Chapter 3
After spending a busy day in school, Lin Sheng declined Shen Yan’s invitation to go snacking in the afternoon .
It was not that he was not interested—he loved the food on the snack street near his school . But he could only spend ¥3 a day; he could not be spendthrift . Therefore, he boarded the free shuttle and went home .
Lin Sheng sat in a window seat, looking at the old streets that swiftly flew past him . The curvy reliefs of flowers and birds on the edge of plaques and the corners of walls reminded him of his nightmare from last night .
*Doo . *
“Next stop, Old Town Textile Factory . ” The female voice speaking standard Xilin dialect jolted Lin Sheng out of his daze . He grabbed his grayish-white bag, got to his feet, and gave his seat to an old lady who had just boarded the bus . Then he held the overhead handrail and moved slowly through the crowded bus toward the exit .
“Stop pushing!”
“Young man, be careful! Don’t piss people off . ”
“Ouch, my foot! You’ve stepped on my foot! Are you dreaming?”
People began to grumble and make noises like touch-activated toys .
Lin Sheng could not care less . He was 1 . 75 meters in height and possessed a body with healthy muscles beneath his uniform . Besides his fair skin, he looked pretty ordinary .
The automatic door swung open with a hiss . Lin Sheng jumped off the bus, took a deep breath, and looked back into the coach .
Seven to eight people boarded the bus that he had just gotten off . It was packed like a can of sardines . The door slowly shut and the bus left the bus stop .
His home was just in the Huilian residential area, which was ten meters right of the bus stop . The gate to the residential area was an iron arc, and on it, a sign that read “Huilian Neighborhood” hung askew . Every day, vegetable sellers would bring vegetables in their bamboo baskets and sell them on both sides of the gate . People would stop by and haggle with the sellers .
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The temperature in the late afternoon had dropped to the mid-twenties on the Celsius scale, which was not as hot as the temperature during midday .
Lin Sheng walked past the rusty red iron gates straight down the slope into the neighborhood and came to the fifth block . He turned right into the stairwell of Block 11 . There were advertisements of every kind—locksmiths, plumbing, moving services, and what not—covering the walls of the corridor .
Lin Sheng walked up the stairs and suddenly felt something slimy under his foot . He raised his foot and found that he had stepped on ice cream with the white creamy stuff staining the sole of his white sneakers .
He knitted his brows as he scraped the sticky stuff off his shoe on the staircase . He had barely cleaned it up before he continued his climb .
Arriving on the third floor, Lin Sheng took out his key, deftly opened the security door of the first unit on the left, and walked in .
“Dad,” Lin Sheng stood at the doorway and called out . But there was no one at home . After he changed into his slippers and closed the door behind him, Lin Sheng walked straight past the living room into his bedroom .
In his room, he could not help but look at the desk, which reminded him of the figure who had sat in the chair in his dream the previous night .
He remained silent as he walked over and gently pulled the chair out to sit on it . He snugged down on the soft fabric cushion and the hard seatback .
Sitting down after a long day at school, he felt drowsy .
So, Lin Sheng got back up . He did not dare sleep at the table because the scene from last night’s nightmare made him uneasy .
He would usually take a short half-an-hour nap when he got home every afternoon . The nightmare from the previous night may have been scary, but it was just a dream, Lin Sheng thought .
He hesitated but still approached the bedside . He took off his school uniform, climbed into bed, and pulled the quilt over his belly .
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The red sunset outside the window spilled into the bedroom like blood, splashing on the desk and floor tiles . In his stupor, Lin Sheng’s consciousness slowly drifted away . He had no idea how long he ended up sleeping .
A soft cry suddenly woke him from his slumber . It sounded like a woman was sobbing, or was she singing? He was not sure .
Sadness, desperation, and shrill cries were accompanied by occasional rapid breathing .
Lin Sheng slowly opened his eyes . Again, he was lying in bed, unable to move .
There she was . From the corner of his eyes, he saw the white figure at the desk . But unlike the last time, the woman in white was moving her shoulders rapidly and sobbing softly, as though she was in fear .
*Tack, tack . *
*Tack, tack . *
*Tack, tack . *
There were footsteps again .
Lin Sheng could feel someone approaching from the corridor . The person was coming through the living room toward his bedroom, and the footsteps were growing clearer as well as more thunderous .
Meanwhile, the woman at the desk sobbed even louder, and her shoulders twitched even faster . It was as if she was about to get up and run .
The footsteps were now very close . When the door slowly swung open with a click, Lin Sheng’s blood ran cold .
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There was silence for a while .
Suddenly, someone lifted the quilt .
Lin Sheng’s body felt numb . His eyes were wide open, and his pupils contracted .
Before he knew it, his quilt was tossed away and a figure pounced on him .
“Aah!”
Lin Sheng screamed and jolted up from his bed with his head in a muddle .
He panted . His body and T-shirt were soaked in sweat .
“I… I…” He wanted to say something but could not utter a word .
His mind went blank .
Lin Sheng sat motionless in bed for ten minutes .
He calmed his breathing until his heartbeat slowed down, no longer thumping like a drum . He then looked around .
There was nothing unusual in his bedroom, only the faint glow of the silvery moonlight scattered through the window .
Lin Sheng wiped the sweat off his forehead . Even his hands were wet with sweat .
“Hell, I even dreamt of that thing during a short nap . ” He slowly leaned against the headboard and took a deep breath .
“It was the same dream, but this time, it was closer . ” The dream gave him the heebie-jeebies .
Nevertheless, he quickly calmed the rapid thumping of his heartbeat .
“Fear isn’t going to solve anything . I have to keep calm . ”
Lin Sheng knew that since he was little . The more panicked he was, the more likely he would make mistakes, wasting time and energy .
It was only by calming down that he could quickly find the solution to a problem .
Lin Sheng took a deep breath while he leaned on the bed to calm his pounding heart .
About five minutes later, his mind was clear, and his emotions returned to normal .
“It gets closer with each dream . At first, the footsteps were only outside the door . Now, it has entered the room, and the entity even flipped over my quilt!” Lin Sheng’s intuition told him that it was some kind of sign .
He had the feeling that if he allowed the owner of the footsteps to flip his quilt over and grab him, something unimaginable would happen .
He had a hunch that it was a bad omen .
“I have to think of something should the same dream occur again . ” Lin Sheng decided . When memories from his past life could even be awakened, anything was possible .