74hy

308 Sleep-Walking Child

“It’ll be fine, I’ll do my best to not let anyone see it.” Han Fei had finished folding the red dress. “I’ll just hide it from people’s view.”

“You sure know how to be considerate towards the tenants.” Brother Hwa said with a helpless smile, “Is that something your senior taught you?”

“Actually, he’s currently missing, I’m also looking for him.”

“Sorry to hear that.” Brother Hwa subconsciously stepped away from Han Fei and the red dress. “Just keep it well hidden then. Do not leave it inside rooms that are occupied by people.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve worked in another neighbourhood before and all the tenants became my friends. I came with a shining recommendation.” Han Fei was telling the truth.

“You’re a nice person, it’s just that your mind works in an inexplicable manner.” Brother Hwa patted Han Fei’s shoulders. “Regardless, the 3 of us have to work hard. Recently, strange things keep happening here and the tenants are very afraid, so we have to try our best to give them security. Remember now, the purpose of our nightly patrol is not to discover the truth but to announce to the tenants that we’re still around to protect them.”

“Okay.” Han Fei nodded consecutively. He admired Brother Hwa’s work ethics but he also wondered what kind of memory Butterfly had injected them with and where was their butterfly pattern hidden.

“Okay then, get packing and we’ll prepare to leave. Hopefully, we’ll pass the night safely.” Brother Hwa checked the patrol schedule and then opened one of the lockers. He moved away some of the stuff to reveal a clay figurine of Guan Yu at the back. He bowed 3 times at it before replacing all the stuff and left the room. “It is now well past midnight and the date is 4th of April, I have a feeling something bad will happen. You two better stay close to me, if we run into danger, do not run away, we need to stick together.” Brother Hwa said in a serious tone.

“Brother Hwa, you have the watch, can you tell me what time it is now?” Han Fei noticed something, it was not 4th of April in real life, the guards’ memory might be stuck on this day. If Han Fei didn’t show up, this was probably their last day.

“It’s 3.27 am, why are you asking?”

“I have noticed that the number 4 is extremely taboo in this building. It is the 4th of April so I have a feeling something extremely scary will happen at 4.44 am.” Han Fei’s single statement sent chills into the two other guards’ hearts.

“Then we’ll try to return before 4 am.” Brother Hwa waved. He led the way while the injured Xiao Fang and Han Fei followed behind him. It was clear that man was afraid as well. He kept turning back every few steps as if to confirm that Han Fei and Xiao Fang were still behind him. Perhaps to relieve this tension, Brother Hwa coughed once and started to share his ‘experience’ with Han Fei and Xiao Fang. “You two are new so I have the responsibility to inform you about our rules. We night security have to patrol 4 times each night, at 8 pm, 12 am, 3 am and 8 am. We’ll start the patrol from the left stairwell, moving up to the 24th floor and then coming down from the right stairwell to the 1st floor. If you wish to give the red dress to the delivery monster, let’s hope that we’ll be lucky enough to run into him during our patrol.” Brother Hwa had no idea whether running into ghosts should be considered lucky or not. Han Fei noticed Brother Hwa had a natural aversion to the deliveryman like he had some extra history with the man that he had not told them. “No matter what, the patrol has to be carried out like normal. We need to check the fire equipment, surveillance cameras and blind spots on each floor…”

All the guards were worried about the arrival of 4 am. They didn’t say anything verbally but they moved incredibly fast. Han Fei also understood why Brother Hwa and Xiao Fang insisted on doing the patrol no matter what, it was not only their sense of responsibility. It was because if they didn’t show up on the surveillance camera at given times, they would be fined the next day. Being the security at a haunted neighbourhood came with a lucrative pay but if they didn’t follow the rules, the fine was severe as well. Xiao Fang didn’t go into details about what the punishment was, he just urged Han Fei to abide by the rules at all times.

The trio entered the stairwell and came to the 5th floor.

The voice-activated lights came on and the oppressive feeling disappeared. Only the odd number floors had lights at the Ziggurat and the light seemed to be able to chase away the chill. “Should we stay on the floor longer?” The 3 didn’t communicate much but they all slowed down. Such was the understanding between the group of guards. After dragging things out for as long as they could, Brother Hwa readied his flashlight as they prepared to head to the 6th floor.

Patrolling a haunted building at 3.30 am was itself something scary but if their imagination got the best of them, it would only make things worse. The even number floors didn’t have voice-activated light so the 6th floor was incredibly dark. It felt deserted. After they arrived at the 6th floor, Han Fei and Xiao Fang hurried towards the 7th floor but Brother Hwa stopped. “Guys, wait a minute. A divorced mother stays on this floor, her son has the habit of sleepwalking. He likes to get the key to open the front door at late midnight and then hide in the corners of the corriodr.”

“That’s… interesting.” Han Fei didn’t know what to say.

“Well. No matter where the mother hid the key, her son would be able to find it. The mother was confounded. She even locked it inside the safe and her son would still leave the house with the key in the middle of the night.” Brother Hwa lowered his voice. With the flashlight in hand, he moved slowly forward. “In the end, the mother turned to us for help. She asked us to keep an eye out for her son when we are out on our patrol.” Brother Hwa might be cowardly but he was quite a responsible person. He pushed open the safety door to the 6th floor and looked down the corridor. There was nothing there.

“Looks like the kid didn’t go sleep-walking tonight.” Just as Brother Hwa was about to sigh in relief, they heard the sound of marble rolling on the ground. The 3 of them squeezed together and turned to the sound. They saw a pale kid squatting behind the safety door. He was about 5 years old. His eyes were widened and he looked dazed. He kept repeating something on his lips. After he rolled the marble out from behind the door, the marble would roll back to him like someone was playing with him.

Xiao Fang was frightened by the child. He was about to wake the child when Brother Hwa stopped him. “You can’t wake a sleep-walking child, the elders say that it’ll make them lose their soul.”

This was not the first time Brother Hwa did something like this. He knelt down behind the boy and slowly picked him up. “I’ll send this boy back to his mother.” When Brother Hwa hugged the boy past Han Fei, the latter could finally hear what the boy was mumbling—If you turn back, you’ll die, if you turn back, you’ll die, if you turn back, you’ll die!

His neck rose in goosebumps and Han Fei subconsciously turned back, he saw a hand reach out from behind the safety door where the boy was earlier to pick up the marble and then disappeared. ‘Someone was playing with him?’ Han Fei took a deep breath. He just looked back and he was fine. After knowing that was not his death curse, Han Fei kept looking back. ‘I wonder if my death curse has been triggered and if it has, what is it?’

The door to Room 1064 was left open. Brother Hwa didn’t enter the room but knocked on the door. Soon a woman with black long hair appeared at the door. She thanked Brother Hwa profusely and brought the child back into the room. As the door closed, Brother Hwa seemed to be in a better mood. “By doing good things, you’ll feel better.”

Xiao Fang and he prepared to move to the 7th floor. As they walked into the right stairwell, Han Fei turned back to look. He was shocked to notice there was another boy standing behind the safety door! The boy was identical to the boy earlier but his skin was even paler. He held the marble and stared fixedly at Brother Hwa.

‘Was that really the woman’s child who was carried into the room? If it was not, then what was the thing that Brother Hwa had been carrying into Room 1064 every night? Who is the woman’s real child?’ His scalp was numb. When Han Fei turned back again, the boy was gone.

‘Every floor here is dangerous, it’ll be hard to survive the night.’