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墨書 Inktalez
Holding the piece of paper, I wasn't sure whether to feel happy or not.
I walked out of the hospital in a daze.
Once I returned home, I felt as if I had fallen into a black hole, completely lost. When did I develop sleepwalking? During my four years in college, none of my roommates ever mentioned that I had sleepwalking issues. I sighed, feeling rather down.
Looking at the camera on the table, I charged it and continued watching. In the video, I went to the bathroom and then repeated a monotone voice saying something incomprehensible.
Suddenly, the video began to flicker, and for a moment, the image became unclear. I had been so focused on the sound that I neglected to pay attention to what the camera captured in my room while I was in the bathroom.
The image was hard to see, but the less clear it became, the more I wanted to see it clearly.
The flickering brought about "snowflakes," but just then, I pressed the pause button. I thought I saw a hand, but I couldn't be sure if it was indeed a hand.
I stared for a long time, but there was no sign of clarity.
The atmosphere in the room felt oppressive; if it weren't for the sunlight streaming in from outside, I would have thought I'd entered a haunted house.
I couldn't tell if that was really a hand. If it was a hand, then why wasn't the body captured?
Yet that terrifying voice of my own echoed in my ears. Eventually, it felt like I couldn't take it anymore and turned off the camera.
I gasped for breath, feeling an overwhelming sense of suffocation.
I pulled out that unknown number I had dialed that day. My finger pressed against the screen as I scrolled up and clicked on "Dial." Once the call connected, a mechanical voice quickly responded, "Unable to connect." I hung up and felt increasingly uneasy about this situation.
I glanced around the room, especially at my bedside. Closing my eyes, I conjured up an image in my mind: it was early morning, and there I was in the bathroom alone with my phone, asking an unknown person on the other end when the next person would die. Just thinking about it sent chills down my spine.
The call lasted nearly two hours, repeating those few phrases over and over again. And who exactly was on the other end?
There was also that faint hand, which I couldn't quite tell if it belonged to a human. My eyes felt heavy, and just then, I suddenly became a bit drowsy.
I lay down on the bed and surprisingly fell asleep again.
When I woke up, I found that it was already dark outside. I picked up the camera, intending to continue watching, but it had run out of battery.
The time was now five in the afternoon.
This meant I had slept for nearly seven hours. Time really flies; I hadn't gone to bed that late last night! Yet, I still slept for so long. After waking up, I thought about getting something to eat since there wouldn't be much more to see in the footage for a while.
Feeling restless, I went downstairs, but soon after, my phone suddenly rang.
Hearing the phone ring made me inexplicably nervous. However, when I saw that it was my mom calling, I breathed a sigh of relief.
My mom spoke in a very anxious tone on the phone, urging me to come home because my grandmother was critically ill.
I felt a rush of panic in my heart. I turned around and hurried back upstairs without thinking much, grabbed my phone, booked a ticket, and rushed to the train station.
When I got home, my mom immediately said, “Saning, your grandmother is hanging on just to see you.”
I rushed into the house and saw my grandmother lying in bed. Tears streamed down my face as I said, “Grandma, don’t worry. I'll call an ambulance to take you to the hospital.” As I spoke, I took out my phone to make the call, but then I noticed a message reminding me that my phone bill was overdue.
“Ningzi, don’t call. Grandma doesn’t want to go to the hospital. She knows her own life best.”
“Ningzi, don’t cry. There’s something Grandma needs to tell you while you’re back this time.” My grandmother suddenly seemed to regain some strength as if she had experienced a moment of clarity.
“This time you come back, take your wife with you.”
"Your wife?" I asked in surprise.
Grandma nodded.
"Your wife has been calling you for a month."
I was instantly bewildered. Had I really been talking to my wife for a month? I murmured Grandma's words, feeling that something was very strange. I thought perhaps Grandma was just confused because of her illness.
"Whose wife?" I couldn't help but confirm again.
But what Grandma said next left me in shock. She said, "You argued with your wife last night, didn't you?"
I: ...
For a moment, I didn't know what to say. Maybe Grandma was just rambling; I hadn't spoken to any wife at all.
I was utterly perplexed, wiping away my tears.
Suddenly, Grandma tapped my head and said, "Ningzi, are you even listening to me?"
I snapped back to reality and responded absentmindedly.
"From now on, don't bully Ke'er anymore."
"Grandma, stop saying such nonsense. I don't have a wife."
But it seemed like Grandma didn't hear me at all. She continued, "Grandma is leaving now. Treat your wife well from now on." Her voice grew weaker as she spoke, until finally, she vanished without a trace.
"Grandma..." I called out several times, but there was no response from her anymore.
With Grandma gone, I couldn't help but cry uncontrollably. My parents outside quickly heard my sobs and came in, joining me in tears.
Then Dad called someone to take Grandma's body away.
I stayed behind in Grandma's room, unwilling to leave. This place held my fondest childhood memories. I lingered there, feeling as if my tears could dry up completely.
I looked around the empty room when suddenly I heard a woman's weeping, a soft and intermittent sound that seemed to come and go.
I strained to listen, but it felt like it had vanished again.
Just as I was about to search for the source of the sound, someone called me to the memorial hall.
Grandma's funeral lasted three days. During those days, I felt as if someone was following me. I had a habit of kicking off my blankets while sleeping, but each morning I woke up to find them neatly covering me.
What surprised me even more was that my phone bill seemed not to decrease during this time.
However, thinking that everything was fine, after Grandma's burial, my parents urged me to return to work the next day so as not to delay my job.
On the day I returned to the city, Mom handed me a box of Grandma's belongings.
I asked what it was, but Mom wouldn't say. She only instructed me to keep it with me at all times.
I took the medium-sized box and got into the car. A day later, I was back in my rented apartment. After resting for a day, I went back to work as usual.
I thought that once I returned to my apartment, my phone bill would start decreasing, but that didn’t happen.
I usually leave for work early and come home late. One day, I returned home feeling exhausted, but as soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by a surprising sight: the house was spotless, almost pristine. For a moment, I thought I had entered the wrong place.
I was puzzled; this was not my style at all! Could someone have cleaned my house? I wandered around, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
Tentatively, I called out, "Is anyone there?" As I searched the house, there was no response.
I wondered if my mom had come over to tidy up for me because she was worried. Although that thought seemed a bit far-fetched, I decided to call her to confirm.
However, on the phone, my mom suggested that perhaps I was just imagining things due to being overly sad.
After hanging up, I rubbed my eyes a few times. The room was indeed spotless; everything was different from before. I sat down on the sofa and lit a cigarette for myself. Maybe it was just exhaustion combined with confusion that made me feel this way, so I decided to wash up and go to bed. But in the middle of the night, I suddenly thought I heard crying—right next to my ear.
Groggily, I got out of bed and turned on the light, scanning the room, but saw nothing.
It must have been an auditory hallucination; it had to be.
I buried my head under the covers and tried to sleep again. Yet throughout the rest of the night, I kept hearing that faint crying sound.
Finally, in a daze, I shouted, "Please stop crying, okay?"
After that, my entire world seemed to fall into complete silence.
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