Lin Yao moved again. Driven by financial pressure, he moved to an old house in the suburbs. The place was very dilapidated, but from another perspective, although this house was a demolition property left from the last century, its layout and arrangement were still pretty good, probably once home to a wealthy family.
It seemed that Lin Yao's dad had gone out to work again, leaving only Lin Yao's mom and younger sister Lin Xin to live with Lin Yao in this rundown place.
As soon as the door was pushed open, a cloud of dust hit them in the face, and spiderwebs hung on the murals on both walls.
Lin Yao said, "Are we really going to live in this 'haunted house'? What kind of godforsaken place is this?!"
But judging from Lin Xin's reaction, she seemed quite happy with the "haunted house." "Brother, look! There's even a white rose on this mural!" Girls always liked these kind of fresh, cute things.
Lin Yao looked in her direction as well. Next to the white rose hung a black-and-white photo showing a delicate face. Although it was black and white, one could clearly see a blood-like red stain, which seemed to flow when glanced at. Lin Yao didn't like the color: "Lin Xin, throw it away for me."
"Why? I actually think it looks nice. If you do that, aren't you afraid of making the previous female owner angry?" Lin Xin pouted. Lin Yao let her handle it.
After a day of cleaning, the old house looked completely refreshed. From the mural's content — white roses, dead leaf butterflies — it seemed the previous owner of the house must have been an aesthetic-minded young girl. "If I ever get the chance, I really should meet her," Lin Yao whispered to the white rose.
"We will meet," a childish, pale voice came from somewhere.
"Stop being silly." Lin Yao was already used to Lin Xin's pranks, so he didn't pay much attention. After a tiring day, he went upstairs to sleep. Around midnight, Lin Yao was woken up by the noise downstairs. Checking his watch, it was around twelve a.m. "Who's going mad downstairs?!" he muttered, jolted awake.
"Your dad had an accident outside. I need to check on it, I'll be gone for a few days. Take care of your sister."
"Oh, got it," Lin Yao said verbally, but inwardly he was still very worried.
When he woke up, he found his pillow wet. Upon closer inspection, there were actually two wooden sticks placed on it. It seemed the cleaning hadn't been very thorough after all.Although Mom was leaving, what was that noise just now? It seemed like a brief but intense screech of brakes accompanied by a scream, yet my sister's room was still quietly locked, so the braking sound probably had nothing to do with her.
Lin Yao was still worried about his father. He decided to take a shower to clear his mind, as he no longer felt sleepy. When he reached the bathroom door, the light turned on. "When was this voice-controlled light installed?" Lin Yao muttered. He turned on the tap, letting water run over his head to wake himself up.
"Blood!!" Lin Yao shouted, stunned. His pupils dilated. It was clearly a thick, bright red blood, filled with a metallic smell.
After a while, he realized it was just an illusion. Lin Yao increased the water flow to wash away the half-dream, half-awake state of his mind. He realized he was far too sensitive, overly anxious and jumpy.
At that moment, he vaguely heard faint footsteps. When he looked down, he saw a girl in small shoes standing behind him. A strong sense of fear made him not want to look up. But soon, an irresistible force lifted his neck. Lin Yao saw a few bright red words reflected on the mirror—"We will meet."
"No, I don't want to." Fear completely consumed him. Lin Yao ran out of the bathroom chaotically, his own legs moving uncontrollably, and dashed out into the street.
He walked alone, recalling everything that had just happened, feeling a chill of fear creeping up his back, numbing his mind.
At that moment, a little girl slowly walked past him. "Yafei!" Lin Yao couldn't help shouting. No, it was impossible. Yafei had died in a car accident seven years ago. After that, her parents and brother also died mysteriously. How could it be her?!
"Hmm, are you calling me, Yao-ge?" The little girl spoke!
She… is really Yafei. Am I dreaming? The voice that's been gone for seven years… or am I already dead?
"No, you're not dead." She can hear me?
"You want me to explain, right? I can tell you. Do you remember the last time we met? It was seven years ago. When we were buying popsicles together, I was hit by that car and died—it seemed quite a gruesome death. Now I buy two popsicles every day and put them by my bedside."Do you know how my family died? It was me who called them to be with me. My parents were thrown from the ninth floor by me, and my brother was hanged from the beam with a white sash by me. We have already reunited. We are very happy, and the place where you live is my home. Now I really want to meet you all.” Lin Yao didn't believe it; his best friend could actually make people feel so eerie.
He didn't know how long it had been before Lin Yao forced out a few words with a stiff mouth: “How do we meet?”
Ya Fei sneered, as if trying to condense the air: “You will know…”
Lin Yao felt dizzy and fell asleep.
“Brother, why are you sleeping here?” Lin Xin shook Lin Yao beside him.
Upon waking, Lin Yao found himself lying under the black-and-white photo next to the white rose. Through those red stains, Lin Yao saw that the person in the photo was Ya Fei; he seemed to see Ya Qing's cold smile. To his right hand, two ice pops were slowly melting, leaving two parallel wooden sticks.
“No! No! Go away!!” Lin Yao screamed helplessly.
The usually quiet Lin Xin punched Lin Yao's left cheek: “Brother, are you crazy?!”
Maybe because of the pain, Lin Yao calmed down slightly.
At this moment, two police officers walked in. “Excuse me, are you Lin Yao and Lin Xin?”
“Yes, is there something wrong?” Lin Xin replied.
“Lin Cheng and Wang Li, that is, your parents…”
“What happened? Are they dead?” Lin Yao had already sensed everything that had happened and what was about to happen.
“Yes, around 10:30 yesterday, they jumped off the Jingkelong building.” It was clear that the police were a bit surprised by Lin Yao's words. 10:30? Lin Yao had seen his mother at 12 o'clock yesterday, could it be…
But Lin Yao no longer cared.
“It's not true! It's not true! No…” Lin Xin screamed madly and rushed out the door, only to be hit several meters away by a car coming from the left.
Lin Yao completely collapsed. “Lin Xin, no, don't die. You bastard, Zhou Ya Fei! Get lost.” Lin Yao ran in front of the car, trying to pull out the driver to kill him, determined to kill him.
When he opened the car door, he found there was no driver. Inside was only a black-and-white photo with a few words written on it: “Lin Yao, you are next.”"He turned around and saw that the black-and-white photo of the white rose was gone. The next day, a shocking piece of news was published in the newspaper—a man had hung himself in an old house on Yin-Yang Road because he could not accept the fact of his loved one's departure. 'Hehe, we are finally together, we are finally reunited.' 'Hmm, do you want to bring one more person?'
