Chapter 20: Abandoned Tombs and Ghosts (2)

I recognized the man, the one who had just attacked me, and the other woman gave me an even more uncomfortable feeling.

At this point, I finally realized that something was going on that was inexplicably strange. I began to feel afraid, standing in place and not daring to move. They didn’t move either, just staring at me, as if they were afraid of something, or worried about something, but also as if there was something about me that particularly attracted them, and they didn’t want to let me go.

What are they afraid of? Is it the light on my chest? I have been wearing a pendant since I was a child. My mother told me that it was a tiger claw and that I could never take it off. Are they afraid of this?

I wasn’t sure, but I subconsciously reached for my chest and grabbed the long tiger claws. I felt a little more at ease, and my heart was set. I suddenly remembered something crucial, something very crucial!

It was that I finally remembered where I had seen the clothes these people were wearing. It was two years ago, when our village elder, Mr. Li, passed away. My mother went to help out, but since my father was away and my two sisters were at school, my mother was busy and took me with her. I saw with my own eyes how they wrapped Mr. Li in his coffin, and he was wearing exactly the same clothes!

My mother told me specifically that it was a shroud!

It turns out that these people are all wearing shroud!

I am the flower of the motherland. I grew up under Chairman Mao’s care and education. What ghosts and gods are there in this world? In an instant, many thoughts came to my mind.

I don’t know why I had these crazy thoughts at this time, but I knew one thing: these thoughts could no longer inspire my courage at this moment. A thought that made my heart tremble came out.

That is鈥攖here are ghosts!

I first let out a cry of terror, then sat down on the ground (my legs were weak), and then started to cry uncontrollably. As I cried, I realized that my eyes had been closed and now opened with the tears flowing.

I didn’t have time to think about how I had walked with my eyes closed. No one should expect a seven-year-old to have any logical thinking at a time like this. Besides, it was better that my eyes didn’t open. As soon as they did, I discovered that all the people and houses had disappeared. In the dark, with the faint moonlight, I could only see silhouettes like small hills.

If it wasn’t a grave, then what was it?

What a cruel thing for a child to be in a graveyard in the middle of the night! And this cruel thing is happening to me right now. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even have the courage to walk anymore, I just know how to cry. I only know how to subconsciously hold the tiger claw hanging around my neck, and only it can give me a sense of security.

The piercing cry echoed far into the quiet night, even I found it harsh, but I had no way to stop.

I don’t know how long I cried for, but then a dozen orange-yellow lights appeared in the distance, and I suddenly remembered the strange dream. Didn’t all of this start with that dream?

I couldn’t sit here and cry any longer. I used all my strength to stand up and ran in the other direction, crying.

At that moment, a familiar voice came from afar: “Sanwa, is that you?” Then came a lot of noise and footsteps.

The voice sounded familiar and friendly to me, but I was so scared that I couldn’t think of whose voice it was, and I didn’t dare to stop. I just kept running and crying, asking, “Who are you?”

I had an inexplicable trust in that voice, so I subconsciously answered, but I really didn’t know who it was at the time.

As soon as I finished speaking, a very angry voice came from the other side, almost shouting in a roar: “Who do you think I am? I’m your old man!”

When I heard this voice, I immediately realized that it wasn’t my father’s voice. I stopped and cried even louder. If this voice had been terrifying a few hours ago, now it sounded like music to my ears.

I had just stood still for a minute when the orange-yellow light hit me. I had almost calmed down when I realized that it was the light from a flashlight. Then I saw a group of people running in a hurry. Who was the one leading the group if it wasn’t my father?

When my father saw me, he first pulled me over, then shone the flashlight from head to toe, looked me over carefully, made sure I wasn’t hurt, and then bit the flashlight in his mouth.

Without saying a word, he picked me up and slapped me on the butt. I guess he must have wanted to scold you, son of a bitch, and see if I wouldn’t fix you. It was just that biting such a thick flashlight made it inconvenient to talk.

The slap was really hard. It stopped me from crying, but after I was slapped, I started to cry again. An uncle behind my father couldn’t stand it anymore and said to my father, “Old Chen, the child is found, it’s the middle of the night, and he is crying so badly, he must be scared. You should take the child back and comfort him. You are so fierce, what if the child runs away again?”

In the past, it was useless to persuade my father, but this time I don’t know what words moved my father. Instead of hitting me, my father’s face became a little heavy, and I don’t know what he was thinking about.

After a moment of silence, my father said, “I’m just so angry. Forget it. I’ll take him home first. Thank you all. I’ll treat you to dinner at home some other time.”

The people in the village are so simple. When they heard that I had gone missing, so many people came out to look for me with my father, regardless of the late hour or the long journey to the market town.

My father picked me up and walked back to the village with everyone. After all that I had just experienced, I was so scared, but as soon as I was in my father’s arms, I felt completely relaxed.

My body was still hot, and after crying for so long, I was even more thirsty. My father stroked my forehead and said to himself as we walked, “Does this child have a fever?”

I couldn’t answer, but the sudden feeling of security made me start to feel sleepy again. But just as I was about to fall asleep, I saw a red light following us. When I looked more closely, it was the woman who made me feel the most uncomfortable, the one who smiled so eerily!

I suddenly woke up, and my whole body stiffened. My father slapped me on the butt and said softly, “Still not honest?” I realized that there was no red dot anywhere, and there was no woman anywhere.

What I had just experienced was like a dream, and I found myself not opening my eyes several times. Even as a child, I couldn’t convince myself that what I saw was real, because the feeling was indescribable.

Lying in my father’s arms, I didn’t think about these things for a while. This time I really fell asleep in my father’s arms, and I never saw any red light again.

After I got home, I fell asleep in bed in a daze. That night, I kept dreaming, but I didn’t know what I was dreaming about.

When I woke up the next day, it was almost noon. I felt sick all over and my head was heavy and I couldn’t lift it.

My mother, who was standing by my bed, saw that I had woken up and quickly gave me some medicine. I was confused, but I took it anyway. It was only then that I learned from my mother that I had a fever. My father had gone to the village clinic early in the morning to get the medicine. The conditions were slightly better now, and the village had a simple clinic.

However, my mother also said that if the fever did not go down in the afternoon, I would have to go to the township clinic for an injection.

I was afraid of needles, so I quickly prayed in my heart for Chairman Mao to bless me to get better quickly. My mother ignored my thoughts and brought me some porridge and kimchi to eat.

I really wanted to eat meat, and I was still thinking about the eel I had eaten the night before, but I didn’t dare to mention it. I had already gotten into trouble the night before, so I was lucky not to get beaten. Besides, when I was sick, my mother wouldn’t give me any food. This was the case for anyone in my family who was sick. It was always just porridge and pickles!