Huo Xiaoran turned his hand, and the quilt started twisting itself in a spiral, the body of the fat woman struggling inside. I was a little scared, wanting to tell him to stop, but after I saw his pale and icy face, I swallowed back my words.
Muffled cracking sounds came from inside the quilt. Bones, it’s the sound of bones being squashed together! Crack! The crisp sound was loud in the night. I saw the leg of the fat woman bend ninety degrees straight up. Heavens! I sucked in a breath, understanding: Huo Xiaoran wanted to kill her!
“St-…… ”
“Stop!”
Before I could say -op, my child’s voice sounded once again. I stared, and looked around in a panic, but just like last time, I couldn’t see her, only hearing her voice.
Maybe because he heard the child’s voice, Huo Xiaoran suddenly released his grip, and with a bang! The fat woman and her quilt fell onto the bed, hard. The bunk creaked crazily, and I was afraid that the weak woman beneath would scream in fear, so I watched her worriedly. But after a long time, she was still lying there, her face towards the wall.
I guessed that she probably didn’t want to interfere! I definitely won’t believe that she was always asleep, because when Hong Ning was struggling earlier, I saw her open her eyes. Even though it was only for one second, that meant she was already awake.
“You cannot kill people!” The childish voice was no longer warm, sounding cold and harsh right now, but still unable to cover her naive tone.
Huo Xiaoran turned around and looked at me, or more specifically, at my belly. I didn’t know what to do, so I pulled over the quilt and covered myself up.
“What, what are you looking at!” I asked in a small voice, glancing at the weak woman out of the corner of my eyes. One person dead, another half dead; if she saw me talking with the air, maybe I’ll be sent to the asylum tomorrow.
Huo Xiaoran squinted, pursed his lips, and asked coldly, “You know not to kill?”
He! He was talking with the child? But this topic seemed inappropriate! I suddenly remembered Hong Ning, and my body tensed, yes! What was the child in my belly actually like……
“Of course I know!” The child’s answer was calm, but sounded like she was boasting!
“You know? You know and you still killed this woman up here?” Huo Xiaoran’s expression couldn’t be described as cold anymore; it was a poker-face now.
I felt something like a small hand touching my belly, but coming from inside, not outside! And it was warm.
“What I killed? Which eye of yours saw me kill someone! I’m a good child!”
This is the first time I heard my child talk like this, like a young child holding your hand, shaking it, wanting you to praise her. My heart, which was full of fear a minute ago, suddenly relaxed. Even though we still weren’t sure whether Hong Ning was killed by my child or not, I trusted that if she said so, maybe she didn’t kill the person? I prayed in my heart.
“Not you” Obviously, Huo Xiaoran was also confused!
But the child suddenly changed the topic and asked: “Mama! Did that woman bully you too?”
Suddenly asked, I blanked, and nodded my my head dumbly. The child didn’t speak again, but the wrapped body of the fat woman suddenly floated into the air, above the bed. Then the creepy thing happened. The temperature in the room suddenly decreased greatly, and goose bumps popped out all over my skin.
Then I saw that something was tearing at the quilt. Squinting, I knew something else must have come into this room. When I saw it was black shadows tearing at the quilt, I became so afraid that my body began trembling. Numbness started at my feet, spreading throughout my body.
Staring. The quilt was torn to pieces and fell to the floor, and only now did the body of the fat woman appear. Her leg, or her thigh, had a sharp thing poking out. Looking carefully, I realized that that was her thigh bone!
Huo Xiaoran did that! When I saw her moving chest, I knew she was still alive. Suddenly, a black shadow scurried on top of the fat woman, and then her clothes and body started bulging weirdly. Then , her clothes started turning red.
I watched fearfully, because there, it looked like, that something had pierced into her flesh. The eyes of the fat woman flew open abruptly, and like Hong Ning, her expression was painful, her eyes bulging, like they were going to pop out! Her eyes started turning red, filling with blood!
Then she opened her mouth, but right then another black shadow appeared at her throat. The black shadow moved closer, and then…… then at her throat, a red liquid sprayed out, falling all over the bed.
My palm was icy, and the temperature in the room continued to drop. I even suspected that it might frost. My quilt, which was warm a few seconds ago, was now as cold as if it was put into the freezer. I curled myself up tighter, wanting to be more comfortable.
The body of the fat woman floated there, with more black shadows than before, almost covering her whole body. Her eyes were bulging and tears started appearing in her skin; chunks of flesh even fell to floor, the blood dripping onto the bed from her body, dying her whole bed red.
Then it dripped onto the floor. I sucked in a breath, feeling there was no other color in front of my eyes, just that glaring red!
The smell of blood filled the air. Covering my mouth, my stomach rolled. I shut my eyes and didn’t dare look again, lowering myself. Because I hadn’t eaten for so many days, there wasn’t anything to vomit, except for a bitter fluid in my mouth. The good thing was that it wasn’t much. I knew that was stomach fluid, because I hadn’t touched any food.
The scene of the fat woman eating the food from my plate appeared in my mind. Hate, I hated so much my teeth clenched tightly together, and I crawled to the side of the bed and spit out all the fluid in mouth. Opening my eyes, I saw that chunks of flesh littered the ground, blood red, while the fat woman was already indiscernible.
There wasn’t any skin left on her body, and numerous teeth marks dotted her face, the skin tore from her cheeks also. Those clear teeth marks made me understand, that it was bitten by something!
Heavens! What were those black shadows? And how did they come here?
Huo Xiaoran stood silently beside me, until the childish voice sounded from my belly: “See? I didn’t kill her! They did!”
“Unhappy spirits!” Huo Xiaoran’s voice was heavy, and I didn’t know whether this was good or bad. But seeing Huo Xiaoran’s tightly knit brows, I felt that this probably wasn’t good!
“What are unhappy spirits?” I moved, leaning against the head of the bed, to block my view, because it was way too bloody! Looking at Huo Xiaoran, I really couldn’t understand.
“Unable to leave because of hate, with their reason and conscious finally swallowed by hate, then start to kill people for no reason! Then, they would lose their human shape, and can only wander the Abyss of Nothingness forever!” Huo Xiaoran’s tone was serious.
I remembered what he said, that humans have things they cannot do, and ghosts also have things they cannot do. Putting everything together, I seemed to understand, that ghosts can’t kill people for no reason, or they will turn into those black shadows, and become what we often curse: everlasting damnation!
Slowly, with the fat woman’s body being torn and mutilated, the black shadows started vanishing, and the temperature started to rise to normal. My hand was over my abdomen. Even though I was prepared that a child with a ghost would be different, to look at it now, she was more than different!
“Mama! Baby is tired, so baby is going to sleep, baby…… ” Before finishing her sentence, the voice disappeared.
I looked at Huo Xiaoran nervously: “She…… ” I meant the child in my belly. If she was a monster, still that sentence, I would rather take her with me.
“How could my child be like what you think! Go to sleep!” Huo Xiaoran was upset. The first time, after he said “go to sleep,” my vision actually went dark and I lost consciousness.
Only when in the morning, the door opened and I heard a piercing scream, did I quickly crawl up. Of course, there was still that weak woman. I saw that her body was shaking, but after enduring last night, even though I still felt queasy, except for disgust, I didn’t have any other feelings.
Soon, both the weak woman and I were led away. It should be breakfast time, but all the prisoners were still locked in their cells. Some prisoners started banging on their doors and shouting, but only our cell, came a lot of prison guards, who led both of us away.
The dark, little room was no surprise to me anymore. Watching the only light on the desk, I sat calmly in the chair, waiting. Overnight, two people in our cell died, and one of them in such a gruesome way, so of course we must be interrogated. The only thing keeping me worried was that weak woman; she must have saw me talking with the air last night.
The door opened, and a man walked in. I was a little surprised. His clothes were that of a prison guard, but he had badges on his shoulder! I didn’t understand until the man sat down and started talking, “I’m the warden here. Regarding last night, do you still remember what happened? ”
Huo Xiaoran turned his hand, and the quilt started twisting itself in a spiral, the body of the fat woman struggling inside. I was a little scared, wanting to tell him to stop, but after I saw his pale and icy face, I swallowed back my words.
Muffled cracking sounds came from inside the quilt. Bones, it’s the sound of bones being squashed together! Crack! The crisp sound was loud in the night. I saw the leg of the fat woman bend ninety degrees straight up. Heavens! I sucked in a breath, understanding: Huo Xiaoran wanted to kill her!
“St-…… ”
“Stop!”
Before I could say -op, my child’s voice sounded once again. I stared, and looked around in a panic, but just like last time, I couldn’t see her, only hearing her voice.
Maybe because he heard the child’s voice, Huo Xiaoran suddenly released his grip, and with a bang! The fat woman and her quilt fell onto the bed, hard. The bunk creaked crazily, and I was afraid that the weak woman beneath would scream in fear, so I watched her worriedly. But after a long time, she was still lying there, her face towards the wall.
I guessed that she probably didn’t want to interfere! I definitely won’t believe that she was always asleep, because when Hong Ning was struggling earlier, I saw her open her eyes. Even though it was only for one second, that meant she was already awake.
“You cannot kill people!” The childish voice was no longer warm, sounding cold and harsh right now, but still unable to cover her naive tone.
Huo Xiaoran turned around and looked at me, or more specifically, at my belly. I didn’t know what to do, so I pulled over the quilt and covered myself up.
“What, what are you looking at!” I asked in a small voice, glancing at the weak woman out of the corner of my eyes. One person dead, another half dead; if she saw me talking with the air, maybe I’ll be sent to the asylum tomorrow.
Huo Xiaoran squinted, pursed his lips, and asked coldly, “You know not to kill?”
He! He was talking with the child? But this topic seemed inappropriate! I suddenly remembered Hong Ning, and my body tensed, yes! What was the child in my belly actually like……
“Of course I know!” The child’s answer was calm, but sounded like she was boasting!
“You know? You know and you still killed this woman up here?” Huo Xiaoran’s expression couldn’t be described as cold anymore; it was a poker-face now.
I felt something like a small hand touching my belly, but coming from inside, not outside! And it was warm.
“What I killed? Which eye of yours saw me kill someone! I’m a good child!”
This is the first time I heard my child talk like this, like a young child holding your hand, shaking it, wanting you to praise her. My heart, which was full of fear a minute ago, suddenly relaxed. Even though we still weren’t sure whether Hong Ning was killed by my child or not, I trusted that if she said so, maybe she didn’t kill the person? I prayed in my heart.
“Not you” Obviously, Huo Xiaoran was also confused!
But the child suddenly changed the topic and asked: “Mama! Did that woman bully you too?”
Suddenly asked, I blanked, and nodded my my head dumbly. The child didn’t speak again, but the wrapped body of the fat woman suddenly floated into the air, above the bed. Then the creepy thing happened. The temperature in the room suddenly decreased greatly, and goose bumps popped out all over my skin.
Then I saw that something was tearing at the quilt. Squinting, I knew something else must have come into this room. When I saw it was black shadows tearing at the quilt, I became so afraid that my body began trembling. Numbness started at my feet, spreading throughout my body.
Staring. The quilt was torn to pieces and fell to the floor, and only now did the body of the fat woman appear. Her leg, or her thigh, had a sharp thing poking out. Looking carefully, I realized that that was her thigh bone!
Huo Xiaoran did that! When I saw her moving chest, I knew she was still alive. Suddenly, a black shadow scurried on top of the fat woman, and then her clothes and body started bulging weirdly. Then , her clothes started turning red.
I watched fearfully, because there, it looked like, that something had pierced into her flesh. The eyes of the fat woman flew open abruptly, and like Hong Ning, her expression was painful, her eyes bulging, like they were going to pop out! Her eyes started turning red, filling with blood!
Then she opened her mouth, but right then another black shadow appeared at her throat. The black shadow moved closer, and then…… then at her throat, a red liquid sprayed out, falling all over the bed.
My palm was icy, and the temperature in the room continued to drop. I even suspected that it might frost. My quilt, which was warm a few seconds ago, was now as cold as if it was put into the freezer. I curled myself up tighter, wanting to be more comfortable.
The body of the fat woman floated there, with more black shadows than before, almost covering her whole body. Her eyes were bulging and tears started appearing in her skin; chunks of flesh even fell to floor, the blood dripping onto the bed from her body, dying her whole bed red.
Then it dripped onto the floor. I sucked in a breath, feeling there was no other color in front of my eyes, just that glaring red!
The smell of blood filled the air. Covering my mouth, my stomach rolled. I shut my eyes and didn’t dare look again, lowering myself. Because I hadn’t eaten for so many days, there wasn’t anything to vomit, except for a bitter fluid in my mouth. The good thing was that it wasn’t much. I knew that was stomach fluid, because I hadn’t touched any food.
The scene of the fat woman eating the food from my plate appeared in my mind. Hate, I hated so much my teeth clenched tightly together, and I crawled to the side of the bed and spit out all the fluid in mouth. Opening my eyes, I saw that chunks of flesh littered the ground, blood red, while the fat woman was already indiscernible.
There wasn’t any skin left on her body, and numerous teeth marks dotted her face, the skin tore from her cheeks also. Those clear teeth marks made me understand, that it was bitten by something!
Heavens! What were those black shadows? And how did they come here?
Huo Xiaoran stood silently beside me, until the childish voice sounded from my belly: “See? I didn’t kill her! They did!”
“Unhappy spirits!” Huo Xiaoran’s voice was heavy, and I didn’t know whether this was good or bad. But seeing Huo Xiaoran’s tightly knit brows, I felt that this probably wasn’t good!
“What are unhappy spirits?” I moved, leaning against the head of the bed, to block my view, because it was way too bloody! Looking at Huo Xiaoran, I really couldn’t understand.
“Unable to leave because of hate, with their reason and conscious finally swallowed by hate, then start to kill people for no reason! Then, they would lose their human shape, and can only wander the Abyss of Nothingness forever!” Huo Xiaoran’s tone was serious.
I remembered what he said, that humans have things they cannot do, and ghosts also have things they cannot do. Putting everything together, I seemed to understand, that ghosts can’t kill people for no reason, or they will turn into those black shadows, and become what we often curse: everlasting damnation!
Slowly, with the fat woman’s body being torn and mutilated, the black shadows started vanishing, and the temperature started to rise to normal. My hand was over my abdomen. Even though I was prepared that a child with a ghost would be different, to look at it now, she was more than different!
“Mama! Baby is tired, so baby is going to sleep, baby…… ” Before finishing her sentence, the voice disappeared.
I looked at Huo Xiaoran nervously: “She…… ” I meant the child in my belly. If she was a monster, still that sentence, I would rather take her with me.
“How could my child be like what you think! Go to sleep!” Huo Xiaoran was upset. The first time, after he said “go to sleep,” my vision actually went dark and I lost consciousness.
Only when in the morning, the door opened and I heard a piercing scream, did I quickly crawl up. Of course, there was still that weak woman. I saw that her body was shaking, but after enduring last night, even though I still felt queasy, except for disgust, I didn’t have any other feelings.
Soon, both the weak woman and I were led away. It should be breakfast time, but all the prisoners were still locked in their cells. Some prisoners started banging on their doors and shouting, but only our cell, came a lot of prison guards, who led both of us away.
The dark, little room was no surprise to me anymore. Watching the only light on the desk, I sat calmly in the chair, waiting. Overnight, two people in our cell died, and one of them in such a gruesome way, so of course we must be interrogated. The only thing keeping me worried was that weak woman; she must have saw me talking with the air last night.
The door opened, and a man walked in. I was a little surprised. His clothes were that of a prison guard, but he had badges on his shoulder! I didn’t understand until the man sat down and started talking, “I’m the warden here. Regarding last night, do you still remember what happened? ”
