Chapter 15
Edward Quan ·
As he spoke, the man suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me toward him.
I struggled.
But he was far too strong.
In the scuffle, I fell.
He kept hold of my arm and dragged me toward the doll room.
“Let go! You lunatic!”
I thrashed on the floor and struck at him again and again.
“Help!”
“Somebody help me!”
I screamed until my throat hurt, hoping someone outside would hear.
“This is the only house in the alley.”
“Who do you think is going to hear you?”
He kept dragging me.
I'd reached the doll-room door.
I didn't know what he intended to do.
All I could do was struggle.
With my free hand, I grabbed his and bit down hard.
“Aah!”
He cried out and let go.
I scrambled up and ran toward the front door.
I'd barely taken two steps when pain tore through my scalp.
He'd caught the hair at the back of my head and jerked me backward.
I stumbled back again and again.
It felt as if my scalp would peel away.
Tears sprang to my eyes.
“Be gentler.”
“Don't hurt her.”
“Mom,” standing beside us, warned him.
He released my hair, grabbed my arm again, and pulled me toward the doll room.
I knew perfectly well that “Mom” wasn't worried about my pain.
She just didn't want this body damaged.
Like what she'd said at dinner before.
“You mustn't let yourself go hungry.”
It hadn't been concern for me at all.
...
Once inside, he flung me onto the floor.
“Li Molin!”
“Look!”
“Your daughter came all on her own.”
“Your family's about to be reunited.”
His face twisted savagely.
He shouted at the doll with the nail in its forehead on the table.
Then he looked up at Dad's photograph.
“Look!”
“It's your daughter!”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
He laughed like a madman.
Then he suddenly turned and fixed his eyes on me.
Step by step, he approached.
His voice took on a strange cadence.
“All because of your damned father...”
“He took my wife from me...”
“My daughter...”
His eyes were bloodshot.
Both hands closed around my throat.
In an instant, I couldn't breathe.
Pain burned in my chest.
My head grew dizzy.
I fought with my hands and feet, but my strength kept draining away.
“Sijun!”
“Calm down!”
“You can't hurt her yet!”
“Mom” rushed over and tried to pull him away.
But he'd lost his mind completely.
His hands tightened around my neck.
His lips kept moving.
“Die...”
“Li Molin...”
“Die...”
“Li Molin...”
Just as I thought I would suffocate, a figure flashed across the edge of my vision.
It slammed into him and knocked him to the floor.
I struggled upright, braced my hands on the ground, and gulped air.
As the oxygen-starved dizziness eased a little, I looked ahead.
The man lay on the floor.
A boy in white straddled him.
The boy held both his hands down and bent to bite his shoulder.
“Little Ghost!”
I cried out in astonishment.
20. Tearing and Biting
I'd thought I was still safe.
I hadn't expected this man to be completely insane.
Once he lost control, he forgot every part of his plan.
I'd nearly died in his hands.
Before I could feel relieved at surviving, a shriek came from nearby.
It was as piercing as nails scraping a blackboard.
It made my whole body crawl.
Covering my ears, I looked toward it.
Beside the little ghost and the man, “Mom” was gripping her own hair and making those hideous sounds.
One moment, she bent forward.
The next, she arched backward.
Her body twisted wildly.
It was horrifying.
The little ghost still had his teeth sunk into the man's shoulder.
The man writhed beneath him.
Strong as he was, he couldn't escape the boy's grip.
He could only struggle and curse.
“You little ghost!”
“I'll destroy you!”
I hadn't expected the boy to be so strong.
I got up and ran to the dolls.
I picked up the one with the nail in its forehead, then called over my shoulder.
“Little Ghost!”
“Let's get out of here!”
He released the man's shoulder, but kept pinning his hands.
He looked at me uncertainly.
Then “Mom's” strange shrieking abruptly stopped.
She collapsed limply to the floor.
A figure sprang out of her body.
A woman.
She wore a white slip dress.
Like the boy, her body was slightly transparent.
But her face was astonishingly beautiful.
Even with long hair hiding nearly half of it, even with that bloodless pallor, it was obvious she was an extraordinary beauty.
The mother from the family portrait in the bedroom.
And the beautiful doll at Mr. Zhang's had been made in her likeness too.
Now she crouched like an animal.
Legs bent low.
Hands on the floor.
All ten fingertips clawing at the ground.
She tilted her head and watched the boy with the eyes of a predator spotting prey.
No.
A terrible feeling came over me.
“Run!”
“Get out of here!”
The little ghost shouted at me.
Then he hurled himself at the woman.
She sprang at the same moment.
The two ghosts collided violently.
But it was clear he was no match for her.
She knocked him down.
Flung him far across the room.
Then pinned him and began tearing into him with her teeth.
I could see every wound.
Unlike a person bitten by an animal, he didn't bleed.
The bitten places only became more transparent.
As if pieces of his body had been bitten away.
I rushed over and tried to pull her off.
My strength made no difference to her.
She kept biting.
He tried to shield his head and neck, but transparent gaps already covered his shoulders and arms.
Panic burned through me.
I ran to the dolls, intending to throw another one at her.
But as I reached out, the man caught my hand.
He hauled me away and forced me to face the little ghost.
“Look.”
“What a splendid fight.”
“Who else in the world gets the chance to watch two ghosts fighting?”
“Take your time. Enjoy it.”
He smiled maliciously.
He watched the fight and held me so tightly I couldn't move.
“You're insane!”
“Isn't she your wife?”
“Aren't you afraid she'll get hurt?”
Words were the only way I had left to provoke him.
He gave a contemptuous laugh.
“Hmph.”
“I spent ten years nurturing her.”
“From a fragment of a soul into a ghost with awareness.”
“Do you know how much I've put into it?”
“As if she couldn't handle one little ghost.”
I looked at the boy.
He was covered in wounds.
More and more of him was turning transparent.
He barely looked like a whole body anymore.
Desperate, with tears pouring down my face, I bit the man's hand again.
He let go in pain.
I ran straight for the little ghost.
But after two steps, the man caught me again.
Furious, he slapped me hard across the face.
The blow knocked me to the floor.
“Miss!”
Seeing me hit, the boy ignored the woman biting him and turned anxiously toward me.
The man came over and hauled me up by my collar.
He raised a hand for another slap.
“Don't touch her!”
I didn't know where the little ghost found the strength.
He threw the woman off and raced toward me.
Again, he knocked the man down and bent to bite him.
I sat on the floor, looking at the boy as tears kept falling.
There wasn't an undamaged place left on him.
What had been a little boy's body was now missing pieces everywhere.
Even the uninjured parts were far more transparent than before.
It was all my fault.
All my fault.
He couldn't beat the woman, but he could easily overpower the man.
Anxiously, I looked toward the female ghost he'd thrown aside.
She had returned to her original pose.
Ten fingers digging into the floor.
Legs bent low.
Eyes fixed on him.
I saw her legs lower farther.
Her arms bent.
No!
She was about to spring!
“Little Ghost!”
“Move!”
I shouted.
He understood.
He immediately left the man and retreated to the corner by the window.
He looked at me.
Then at the door.
I followed his gaze.
I understood.
He'd deliberately moved to the corner farthest from the exit.
He wanted to draw their attention so I could escape.
The man stood, glaring at him.
Then he said to the woman, “Meizhen.”
“Get rid of that troublesome little ghost.”
What could I do?
I couldn't abandon him.
Think.
Think.
If that doll had been made to look like her, could it be important to her?
Maybe it would do something.
I had no other way.
All I could do was try.
The man wasn't watching me now.
I edged backward toward the dolls.
At that same moment, the woman lunged for the boy.
21. Little Ghost, I'm Sorry...
While they weren't looking, I quietly approached the table and picked up the most beautiful doll.
Then the little ghost screamed.
All this time, though she'd overpowered him and torn into him, he hadn't made a sound.
But this cry was filled with unbearable pain.
My eyes flew wide.
I whipped around toward the corner.
The woman had him pinned to the floor.
A severed arm hung from her mouth.
It flickered a few times, then dissolved into black smoke.
The boy's right arm was now completely transparent.
Once the arm in her mouth vanished, she opened her jaws to bite his other one.
“Stop!”
“Or I'll smash this!”
I shouted and raised the doll high.
Both the woman and the man turned toward me.
She tilted her head, looking at the doll in confusion.
He frowned at first.
Then he smiled scornfully.
“Yiyi...”
“You think breaking that doll will hurt Meizhen?”
“Whether it hurts her or not...”
“We can find out.”
I backed away to keep my distance, afraid he'd suddenly rush me and take it.
“You think...”