My House of Horrors

The little girl stopped crying and turned around to look at Chen Ge with a blank expression. Her palm-size face was covered with tears, and her eyes were red with a layer of mist. The girl’s pitiable eyes could melt anything. Even the cruelest person would let their guard down in her vicinity. The nurse could not help herself anymore. She picked up the little girl and pressed her face to the girl’s head, patting her lightly on her back.

If the picture was just of the nurse and the two children, it would have been nice. It was like an older sister looking after two younger siblings with all her might. Even though things were tough and difficult, life was blissful with family around. However, the image turned curious after adding Chen Ge into the picture.

Chen Ge stood at the door with his muscle all tensed. It was like he was stranded alone in the jungle, and a monster was eyeing him from the dark.According to the ratio on Fan Yu’s picture, the monster is about three times the size of a normal man.

Knowing Fan Yu, Chen Ge had long realized that the boy’s eyes could see ghosts. In other words, this meant that the spider in Fan Yu’s picture was really standing behind him!

His finger hung over the recorder, and veins popped on his arm. Before he arrived, Chen Ge did not expect that he would run into a monster at this heart-warming children’s home.

“Fan Yu looks like he has a good relationship with the girl, and Fan Yu knows me. Does this mean that I’m also a friend of the girl?” Chen Ge grumbled to himself at the door. He kept his voice low, just enough to be heard if there was someone behind him.

“Stop crying, big sister left already. We’ll go find her tomorrow.” Fan Yu tussled the girl’s hair. He was especially kind to her.

“Okay.” The girl rubbed her reddened eyes and struggled loose from the nurse. She sat on the little chair in the bedroom unwillingly and still held the spider’s body in her hands; she refused to throw it away.

When Fan Yu said that the girl’s sister had left, Chen Ge sighed in relief. He walked into the room and picked up the broom to sweep the glass to the corner.

Standing in the middle, the nurse felt awkward, like she had been ignored.

“Mr. Chen, let me.” The nurse swept the glass pieces into a dustpan and very naturally pulled Chen Ge out of the room.

“You’ve seen the situation for yourself.” The nurse’s voice was filled with helplessness. “I was the one who took care of Jiang Ling after she was sent here. It has been almost six months already. She used to call me mother and wouldn’t leave my side. She was just like a little angel, but ever since Fan Yu arrived, everything changed. She follows behind him every day and only listens to him—no one else.”

“Why do I hear envy in your complaint?” Chen Ge leaned against the wall. He had a good impression of this Children’s Home; they were doing good work.

“I’m not!” The nurse glared at Chen Ge. “If Jiang Ling was playing with other kids, of course, I wouldn’t stop her, but Fan Yu is the only exception. You’ve seen those things that he draws. Do you think it’s appropriate a six-year-old girl to see those drawings every day?”

“That is indeed not so appropriate.” Chen Ge did not know how to explain it to the nurse.

“It is more than inappropriate!” The nurse closed the door and dragged Chen Ge to the corner of the living room. “Jiang Ling was found at a crime scene. You do not understand what she has been through. When she arrived at the Children’s Home half a year ago, she wouldn’t even speak and had a fear of everyone. Doctor Chen spent half a year conducting counselling, and her condition was finally improving.”

Chen Ge’s expression turned serious. “Do you mind telling me about Jiang Ling’s past?”

The nurse lowered her voice. “I also heard this from the police. Jiang Ling came from a happy family, and the family of four lived outside the city. Even though they weren’t rich by any means, they were happy. Her father was an honest farmer, but her mother didn’t look like a local. She was fair and beautiful. Jiang Ling also had a big sister who inherited her mother’s genes; she looked very pretty.

“Around one year ago, her father made a loan to buy a plot of land to raise peach trees. They lived far from the already isolated village and thus separated themselves from human contact. Just as the peaches were getting ripe and things were going to become better for their family, disaster struck.”

After a sigh, the nurse continued with anger and pity. “First it was Jiang Ling’s sister who disappeared, and not long after that, Jiang Ling’s parents passed away. Their food was mixed with a lot of rat poison; the killer wanted them dead.”

“Has the killer been caught?”

“No.” The nurse shook her head. “The police didn’t reveal too much information. The only thing I know is that the killer didn’t steal any of the money, and it wasn’t a crime of passion. I suspect the killers are the villagers who were envious of the family’s happiness! The place was isolated, and other than the villagers, nobody would have gone there. Also, a few days before the poisoning, one of the villagers was caught trying to steal the ripening peaches. He was caught by Jiang Ling’s father, and they had a scuffle inside the peach plantation.”

After listening to the nurse, Chen Ge also felt like the villagers might be the killers. Murder usually had a motive, and revenge was a very good one.

“After the investigation, the police couldn’t find any suspect in the village. The only survivor was Jiang Ling, who didn’t drink the soup. Perhaps she was stunned after watching her parents collapse. The police suspected that Jiang Ling had seen the murderer, but since they couldn’t communicate with Jiang Ling, they couldn’t do anything. After that incident, something was wrong with the girl’s mental state.

“As you can see for yourself, she calls every spider her big sister. People usually run from these creepy crawlies, but she feels close to them. Can you imagine the girl leaning close to spider webs, talking sweetly to spiders?

“After some interaction, I noticed other problems with her. There is something wrong with the girl’s conception. She calls the quilt on the bed mother and the rope hanging from the ceiling her father. Others did ask her about it, but she couldn’t explain herself.”

The nurse was sad. It seemed she really did care for the girl. “Our Children’s Home has been trying to correct her mindset, and she has now stopped calling rope and quilt her parents. After she stops referring to spiders as her sister, she will be able to live life like normal. However, with Fan Yu’s arrival, he only took few days to ruin all our effort.”

“Let’s not talk about Fan Yu for now.” Chen Ge needed ghosts to deal with the ghost stories society, so he was more interested in them. “Have the police investigated Jiang Ling’s sister? Why did she disappear? Could she be the killer?”

“The police did suspect that the killer could be Jiang Ling’s sister, but even now, they have not found Jiang Ling’s sister.”