Episode 3 Chapter 26: Twelfth Floor
Maybe because I was mentally prepared, I was not too scared when I saw the figure. But when I turned on the light again, I was still startled. The dummy that was originally hanging outside the windowsill had suddenly half of its head stuck to the window. It was pitch black and really scary.
And I didn't know how to solve the current situation, when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. The sound came from the living room, and it sounded like someone was standing outside the door and kicking it, which was particularly noisy in the quiet night.
I opened the door and was about to open it, but my mother had already turned on the light in the living room. She saw me standing at the door and asked me who it could be. My mother had no idea and I didn't know who it was, but the door kept ringing, as if someone was murdering or setting fire to it.
My mother hesitated whether to open the door or not. I felt something was wrong, so I told her not to open it. Who would come in the middle of the night? And who would knock on the door so politely? Even if it was urgent, it was not the right way to knock on the door. So my mother and I stood in the living room, but no one wanted to open the door. We both looked at the door, and I could even feel it shaking.
Finally, after no one paid any attention for a long time, the sound of kicking the door finally disappeared. When the sound died down, my mother wanted to go to the door to see what was going on outside, but I held her back and told her not to go and look. In such a situation, it doesn't matter who the person is, just pretend you don't know.
After that, my mother and I did not go to bed but sat down on the sofa. My father was sleeping soundly, but he got up. We sat and talked for a while. Although it was still early, no one in the family was sleepy. I advised my mother and they to go to bed for a while as they had to catch the bus tomorrow. However, my mother said it didn't matter if they took the bus as they could still sleep on it and it was hard to sleep now.
So we just sat there talking, and then the knocking on the door started again, only this time the knocking was a little gentler, and there was someone outside calling my name. We heard it clearly from inside, and we looked at each other. Finally, I went to open the door, and after the door was opened, I saw the security guard on duty outside. I was a little puzzled, shouldn't the security guard be on duty at the gate of the community Why did he come to our building? But soon I saw that it was not just the two of them, there was also something by the door, and I saw it clearly, and it was not something else, but another dummy.
A total of two dummies were found on the water tank on the top floor, but they were later lost. Now one is hanging on the windowsill outside my room, and the other is outside the door. It makes people feel creepy. I looked at the guard and then at the dummy, and asked what happened?
My question actually confused the security guard. Although I didn't know these two people, at least they looked familiar to me. After all, I saw them every day when I went in and out, so it was inevitable that I would see them. One of them looked a little unhappy, and said, "Didn't I just call and say that our house seemed to have been robbed, and asked them to come over to help take a look?"
When I heard this, I was even more confused. I wondered how I could have called them before. Then they gave me a phone number, and it turned out to be our home landline. Then they said that I had called the duty room landline and said that there seemed to be a thief in the house, and asked them to come and help take a look. As a result, when they arrived at our door, they saw the dummy sitting by the door, which scared them. They asked why the stolen dummy was placed at my door.
They asked me who I should ask. I thought it was strange. I had never called them from the beginning to the end. What was going on? As soon as I said this, they started talking. They said it was scary in the middle of the night. They probably thought I would not lie or play a prank like this for no reason. They just thought it was too unbelievable and didn't want to believe it.
Having said that, I suggested that they come in and sit down for a while.
I checked my phone to see if there was such a number, and I assured them that there were only three of us at home, my parents and I, and we would never make this call. They looked at each other, and I saw that their expressions also became a little creepy, probably because they felt a little scared.
When they came in, they saw rice scattered and incense sticks on the threshold, and a paper man behind the door. The pretense on their faces finally couldn't last any longer, so they asked with an embarrassed face why there were so many strange things in my house. I felt that the more you lie, the more suspicious you make things, and the less clear it would be. But I couldn't tell you everything honestly, so I said that there seemed to be some unrest in the house, so I asked someone to come and fix it.
I saw their faces change instantly. They were about to come in and sit down, but suddenly one of them said that since that was the case, they should talk about it tomorrow. Maybe they remembered the phone number wrong. His words changed so quickly that even his other companion felt it was too abrupt and wrong, let alone me.
His companion asked him what happened and why his face turned pale, but he just kept a tense face and didn't say anything. I pretended I knew nothing and asked, "Yes, what happened? Why are you so scared all of a sudden?"
This man felt a little embarrassed, so he could only ask me mysteriously in a voice we could hear, "Is there any evil spirit in our house?"
I thought to myself, isn't this an obvious thing? Maybe he just wants a reason to talk, so I didn't say anything. I just asked him how he knew that. Then he shook his head and advised me that he would only talk to me in private and that I should move out as soon as possible. This building is not peaceful and I don't know why. He said that the household on the twelfth floor moved out quietly a few months ago and the other residents didn't know about it.
My heart skipped a beat when I heard that. I asked if it was the household above me. He said it was that household. There were only two people in that family. The man's name seemed to be Li Ming or something. He worked in the local tax bureau. It was said that something bad happened at home. After that, they came to the property management. In the end, it seemed that the property management paid for their moving expenses, but they just asked them to move quietly and not let other residents notice. Just imagine, if the whole building or even the whole community had to trouble the property management, who would be able to bear it?
I said no way, it's his family's own business that evil spirits came to his house, how can I blame the property management? But he shook his head and said, "Don't disbelieve it. Someone really died in this building after it was built, but the real estate developer kept it a secret. He also heard it from others after he came to work here. Most of the residents here don't know about it. Having said that, if they knew, they wouldn't buy this place."
I continued to ask him, and he told me that he also found this matter very strange. After the building was built, it was still an empty shell. Normally, no one would come to such a place except the workers. However, a woman happened to be stimulated for some reason and climbed to the top of the building in the middle of the night and then jumped down. This matter was discovered early, and the real estate developer arranged for the public security bureau to prevent the news from leaking out, so it was kept secret. Otherwise, the news of the death would have been all over the newspapers.
I felt a little creepy when I heard that. I said it was the building we lived in, but the guard shook his head and said it was not our building, but the building next door. He said that Li Ming on the 12th floor came back from overtime at midnight and saw a woman hanging around downstairs. Then it became more and more weird. I asked if there was any explanation about who the woman was. The guard shook his head and said that they said they hadn't found out. But then again, maybe they had found out, but it would have nothing to do with us, and we wouldn't know.
At this point, he whispered to me that I should be careful, and then he told his companions that since my family had not called, they would go back.
Until they left, I was still thinking about what the guard had just said. I felt that this matter was getting more and more complicated. At first I thought it was Old Man Liu, and now a woman who died for no reason popped up. What was going on? There was no one on the twelfth floor, but I clearly saw someone standing in front of the window on the twelfth floor.
