At 10:30 p.m., I went into the bathroom. After taking off my clothes, I started adjusting the water temperature when I suddenly heard the doorbell ring. My wife should be in bed reading at this moment. I shouted toward the bathroom door, 'Honey, I just took off my clothes, can you go and answer it?' My wife didn't respond, and there was no sound coming from the bedroom either. I thought perhaps she didn't hear me, so I raised my voice and shouted again, 'Honey? Did you hear me? Go answer the door!' There was still no response from the bedroom, but the doorbell rang a second time. Honestly, my voice was already quite loud; it was impossible for her not to hear it. Maybe she was getting dressed and would go soon, I thought as I turned on the shower spray. But the doorbell seemed to keep ringing. I had to turn off the shower and yelled toward the bedroom, 'Dong Xinjie! What are you doing? Aren't you going to answer the door?' I was a bit annoyed. In this freezing winter, with my clothes all off, did I still have to go answer the door? Yet there was still no movement from the bedroom, and the doorbell had already rung a fourth time. I hesitated for a moment, then had no choice but to put my clothes back on and hurriedly go to open the front door. Standing outside was none other than my wife. No wonder no one answered the door despite my yelling—it was just unclear when she had gone out. 'Why did you run outside? And without your keys?' Seeing her face pale from the cold, I didn't ask more. I quickly let her inside, then turned back to the bathroom, took my clothes off again, and as soon as I stepped into the shower, the doorbell rang again. 'Honey, go answer the door!' I shouted toward the door without thinking. There was still no movement outside the bathroom, and the doorbell continued ringing. I had one foot in the shower, waited ten seconds listening for any sound outside. There was no movement, no sound of the door opening. What on earth is going on? A surge of anger burst from my heart. I put my clothes back on, forcefully opened the bathroom door, shouted toward the bedroom, and quickly went to open the front door. Standing outside was none other than my wife again. Date: 2010-03-18 13:45:00 'What on earth are you doing?' I shouted at her as soon as I saw her. She didn't look at me, just lowered her head, slipped past me, and quickly went into the bedroom without saying a word.I stood frozen at the doorway, watching her go through this series of actions. I thought to myself, we haven't argued for a long time, so what's gotten into her today? Something feels off...
A cold wind blew in from outside, and I shivered. I closed the door, deciding to finish my shower first. Just as I took off my clothes, the doorbell rang for the third time. I quickly put my clothes back on, yanked open the bathroom door, jumped to the front door, twisted the handle, and just as I was about to open it, a thought flashed through my mind, making me decide to first check through the peephole.
Because I suddenly realized something very strange: the last two times I opened the door, it was my wife I saw! If she suddenly had to go out and forgot her keys, that would be understandable. But the problem is she went out twice in a row and forgot the keys both times, which is unusual.
Then, I had just noticed a detail: her face turned pale and she didn't say a word. This kind of expression only appears when she encounters something she cannot handle at all, so what exactly did she run into? I remember that before I went into the bathroom, she was still lying on the bed reading.
Also, since I went into the bathroom, I hadn't heard the bedroom door open, nor any footsteps. In other words, I didn't hear my wife leave at all. Then how could she have just appeared outside the door?
These thoughts flashed quickly through my mind as my eyes moved to the peephole, looking outside.
It was pitch dark through the peephole, probably because the hallway light was off, so I couldn't see the situation outside at all. But immediately, a sense of panic began to spread in my heart because I quickly recalled a scene from a horror movie: when you look through the peephole and see complete darkness, it's because the person (or ghost) outside has their eye on the peephole looking at you, so what you see are the entirely dark pupils of the person (or ghost) outside.
That thought passed in an instant, and I stepped back from the peephole, forcing myself to remain calm as I shouted outside, "Who is it?"
No answer came. The bell had stopped, and I stood at the door, dumbfounded, not knowing what I was waiting for.
Suddenly, I realized I had to go back to the bedroom to check on my wife.
But just as I turned to head to the bedroom, there came a "bang bang bang" on the door from behind me.I was stunned again, and after a few seconds, I continued toward the bedroom and gently twisted open the bedroom door. Date: 2010-03-18 14:54:00. The bedside lamp was on, but there was no sign of my wife on the bed. I glanced around the room, and still didn't see her. I thought: Could she have gone outside again? Is the person knocking at the door her? What on earth is this woman up to! My anger really flared this time. I turned around to go open the front door, but at the moment I turned, out of the corner of my eye, I suddenly noticed something wrong—the dressing table near the bed. I stopped and looked carefully, only to discover that the entire mirror on the dressing table was gone, and there were scattered shards of glass on the surface. I hurried over, only to suddenly realize that my wife was crouching under the dressing table, her back to me, shaking uncontrollably all over. My head buzzed. What on earth had happened? She was fine just a moment ago, so why is she like this all of a sudden? There was no time to think, so I gently called out: "Honey, what's wrong?" while moving to support her. I tried to lift her off the floor, but she still stayed crouched. I called a few more times, and only then did she turn around, look at me carefully for a moment, and then reached out and hugged me tightly. I still didn't understand what had happened, but judging by her condition, she seemed to be frightened. I hurriedly comforted her: "Don't be afraid, honey. I'm here. Don't be afraid… I'll help you to bed first and then get you a glass of water. Don't hold me so tightly, okay?" My wife held me very tightly, and I could barely breathe. I tried several times and finally managed to push her gently, helping her to the bed and letting her lie down, then went to get water. At that moment, the doorbell rang again. I finally came to my senses. Someone had knocked earlier, and I had completely forgotten about it, so I planned to go open the door first. However, my wife, who had just let go, suddenly jumped up from the bed, held onto me tightly, and shouted: "Don't go!" The doorbell kept ringing. I looked at my wife and began to understand a little—could she be afraid of the person outside the door? But in any case, to dispel my wife's fear, the best way would be to let the person outside in and clarify everything.So I comforted my wife while pushing her aside, turned around, and swiftly walked out of the room, across the living room, and twisted the doorknob to open the main door slightly.
Suddenly, a great force came from the door, catching me off guard and pushing me back. Outside the door, a figure tried to rush in very quickly. I instinctively blocked the doorway, trying to push that person out. But they didn't seem to understand what was happening and kept trying to get inside. I shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing?"
That person didn't answer me, but it was obvious they were much smaller. After a two-second standoff, I managed to push them out. At that moment, by the light shining from inside the house, I saw that person's face clearly.
At that instant, the air seemed to freeze.
I saw clearly that the person outside, who had been trying to break in, was actually my wife!
I was completely stunned, and my wife took advantage of my moment of shock to quickly slip into the house, then rushed toward the bedroom even faster. Date: 2010-03-19 12:46:00
The scene that had just unfolded was so bizarre because my wife had been in the bedroom just seconds before, and seconds later, she appeared outside the main door. This was simply impossible, because I had crossed the living room very quickly; my wife could not have been faster than me, and there was no way she could have gotten outside the door without me seeing her.
No! When my wife was in the bedroom, was she simultaneously ringing the doorbell outside? Could there really be two of my wife?
No, that's impossible too. One of them must not be my wife!
So which one is real, the one in the bedroom or the one outside the door? And what exactly is the fake one? The main door was already closed, and I was shivering violently, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over me.
I walked to the bedroom door, hesitating whether to open it or not, because I was scared. If I opened it and saw two wives inside the bedroom, how strange would that be? But I was even more afraid of opening it and finding only one wife, because I knew my wife was in the bedroom, and yet another wife had just rushed in!
Open? Or not open? I was still hesitating, and at that moment, the doorbell rang again outside the main door.This unexpected ringing almost made me jump out of my skin, because I already thought about the fact that the door had been opened three times just now, and it was always my wife outside. So this time... could it be that another wife has come to the front door?
I refuse to believe it; there's no way such a bizarre thing exists in this world. Whether it's my wife or something else outside the door, I want to see how many can come!
With that thought, I suddenly swung open the front door.
A cold wind blew in, but there was no sign of my wife outside.
The light from the living room illuminated the hallway, but it was empty—there wasn't a single person.
I went outside again, and the motion sensor light that often malfunctions seemed to be completely broken this time. No matter how I tapped it, it wouldn't turn on.
A breeze came from around the corner of the hallway, where there was a small window. The original glass was gone, leaving only a sinister window frame. Using the faint light coming through the frame, I looked up and down for a while but still saw no one.
Standing in the empty hallway, a sudden, intense sense of unreality washed over me, as if everything around had become illusory...
What's happening to me? Could it be that all of this is just an illusion? That no one actually knocked on the door, that there weren't multiple wives at all, and everything was just a hallucination I had after entering the bathroom?
To be continued
