The roaring, clapping of palms and the vibration of stomping on the pharmacy faculty court heralded the return of the Shaolin Wushu Lohan school to regular training. The Kung Fu practitioners exercised fiercely after the long vacation break of August and September, repeating their movements with such dedication and concentration that they did not notice the passing of the hours, not even when the sun, golden and crimson, began to agonize on the capital's horizon.

It was only when the shadow of the trees and his own shadow dissipated in the darkness that the class leader, Laoshi Gabriel, noticed the oversight. He was suddenly seized by a feeling of concern as intense as the white light of the street lamp that flared above him, illuminating his blond hair.

—Gather round! —he exclaimed powerfully, drawing the attention of the people who were with him, scattered around the court.

Within seconds four young people had surrounded him, their sports clothes drenched in sweat, the garish yellow ribbons tightening around their waists and their gazes fixed on him.

—We were over the hour.

They all shrugged their shoulders somewhat indifferently, not noticing the surrounding darkness around them, thinking it was cloudy. Sure, they were a little late, but how late? That was the common thought.

—It must be barely six o'clock —commented a slender brunette girl as she arched an eyebrow, smiling incredulously.

—No Estefany, it's seven o'clock —Gabriel replied with authority.

—What? Impossible —exclaimed a tall, white-skinned boy, striding towards his backpack. His name was Diego, and although he was usually calm, the news had made him nervous.

—What's the matter? Maybe you live right here —Estefany said jokingly.

—I have a paper due —was his answer as he rummaged in one of the pockets of his bag.

He managed to pull out his cell phone, turning it on. You could read a look of surprise on his face; he had been dumbfounded as he showed the others the time. It was exactly six minutes past seven. For a second everyone was petrified, only Estefany looked around, analyzing the surroundings.

The space where they were training so comfortably a few seconds before had become threatening and desolate. The shadows of the trees formed shadowy claws on the ground, where dry leaves were blown by an icy breeze. It began to get cold, enhanced by the sweat that soaked their clothes. Estefany got a lump in her throat.

—Diego, can I stay at your house? I'm late to go to mine —said a not very tall girl, with white skin, long black hair and large, very striking glasses.

—Yes, Vicky, I was just going to tell you to stay with me —he answered, taking her by the hand.

—Go quickly to wash up and get some water. Sorry for my oversight —Gabriel assumed the mistake as they all grabbed their bags, heading inside the building.

The court was in an inner courtyard that could be reached by going down some concrete stairs, which they soon climbed, reaching a covered plaza where the pharmacy school's cafeteria was also located.

There were not many people in the small plaza of the faculty at that hour, except for some security guards and a few straggling students, already on their way out. The cafeteria had closed several hours ago and although the tables were still in place, the heavy plastic and metal chairs were locked behind bars. No one remained there or in the surrounding area, where the students used to play ping-pong. The five of them walked past and crossed to the right to go through the glass door that led into the building, complaining about the poor public transportation in Caracas "We wouldn't have to be so worried if there were buses until ten at night".

The lobby was nearly empty; behind the long wooden reception desk was a security guard listening to a baseball broadcast on the radio, and in the background, three people were exiting the deanery, locking everything up and turning off the lights behind them.

The boys paid minimal attention to these details and continued on their way up to floor one, where the restrooms were located. There were only two students reviewing notes on a table. Neither turned to look at them as they separated, girls to the left, boys to the right.

Gabriel, Diego and Edgar, the only one who had not spoken since the end of training, chatted normally as they washed their hands and faces, arranging as best they could the sports clothes they had trained in.

Their voices and the chirping of crickets lent a familiar, peaceful atmosphere to the evening. Even some of the worry about the time had vanished with the talk, but when a sudden blackout plunged them into darkness, leaving them blind, both they and the sounds of the night fell silent. Time stretched as long as the training they had; what was no more than a minute seemed to last an hour. No one said anything until the fluorescent lights came back on over their heads.

—We'd better go, are you ready Edgar? —asked Gabriel to a dark and robust young man with curly hair who was looking at himself in the mirror.

—I was waiting for you —he answered in a deep voice.

When they emerged from the restrooms, the hallway on floor one was empty. The two girls studying on a nearby table seemed to have run from there in a hurry, leaving their notes and a pen abandoned in the process.

"The blackout must have scared them off", thought Diego as they advanced toward Estefany and Victoria, who waited with a disgruntled grimace.

—Are we ready? Are we going to fill the water pots? —Diego's voice sounded confident as he spoke, although his resentment was evident when he saw Victoria's frown.

—No water is coming out —Victoria replied, pointing to the water trough behind her.

—Well, I'm not surprised. No water is coming out, the Ciudad Universitaria subway station is closed, Gabriel's watch is broken. When have things ever worked? —Edgar said sarcastically, still moving towards the stairs.

It was frustrating to have to leave without taking even a sip of water, so Diego, just in case, approached the drinking fountain. Being alone he pressed the button hard and after a few unpleasant sounds a stream of brown water, pestilent and laden with mud, spurted from the nozzle, splashing the ground in front of him. "We'll go thirsty then" he said to himself before turning around and following the group, but not before taking one last look back, contemplating the abandoned table with the notes.

They hurried down the stairs and although they advanced as quickly as possible, Diego noticed a detail that left him intrigued. The dean's office was open and illuminated, "maybe they forgot something?", he didn't have the chance to think about it much, because a white sound called his attention. In the foyer was the old radio emitting static "it may have lost the signal, but what about the guard?".

He didn't understand why his mind had begun to turn over such minutiae instead of overlooking them, had something changed or was it just his imagination? He wondered again and again, trying to ignore that feeling of strangeness that had begun to overwhelm him ever since he saw the abandoned notes; a tingling sensation ran up the back of his neck and through his fingertips, as if the air was laced with a toxin that was upsetting him. Something was not right.

A quick question from Victoria made him wake up, chasing away for a second the thoughts that plagued him. He took a few steps forward as he answered his girlfriend, regaining his composure, but when they stepped out onto the inner plaza and he glanced sideways toward the café, his heart skipped a beat and he shuddered, causing Victoria to startle with him. All the chairs, those that lay locked away, were in place behind the tables.

—Were they put away? Were they like that before we went upstairs? —asked Diego, trying to hide the way his hands were shaking.

—No... I don't remember. No, they weren't like that —answered Victoria astonished.

"No, impossible, who ordered them so fast? No, we must be confused, the others would have said something by now", suddenly Victoria took Diego by the hand.

—Are you all right?

—Yes, just... aaam.... —Diego was looking for the right words to explain what was happening to him, but he didn't need to.

—I feel something strange too. Let's get out of here quickly, I want to get to your house.

Diego nodded and without letting go of her hand they continued walking behind the others. The ideas came and went, in a constant loop until they reached the exit of the faculty; a wide door of thick metal, beautiful although somewhat old-fashioned and neglected.

—None of the guards are here —Estefany said strangely after crossing the door, wide open.

—They must be busy with something —excused Gabriel without thinking too much about it.

—But they left the entrance gates open.

—They knew we were up there, they must have left them that way so we could get out.

—Mmm... —Estefany's tone was suspicious as she looked around.

To the right he saw a green space where only the silhouette of some dry trees could be distinguished and to the left, through a wall with small holes, she could see the court where they were training, turned into a lonely and threatening space, only illuminated by a solitary lamp. No vehicles were passing on the street and no people were passing through the roofed corridors of the university. In the parking lot in front of the central library building there was not a single car parked, and in the distance the silhouette of the faculty of economics and social sciences building could be distinguished, with only one light on.

"The university is too dark, too lonely even though it's Monday", Estefany thought immediately. The time passing slowly only increased that desolate feeling, until a small, flickering light caught her and Victoria's attention; the only light in all that huge building.

—Where are all the people? —Estefany insisted after a few seconds, trying to stay calm while her hair stood on end as she felt a cold breeze.

—They went to dinner, Estefany —Edgar replied, playing down the situation.

—Hey! Don't answer her like that! She's right, everything is so lonely, it's not even twelve o'clock at night —Victoria defended her as they walked.

Someone else would have answered; either Edgar with more sarcasm or Diego seconding Victoria, but sudden sounds coming from the grass to the right made them bite their tongues.

They were loud clicks that could not be missed. Everyone turned with more or less disguise, peering into the darkness. Although the roofed corridor was illuminated, it could not be seen what was hidden in the small staircase. After a few seconds, the clicking stopped.

The group sighed with relief, laughing a little at how paranoid they were.

They tried to move forward, but as if it had been waiting for them to move, a creature rushed out immediately, running completely across the road in front of them hiding in the shadows on the other side. Victoria squeezed Diego's arm tightly and the others slowly backed away.

—What was that?! —asked Victoria in fear.

—It was just a rat —answered Gabriel, trying to appease them all.

—The size of a rabbit —growled Estefany, trying to locate it with her eyes. The clicking had returned.

—A Rat! Ha! That thing ran on two legs —Victoria whispered, but only Diego heard her.

—Well, calm down, the university is wild, we should record a reality show —joked Edgar before continuing walking.

If Edgar was nervous, the truth was that he didn't show it, although his desire to play down the strange atmosphere that had begun to suffocate them was evident. That is why he led the way and did not stop until they reached the crosswalk in a few seconds, and seeing that no one was coming in any direction, they tried to cross, but they did not finish reaching the other sidewalk when the bugle and the roar of an engine were heard close to them. They all took long strides to finish exiting the street, turning around at once to see a car speeding ahead, continuing on its way out of the university.

—What's wrong with him? —asked Gabriel, red with rage, knowing that a stumble by one of his students could have led to a fatal accident.

—Calm down, we're all fine —Diego calmed him down, although it was true that everyone was quite nervous—. Let's keep walking.

Dark shadows loomed over the campus of The Central University of Venezuela, engulfing the bushes and the roadway... this new open and roofed corridor was no exception. Although in the morning it teemed with life, full of students reviewing classes on their chalk boards or resting on their green benches, at that hour the Hall of Flags was silent, with a gloomy aura reinforced by the constant flickering of the fluorescent lights and the white noise of the old and broken horns, where the university radio once sounded.

It seemed to extend to infinity, since the end was not distinguishable; only a deep black spot that, they supposed, was the steep ravine that marked the boundary between the university and the rest of Caracas.

"The road is long, but if we hurry everything will be fine, it's okay, calm down" Diego said to himself while he controlled the trembling of his hands and legs so as not to worry Victoria even more. She was still clinging to his arm, but this far from bothering him gave him strength, it let him know that at least he was not alone, that he was not the only one aware of the strange things that were happening "She is a brave woman, if she is scared it is because she has also noticed strange things".

No one was saying anything, but everyone was alert; Gabriel had his fists clenched, looking in all directions with dissimulation, Edgar and Estefany were staring to the left, fearing that at some point someone or something would jump out of the shadows and Victoria was turning back insistently, uncomfortable at the idea that the supposed rat was following them.

The only one with his eyes straight ahead was Diego, who couldn't wait to get out of that endless corridor, trying not to pay attention to anything else but controlling the palpitations of his heart... sad reality. No matter how hard he tried to ignore the surroundings, only he noticed when a light at the end of it all seemed to go out, and then another and another and another.

—The blackboard —Estefany exclaimed.

His words corresponded with the lights going out in the background, so Diego was startled, though only Victoria noticed.

—What's wrong? —Victoria looked at him, but he shook his head as everyone surrounded Estefany.

Estefany didn't need to explain, she just pointed her finger at the board. The strange illustrations and cryptic symbols drawn in white chalk stunned them. Among the scribbles, circles and letters in strange languages they only managed to recognize what looked like a person in front of their reflection, nothing else.

—Did the others have things like that? —Gabriel turned around, counting the other three chalk boards they had passed.

—I'm not sure, did you see them, Edgar?

—I don't know! I was watching to make sure no one was coming, not looking at the boards.

—But don't get defensive, Edgar —Gabriel pointed out to him—. I think we're all getting nervous for no reason.

There was a brief conversation among everyone as Gabriel tried to calm them down. As soon as they could, each one pointed out small details that had managed to make their hair stand on end, but nothing that could not be justified in a simple way, at least until...

—It's going to be all right —a childish whisper intermingled with the white noise of the broken horns.

Diego looked around in dismay, searching insistently for the source of the voice, until he fixed his gaze on the rusty horn above them.

—Did you hear that? —asked Diego.

—Hear what? —Victoria clung to him tightly.

—Someone said "It's going to be all right".

Everyone was petrified and silent, trying to hear what Diego was saying, but they heard nothing but the whistling of the wind and the static of the horn.

—The university radio stopped working years ago, Diego —Estefany told him.

—But I heard it...

They did not want to insist and standing in that place seemed to be a bad idea. They set off again, but they did not even take five steps when the road they were on was blocked.

The fluorescent bulbs, the ones Diego had been seeing in the distance, began to go out. One segment of lights at a time and at a dizzying speed, followed by dry blows like someone hitting a concrete wall with a hammer. They were loud, consecutive impacts coming at them as fast as a predator pouncing on its dinner. The dark maw of a wolf opening to engulf them.

Why hadn't they started to run? In some it was disbelief at what they saw, in others their legs did not answer. Each one had their reasons, but no one moved an inch until, by a miracle, the light above their heads stayed on, leaving them facing an immense gloom over which they dared not take a single step.

—We'd better... We'd better go through Plaza Cubierta —said Gabriel, stupefied by what he had just seen, pointing to the right with his trembling hand. There was no need for anyone to respond.

They immediately crossed the street and, without looking back, entered a ramp into an open hallway near the entrance to the Central Library.

None of them wanted to look back, but a collective hunch compelled them. They all turned toward the Hall of Flags one last time to see the light where they were standing go out an instant after they turned.

—Well... —Edgar was trying to find words for what had just happened.

—The light went out in the hallway, nothing's wrong, —Gabriel used a thick, artificial voice, breathing hard between words.

—And why hasn't it gone here? —Estefany pointed out to him, hoping it wouldn't be bad luck to say so.

—Aaammm, it's just....

—It could be a localized fault, couldn't it? The power goes out in one section, but not in another —said Victoria, emboldened but without letting go of Diego's arm.

—Y-yes, yes, these things happen —Gabriel reaffirmed—. Let's get out of here.

That new space, Plaza Cubierta, was larger and, unlike the Hall of Flags, felt less outdoors. It had a high, wide ceiling, a polished floor, and several thick cement columns stretching down a long corridor lit by warm yellow bulbs.

There were no longer any flickering lights, strange sounds or deep darkness waiting for them at the end. It was just a square they knew and had walked through many times.

Perhaps it was the familiarity, the change in the hue of the lights, or the hope that there were people in that central place, but being there gave them a sense of security that they were grateful for. Even if they were still in the heart of the university, far away from the exit.

The trip continued along that passage, with a wall of red mosaics on the right and trying to leave behind the ungrateful memory of what had just happened in the Hall of Flags. They barely had to walk for a few seconds to pass in front of the entrance to the central library.

Diego expected to find it open, with students and employees still inside, however both glass doors were closed. Inside, they could not make out much except silhouettes, the detectors that prevented the unauthorized exit of books, and the wide hallway, illuminated by the poor moonlight coming through the multicolored Fernand Léger stained glass window.

They walked on, somewhat discouraged by this new encounter with the suffocating solitude; but they did not even take ten steps when the creaking of the door made them slowly turn around. The glass doorway leading to the library had opened almost completely, making all five of them's blood run cold as they waited for someone to come out... nothing.

Diego could no longer tolerate that and, letting himself be carried away by anger, he let go of Victoria's grip and advanced without hesitation towards the door, inspecting it and checking the interior of the small anteroom of the library. There was no one there and nothing to be heard other than a powerful, steady draft which, he assumed, was able to open the door from the inside. He closed it carefully and returned to his friends, oblivious to the small figure watching him from the shadows just below the stained glass window.

—Some intern forgot to pass him a key and the wind blew it open, that's all —he explained immediately, playing it down before walking on.

They even joked about it, talking about how someone would soon be fired, managing to get far enough away so as not to hear it squeak again, opening and closing by itself a couple more times.

That brief episode, even if Diego managed to justify it, had plunged them back into a nervousness that made their skin crawl. The prevailing silence, interrupted only by their footsteps, increased the tension, one that Diego tried to break with an unusual anecdote.

—Did you know that I worked in the library a long time ago?

They all turned to look at him as they advanced along the path that led to Aula Manga.

—Yes? -They almost all answered spontaneously, making them all let out a laugh that lightened the load a little.

—In the afternoon-evening shift. I had the opportunity to get to know all these corridors and many parts of Aula Magna. In fact, through that door —he pointed to a doorway on the right, with thick wood and paper-covered windows—, you can get to the basement of Aula Magna.

—Does Aula Magna have basements? —Victoria looked surprised.

—Yes, there are many interesting things, even a room with puppets and marionettes... although I don't know if that club is still working.

—Puppets and marionettes terrify me —Estefany exclaimed, not understanding why Diego would say something like that right then and there.

"As if this couldn't get any scarier" she thought pulling out her phone to check the time. It was already twenty past seven.

In front of them opened up a wide space full of cement pillars, murals made of small mosaics, shadows and nooks and crannies where no light could reach. The conversation did not manage to go any further, failing in its attempt to liven up the remaining road to Plaza Venezuela and making everyone continue moving forward without saying anything.

It was because of this silence, without several simultaneous voices or static coming from horns to which he could attribute the confusion, that Diego knew that what he was hearing was not a figment of his imagination.

—Shall we play the ladder game? —whispered a clear voice behind him, affable and sing-songy, accompanied by shrill chuckles.