Horror Short Story | Intercom

The apartment Shen Jing rented had an old intercom downstairs. The buttons were labeled with each unit's number. He lived on the third floor, so he pressed button number three. He had never used the intercom since moving in. Friends always called him directly when they visited. One night, the intercom rang. He picked it up, but there was no voice on the line, only static. Thinking it was broken, he hung up and ignored it. The next night, it rang again. This time, when he answered, he heard a girl's voice, very faint, as if from a great distance: "Let me in." Shen Jing assumed it was a downstairs neighbor who had forgotten their keys and pressed the door-release button. The next day, he asked the building manager if any resident had forgotten their keys late last night. The manager said no, and that the intercom lines in the building had been broken for a long time and couldn't be used at all. Shen Jing froze. "Broken? Then what was that call I received yesterday?" The manager looked at him, hesitating to speak. "Who called you?" "A girl. She asked me to let her in." The manager's face changed. "Did you let her in?" Shen Jing nodded. The manager was silent for a few seconds, then lowered his voice. "Five years ago, there was a girl in this building. She came back late one night without her keys and pressed the intercom downstairs for a long time, but no one opened the door for her. She eventually went up the stairs and fell to her death in the stairwell." "So?" "So she's been waiting for someone to let her in." the manager said. "You opened the door, so she came in." When Shen Jing returned home that night, the front door was open. He had definitely locked it when he left. He walked inside. No one was in the living room, but the bathroom faucet was running, water gushing out. He turned off the water and turned