My House of Horrors

He pulled the bag half open, and the student looked very nervous. His hand held something, but he did not pull it out of the bag.

A fruit knife?

Xiao Gu saw something reflective from the opening, but it was unclear whether it was a mirror or a knife. The bus started moving, and Xiao Gu went back to his seat. His eyelid kept twitching—he was feeling anxious. The rain outside continued to pour, and it was so heavy that he was unable to see the buildings that lined the road. Inside the bus, it was so quiet. No one spoke; it was a strange atmosphere.

Every one of the passengers is acting weirdly.

Xiao Gu leaned his body against the car window. The doctor that was across the aisle from him kept glancing his way with an unreadable smile on his face. It felt like he had found an interesting piece of art.

Taking out his phone, Xiao Gu activated the camera and chose the selfie setting. He raised the phone and glanced at the student at the last row using the camera. The boy seemed to suffer from carsickness. He placed the bag on his knees, and his face turned paler by the minute. Sweat kept forming on his forehead, but he never once took his hand out from his bag.

Is he not feeling well?

Xiao Gu was worried about the boy. However, before he stood up, the student realized that Xiao Gu had been watching him from the camera. The boy seemed like he did not want to be on camera. He used his hands to cover his face, silently used his finger to point at the doctor in the white coat next to Xiao Gu, and waved his hand back and forth.

Is he hinting at something? The doctor is dangerous?

After that small gesture, the student lowered his head to hug the bag.

Xiao Gu put down his phone and studied the doctor from the corner of his eyes. Suddenly, he was reminded of a new article that he had read getting on the bus—”Latest update on the cadaver theft cases at Central Hospital. The surveillance caught some possible suspects and has already denied the possibility of an inside job.”

Opening the link, the article attached a very blurry picture—it was believed to be the picture taken by the hospital surveillance. A man in white coat was crawling rapidly on the ground before disappearing into the morgue.

“White coat?” Xiao Gu enlarged the photo. The light was weak inside the bus. He focused on the picture. “The face is too blurry, but the frame is very similar.”

Suddenly, a phone rang. Xiao Gu, who was extremely focused, jumped in his seat. He put his phone away and raised his head. The ringtone came from the purse of the woman in the professional dress. She took out the phone and glanced at the caller ID—her face dropped.

As she answered the call, an anxious male voice came from the other side. “Huang Ling, where are you? Are you still working? The lights at your office have all gone off already.”

“I’ve already left. Where were you? You said you were going to come to pick up, but I didn’t see you even though I waited for half an hour!” Huang Ling did not have it good either. It was raining, and she had worked until so late. She had waited so long for the man, but he did not arrive.

“You’ve already left? How come I didn’t see you?”

“Stop pretending, this is not the first time you’ve been late. You never commit to the promises that you’ve made—I’ve had enough!”

“I know I was bad before, but I swear, this time, I wasn’t late. I waited at the door to your company at 6 pm and saw the lights at your building go off one by one, but I didn’t even see you.” The voice on the phone became hurried. “Where are you now? I hear something is wrong with your voice. Is it because that old hound is making things hard for you again?”

“He did not do something like that. I just feel very tired.” Huang Ling slowed down. She looked at the city covered in rain outside the window. “Jia Ming, I’m not afraid of working hard with you, but you have to at least work together with me. I’m almost thirty, and I don’t want to work until 8 pm every day and then take the last bus with three or four people and return to your rented room to make dinner for you.”

“Xiao Ling, I’ve found the way to make money. We’ve both moved from our old home to Jiujiang and have survived so many years. Please give me some more time.”

Huang Ling took at the rain outside the window, and her eyes were dull. “If you say so.”

“Where are you now? I’ll go pick you up…” Before the man finished, Huang Ling ended the call and shoved her phone inside her bag.

It’s not easy for couples these days… Xiao Gu sighed internally. When he saw Huang Ling earlier, since she dressed so fashionably, he assumed that the woman was rich. Upon closer inspection, he realized that her attire was mostly fake, and she looked so pretty because she herself was pretty.

“Ding! We’ve arrived at Hong Si Restaurant. Departing customers, please make sure that you have all of your belongings with you, and please alight from the back door.”

The bus had arrived at its next destination, and both doors opened. This time, no one got on the bus. Xiao Gu glanced outside at the bus station. The mad woman in the red raincoat was really standing at the bus stop, and she seemed to have moved even closer to the bus.

This is really something else.

Xiao Gu was panicking. He sat close to the back door. If the woman got on, she would see him first.

Don’t tell me she’ll follow me home? If she appears at every stop, then won’t she be waiting for me at the last stop?

The doors closed. Suddenly, there was a child’s coughing coming from the middle from the bus. It was the middle-aged woman holding the child. She patted the child’s back lightly, but it was to no avail. If anything, it only made the child cough harder.

“Sounds like he has a fever. Do you even know how to take care of a child? The difference in temperature from day to night is so big, but you only give him a thin shirt to wear?” Huang Ling heard the coughing, and she got annoyed.

“I’m just helping my relative look after his child…” The middle-aged woman’s voice was coarse—she sounded like a man. She forced a smile. She did not feed the child water or medicine. Instead, she just kept patting his back. The child coughed harder, and his body was shivering.

“I think you should bring him to the hospital.” Xiao Gu stood up and removed his own jacket to pass it to the woman. “Use this to wrap around the child first.”

“Okay.” The woman hesitated before accepting the jacket. Even with the jacket, the child kept coughing. Xiao Gu held his phone and the change that he had taken from the jacket’s pocket and went back to his seat.

The door closed, and just as he was about to reach his seat, there was a sound coming from the backdoor. A thin person slapped her hand against the door.

“The vehicle will start soon. Please take your seat. Welcome to the driverless bus for Route 104. Dear passenger, please move closer to the backdoor. Our next stop is Li Wan Mall.”

The bus started, and the hand soon disappeared.

Xiao Gu went back to his seat. He turned to look at the stop, and the red shadow was turning blurry.

Can the other passengers really not see the woman in the raincoat?