Chapter 60

Chapter 60

"Where are Yan Li and Yan Ming?" Mom got off work early today and only saw one person on the sofa, so she asked offhandedly, "Usually at this time, aren't you and Yan Ming playing games in the room?"

The teen sitting on the sofa didn't say a word.

His face was pale, his eyes were vacant, his lips were pressed into a thin line, and his hands were clenched into fists. His body was stiff, and aside from the occasional twitch, he didn't move at all—he was so out of it that he didn't even notice someone had come home.

"Yan Li?" Mom walked over to him, confused, and waved her hand in front of his face. But at such a simple gesture, Yan Li flinched like he'd seen something terrifying, instinctively shrinking back, clutching his head, and screaming in a panic.

"Don't follow me, don't follow me."

"Who's following you?" Mom was shocked and felt his forehead. "You don't have a fever, so why are you talking crazy? Do you recognize who I am? Where's your younger brother? Where's Yan Ming?"

The name Yan Ming seemed to hit a nerve in Yan Li. He froze, completely still, still clutching his head, not even breathing.

Mom screamed in a panic: "Yan Li, Yan Li, breathe!"

Without thinking twice, she slapped him hard across the face.

In an instant, Yan Li snapped out of it. The pain made him forget everything else. He just clutched his cheek, tears welling up in his eyes. Once he realized who was in front of him, he opened his mouth to cry, but at the last second, something seemed to stop him, and he held it in.

He pursed his lips, said nothing in the end, and forced the tears back.

"What's going on? Just tell me!" Mom was getting annoyed with him. "Where's your brother?"

"I don't know." Yan Li mumbled evasively. "We split up after school. I came home first, and I don't know where he went."

"Don't you two usually come back together?" Mom was at a loss for words. "Go out and look for him, see if he went off to play somewhere. And when you find him, you better explain to me why you were so scared just now."

"It's nothing." Yan Li stammered out. "I just watched a horror movie and got scared. I'm not watching them anymore. I'm not going to look for him. You go."

He pulled his feet up onto the sofa, wrapped his arms around his legs, and curled into a defensive ball, refusing to move.

The horror movie excuse was believable—the two brothers loved watching horror movies, even though they always screamed in terror every time.

Their mom, Xu Qi, was seriously fed up with it.

"Fine." Xu Qi didn't think much of it and headed out to look for her younger son.

The room went quiet again, and Yan Li's tears welled up once more. He wiped them away while nervously grinding his teeth.

From downstairs, his mom's calls echoed up, but no one answered.

Yan Li ran to the balcony and opened the window to look down.

It was getting dark, and there weren't many people out in the neighborhood. Mom called until her voice went hoarse, muttering to herself as she phoned the moms of classmates they knew, asking if anyone had seen Yan Ming.

Yan Li paced the living room, anxious.

As for his younger brother Yan Ming, he knew—but he didn't know.

It was true they'd split up after school, but he'd experienced something terrifying on his way home. He didn't know if Yan Ming hadn't come home because he'd run into something similar.

But Yan Li didn't dare say anything.

If their parents found out what he and Yan Ming had done, they'd definitely get a beating.

Yan Li desperately prayed that Yan Ming would come home soon.

Then he remembered he could call Yan Ming on his watch and dialed right away.

After a beep, a recorded voice said: "Sorry, the number you're calling is busy."

At the same time, his mom's voice came from downstairs: "Where'd you go? It's so late and you're still not home."

Mom was on the phone with his brother, which meant he was safe.

Yan Li breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down on the sofa.

Before long, his younger brother came back, but he looked even weirder and more frightening than Yan Li had.

He was soaked to the bone, didn't say a word, and didn't even change his clothes when he got home—just stood there blankly.

Yan Li talked to him, but got no reaction. When he touched his arm, his skin was ice cold.

"Change your clothes!" Xu Qi said, exasperated, when she saw he wasn't moving. "I'm not going to yell at you, so why are you acting like this? Change your clothes quickly, don't catch a cold."

Yan Ming stared blankly at the floor. Only after Yan Li pushed him did he seem to snap out of it, and he walked stiffly back to his room.

"What exactly did you two do?" Watching him go back to his room, Xu Qi frowned and grabbed Yan Li, who was trying to sneak off, pulling him onto the sofa. "Explain yourself."

"Nothing." Yan Li stammered, his eyes darting around, refusing to meet Xu Qi's gaze. He might as well have had "I'm hiding something" written all over his face.

"If nothing happened, then why is your brother like that?" Xu Qi pressed. "If you don't tell me, I'll go ask Yan Ming. And if I find out from him, you're in for a beating."

"Don't." Yan Li was genuinely scared his brother would spill the beans, so he grabbed Xu Qi in a panic. His lips moved for a long time before he finally said in a low voice, "We went out with some classmates a few days ago."

"And then?"

"Then we went somewhere... not a great place. I was afraid you'd be mad if I told you, so I didn't dare." Yan Li lowered his head, his voice barely a whisper. "We went to a graveyard."

"What?" Xu Qi really hadn't heard him. She grabbed his shoulders and straightened him up, her voice rising with impatience. "Lift your head up and say it out loud."

"We went to a graveyard to play!" Yan Li squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

"Bang." A bang came from the room. Afraid something had happened, Xu Qi dropped everything and rushed in.

Yan Ming seemed to have forgotten how to put on clothes. His undershirt was stuck over his head, and the exposed part of his neck below was bright red from not being able to breathe.

Xu Qi yanked the shirt down with effort. She laughed in disbelief and patted Yan Ming's face. "First you call saying you can't find your way home, you're soaked, and now you can't even put on clothes. Yan Ming, what are you trying to do?"

Yan Ming didn't move, gasping for air once he could breathe again, his eyes and expression still blank.

"Say something!" Xu Qi stroked his hair and came away with a handful of mud and sand. She frowned at her palm. "You didn't just fall—you fell into a river, didn't you? Huh?"

Yan Ming blinked mechanically, still not saying anything.

"Fine." Xu Qi didn't think much of it. She shoved him into the bathroom, stripped him down, and quickly wiped him clean. "Take a shower. You'll get sick if you stay cold like that."

"Move!" Seeing him standing there frozen in the bathroom, Xu Qi got impatient. "What's up with you today? Or is there something about me you can't stand? And your brother said you two went to some graveyard to play. Are you out of your minds? What's there to do at a graveyard?"

Finally, the boy who'd been standing there like a wooden dummy showed some reaction. He rolled his hollow eyes, opened and closed his mouth, and let out a goofy laugh: "Play, play, someone plays with me."

Xu Qi froze. Yan Li, who'd been hiding outside the door afraid of getting dragged into it, froze too.

The two were twins, just starting their freshman year of high school. Yan Li was more mischievous, always joking around, with a kind of fearless, nothing-matters attitude.

Yan Ming was more reserved, gentle and easygoing, and rarely got angry.

Yan Li might pull a goofy grin like that, but there's no way he would.

Xu Qi felt like the world was falling apart, especially seeing that he didn't seem to be joking. She shook him hard: "What the hell happened to you after school today?"

"Play... play." Yan Ming kept grinning like an idiot.

Xu Qi turned around and glared fiercely at Yan Li.

Yan Li looked away guiltily: "It's not on me. We really split up."

"Is this because you went to the cemetery?" Xu Qi remembered something and glared at Yan Li. "What did you do at the cemetery?"

"Nothing." Yan Li said. "We just walked around. Swear we didn't do anything."

"Then why were you scared shitless on the couch earlier?" Xu Qi grew more impatient with each word, especially when faced with Yan Ming's vacant expression. She totally lost it and called her husband. "Get home now. Something's wrong with the kid—he's gone brain-dead."

The call ended. Seeing Yan Li still dodging the question and holding back, Xu Qi said flatly, "I can't talk to you anymore. I'll have your dad come back and deal with you."

"Mom, I swear we didn't do anything." Yan Li was on the verge of tears, scared of getting his ass beat. "We really just walked around. It was just late—you and Dad were working late till the early morning. We went right before you got home."

He hung his head, his voice getting weaker with every word: "The kids at school said it was a dare, so we signed up and went along. We walked around with flashlights and then went our separate ways home. We really didn't do anything else."

"You've got some balls." Xu Qi sneered. "And then? What were you so scared of on the couch? How'd your brother end up like this?"

"I really don't know." Yan Li was quick to cover his own ass. "He got back so late—who knows what he did. As for me..."

He paused, shut his eyes, and decided to come clean: "When I was heading home, I deliberately ditched Yan Ming to hit the internet café. But after half an hour of gaming, I kept feeling like someone was watching me. I got creeped out and couldn't focus, so I headed home. Then in the alley, I heard footsteps trailing me."

"At first I thought someone was tailing me. I turned around several times but saw no one. Then I thought it was a kidnapper and was about to call the cops, when it hit me—there were footsteps but nobody there. I figured it was a ghost, so I ran home scared out of my mind."

He was scared Xu Qi would yell at him, so he tucked his neck in, but heard nothing.

Looking up, he saw Xu Qi wearily rubbing her temples. That look of "I'm done with you"—Yan Li had seen it way too many times.

She didn't buy it.

He panicked: "Everything I said is the truth, Mom. Maybe Yan Ming's the same—he ran into the same thing I did and got scared."

The sound of the door opening came—his father was back. Yan Li's heart was pounding.

"What the hell's going on?" Yan Hao strode quickly to the bathroom. Seeing Yan Ming's goofy grin, he froze, first checking his forehead for a fever, then tried talking to Yan Ming for a bit. When that didn't work, he draped his coat over him. "What are we waiting for? Let's get him to the hospital."

Xu Qi shot Yan Li a deadly glare as a warning: "You stay home and wait. Don't you dare go anywhere. I'll deal with you when we get back."

Yan Li said quietly, "The hospital might not do anything, Mom. Why don't you find him a witch doctor or something? And what about me—what if I run into that thing again?"

"I think the ghost's all in your head." Xu Qi said. "A clean conscience doesn't fear the knock at the door. What are you afraid of?"

"Hell yeah I'm scared!" Yan Li said anxiously. "Those things freak me out—of course I'm scared!"

He wanted to go with them, but his parents wouldn't let him. He could only curl up on the couch and watch TV to take his mind off it.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. Yan Li didn't think much of it and went to open the door.

"You're back so soon?"

The faces of his parents and Yan Ming outside showed no emotion. Yan Li thought they were angry, so he scratched his head, ready to say something nice.

His parents came in first, ignoring Yan Ming behind them, and sat on the sofa with pale, rigid faces, saying nothing.

Yan Li pulled his brother inside and closed the door.

"So?"

He whispered to Yan Ming, but the boy stood there woodenly, not moving at all.

Yan Li observed for two minutes and realized his brother seemed to have gone brain-dead—he couldn't even blink.

"Mom." He walked frantically to his parents. "What's wrong with Yan Ming? Tell me!"

His parents sat silently on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV, their eyes lifeless, their postures eerily identical.

Footsteps approached from afar. Yan Ming sat down on the sofa, like copy-paste, mirroring the same pose.

"What are you guys doing?" Yan Li was baffled, looking around, racking his brain. "Are you messing with me? Going to the cemetery wasn't even my idea. What's wrong with Yan Ming—just tell me so I know!"

He wasn't sixteen yet, so he didn't dare touch his parents roughly. He grabbed Yan Ming's head and shook it gently: "If Mom and Dad won't talk, you tell me."

Yan Ming looked up, lips pressed into a straight line, saying nothing.

Yan Li was on the verge of a breakdown.

He stepped back, grabbed his own hair and yanked it wildly, cursing internally but not daring to say anything harsh out loud. Finally, he threw a tantrum.

"Fine, don't tell me. I don't want to know anyway. This is ridiculous—you three are ganging up on me on purpose."

He stormed back to his room, flopped onto the bed in a huff, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He tossed and turned, kicking at the bed.

A faint noise came from outside the door. Yan Li snorted, guessing his parents were eavesdropping on him.

He pretended not to notice, lying on the bed, when suddenly a chill crept over him—an inexplicable unease. He looked toward the door, tiptoed over, pressed down the handle, and yanked the door open.

Outside, his brother and parents were all frozen in the same eavesdropping pose. Seeing they'd been caught, they straightened up in unison, and the corners of their mouths curled upward simultaneously, revealing eerie smiles.

"Are you guys done or what?" Yan Li was startled, thinking they were messing with him, and couldn't help shouting, his breathing turning ragged.

His parents said nothing, tilting their heads as if puzzled why he was angry.

The hallway light was off, with only the living room light spilling in.

In the dimness, his silent parents looked like deliberately carved mannequins, standing there motionless.

Yan Li shuddered all over. For no reason, he felt a deep dread.

He didn't dare think further. He backed up, closed the door, and locked it just in case.

Maybe it was just the scare from coming home after school.

Yan Li hypnotized himself, trying to rationalize his parents' and brother's behavior.

Until a message came on his smartwatch.

"Yan Li, we're not coming back tonight. Be careful at home alone."

He frowned in confusion, thinking his parents were going out again now. Too lazy to check, he lay down and peered through the gap under the door.

Luckily, the gap was big enough. He saw his parents and brother—three pairs of feet standing right in front of the door.

That's when Yan Li noticed something off.

When people stand on the ground, their feet should be flat and balanced, but the three pairs of shoes outside the door were slightly raised on the toes, leaving faint creases across the tops of the shoes.

What the hell?

Yan Li's brain was about to short-circuit. He really couldn't figure it out, and in frustration, he ran his hands through his hair, replying to that message: "Didn't you guys already come back?"

Xu Qi immediately replied: "? What are you talking about? Your brother's condition is unclear, we're keeping him at the hospital overnight for observation, we'll be back tomorrow morning."

Yan Li froze for a couple of seconds, then looked at the front door again, bending down until his head was almost touching the floor.

The three pairs of feet outside the door were still there, only this time the toes were raised even higher, making the creases in the shoes too deep to miss.

If they hadn't come back, then who were the three people outside the door?

This suddenly explained why his parents and brother had been acting so weird.

A chill ran from his shoulders down to his waist. Yan Li jumped straight up, so scared his mind went blank, and he could only keep swallowing hard, trying to analyze things rationally.

Analyze, my ass—this was clearly wrong. What the hell were those three things standing outside?

Yan Li was so scared he could cry. He quickly typed back on his watch: "Mom, there are people at home—no wait, there are three weird things at home. What do I do?"

Xu Qi called, and Yan Li immediately hung up, thankful his watch was still on silent.

He let out a breath, telling himself to stay calm. The door was locked. Those things outside couldn't get in.

"Mom, don't call. They're standing right outside the door right now."

The hospital corridor was still bustling at night, people coming and going, the noise never letting up.

The second Xu Qi saw that message, she froze.

Yan Li wouldn't joke about something like this, which meant three strangers had gotten into the house.

But Yan Li wasn't a kid—there was no way he'd let strangers into the house. Combined with his earlier message, a terrifying thought sent a chill through Xu Qi as she stood in the crowd.

She sprinted back to the ward: "Old Yan, you need to get home and check things out right now."

"What's wrong?" Yan Ming, lying in bed, was still giggling foolishly, while Yan Hao was washing an apple. Yan Hao turned around at the sound of her voice.

"Something's off at home. You go check it out, I'll stay here." Xu Qi didn't dare voice her suspicion. Before leaving, she glanced at Yan Ming and whispered to Yan Hao, "There might be three things at home that aren't human. Yan Li saw them. Be careful when you go back."

Out of the corner of her eye, she kept watching Yan Ming. When she whispered, the foolish grin on her younger son's face noticeably faltered, and he unconsciously tilted his head as if trying to eavesdrop.

Xu Qi's hands and feet went cold. She couldn't understand why her younger son, who had been giggling the whole time, was now eavesdropping.

"What?" Yan Hao's eyes went wide, thinking he must have misheard. "Do you even hear what you're saying?"

"I know what I'm saying. I'm serious. Just hurry back and check, and call the police if you have to." She pushed him out of the ward, urging him to hurry.

As soon as the ward door closed, Yan Ming went back to his usual foolish grin.

Xu Qi sat down, watching him as she picked up a piece of washed fruit: "Sweetie, do you want some fruit?"

Yan Ming didn't answer, just let out a "hehehe" laugh.

Xu Qi's heart was pounding. Before she knew it, the words slipped out: "You're not Yan Ming, are you?"

The moment those words left her mouth, the ceiling lights, which had been burning normally, started flickering wildly.

In the flickering light and darkness, Xu Qi was so terrified her heart felt like it was lodged in her throat, pounding nonstop.

Yan Ming, sitting on the bed, moved like a malfunctioning robot. He twisted his head, twitched a few times, then stared dead at Xu Qi. "Why?"

Xu Qi was frozen with terror, unable to answer. The apple in her hand rolled off with a "thud" and tumbled away.

Yan Ming's eyeballs spun so fast they made a sickening, wet sound.

The ward was filled with nothing but that eerie noise. He twisted his neck to face Xu Qi, flashed a sinister smile, and asked, word by word: "What part of me doesn't look like him?"

Author's note:

None.