My House of Horrors

The woman in the picture had no make-up, and she looked like she had just recovered from a big illness. There was a unique charm to her. Earlier, at Hai Ming Apartments, Chen Ge had criticized Men Nan’s father for having an affair even though his wife was so beautiful, and now he understood why. Chen Ge moved his gaze to study the shy boy in the picture.

Is this child really Men Nan? An incredibly talented child when he was still a baby, but how come he could not handle a mere mirror monster after he grew up? Did his talent shrink as he grew older? The story told in the letter was real. Chen Ge did hear people say that toddlers could see many weird things that adults could not, but as they grew up, everything returned to normal, and the memory that they had disappeared.

It shouldn’t be so simple. Chen Ge was reminded of what Doctor Gao told him. After a deep diagnosis, he discovered there were three personalities within Men Nan.

The first was a self-protecting personality that appeared in the shape of his mother. This was probably the lingering spirit of Men Nan’s mother. She had attached herself to Men Nan to protect him whenever she could.

The second was Men Nan’s main personality. This persona grew up with him, and it was the normal Men Nan that his friends knew.

The last personality hid in the deepest recesses of Men Nan’s mind. According to Doctor Gao, this personality had stuck at Men Nan’s childhood years. He refused to communicate, and the period when he appeared was extremely short. When the third persona appeared, Men Nan would display superhuman talent.

Is it possible that the third persona is the real Men Nan? Then what exactly happened to him? What caused this persona to appear?

Before entering the Third Sick Hall, Chen Ge had studied up on this. He was familiar with split personality disorder, and he knew that the appearance of each persona had a specific reason behind it.

Perhaps it was loneliness, or perhaps it was self-defense mechanism. Chen Ge had no idea why Men Nan’s third persona had appeared, but he had a feeling that it was related to the door at the third sick hall.

Putting the picture back into the envelope, Chen Ge started to read the third letter.

“The door appears punctually at midnight. It stays for a minute before disappearing.

“I’ve sealed up the third sick hall and forbidden anyone from getting close to Room 3 at night. I’ve asked the nurses on night patrol to keep an eye on that bleeding door.

“Three days have passed, and the nurses told me there there was a weird noise coming from behind the door. When the door returned to normal, she pushed the door open, and the room was empty. There wasn’t a rat as she had expected.

“On the fourth day, I stayed vigil by the door personally. There were indeed movements behind the door, and I could hear the sound of chewing.

“On the fifth night, the thing behind the door seemed to have sensed something. There was knocking coming from behind the door. There was knocking from a room that was confirmed to be empty. If not for the fact that I have just concluded a mental test, I would have thought I was crazy.

“I used wooden boards to seal up the door, and on the tenth night, there was urgent banging on the door.

“Fresh blood seeped through the door, dying it red. It was like a scene from a nightmare. I’ve contacted the workers to remove the door and asked a few doctors to watch the door outside Room 3.

“On the midnight of the eleventh day, everyone present could hear the door being opened. The sound came from Room 3 even though the door was already gone.

“When the sound occurred, I saw the door frame dyed red. I managed to take a close look. It was not blood but something that looked like blood vessels. One minute later, everything returned to normal, and one of the doctors said that he saw a shadow crawl out of the room.

“Said doctor handed in his resignation that afternoon. The hospital was running low on staff, so I denied his request. It only made his emotions run wild; there was no room for negotiation at all.

“Removing the door was useless, so I asked the workers to seal it up with bricks. In the initial few days, the method seemed to be effective, but one week later, there was a new problem with Room 3. Whenever midnight arrived, Room 3, even the walls next to it, started to turn red like bruised skin. The red was spreading, and I fear that, one day, it will cover the entire hospital.

“I’ve used every method that I can think of, but I cannot stop it. This room was fine, and everything happened after the accident that befell the child’s mother. Do you think I should find the boy? To find the solution or reason from him?”

Chen Ge’s face was dark after reading the third letter. This door was much more troublesome than he had anticipated. The old director had used all sorts of methods, but he had still failed. He had not only failed to close the door, but he had exacerbated the situation.

“But there has to be a solution or else the center would have closed ten years ago and not just five years ago.”

Chen Ge picked up the last letter, and his expression turned serious. This was because the last envelope had something others did not: an address. It was addressed to Linjiang New Schistosomiasis Control Station.

“Chen Ge, I’ve followed your instructions, and thankfully, the door is temporarily closed. But I don’t understand, why can Men Nan close the door?”

The letter was short, but it revealed two important facts to Chen Ge. One, the door could be closed; two, Men Nan was the key to closing it.

Looks like I’ll need Men Nan’s help if I want to deal with the door in the mirror at my Haunted House.

Chen Ge read the short fourth letter again.

At the very end, the old director has shown interest in the world behind the door. Could the reason for his disappearance be related to that?

The center had been closed five years ago, and before it was sealed up, the director had disappeared. These two incidents had to be related. Replacing the letters, Chen Ge looked at the dresser.

“Something is not right. The letters weren’t stamped. The earlier three letters did not even have an address, so they could not have been mailed. How did the director communicate with this Doctor Chen?

“Furthermore, why would the mailed letters return to the director’s office?”

Chen Ge narrowed his eyes as several possibilities entered his mind.

“Could it be that the director also suffered from split personality disorder and one of his personas was this Doctor Chen? Or had the mysterious Doctor Chen who received the letters returned to the hospital after the director’s disappearance and purposefully left the letters here? But why would he do that?”

Chen Ge only ended up with more questions.

“Who is this Doctor Chen?”

Chen Ge thought about it before putting the letter with the address into his shirt pocket.