Episode 2 Chapter 013 Letter
I didn't go to 721 rashly. Instead, I reminded my father and mother to be careful at home and not to let strangers in. My mother was naturally on guard and didn't ask what it was. It was from that day on that I became a little taboo about the seventh floor, and on there, especially in 721. The key point was that I wanted to know who lived there.
Because I am not a local, and the apartment buildings in the city are very isolated from each other, I live on the eleventh floor and I don’t even recognize all the people on the same floor, let alone the seventh floor. So although it seems that there are only a few floors between us, I don’t know the people on that floor at all. And because there are too many owners at the property management, they themselves to ask.
The weekend passed by like this, and it was soon Monday back to work. Of course, I still had nightmares at night, but I forgot what I dreamed about when I woke up. I didn't dare to use my camera to take pictures these few nights, for fear that I would not be able to see what I had really taken, which would make me feel upset. So, I can say that it's okay. I guess this is what people usually say, "getting used to it". This kind of thing has been around for a long time, and naturally I don't feel so scared anymore.
When I went to work on Monday morning, I saw that the notice was still there where the property had posted it, but the two model dummies were gone. When I was about to leave, I heard two security guards talking about how people's morals are getting lower and lower nowadays. Even the two tied dummies were stolen, so what else would they not dare to take? Only then did I realize that the dummies were not taken away by the property, but were stolen by someone.
I didn't take it to heart and still walked to work. But when I passed by Old Man Liu's neighborhood, I felt a little uncomfortable. I couldn't help but look up at his floor, but I was shocked to see that the lights on his floor were on.
I confirmed again and it was indeed on. As it was almost winter and the sunrises were late, the sky was not yet fully bright, so the effect of the light tubes was very obvious. Moreover, the street lights were still on. I thought that since someone had died there, there should be no one living there. So why was the light on?
Besides, Old Man Liu has already been cremated, so logically the matter should have been over. But what is happening now? When I think of all the strange things happening around me and at home, I feel that this matter is not over yet.
Although it was strange, I didn't investigate it in detail. The main reason was that I couldn't go up there to see what was going on. However, when I saw it, I had this idea, but I quickly dismissed it. I don't know whether the police still think I am the main suspect, but I think that since the body is no longer there, the case should be closed.
But I didn't expect that there was a letter for me when I arrived at the company. I was stunned when I received the letter, because it was a different era now and no one used letters to communicate anymore. What's more special was that only my address and name were written on the envelope, and there was no address of the other party. I only saw from the postmark that it was our postmark, which meant that the letter was sent from the same city.
Since we were from the same city, it was even more strange. So I tore open the envelope suspiciously, and inside was a piece of white paper folded in half. It was not a letterhead or writing paper, but just an ordinary A4 paper folded together. Moreover, when I opened the paper, something fell out of it, making a crisp sound when it hit the ground. I picked it up, and it turned out to be a key.
I took the key suspiciously and looked at the white paper. The white paper was basically blank, with only a number written on half of it - 721, the room number on the seventh floor. Only then did I realize that the key was for room 721.
But why would someone send me a key for no reason? So I looked at the envelope and the letter paper carefully, and found that there was nothing missing or no place. So I put the key away. At the same time, I was wondering who sent it to me. Plus, the fact that the elevator always stopped at the seventh floor made me feel inexplicably panicked.
I thought about it over and over but couldn't figure it out. I thought I would have to wait until I opened 721 to know what was going on. So I was worried about it all morning, and felt very uneasy. On the way home after get off work, I paid special attention to the floor of Old Man Liu's house, but found nothing special, so I went back home.
As soon as I entered the house, I smelled the scent of pine, and then I saw that there was an incense burner and something like that in the living room. Then I realized that my mother had quickly bought these things. She and my father said that since such a thing had happened at home, it was necessary to burn incense, and offering something could keep evil spirits away. I said nothing, and even in my heart I was grateful to my mother for doing this. After these things, as a person who once believed in science extremely, I am now completely shaken, and my cognition has been greatly subverted.
My mother said that I had brought disaster upon myself and that I should be more diligent and burn incense every morning and evening. So I did as she said. When I was eating, I was still thinking about what happened on the seventh floor, so I didn’t enjoy the food. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t sleep well last night or because all these things made me feel physically and mentally exhausted. I felt sleepy after eating, so I said I was going to take a nap. My mother complained that it was not good for my health to go to bed right after eating. I said I was sleepy, so I went into the room and fell on the bed.
After I fell asleep, I just felt that a flood of dreams came towards me. I didn't dream about anything else, it was all hair. When I appeared in the dream, I was standing on the rooftop. The water tank on the rooftop was open. I walked to the water tank and saw some hair scattered on the tank mouth. So I went forward and twisted it with my hands. While twisting, I got close to the tank mouth and saw two people floating in it, with their black hair scattered in the water, like a group of black jellyfish.
When I saw these two people, I told myself that they were just two dummies and there was no need to be afraid. But the more I looked at them, the more I felt something was wrong. How could dummies be so lifelike? So I moved closer to take a closer look, but I didn't stand firmly and fell into the water tank with a plop.
Normally, if you fall from a height, you will keep falling and wake up, but that didn't happen to me. I could even clearly feel the suffocation of falling into the water. Then I felt my hands, body, face and mouth were all covered with hair, and the two corpses were floating beside me. I used my hands and feet to try to get away from them, but it seemed as if all the strength in my body was drained away. I felt like I couldn't exert any strength at all. Even if I used all my strength, it seemed like I could only swim a little distance.
And the whole dream afterwards was basically me struggling with all my strength, with a feeling that the more you want to stay away from them, the closer you get to them.
Then I suddenly felt something grabbing my arm and pulling me tightly. I struggled in horror but felt I couldn't get free. Soon this horrified feeling was replaced by a half-blurred and half-clear feeling of returning to reality. I gradually heard my mother's voice ringing in my ears, clearer and clearer, and finally it turned into a voice calling my name. I finally woke up and saw my mother standing by the bed, calling me to get up.
I felt like I had just woken up from a dream, but my mom said it was already 2:30 and my alarm had gone off several times but it didn't wake me up, so she called me, but I couldn't wake up. She shook me but I started to struggle violently and seemed to be in a daze, so my mom quickly let go of her hand and just called me over and over again. My mom said, how could I sleep so deeply that she couldn't wake me up even if she called me? She called me for nearly ten minutes. She said that in her life, this was the first time she had seen someone sleep to this extent.
I looked at the clock and it was indeed half past two. I was late for work, so I jumped out of bed, but my head was dizzy and I felt as if I was not from this world. Everything around me seemed hazy and strange. I said I was going to be late for work, put on my clothes and shoes hastily, wiped my face with a wet towel, and ran out.
Because I was in a hurry, or maybe because I hadn't fully woken up yet, I just pressed the elevator button and waited for it to come up. After it came up, I got in without hesitation, without any fear like before. It was not until I reached the seventh floor that it stopped and opened again.
The elevator door was opened and there was no one outside. I pressed the close button and the elevator door slowly closed. I don't know if I was dazzled at the time. When the elevator closed, I saw a pair of feet appear in the corridor, only up to the calf. If I remember correctly or if I was dazzled, the shoes he wore seemed to be the cloth shoes my mother gave away.
Maybe my brain really short-circuited at that time, so I didn't react at all. I only remembered it after I got to the office. And I felt dazed and confused the whole afternoon. I seemed to be asleep, but I seemed to be awake. But I was dazed again when I came home from get off work. I was still in the same state and was almost hit by a car. Fortunately, the car was driving slowly and I stopped the car with the emergency brake.
When I got home, I told my mother about this, but she said that I was confused. Then she took out paper money and incense, lit them, and circled them around my head. It was amazing, but after I smelled the pine resin and paper money, I actually felt a little more sober.
