My House of Horrors

Tape recorder had its popularity in the eighties and nineties, but with the advent of internet, it had slowly become obsolete. Perhaps to preserve the feel of the bygone era, Tian Teng Medical School had placed many antiques inside this room, and the most conspicuous was the tape recorder and an old-fashioned flashlight.

Chen Ge was reminded of a horror flick he had seen a long time ago. The recorder would play on its own every midnight, and those who heard it would die a horrible death.

Is this just a prop? Chen Ge completely ignored the ‘dead body’ that was collapsed on the table. He walked past it to head for the bookshelf. When he was one meter away from the recorder, the play button pressed down on its own.

A sensor? No, someone is probably remote-controlling it. Chen Ge turned back to look, and the dead body was lying in such a way that his head was deep buried inside his arms. Compared to the dead body, Chen Ge was more interested in this recorder before him. After the button was pressed, the tape started to play. After the initial white noise, a middle-aged man’s voice could be heard.

“Please, forgive me! Please, I beg of you!” The man was begging, and it sounded like death would have been a release. Following his screams, there was sound of cutting and tearing. It was direct and gory. When Chen Ge heard it, the images appeared in his mind. Bones were snapped, and skin was torn open; it was the cruelest torture.

“Tian Teng probably wouldn’t use this for normal visitors.”

The dead body on the table twitched slightly when he heard Chen Ge say that. The reality was not far from his speculation; the content of the tape had been swapped at the last minute specifically for Chen Ge. Chen Ge had gotten used to fear and terror, but he still flinched at gore and cruelty. In that manner, he was no different from a normal person.

“It’s still ongoing? Do they plan to use this as the background music?” Chen Ge listened patiently because he assumed that the recording would contain clues that might help him clear the game. However, he listened for a full minute, and it was still screaming from the torture and begging for mercy.

“The person would have fainted from blood loss earlier than this. How can he still be so spirited after one minute of fatal blood loss? Then again, the actor they hired sure is a good one. He has managed to create a scary feeling just using his voice.” The man’s voice eventually weakened, and he started to pay for all the horrible things he had done.

Chen Ge then realized that the victim on the tape was the director of Tian Teng Medical School, a man who would do anything for money.

“Who would have thought that this is a story with a moral of good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people?” At the end of the tape, the director admitted to all the bad things he had done. He begged his tormenters to not harm his daughter with his last breath.

Here, the twist arrived. Just as the director begged for his tormentors to not harm his daughter, there was the sound of door opening in the recording. It was quickly followed by a woman’s scream, and the director screamed, “Zhenzhen, run!”

The recording ended there, and Chen Ge did not know what to think about this story. The director was obviously guilty, but the daughter was probably innocent. In any case, that was not important. The important thing was, the daughter had walked into the room when the monsters were tormenting her father. Then, her ending would probably be the same as her father’s.

All the mannequins inside Tian Teng Medical School have the name Xu Zhenzhen written on them, what is the meaning of that?

Tian Teng Medical School was famous within the Haunted House circle, and all the scenes had been designed by a professional team. Challenging such a large moving Haunted House at its highest difficulty, there had to be something to this name.

All the workers inside the Haunted House are playing a fake ghosts, but that’s all to hide an actual ghost?

From the ‘female body’ that greeted everyone at the entrance and the mannequins that had lost their organs in the autopsy room as well as the repetition of Xu Zhenzhen’s name over the Haunted House, Chen Ge had an idea why Tian Teng Medical School did all these things.

No matter how realistic the actor’s make-up is, the visitors know internally that they’re fake, so they have to create a ‘real ghost’ that feels like she’s trailing behind all the visitors, and Xu Zhenzhen takes on that role.

The creativity was there, and it gave Chen Ge a lot of inspiration. All this for a real ghost? In that case, I’ll give you one.

Chen Ge realized that the tape was almost done. He pressed the eject button. He was facing away from the ‘dead body’, so no one knew what he was doing.

This kind of tape recorder is no longer sold on the market. Perhaps I can find one at the flea market, but that’s only if I’m lucky. Now that I have one before me, I might as well use it to try this tape that I have.

He inserted his tape into the recorder and pressed play. The tape started to roll, but there was no sound.

An empty tape?

Chen Ge waited.

He walked around the room, like he was admiring the décor.

After leaving Third Sick Hall, Tian Teng Medical School was like going on a holiday. Chen Ge had not felt so relaxed in a long time already. A Haunted House is indeed a good place to release stress. When I go back, I’ll have to change my promotional slogan.

After a stroll around the room, Chen Ge picked up a yellowed newspaper from the floor. He scanned it and realized that it was not fake. It was dated several years ago.

“Xing Hai Morning News?” Chen Ge was intrigued. Four years ago, a woman had run to an abandoned hospital to commit suicide. After investigation, it was made clear that the woman’s name was Xu Zhenzhen. The hospital had once belonged to her father, and her father had committed suicide ten years before that in his own office.

Same destination but different victim. This mysterious double suicide caused a wave through Xing Hai. The medical doctor confirmed that the woman had died from suicide, but after her death, obvious red handprints surfaced on her body; it looked very weird.

After that, people’s interest moved on, and so did the police. The case was thus ended.

The victim’s name is Xu Zhenzhen. Looks like this is the secret hidden at Tian Teng Medical School.

Chen Ge put down the paper. A normal visitor would have run out screaming and would have missed details like this. Only a brave visitor would search slowly, and when they found out that the Haunted House was based on a real event, the defense in their heart would crack. They would start to doubt themselves, increasing the fear inside their heart.

Tian Teng Medical School’s design was perfect, but those designers who had been in the business for more than a decade did not expect that they would receive a customer like Chen Ge one day.

This Haunted House sure is interesting. Chen Ge thought back to the map that he had seen inside the security stop. He had visited two thirds of the scenes already, and he was close to the exit.