My House of Horrors

After that, Chen Ge found the doll that had been left behind by his parents and the Doctor Skull-cracker’s hammer and placed them beside his bed. Now, everything is ready.

After switching off the light, Chen Ge attached his phone to the charger and left it on the bedside table to record. He then crawled underneath the bed with the scary looking hammer. The flickering candlelight caused the brightness inside the room to fluctuate. Once Chen Ge closed his eyes, his brain was immediately filled with many scary thoughts—he could not control it.

He kept his attention on his surrounding as he curled into the fetal position, the top of his head touching the corner of the bed. From his vantage point, he could see the slippers in the corridor through the half-open door.

The slippers are where they were, and the white rice has remained unmoved. I wonder why the black phone asked me to prepare these things.

The candle burned shorter, and Chen Ge’s eyelids grew heavier. Night spread through the Haunted House, and Chen Ge, who had not really rested for the past few days, held on for a little longer before drifting off to sleep.

…

His lower calf was a bit cold. Chen Ge opened his eyes blurrily. The candle had gone out, and the room was dark and quiet.

What time is it? Chen Ge wanted to glance at his watch, but he realized he could not move.

Sleep paralysis? ¹

After widening his eyes, Chen Ge did not make too much resistance. He focused on adjusting his breathing; respiratory organs like lungs were not affected by sleep paralysis. Then, he focused his energy on trying to bend his finger. Throughout the process, he did not look elsewhere but on his finger. After all, even if there was something scary, he would have been unable to move. It would only add to his fear and cause him to lose his cool.

After three minutes, Chen Ge could finally move his pinkie; this was a good start. He tried to move onto the next stage, but as his eyes swept past the open door, a question bubbled up in his mind. When I placed the slippers earlier, did the head of slippers face inward or outward?

Since he would need to wear the slippers when going out, the slippers should have been facing outward, but the slippers that Chen Ge saw were pointing into his bedroom.

Did I misplace them earlier?

A bad feeling settled in his stomach, and he tried his best to move his other fingers. The candle in the room had long been extinguished. There was a shuffling sound like the room like someone was moving the rice that was placed around the floor.

Under Chen Ge’s scrutiny, one of the slippers moved forward. It was an awkward movement, like someone learning how to walk for the first time.

It moved!

The more anxious Chen Ge became, the slower he progressed. After making the first step, the slippers placed on the corridor suddenly moved forward several steps like someone was putting them on.

The invisible customer is already here? Why can’t I see him?

Just as Chen Ge was thinking, the pair of slippers had reached the door to the main control room. It suddenly stopped, and then the door to the control room fell open on its own before soon closing. The windows inside the Haunted House were shut, so it could not have been the wind.

What is it looking for?

The pair of slippers moved up and down the dark corridor before it stopped at the door to the dressing room. From Chen Ge’s angle, he could see that the black cloth over the mirror in the dressing room had been taken down, and the skin mask made from multiple faces swayed before the mirror.

Chen Ge was alarmed watching this. He tried to move his fingers, but at that moment, the moving skin mask suddenly stopped, and the hollow behind the pair of eyes seemed to be staring at Chen Ge’s hiding place.

I’ve been discovered!

The mask fell to the floor, and the door to the dressing room was closed. The pair of slippers stopped in front of the door before it turned toward Chen Ge and headed quick for the staff breakroom!

Hiding under the bed with his body immobile, Chen Ge could only watch as the pair of slippers move closer to him. The door to the breakroom was pushed open further, and the pair of slippers stopped beside the bed.

Chen Ge closed his eyes and pretended that he was asleep. He could feel a cold draft on his face and a light breathing beside his ear, as if a face was looking closely down at him.

The monster is checking whether I’m really asleep or not. Chen Ge did not dare open his eyes. He was afraid of seeing something that might make him lose control.

His movement was stopped, so the best solution then was to pretend to be asleep. Several seconds later, the chilling breathing sound disappeared. Chen Ge pushed his eyes open a sliver. There was nothing before him. He moved his eyes around and saw that the pair of slippers was placed beside the bed. However, the direction was different from before; now they were facing out.

It has jumped onto my bed? Just the thought of it made Chen Ge shiver. Every time he had been asleep, this thing had been wandering about the house. If the person had malicious intentions, the consequences would have been unbearable.

The slippers remained unmoved for a long time. The monster was likely lying in his bed. Chen Ge realized that his chance had arrived. He directed all his energy to the one finger he could move. His pupils darted about and tried to unfreeze the rest of the body from immobility. Completing the Nightmare Mission was no longer that important; the feeling that his body was out of his control was horrible.

After completing so many of the black phone’s missions, Chen Ge’s focus and concentration were better than most. After some time, the rest of his fingers could all move. Curling his palm into a fist, his control of his arm also slowly returned.

Just a little more, a little bit more. The muscles on his arms bulged. Chen Ge had a feeling that he could wake up soon. His breathing smoothed out, and he could now turn his neck slightly. If only his legs could move, then he would have regained full control of his body. With the hammer in hand, he would be less defenseless.

However, his lower body was completely unresponsive. He nudged his body, trying to turn onto his side. His heartbeat reverberated in his ears. Using every ounce of energy in his body, he finally managed to turn his body toward the wall. In that instant, he felt the shackles on his body unlock.

Chen Ge gained full control of his body back, but as he turned to look behind him, his skin became covered in goosebumps.

There was a girl lying behind him.

The monster didn’t get onto the bed! It has been behind me all along!

Chen Ge involuntarily reached for the hammer beside him, and the girl lying behind him also realized that Chen Ge had woken up from the sleep paralysis.

Her reaction was one beat slower. She raised her head to share a look with Chen Ge before morphing into a shadow in a hurry and rushing out of the room.

Chen Ge grabbed the hammer and chased after her.

When he saw the girl’s face, he had felt that she look weirdly familiar.