Chapter 68 Monkey’s Paw: Everly Isn’t Afraid of It!

Chapter 68: The Monkey's Paw: Everly Isn't Afraid of It!

Everly's vision was sharp, and even in the dim lighting, she could still clearly make out that the hand was extremely strange.

It was long and narrow, with a thumb set lower than usual and a full size smaller than a normal thumb. The other four fingers were unnaturally thick and at least a knuckle-length longer than normal fingers. Among the five fingers, the index finger was broken, revealing the stark white bone inside. The other fingers were fully formed, with pitch-black nails at the tips that looked razor-sharp.

Attached to the back of the hand was a pitch-black "arm" that was incredibly thin and freakishly long, almost like a clothesline pole held up. The pole was covered in dense black hair and crisscrossing bloody wounds. It jutted out from the darkness, holding up that bizarre hand as it scratched across Everly's window.

In all fairness, the sight was genuinely terrifying. Especially when Everly remembered she was sleeping on the second floor, the terror suddenly doubled.

What the hell was that, and why was it knocking on her window in the dead of night?

Realizing something was off, Everly instinctively tried to sit up to grab her weapons and self-defense gear from the nightstand. However, it was only then that she realized in horror that she couldn't move her body.

Even though her mind was wide awake, her body felt pinned down by some invisible, heavy weight. From her fingertips to her core, every part of her was frozen and wouldn't obey her. The blanket on her was no longer a blanket—it had turned into thick, sticky sludge, and Everly was like a tiny bug trapped in the muck. No matter how hard she fought, her body just couldn't shake off that heavy, sluggish feeling.

What the hell was going on...

Just as Everly was desperately trying to command her body to move, to snap out of the paralysis, a soft rustling sound came from the foot of the bed. Then, a cold sensation swept over her, and the quilt covering her was suddenly yanked down hard.

From the force of the yank, the blanket that had been up to her neck slid all the way down to her waist, leaving most of Everly's body exposed.

Everly had been lying on her side while meditating, facing the window, so she couldn't see what was at the foot of the bed. But the faint chill creeping over her shoulders and back, along with the relentless rustling from the foot of the bed, kept reminding her that this wasn't her imagination—something was hiding at the foot of her bed, yanking at her blanket!

What the hell was it? A person? Or that long, weird hand that had shown up outside her window? And what did it want?

The blanket kept sliding down until finally, Everly's whole body was left bare in the cold air. At the end of her body, her feet pointed toward the foot of the bed, and the sensitive skin of her soles seemed to feel something malevolently staring at her from the thick, ink-like darkness. The intense presence of that gaze made her soles tingle, and she desperately wanted to curl her legs and roll into a ball.

However, in her sleep-paralyzed state, Everly could only blink with all her might, unable to make any other movement. She could only wait in fear, anxiety, and torment—one second, two seconds, three seconds... After waiting for a long time, no further sound came from the foot of the bed, and even the rustling had stopped.

Had that thing left?

Everly strained her eyes, trying to roll them downward to see. But the angle was too poor; she couldn't see anything, only feeling her heart pounding relentlessly in her chest.

After waiting for a long time, Everly's eyes grew tired, and she instinctively closed them. At that moment, the mattress at the foot of the bed suddenly sank heavily. The old bed frame groaned under the strain, letting out creaking sounds.

Everly held her breath.

"Creak... creak, creak..."

The sound of the wood being pressed continued, and the sinking area moved progressively upward—from the foot of the bed to the middle, and then to behind Everly. It was as if something was slowly crawling from the foot of the bed onto the mattress, lying down behind Everly.

Humans have an instinctive fear of the unknown, and even though Everly considered herself brave, she couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat in this situation. She mobilized every nerve in her body, trying to sense what was happening.

"Huff..."

She heard distinct breathing, and then a sudden cold breeze blew across her back—icy, foul-smelling, carrying a wild, beastly stench... A chill crept like vines up her exposed shoulders and the back of her neck, and Everly's scalp exploded with fear.

She wanted to scream, to run, to pull out all the exorcism tools she'd collected and hurl them at the monster behind her. But thoughts were just thoughts—without the ability to act, all Everly could do was, like the helpless cannon fodder in countless horror films, close her eyes in terror, deceive herself in the darkness, and wait for a mercy that would never come.

"Huff..."

The breathing behind her grew closer, its cool breath falling on Everly's neck. Goosebumps densely covered the girl's arms and the back of her neck. In the silence, Everly felt the sinking of the mattress draw nearer and nearer, until finally, that heavy, massive thing pressed tightly against her back.

Then, a cold, rough claw reached out from behind, grabbing Everly tightly. Then a second, a third... countless hands extended from behind, pressing down on Everly's entire body from top to bottom. Everly was a small insect being pinned for a specimen, and those claws were the specimen pins holding her in place. After her whole body was gripped by those cold, rough hands, an especially thick claw suddenly appeared and, in an especially lewd manner, slowly climbed up her shoulder and onto her face.

Everly recognized it—the hand that had appeared outside the window.

In front of the long arm, curved fingers like talons, pitch-black nails like knives, cut through her soft skin. It traced diagonally down from her forehead, across her eyes and nose, scratching fiercely, leaving four deep gashes on her face.

"Ahhhh! My face!"

After the giant hand withdrew, Everly's body suddenly relaxed, and her stiff limbs regained mobility.

The other strange hands were still on her, but they no longer pressed down as hard as before, allowing Everly to finally change her position.

But at that moment, Everly couldn't care about escaping. Clutching her bleeding cheek, she opened her mouth and let out a piercing scream, curling up on the bed, her thin, frail body trembling uncontrollably.

Beneath her palm, the skin where she'd been scratched was rapidly swelling, forming hard, mucus-covered pustules. Everly could feel that her face was ruined. From now on, she would never again be able to strut through campus relying on her beautiful looks. Her proud head would have no reason to be held high, and she could no longer toy with boys' feelings or revel in the envious, jealous gazes of other girls...

Fear and despair blazed in Everly's heart, making her burst into uncontrollable sobs.

Yet perhaps because all of this was so bizarre and sudden, even at her most emotionally shattered moment, her feelings remained oddly superficial, leaving Everly with a persistent sense of dissonance.

Her long-term meditation practice had made introspection a habit. Even when her entire mind was flooded with grief and fear, Everly unconsciously split off a small "spiritual avatar" to observe her inner self from a bystander's perspective. As she looked inward, one question after another surfaced.

How strange... Was she really the kind of person who cared so much about her appearance?

Had she truly been strutting through campus, relying on her beauty to bully others?

Compared to her ruined face, shouldn't escaping the monster, finding her exorcism tools, and fighting to protect her life be far more important?

At first, these questions were like small bubbles forming at the rim of a soda glass—tiny, light, and barely noticeable. But as the bubbles rose, more and more joined them, making the doubts snowball until they grew too large to ignore.

When Everly tried to move her fingers to touch the "Blue Eye" bracelet on her wrist and felt nothing but empty space, her suspicion reached its peak.

It was gone—the protective bracelet she never removed, even when bathing, had disappeared!

That "Evil Eye" bracelet was strung on a silver chain. Even if the warning glass eye had shattered, the chain on her wrist shouldn't have been lost. Unless... unless none of this was real.

This was an illusion, a dream! Something was attacking her in the dream world!

The moment she realized this, her toothpick-thin, withered limbs suddenly swelled with the outline of muscle, and her weak, powerless body was filled with renewed strength. Taking her hand away from her face, Everly pushed off the bed with one hand, used her legs for leverage, and spun from lying face-down to facing behind her, crouching on one knee. In moments, she had shifted into a combat stance.

She opened her eyes wide.

Everly saw her enemy—on the bed behind her crouched a one-armed ape covered in black fur. It was massive, with pitch-black eyes, protruding lips, and sharp teeth stained with blood and flesh. Its clothesline-like right arm was bent at the knee, covered in claw marks and net-like welts, fierce and ferocious, glaring at Everly with menace.

It was so huge, so strong, its exposed teeth like two rows of pale nails, and its breath blowing onto Everly's face like a foul-smelling gale.

But Everly wasn't afraid of it!

She had realized that this was her illusion, her dream! In the dream world, she was the true master here!

Recalling the knowledge she'd learned from Rebecca, Everly suppressed all negative emotions—fear, dread, fury—and forged her mental world into an impenetrable fortress of defense. She told herself she was strong, she was invincible, and all evil beings in her dreams were utterly powerless!

While self-hypnotizing, she clenched her right hand into a fist—her strongest arm. She bent her elbow, pulled it back, and then, like drawing a bow, rotated her hips and waist, unleashing a fierce punch aimed directly at the ape's right eye.

"Thud!"

Everly's fist, carrying the force of thunder, struck the ape's eye squarely.

The next second, like an inflated balloon pierced with a huge hole, the previously terrifying ape let out a squealing cry, its massive body suddenly shriveling into a thin, sparse-furred mummified ape, screeching as it scrambled off the bed and vanished.

"The End"

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