“None of the people who answered was Gao Ming?” Luo Dong digested this statement and felt a chill run up his spine.
“That’s not the weirdest.” The man tilted his head to look at Luo Dong, “The voices on the phone sounded unfamiliar to us at first. However, every time we made a call, the voice would become a bit more like Gao Ming’s until it sounded perfectly like Gao Ming. However, through some minor details and habits, we could tell that it was not the real Gao Ming.”
“It became more and more like Gao Ming?!” The feeling of one’s family being slowly replaced made Luo Dong feel so helpless.
“Indeed. It’s one of the reasons why we came to find him.”
Luo Dong was silent. Even if they knew their son might be haunted by ghosts, they didn’t hesitate to search for him.
“I don’t know how you ended up here, but once we left our home, we realised the world outside had become completely different. It felt like we had entered a different dimension. The streetlights blurred. Unknown objects crawled in the shadows. However, we didn’t care about these things because we were too worried about Gao Ming. We found this place based on the address he gave us.” The man’s cap slowly fell back to reveal traces of blood around his neck. “Are you here to look for your child too?”
“I was trapped in an anomaly. My wife and daughter’s souls are permanently banished. My only son has gone missing.” Luo Dong tried his best to ignore the blood.
“Don’t be scared. The blood… is not human…” The middle-aged man suddenly trembled. His eyes shrunk. “To hurry to Gao Ming’s rental place, we took a cab. The driver told us a lot of ghost stories along the way, including the murder cases that occurred in Han Hai over the past few years. He was so detailed that it felt like he was at the crime scene in person. We suspected he was the killer, but he told us the stories were given to him by his other passengers. Then, he wanted us to tell him a story.”
“What story did you tell him?” Luo Dong asked subconsciously.
Luo Dong was confused. Was the man telling a story or the truth? Or was it a mixture of both?
“Do you want something to drink?” The sound of breathing interspersed throughout the man’s conversation. He stared right into Luo Dong’s eyes. The sound of chopping from the kitchen became louder.
Two water pots were placed on the table. One was white, and the other was red. The middle-aged man poured a glass of warm water for Luo Dong from the red pot.
“Don’t worry. You’re here now. You should know that the driver is not alive, and the married couple are not crazy.” The man pulled his gaze back. “After we shared that story, I continued to drive through the night. We encountered many strange passengers and finally arrived here after a long time.”
Luo Dong tried to remain as calm as he could. He noticed that the man had become the driver in this latest part of the story. He didn’t ask about the location of the driver or how the taxi managed to fit other passengers. He didn’t even want to know where the other passengers had gone.
The only thing that was certain was that Gao Ming’s parents had been through a lot that night to find Gao Ming. Only they knew about the actual details.
“It’s been hard on you to find Gao Ming,” Luo Dong sighed. However, the man shook his head.
“We only realised how serious the problem was when we came here. Gao Ming was not in his room. My wife and I were drawn here by something, and it trapped us here.” The man’s eyes moved to the fruit knife under the table.
“So… you also don’t know where Gao Ming is?!” In Luo Dong’s heart, Gao Ming was the God among the horror game players. If he had been there, he would have solved this problem easily.
There was a sudden knocking on the door that interrupted the man. He signalled Luo Dong to hide in the bathroom. After Luo Dong hid, the man splashed the water in the cup on his raincoat as if he had just returned home from outside. He went to unlock the front door.
Gao Ming, in a school uniform and carrying his bag, stood at the door. His expression was not robotic. He was as Luo Dong remembered him.
“Dad, there are some issues with the bus carrying us on the field trip, so I came back late.” Gao Ming held a strange present box. He entered the place was really his home.
Luo Dong was surprised to see this. This Gao Ming appeared to be trapped on the night the field trip ended. He was like a child who couldn’t grow old.
The middle-aged man was used to this. He accepted the box and school bag naturally. “Your mom is cooking. You should take a bath first.”
Gao Ming shook his head and looked at the man. He smiled, “I had a dream on the bus. I dreamed that I was stabbed from behind when I was in the shower, and my most precious present was destroyed.”
“Is that so? What else did you dream of?”
“It was very scary. I dreamed that I had died in many different ways. However, all of them happened inside an apartment building. However, I failed to see my killer every time.” Gao Ming hugged the present tightly as if it were more important than his life. ṚÃΝÓꞖƐꞨ
“Dreams are always in reverse.” The man removed his raincoat to expose the dirty shirt underneath. “I just got off work. It’s not that peaceful outside recently. The news keeps reporting on murder and missing person cases. You should stay at home.” The man picked up the white pot and poured a cup of water for Gao Ming, “Drink more warm water and less soft drinks.”
Gao Ming’s smile froze on his face. He shook his head. “I think I’ll grab some cold water.” He walked to the table and picked up the red pot to pour himself a glass of water. He finished it in one gulp. Then, he rummaged through his school bag to look for something.