One night, as I was making my way to the bathroom around 3 a.m., I saw my dormmate, Yvonne, squatting in front of our door. She was rearranging all our shoes so that their tips were pointed inward.

I thought it was funny, so I rearranged them to have their tips pointed outward.

The next day, I found that all of them had been positioned inward again.

This kept happening for a week, and I continued to scramble things up, hiding the shoes, even, or tying the shoelaces together.

But they always ended up being repositioned neatly inward.

I started observing my dormmate and found her mumbling to the shoes while squatting at the door.

I ranted about it online, only to have my first reply send chills down my spine.

[Do you also get the weird feeling that something paranormal is happening around you? You have to move out before it’s too late!]

[Do you also get the weird feeling that something paranormal is happening around you?]

When I read that reply again, I shuddered.

Something paranormal happening around me?

I looked around but saw nothing.

Then, I peered at Yvonne’s room from the corner of my eye, only to find her sitting as still as a statue in front of her desk.

Wait. When had she come back?

I heard her leaving to go to work just a moment ago!

Her back was facing me, and at no point did she spare me a glance. That was so weird!

I approached her on tiptoes to see what she was doing, only to find her reading.

“Yvonne?” I called out to her.

She turned around with a bit of a pale face. “When did you wake up?”

I felt like she was avoiding my gaze.

“Why aren’t you at work?” I asked instead.

“I took a leave for today. I have some things to do,” she answered casually.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to get straight to the point. “I saw you fiddling with the shoes yesterday.”

Yvonne was stunned for a moment before she laughed wryly. “You saw that, huh?”

“What’s that for?”

“OCD,” she replied readily. “I need everything arranged neatly before I can fall asleep, especially shoes.”

She then showed me a medical report from her handbag.

“I’ve had OCD caused by anxiety for years now. The psychologist said that it’s due to stress.”

I read the medical report. It did indeed mention the disorder and treatment suggestions.

“I’m sorry. I thought—”

“That I was doing something strange? I know it looks weird, but I can’t control myself.” Yvonne smiled.

I found myself feeling embarrassed. I had simply been reading too much into the situation. Not too long after that exchange, Yvonne turned around and said nothing else. I tried talking to her some more, but her answers were crisp and short. Clearly, she was distracted.

I peeked at the entrance again. All the shoes were indeed pointed inward.

But Yvonne was behaving normally, like a standard roommate. Had I not seen her doing all those things, I would not have thought that there was anything strange about her.

Puzzled, I sent a DM to the person who had replied to my post.

[What did you mean by that? What’s this about something paranormal happening around me?]

The person replied quickly, [Girl, your roommate is performing the Guiding Ritual! It’s an ancient ritual. I don’t know the specifics, but it’s nothing good. Be careful. Those who perform this ritual usually have their reasons.]

The Guiding Ritual.

I did not recognize that term at all, but it did not sound like the average ritual.

[What should I do now?]

[Don’t alert her for now. Just watch and see whether your roommate acts normally or not. If I’m right, then she’s not just rearranging your shoes. By the way, have you been feeling sick lately? Such as feeling cold often or feeling as if someone is watching you?]

When I read this, I was stunned again.

She had guessed right!

Recently, I had been feeling constant chills down my back, especially when I was at home.

Sometimes, I even felt as if someone was following me, but when I turned my head around, I saw nothing.

I had thought that I was tired from work. But could it actually be…?

[How did you know? I did feel someone watching me.]

[That about sounds right. Your roommate might have performed the Guiding Ritual because of you.]

[What do you mean?]

[I don’t know the details, but I suggest you ask an expert about this. I have a friend who has some knowledge about the occult. Do you want me to ask for you?]

I hesitated for a moment before agreeing to it. The situation had indeed surpassed my realm of understanding, and I needed a professional to give me answers.

After putting down my phone, I found Yvonne with her nose still buried in a book.

What was she doing?

Almost half an hour passed before the person sent me a contact number.

[This is my friend’s WhatsApp number. Henry has been studying the occult for years, so just ask him any questions you have.]

I added Henry and gave him a brief rundown of the situation before he replied.

[Send a few photos to me.]

While Yvonne was distracted, I took a few photos of the shoe cabinet, the shoes arranged neatly on the floor, and a discreet shot of her.

A long time passed before Henry replied, [According to folklore, you’re in quite the complicated situation. Your friend is indeed performing the Guiding Ritual.]

[What does it do?] I asked urgently.

[It’s an ancient ritual, and just as the name suggests, the Guiding Ritual is to guide the way for certain creatures. There are plenty of Guiding Rituals. Some guide good souls, and some guide bad ones. It all depends on the type of method she’s using.]

Upon seeing this, my heart leapt to my throat.

[Which type is my roommate using?]

[Based on the photos you sent, she used a shoe array to perform the Guiding Ritual. This is the first step of the Guiding Ritual. The tips of the shoes are pointed inward to form the array to guide the way for some entities. But it’s just pointing them in the right direction. She needs to perform other rituals to summon this entity.]

The more I read, the more my skin crawled.

[Usually, those who need guidance are some unique entities. They don’t have a set movement pattern, and they need people to guide their way.]

[Are you saying…?] I did not dare think further about this.

[I can only say that your roommate has her own reason for performing the ritual. Based on your description on how long it lasted, she hasn’t been doing this for just one day, has she?]

I recalled the exact date. [It has been about six days.]

[That’s troublesome. Guiding Rituals usually have a time limit that lasts for seven days. This means that the entity she has been guiding is close to its target. Your roommate has been adjusting the angle and location of the shoes every day. This is her way of drawing out the route for the entity. There’s a unique characteristic to the ritual too. The end of the route has a deep tie with the caster.]

When I saw this, I felt my blood turn cold.

[Are you saying that the entity might be going for my roommate?]

[It’s not necessarily her. It could be someone else in your house. The most complicated part of the Guiding Ritual is that only the caster knows the true target.]

I then remembered the feeling of being watched and asked, [If I’m the target, what sort of signs would I see?]

[The target usually experiences some unique signs, such as feeling cold often, feeling as if something is following them, or experiencing strange dreams. Are you experiencing any of these?]

My hands trembled as I typed, [Yes for the first two.]

[You might be the target of the ritual, then.]

[What do you mean? What’s being drawn to me?]

[There are plenty of reasons behind why a Guiding Ritual is cast. I can’t form conclusions rashly. But I can be certain of one thing. Since she has chosen to perform the ritual on you, there is some sort of special connection between you two. Or rather, you’re important to her.]

I was only normal roommates with Yvonne. We did not even speak to each other on a daily basis.

Why was she conducting this strange ritual on me?

According to Henry, this was even a complicated ritual that lasted seven days.

[What should I do now?]

[I suggest observing for now and see whether she does anything else unusual. If this is a real Guiding Ritual, she won’t just rearrange the shoes. She’ll definitely do something else. Also, you have to pay attention to tomorrow, since it’s the seventh day. By then, the guided entity will reach its goal. If you’re the goal, tomorrow night will be crucial to you.]

I put down the phone and felt that my entire world had become surreal.

The Guiding Ritual, the seventh day, the mysterious entity…

All of these sounded like they belonged in a novel, but they were happening to me! Even after hearing about Henry’s analysis, I still could not quite believe this. He said that something was being led to me, but aside from feeling like I was being followed, I did not feel anything strange.

In order to see whether he was telling the truth, I decided to observe my rented place.

The first thing that caught my attention was the temperature.

I noticed that whenever I returned to the room, I felt that the living room was slightly colder, especially around the bed. In the beginning, I thought that it was just a problem with the air con, but after taking a closer look, I found that even after turning the air con off, my bed remained colder than other places.

It was a strange cold. It was not a bone-chilling cold, but a ghastly chill, as if something I could not see was stuck to the bed.

In order to make sure that I was not imagining things, I snuck a thermometer into my room, only to find that I was right.

It was indeed around forty degrees Fahrenheit lower around my bed compared to the living room.

This difference in temperature was really stable too. No matter how the temperature outside changed, my bed would remain the coldest spot.

Aside from the temperature, I also noticed I was hearing things.

Sometimes, when I was alone in my room, even though it was really quiet, I could still hear some faint sounds, as if something was moving around quietly.

It was either this, or something was breathing silently.

It was hard detecting these sounds. I could only hear them occasionally during midnight.

I tried recording the sounds, but the effects were not clear. All I heard were some blurry sounds.

But what mostly attracted my attention was Yvonne’s reaction.

I noticed that she was rearranging the shoes according to my work-life schedule.

If I stayed for a longer period of time in the living room at night, the shoes would be directed toward the living room in the morning.

If I went back to my room to rest earlier, she would also adjust the shoes earlier.

It was as if she was plotting some sort of route according to my actions.

I told Henry all these things.

Henry soon replied, [The abnormal temperature means that something is right beside you, and your roommate adjusting the array according to your actions shows that you’re her goal.]

[What should I do now?]

[You can try asking her, but be careful of your words. Don’t let her figure out that you’ve realized something.]

When Yvonne came back at night, I found a chance to fish for answers.

“Yvonne, have you noticed something weird going on with the temperature lately? I’ve been feeling quite cold in my room.”

The last word gave her pause.

“When did you start having that kind of feeling?” She asked urgently, and there was a nervousness I had never seen before in her eyes.

“Around a week. It might be due to the season changing.”

Yvonne remained silent for a while.

“It’s okay. It’ll be over in a few more days.”

What did that mean?

What she said made it sound like she knew the reason behind why I was feeling this way, and she knew exactly when it would end.