My House of Horrors

Ol’ Wong nodded, and he regained his senses after some time. “When the elevator opened, I was given the fright of my life; my mind went blank.”

“And then? Did the white shadow attack you?”

“She ran right away when she saw me, and even now, I cannot understand how she made no noise when she ran!” Ol’ Wong’s gaze kept wandering to Chen Ge’s phone. This was a memory that he refused to remember.

“Were you so anxious at the time that you didn’t notice the footsteps? Even someone running barefooted would create some noise.” Chen Ge was afraid of heightening the trauma for Ol’ Wong, so he did not say the real speculation he was thinking.

“Perhaps.” This was a mystery that Ol’ Wong had not solved. “The white shadow turned and ran when she saw me. Looking at her retreat, I stopped being so afraid and chased after her. We ran for some time, and I saw her run into the woman’s house. When I arrived, the woman’s door was locked.

“The tenant who was harassed called the police. When the police arrived to pry the door open, we realized the room was empty. The police came to ask me questions, but I had many questions myself. Between white shadow entering the woman’s room and the police arriving, I had stayed outside, and no one had left.

“The woman came back the next day. She told the police that she had stayed at a friend’s place and wasn’t home the previous night.” Ol’ Wong’s voice turned slightly bitter. “Because of this, I was sent to jail for one night. I was telling the truth, but no one wanted to believe me.”

Chen Ge could empathize with Ol’ Wong. A normal person would be flustered if they ran into something like this; in fact, he had acted similarly when this happened to him for the first time, but he had slowly gotten used to it.

“Did you manage to catch the white shadow’s face? Did she have any unique features on her body?” Ol’ Wong was Chen Ge’s opening. He had already gotten a lead when he just arrived at Fang Hwa Apartments. He was quite lucky.

“I was scared out of my mind; do you think I would pay attention to her looks?” Ol’ Wong’s wrinkled scrunched up, and he suddenly looked older.

“Fang Hwa Apartments is considered a well-off residential area in Jiujiang. Your surveillance never once captured the white shadow on film?” Chen Ge wanted to take a look at the videos, perhaps he might come up with something.

“When the rumors of haunting appeared, the landowner and tenants discussed to have security cameras installed in various corners, but due to the fact that neither party wished to pay for the cameras, they ended up only installing one camera on the floor that the woman stayed at.”

“One is better than none. Did this camera capture anything?” Chen Ge was more and more curious.

“Perhaps due to a technical issue or something else, this camera goes offline every midnight and recovers on its own ten minutes later. Until now, no one can explain why.” Ol’ Wong looked at his phone. “Everything I’ve told you is the truth, and that was what I told the police when they came yesterday. It’s getting late, so I should be going.”

It was obvious that Ol’ Wong was getting away. He did not want to continue this conversation.

“One minute, can you tell me the room number that the woman once stayed in?” Chen Ge blocked Ol’ Wong.

“I’m really not kidding with you; I don’t even dare patrol that floor to this day. The other tenants on that floor have basically all moved out already,” Ol’ Wong told Chen Ge. “The police came yesterday, so before they come up with a result, you’d better stay put.”

Then he walked out from the room, but his gait was rather unnatural. When he almost reached the door, Ol’ Wong waved for Xiao Gu’s attention. After he whispered something into Gu Feiyu’s ears, Ol’ Wong finally left.

“I know, don’t worry.” After sending Ol’ Wong away, Gu Feiyu returned to the room. He saw Chen Ge still standing there and rolled his eyes. “Our captain has said that we’re not allowed to let any suspicious characters enter the premises.”

“Do I look like someone suspicious?” Chen Ge leaned toward the window of the room. “Do you think what Ol’ Wong said is real?”

“No clue, I’m new here,” Gu Feiyu answered honestly. Talking with him was easier than talking to Ol’ Wong.

“You’re new?” Chen Ge’s eyes darted about. “They hired you to take up the role of a night patrol, but did they tell you why the previous one left? Do you think it’s related to the haunting?”

Gu Feiyu was writing something in the notebook, but when Chen Ge said that, his hand that held the pen stopped. “What do you mean?”

“When did you find out about the haunting?”

“Yesterday, when the police came to question about the woman. I was standing beside Ol’ Wong when he told them the story.”

“Sounds like they tricked you into this job. The management sure is awful. You’re the only night patrol. Are they that unafraid of accident?” Chen Ge was the kind who would lend his aid when he saw injustice in this world. “How about this? I won’t ask you to bend your rules, but here is my phone number. If anything weird happens tonight while you’re on patrol, please call me. I will try my best to cooperate with you, and so I hope you won’t reject my kindness.”

“Kindness? Where? I can’t see it.” After a few more exchanges, Gu Feiyu finally agreed to exchange phone numbers with Chen Ge. “Remember to call me if you come across any danger tonight.”

After that, Chen Ge took a detour to the backdoor of Fang Hwa Apartments and walked through it like he belonged there.

The old security guard definitely wouldn’t tell me about the woman’s address. Looks like I’ll need to trouble Wang Xin’s mother.

Chen Ge walked to the three new buildings. He did not notice it when he first arrived, but this time, he made a new discovery. The three buildings formed the shape of the character ‘品’, similar to the three buildings at the Jiujiang Third Psychological Convalescence Centre.

Chen Ge walked to the third building. He was not doing that on purpose, but that was where Wang Xin’s family stayed at. “Third building 14th floor.”

Night had arrived. Chen Ge stepped into the building, and for some reason, he felt the temperature inside was lower than outside. The hall was empty. Chen Ge stood beside the elevator and saw the number dancing up and down.

There were 23 floors to the building, but there were 24 numbers above the elevator. Chen Ge did not quite understand what the extra number meant. When the number went to 13, it stopped for ten seconds. Then, it continued to move, meaning that someone had stepped into the elevator at floor 13.

Not long after that, the door opened, and a woman in red high heels walked out. She was very fashionable and tall. Like a celebrity, she was wearing a mask and a cap.