Horror story: the face I saw in the laundry room mirror

I wasn't going to post this but it's been years and I still can't look in a mirror at night without checking what's behind me.

So. The school I went to was a private all-girls high school in Wonju, Gangwon province. Most students were from out of town so basically everyone lived in the dorms, including me for two years. Five-story building attached right to the school. Four girls per room. The facilities were fine honestly, except everyone avoided one specific place.

The basement laundry room.

B1, tucked in the corner. Four old washers, two dryers, a sink, and a mirror on the wall. The fluorescent lights flickered. Always smelled damp. Upperclassmen used to joke "don't go down there alone" like it was a bit, and I never took it seriously.

Then came the night.

It was right before winter break. Barely anyone left in the dorms. My room was down to just me and my roommate Soyun. I'd been studying way too late and around 11pm I realized I had literally no clean socks or underwear left so I grabbed my laundry and went down.

The hallway was empty. No sounds. No one.

I stuffed everything in the washer and was turning to leave when I passed the mirror and just. Stopped.

Behind me. There was definitely nobody behind me in the room. But in the mirror there was a face over my shoulder. White face. Long hair hanging down. The eyes weren't totally clear but they were looking at me. DIRECTLY at me.

My heart just dropped.

I spun around instantly. Nothing. Nobody. Turned back to the mirror. The figure was gone.

I was scared out of my mind but I also couldn't just leave my laundry so I started the machine and ran upstairs. Told Soyun what happened and she was like "you probably imagined it, you're exhausted" and brushed it off. I did not sleep that night.

Next morning I went back down to grab my laundry. Trying to go fast, not think about it. But on my way to the washer I glanced at the bulletin board on the wall next to it and I got chills so bad my whole body went cold.

Under some old announcements there was a black and white photo. Faded yellow at the edges. A girl in the school dorm uniform, smiling at the camera.

It was the same face. The EXACT same face I'd seen in the mirror.

I went to the dorm supervisor and asked about it. She hesitated for a long time. Then quietly told me.

Fifteen years ago, a second-year student died in that laundry room. She was doing laundry late at night, got stuck in the gap between a washer and the wall, and by the time anyone found her she was already gone. The school buried the story as much as they could. The photo was from a small memorial they held at the time.

And then she told me about the rumor that had been going around the dorms ever since. That sometimes, late at night, the girl appears in the mirror. Standing behind you. And if you see her...

within a few days you'll have a dream. someone at the bottom of the dormitory staircase, calling your name, waving you down.

I had that dream.

Gray hallway. Bottom of the basement stairs. Someone calling my name and beckoning.

I never went to the basement again. For the rest of the year I did all my laundry during the day, always. To this day when I look in a mirror I check behind me first. every single time.

If you're living in a dorm or a boarding house and there's a laundry room with a mirror... don't just walk past it late at night without looking.

something might still be waiting there.