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墨書 Inktalez
It was Wang Ce who woke Sister Sun from her nightmare.
Sister Sun sat up, drenched in sweat, staring blankly for a moment. Suddenly, she recalled someone trying to crawl out of her head in the dream. She jolted, nervously reaching back to touch the nape of her neck. Her head wasn't broken open, but her hair was damp with sweat.
Wang Ce brought over a glass of milk and said, "Sister Sun, you must be too tired. Drinking a glass of milk will help you sleep better."
Sister Sun wished it were already dawn. Unfortunately, it was still dark outside; it seemed like the wind was blowing, or maybe it wasn't. She heard a rustling sound.
"It's raining," Wang Ce quickly explained, noticing Sister Sun's unease.
"Oh, it's raining? No wonder!" Sister Sun got up, her head feeling heavy. She swayed slightly, and Wang Ce hurriedly reached out to steady her.
"Sister Sun, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. How did you know I was having a nightmare?" Sister Sun suddenly remembered that she often talked in her sleep and wondered if she had said something she shouldn't have during the nightmare, like about Coral's death.
"I drank too much soup last night and had to get up to pee. I heard you calling someone's name from this side. I rushed over and knocked on the door, but you didn't hear me, so I had no choice but to push the door open."
"Did I not lock the door?" Sister Sun couldn't recall if she had locked it before sleeping. It felt like she had locked it, yet maybe she hadn't. Ever since hearing that strange clicking sound, she had been thinking about locking the door at night.
The question still lingered: what exactly had Wang Ce heard?
Wang Ce followed Sister Sun into the bathroom. She saw Sister Sun picking up a comb to brush her hair and suddenly reminded her in a low voice, "Sister Sun, my family is from the countryside. There are many customs that people in the city might not understand, especially that you shouldn't comb your hair in front of a mirror at midnight."
At Wang Ce's words, Sister Sun shivered again. Stunned for a moment, she admitted to herself that she had picked up the comb thinking about how good it would feel to brush her hair; it made her head feel less heavy. But when she heard Wang Ce say that, an inexplicable feeling stirred within her—
"What happens if you comb your hair in front of a mirror at midnight?"
Wang Ce didn't answer immediately but looked at Sister Sun's pale and dull reflection in the mirror and said, "It attracts ghosts."
Sister Sun abruptly shivered again; the comb slipped from her hand and clattered against the cabinet. Terrified yet trying hard to conceal it, she forced herself to sound calm as she snapped at Wang Ce, "You're talking nonsense." Although she tried to appear composed on the surface, she nervously stood up and hurriedly left the bathroom.
Wang Ce stood with his hands hanging by his sides, head bowed in silence, until Sister Sun entered the master bedroom. Only then did he slowly return to the nursery.
Sister Sun felt a deep turmoil within her.
Tonight was yet another sleepless night.
She took out the hidden cigarettes, lighting one after another. The incessant coughing filled the room with smoke, prompting her to walk to the window and open it to let the smoke escape. However, as she opened the window, a gust of cold wind rushed in, causing her to shiver involuntarily.
Her gaze turned to the dark night sky; it was already two in the morning.
Silence enveloped everything—no bright lights, no bustling noise—the entire world was asleep. At this hour, only one kind of being remained awake: ghosts—
The thought of ghosts sent another shiver down Sister Sun's spine. She hurriedly closed the window and stepped back, nervously staring blankly at it. Suddenly, a terrifying scene flashed through her mind—a movie she had once watched called "Midnight Bell."
In that film, everyone who watched a strange video ended up dead.
And that horrifying ghost crawled in through the window, its twisted body creeping toward its victims.
"I can't think about this anymore—" Sister Sun forced herself to stop daydreaming.
Gasping for breath, she fell back onto the bed and picked up her phone, dialing Xu Lei's number.
This was the first time Sister Sun had called Xu Lei at such an hour; she knew what would come after dialing.
After a long pause, a voice finally came through on the other end: "Hello..."
To her surprise, that single word left Sister Sun stunned, frozen like a statue. How could there be a woman next to Xu Lei? The voice on the line was unmistakably feminine.
"No, Xu Lei can't do this to me."
Sister Sun was anxious and shouted into the phone, "Who are you?"
There was silence for a few seconds before the call automatically disconnected with a beep.
"How dare you hang up on me?" Sister Sun looked like she was about to cry as she dialed the number again.
Beep! Beep! The phone rang twice before someone answered. This time, Sister Sun clearly heard Xu Lei's voice.
With a weary tone, he asked, "What do you want calling at this hour?"
"Who was that just now?" Sister Sun tried to hold back her emotions but failed, tears streaming down her face as she asked.
"What who?" Xu Lei clearly wanted to deny what had just happened.
Sister Sun replied angrily, "I'm at home scared out of my wits while you're out there with some woman."
"You're being unreasonable. What's wrong with me being with another woman? Weren't you with plenty of men before?"
"Xu Lei, you ungrateful scoundrel."
Hearing that Sister Sun was genuinely angry, Xu Lei explained, "I've told you before, I’m not seeing anyone else. You just won’t believe me and insist on checking up on me in the middle of the night."
Sister Sun thought about how she had just heard a woman answer the phone and retorted coldly, "Then who answered the phone just now?"
Xu Lei said, "You called once, and I was worried you'd get suspicious. I kept my phone on all day, so when your call came in, I picked it up quickly. Why are you making things up?"
"That's impossible. I definitely heard a woman answer the phone," Sister Sun was furious; Xu Lei was clearly lying and trying to wriggle out of it.
Just as Sister Sun trembled with anger, wishing she could slap Xu Lei twice, her phone buzzed with another incoming call. She quickly hung up on Xu Lei and answered the new call. It was one of her close friends calling.
This sister was quite strange. Just a moment ago, Sister Sun had called, but when she picked up, there was no response.
"Really?" Sister Sun was confused; she had clearly called Xu Lei first. How did it end up with this sister?
"Absolutely true."
With the sister's assurance, Sister Sun felt a bit embarrassed and hung up the phone, hurriedly checking her call log.
Sure enough, in her moment of panic, she had dialed the wrong number without realizing it and mistakenly called this sister instead.
It seemed she had wrongly accused Xu Lei.
Sister Sun quickly dialed Xu Lei's number again, wanting to apologize. However, this time she couldn't get through; it appeared Xu Lei was upset and had turned off his phone.
Feeling utterly dejected, Sister Sun could only sigh in frustration. She wondered if Xu Lei would really sulk and go after another woman.
After a while of aimless thinking, exhausted from her thoughts, she ultimately succumbed to sleep without even changing out of her clothes, curling up in bed.
Once again, she drifted into a hazy slumber.
She was asleep, but in her consciousness, she sensed something unusual happening in the room.
The door opened silently.
The door opened with no one there; she could see it clearly but couldn't move. It felt just like the previous time when she had nightmares. She knew the nightmare was back, along with that strange sound.
Clack~ Clack.
This peculiar sound filled Sister Sun's mind with an inexplicable array of thoughts.
Assuming a person is walking, she drags her feet, and the sound of her heels echoes in the air.
Now imagine someone squeezing through a narrow hole, their body pressed tightly, producing a clattering noise.
And there’s one more terrifying assumption.
Deep within her mind, there might be a hidden "person" who has always been concealed in her body, just waiting for an opportunity to emerge.
This hidden entity within her is Coral.
Combing her hair in front of the mirror could summon ghosts.
Sister Sun cannot recall how many times she has sat before the mirror to comb her hair. If combing summoned ghosts, then she must have already brought them back long ago. That means there’s more than just Coral in this house! There are also them—
Sister Sun thinks of her deceased husband.
An old man who could easily be her father.
The Old Man was a heavy drinker; when he got drunk, he would take out his frustrations on her.
Though he was lacking in many ways, he enjoyed tormenting her.
He would drip candle wax on her private parts and then use his hands to fulfill his duties as a husband. Each time left her in agony. Yet this suffering had to be silently endured; outwardly, she forced a smile, claiming that her husband treated her well and that they were a loving couple.
Perhaps marrying the Old Man was merely for his property.
Or maybe it was only through tormenting her that he could find some balance in areas where he felt inadequate.
The Old Man has returned? And right here in this house, summoned back by her late-night hair combing before the mirror.
Sister Sun held onto a glimmer of hope, thinking that Old Man wouldn't do anything to her. Although she had hidden away during his last moments, failing to fulfill her duties as a wife, they were still married.
For some reason, Sister Sun suddenly began to reminisce about the past.
Despite all the torment he put her through, Old Man had treated her well in front of others. He was obedient to her every whim, giving her whatever she wanted, almost as if he would have plucked the stars from the sky to adorn her head.
What puzzled Sister Sun was that when she thought of Old Man, the clattering sound in the room seemed to have vanished.
Then it struck her—a crucial realization.
The clattering sound had indeed come from Old Man.
He carried an old copper pipe at his waist, and as he walked, it would hit against his side, producing that distinct clattering noise.
As she thought of Old Man, Sister Sun truly saw him appear in her mind.
His face was aged and lined with wrinkles, with small eyes hidden within those creases. His hands were dry and yellowed, with thick knuckles that seemed to slide into her neck—cold and chilling. Sister Sun wanted to scream, but Old Man's other hand gripped her throat tightly.
She kicked and twisted her body, desperate to wake up quickly, but she heard a sinister laugh: "I have come."
"Don't... I... I was wrong..." Sister Sun saw Old Man crawling towards her, blood streaming from his seven orifices. The cold sensation around her neck seeped into her bones, making her shiver uncontrollably. She regretted deeply having gone out to buy the three-step powder and mixing it into the medicine for Old Man.
Old Man had roared all night long before finally passing away at one in the morning.
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