My House of Horrors

“Holding the tea cup, I thought about it for a long time until I saw the reflection that was on the surface of the coffee. When I looked down into the cup, the reflection was also looking back at me.

“Then I suddenly realized, when I was turning back to look at the mirror earlier, my reflection in the mirror didn’t have his neck turned? He was standing facing me, just like…”

For a moment, Jia Ming lost the ability to speak, like something was wrapping its hands around his neck. His eyes were overflowing with terror.

“A chill rose up behind me, and the living room sofa was facing away from the toilet. I could sense something behind me! It was like someone was standing there!

“I didn’t dare to turn around. Turning the cup, my eyes slowly moved down. I wanted to see through the reflection what was behind me.

“As the cup turned, the chill approached me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and just as I was about to catch a glimpse in the water, the skin that was exposed on the back of my neck felt something, like someone had lowered their hair, letting it fall over my skin.

“My arms shivered. Without being able to help it, the cup slipped from my fingers, and the coffee splashed everywhere. Screaming, I grabbed the ashtray and fruit plate on the table and flung them behind me as I skipped over the furniture, rushing to the door. Holding the doorknob with both hands, I turned back to look. There was nothing else in the room. The only thing different was the disturbance of the television signal. There was no video, only a flickering blue and white background.

“The surroundings were so quiet that I could hear the static coming from the television. I didn’t dare stay inside the room for too long—I wanted to escape, but I started to have second thoughts, remembering the boy that I saw on the stairs in the impossibly position. I was afraid that he was just on the other side of the door.

“The corridor wasn’t safe, but neither was the room. I didn’t know what to do. I froze, holding the doorknob.

“Just as I was hesitating, the image on the television started to flicker faster and faster. I noticed that, amid the changing images, a woman’s face was starting to form!

“That was all the motivation I needed to yank the door open and run. Without stopping to look around, I dashed right to the street. But the dark streetlight still unable to provide me with any sense of security. I charged ahead like a mindless madman until the energy left me, and I collapsed on the ground. Surrounded by the streetlights, I felt slightly better.”

When he told the story, Jia Ming’s forehead and back were drenched in cold sweat, and none of the people in the room had a normal expression. The tone of Jia Ming’s voice, combined with his actual exposition of terror, drew his listeners into the scene.

The female officer gripped the pen that she was holding tighter. Lee Zheng turned to glance at Chen Ge. “What is your opinion? Before Doctor Gao disappeared, he once told me that you were quite good at psychology. What do you think that the ghost he saw represents?”

“His story is very interesting. I can give it a simple analysis.” Chen Ge stood up and moved to sit next to the bed. “Jia Ming started his story by saying that he saw Jiang Long being assaulted by someone at his bungalow. The person used a knife and threatened Jiang Long to do something extremely painful, and he said confidently that the person was me, or at least looked similar to me.

“After coming across that, he raced back to his home. When he was in the corridor, the senior landlady told him, ‘Please don’t make such a loud noise when you two walk around. It’s already so late at night; what are you two doing out so late?’

“This means that the old lady saw more than Jia Ming in the corridor, and that second person was very close to Jia Ming! So close that the elder thought that person was Jia Ming’s friend.”

Chen Ge smiled at Jia Ming.

“If he’s telling the truth, then this means that from then on, there was already someone or something following him, and this person is most likely the bad guy that he saw at the bungalow—the ‘Chen Ge’ who threatened Jiang Long with a knife. The difficulty of trailing the man without being noticed and how I managed to trick him and failed to hide myself from the detection of an old lady aside, we shall assume that what he’s saying is real so that we can continue the analysis.

“Then, he ran to the second floor where his home was. When he opened the door, he saw a little boy’s legs and head on the corner of the stairs to the third floor. Plus, the location where the boy appeared was quite interesting.

“Jia Ming told us the old lady said that her son’s family of three died in a car accident, and the third floor was originally occupied by them. She didn’t want to rent it to keep as a keepsake.

“We’ll make the bold assumption that the boy that Jia Ming saw was the old lady’s grandson, the boy who died in the accident. Then the strange thing was, Jia Ming had stayed there for so long, but he had not seen the boy before. So, what changed that night so that he was able to see the boy?”

Chen Ge was serious with his analysis, but from Lee Zheng and the female officer’s perspective, it was like they were listening to a mental patient giving counselling to another mental patient.

“The answer is very simple because the boy could see the thing following Jia Ming as well. Pay attention to how the boy appeared. He was standing at the corner with his head lowered to the ground like he was spying. This means that the thing following Jia Ming was much scarier than the boy.” Chen Ge had the smile on his face. “A human scaring a ghost, that is the first time I’ve heard something like that.

“There’s another noteworthy detail after he entered the door. When Jia Ming noticed that his reflection in the mirror was not reflecting the action that he was doing in real life, he felt something coming from behind him. Just as he prepared to turn the cup to see who it was, his neck was touched by something similar to a curtain of hair.”

Chen Ge paused.

“This is important because I have short hair. Most guys have short hair. When we lower our head, it is impossible for our hair to be long enough to fall onto the back of his neck. In other words, it should be a woman, or rather a woman ghost who was standing behind him.

“Then, when he prepared to escape the room, he saw the issue with the television. The images started to flicker, and a woman’s face appeared. From all the observations so far, even if there was a ghost in the room, it should have been a female ghost. Combining with the information that we gathered earlier, the real identity of this female ghost should be none other than the landlady’s daughter-in-law.

“In Jia Ming’s story, two ghosts were featured, and they were related to the story that his landlady once told him. This probably happened because something happened to Jia Ming that night, causing him great psychological stress. This placed mental subversion on his mind, causing him to see things where there were none. This could explain him drawing out the ghosts from the story that he had once heard.”

Chen Ge used some professional terms that he had learned from Doctor Gao before. He had no idea what they meant exactly, but it did help to make him sound professional.

With his explanation, Lee Zheng and the female officer’s expression softened, and they kept nodding. Compared to the supernatural, they had an easier time believing that something was wrong with Jia Ming mentally.

After clearing his name, Chen Ge turned to look at Jia Ming. Perhaps his gaze reminded Jia Ming of something scary, or maybe Jia Ming sensed danger from him, but his body suddenly started to spasm before fainting completely.

“I didn’t even touch him.” Chen Ge raised his hands and stood up. As the doctors and nurses bustled around Jia Ming, Chen Ge slowly stepped away. He did not really tell the police everything. Actually, it was his opinion that Jia Ming was not lying.

The person that looked like Chen Ge should be the shadow. As for why he looked like Chen Ge, Chen Ge himself had no clue.

What Jia Ming said later was probably all real. The shadow followed him back to his home and was spotted by the landlady, which alerted the souls of the family living on the third floor.

The boy was the landlady’s grandson, and the female ghost was the landlady’s daughter-in-law. There should be a male ghost that Jia Ming did not encounter.

The shadow followed Jia Ming home, and the three souls should be trying to protect him, but the difference in power was too big, so they could only use their own way to remind him, to make him realize the danger he was in.

Chen Ge knew that Jia Ming was not lying. In any case, he would get himself involved because he could not confirm whether the shadow was still on Jia Ming or not. The shadow was very cunning, and this could be his way of making use of the police.

To prove whether Jia Ming was lying or not should be very simple.

After calling Lee Zheng out of the room to get the address for Jia Ming’s rental home, Chen Ge left the hospital. He wanted to ask them in person, he wanted to know what the old lady saw that night, and he wanted to find the souls to ask them how they felt that night.