. The room had been locked since a broken window made it unsafe, and the caretaker insisted that nobody entered it. Nia first believed the sounds came from pipes, but they always began at exactly four o'clock and crossed from the door to the far wall.

She asked her friend Omar to help investigate. Instead of forcing the lock, they waited outside and listened carefully. At four, a long shadow moved across the window, followed by three heavy steps. Omar noticed a loose branch striking the glass. Each strike shook an old wooden globe inside the room, causing it to roll across three floorboards before a book stopped it.

The mystery had a simple result, but Nia discovered something important. A strange event can lead to fear when people fill missing facts with imagined danger. After the caretaker cut the branch and repaired the window, the footsteps disappeared. The empty room became a reading room again, and Nia kept the rolling globe as a reminder to search for evidence before choosing an exciting answer.