Chapter 24: Midnight Fright

My eldest sister’s words were undoubtedly comforting to my second sister. She was not as afraid anymore, while I ended up getting shouted at by my dad and told to shut up.

In the end, the discussion led to a plan. Starting that day, my mom would sleep with my second sister, even going to the toilet with her at night. My eldest sister would accompany her to school, and I would accompany her after school.

My dad summed it up by saying we must catch that madwoman, and if we could not catch her, we had to scare her away at the very least.

Under our family’s deliberate avoidance of the topic, that woman was firmly labeled as a madwoman.

What my eldest sister and second sister did not know was that after this, my parents found an excuse to bring me into the room alone and questioned me in detail about the girl who had followed us. In the end, they concluded that I had been delirious from a fever.

Over the next two days, my second sister improved a little. She said that apart from occasionally seeing that woman at school, she did not see her at other times anymore.

Under these circumstances, my parents ordered me to accompany my second sister at noon as well. Fortunately, after doing this, my second sister no longer saw that woman at school either.

It seemed like things had ended just like that, and my parents finally relaxed.

Looking back now, they were unwilling to easily go find Old Man Jiang. It was only because Old Man Jiang had once said that my parents had thin fate with their children. At the time I was still young, so those words did not hurt much. As I grew older and my bond with my parents deepened, those words became more painful.

They were not disrespecting or ungrateful toward Old Man Jiang. They were just afraid that once he came, that statement would come true.

But had things really settled like that?

Ten days later, my second sister had basically not seen that woman for three days. On that day, she told my mom she wanted to sleep alone.

Because my mom was a very light sleeper and would wake up easily at night, it also affected my second sister’s sleep.

My second sister felt she had fallen behind in her studies during this time. Now that she had finally stopped being affected by that woman, poor sleep at night was also having an impact.

Moreover, my second sister was only eleven years old, still a child. Children forget things easily, and they do not have so many taboos. Once they forget, it often leaves no real shadow behind.

But my mom did not agree. After all, she and my dad knew exactly what was going on. My mom chose to continue sleeping with my second sister, cautiously deciding to wait and see.

But that very night, something happened to my second sister. I was the first witness.

That night, we ate aged cured meat. As everyone knew, cured meat is very salty, but that did not stop someone like me who loved meat. I ate a lot.

Because I ate a lot of cured meat, I also drank a lot of water. That night, I slept very restlessly, constantly dreaming about needing to urinate, until I was finally forced awake by the urge.

In rural houses, toilets are usually built outside the main house. Half asleep, I got up and went straight to the toilet.

The night was extremely quiet. Apart from an occasional dog bark, there were only insects chirping. In such silence, I was not fully awake even after finishing.

By around October, the weather had already started to turn cold, especially at night when the temperature difference from daytime was huge. As soon as I stepped out of the toilet and a cold wind blew over me, I shivered and became a little more awake.

There are many things from my childhood I may have forgotten, but I can never forget how dark that night was.

Just as I subconsciously looked up after waking up a bit, I saw not a single star in the sky, not even the moon. Standing in the courtyard, it felt so dark I could not see my hand in front of my face.

“Good thing this is my own home and I am familiar with it. If I were outside, I would have fallen somewhere,” was my only thought at the time. After thinking that, I hugged my arms, sneezed from the cold, and quickly ran back toward the house.

Then, whether by coincidence or because it was too dark and I was running too fast, I slipped and fell in the courtyard. That fall made me notice something was wrong.

How should I put it? Human eyes can adapt to darkness. Since I was already more awake, I could faintly see a little. And because it was my familiar home courtyard, I immediately noticed something unusual.

The unusual thing was at my front gate. I saw a patch of shadow there, like someone was standing at the door.

It was very dark, so I could not be sure. I only suspected it and unconsciously took a few steps forward. This time I saw it clearly.

And when I did, I was so shocked that I almost cried out.

My second sister was standing at the gate.

“Se… second sister, second sister…” I called out uncertainly twice. She did not respond, not even turning her head.

But I was absolutely certain it was my second sister. She was wearing the small sleeping jacket I was very familiar with, the one she always wore to bed.

At that moment, I only saw her back, but something about her felt very wrong. I could not tell what exactly, but it just felt off. I wanted to call my parents, and I also wanted to pull my second sister back to bed. I hesitated for just a second.

In the end, I decided to first pull my second sister inside before calling my parents. So I forced down the uneasy feeling and walked toward her.

Just as I was about to reach her, my second sister suddenly turned around. That sudden turn startled me, and I clearly saw that her hair, which she usually loosely tied even when sleeping, was now completely loose and hanging down. I did not know why.

“Second sister, what are you doing?” I shouted bravely.

My second sister did not answer. She just smiled at me. It should have been a normal smile, but it made my hair stand on end. It looked bleak, sharp, and strangely unreal. Most importantly, there was something vicious in that smile.

It did not look like my second sister smiling at all.

My heart tightened. Fear rose instinctively in my body. I froze.

In that moment of hesitation, my second sister quickly turned around, opened the courtyard gate without any hesitation, and ran outside.

Only then did I react. I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Mom, my second sister is not right, she just ran outside!”

My shout woke not only my light-sleeping mother, but also lit up the main room where my father was sleeping. The night was very dark, and as soon as my second sister ran out, she was about to disappear from sight.

I panicked, urging my parents to hurry, almost crying from anxiety.

Finally, my mother rushed out and shouted at the door, “Third child, which direction did your second sister run?”

I ran to the gate and saw my second sister’s figure was already barely visible. Without knowing where the courage came from, I shouted, “Mom, follow me, I will chase her!”

“Third child, you…” my mother called out, but I had already rushed out the door.

I chased after my second sister’s figure, running as fast as I could. The wind howled in my ears. I had forgotten fear, my mind filled only with images of how my second sister usually treated me kindly. I had only one thought, I could not let anything happen to her.

But my second sister was running too fast. No matter how hard I tried, I could not catch up. She had never been able to run this fast before, let alone outrun me. What was wrong with her today?

I could not catch her. My heart was both anxious and helpless. As I ran, tears began to fall. It felt like I was about to lose my second sister.

“Sis, second sister, wait for me…” I cried as I ran behind her, but she did not respond at all.

Because I was running too fast and it was too dark, I finally fell to the ground. The rural dirt road was uneven, and something hit me hard. My whole body hurt.

At that moment, I looked back and saw my parents had caught up as well. My father was holding a flashlight, its bright beam shining on me.

“Third child, go back…” my father shouted while panting behind me.

“I won’t!” I quickly got up from the ground and continued running after my second sister.

At that age, I did not yet understand the kind of attachment that cannot be severed between family members. I only thought that if I went back now, I would be abandoning my second sister.

So it became like this. My second sister ran in front, and I, my mother, and my father chased behind her, as if as long as she did not stop, none of us would stop either.

I do not know how long we ran like that, but gradually I began to feel something was wrong. I was very familiar with the village. Where was my second sister running to along this road?