Lonelytree

  Millman97

  The shadow’s frame was similar to Chang Gu’s, but it moved very fast, not like someone who was blind. Chen Ge did not dare just announce himself. He wished to observe the figure longer, but the person rushed straight down to the other end of the corridor like it was looking for something.

  “Is that Chang Gu? Has he recovered his sight?”


  The education block was not lit. Even with his Yin Yang Vision, Chen Ge was taking careful steps.

  “Sir, is that a friend? Should we go meet up with him?”


  “Now is not the time for reunions. We’ll go to the top floor first.” Chen Ge kept his gaze on the shadow. The person did not leave but went into another classroom. There was another party in the education block that night. Chen Ge did not know whether this change was a good thing or not. The group soon reached the fourth floor. The toilet was at the other end of the corridor.

  “No matter what you hear, do not answer. No matter what you see, do not leave the group. Understand?” Chen Ge whispered the warning to the members and then carried Wang Yicheng down the corridor. He bent his body low and used the corner of his eyes to scan the classrooms on both sides. There was only darkness inside the windows; he could not see anything.

  The members followed behind Chen Ge. They tried not to look beside them, but the more they told themselves not to do that, the more their eyes started to wander.

  “What’s that?”


  The classrooms there needed a good tidying up. When Zhou Tu passed one of the windows, there was something that looked like many strands of hair dangling from the window frame. It felt like there was a girl leaning against the window.

  “It’s not a real person, right?” Zhou Tu stood on his tiptoes as he hurried forward. He titled his head downward and looked from underneath the window.

  “The hair…… is moving?”


  Before Zhou Tu could get a closer look, his body knocked into something. That came as such a surprise to him that he dropped the knife that he was holding to the ground. The rusted blade clattered noisily on the ground. Inside the dark building, the sound was intensely sharp and loud.

  Everyone stopped moving, and Chen Ge turned to Zhou Tu. “What are you doing?”


  “I accidentally bumped into Zhang Ju.” Zhou Tu held his nose and pointed at Zhang Ju, who stood frozen. He noticed that Zhang Ju’s expression was rather strange. “Why did you suddenly stop when we’re moving?”


  Zhang Ju did not reply. He lifted his head to look at the picture on the wall. His lips were slightly open, and his pupils were narrowed to a point.

  “Zhang Ju?”


  No matter how the others nudged him, Zhang Ju had no reply. His gaze was glued to the picture on the wall, and there was a trace of sadness in his eyes. When he saw the blade that had killed the girl in the brush, his mind had completely broken down, but now he was completely different from then. There was no maddened scream and self-mutilation to nullify the psychological pain; he merely stood before the picture quietly.

  “I’ve seen…… this doctor before.” He spoke so softly that only people directly beside him could hear.

  “That fire burned twenty percent of my skin. I saw my blood and flesh burn. I sniffed the stench that came from my own body until my eyeballs melted off from the flame. My eyelids were glued together, and my world plunged into darkness.

  “I was sent to the hospital. The pain was so intense that I couldn’t feel the pain anymore.

  “I couldn’t open my eyes, and my nostrils were burnt. One of my ears was partially burnt, and the other was significantly burnt. I became a monster. I could not see myself, but I knew I’d become a monster. I could no longer return to a normal life. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to use partially sealed ears to hear your family?

  “Someone was saving me. I could feel the pain returning. I was getting closer to being saved, but how would I wake up?

  “Something cold cut open my eyes, and they were cleaning it little by little. My left eye was taken out, and I could barely see a grayish world out of my right eye.

  “I could not sense light; I could only see shadows out of my right eye. Tell me, how would I survive like that?”


  Zhang Ju pressed his hand on the picture on the wall. His face was leaking blood. A small trail of blood leaked out from his skin like a thread used in a suturing surgery.

  “I know this doctor. He accompanied me for a week. Death had come to claim my life, and he made a bet with him.” His voice was getting coarse like it was burnt in a fire. His appearance was changing as well. The blood and scar spread on his face. His ears started to shrivel like a flower, and the skin on his left eye was slowly melting.

  “I never said a word to him, but I remember him very clearly. At the last moment of my life, he was one of three people present.”


  The guilt for the dead unlocked Zhang Ju’s memory. The doctor who had once saved him restored his originally blurry memory, and now the pieces were surfacing in his mind. Blood vessels dripped out of his skin like the sutured wounds were reopening. The blood vessels coagulated into blood globules and dropped on Zhang Ju’s shirt. His shirt was slowly turning red. “If you were in my situation, would you choose to live or to die?”


  Chen Ge’s eyes were twitching, but his reaction was already calmer compared to the other members.

  Zhou Tu was so shocked that he neglected to pick up the blade. He grabbed Zhu Long’s elbow, and the two involuntarily retreated three meters away. No one responded. Zhang Ju’s eyes slowly moved away from the doctor’s picture to Chen Ge. “I have remembered who I am. Now, can you tell me who you are?”


  The two stood inside the darkened corridor, looking at each other.

  “You’ve asked me that question before, and I’ve given you the answer.” Chen Ge stood where he was and did not take a step back. “We are the same. I also wish to find the memory the memory that I’ve lost. Helping you is helping myself.”


  “You’re lying!” Zhang Ju reached out toward Chen Ge, but as his fingers were about to touch Chen Ge, he stopped.

  “Why did you stop?” Chen Ge took one step forward. He leaned close to Zhang Ju’s scary, despairing face. “Are you afraid that after you kill me, another me will stand up from my dead body? Are you afraid of me, who is wearing red?”


  Gripping Zhang Ju’s shoulders, Chen Ge’s expression was completely maddened. His hands moved on Zhang Ju’s shoulders before moving slowly to caress Zhang Ju’s face and touching the young man’s forehead.

  “You want to kill me? Do you dare?”


  Not only Zhang Ju, Zhou Tu and Zhu Long who were hiding behind were spooked.

  The corridor was silent. After a long time, Chen Ge let go of Zhang Ju. He looked at the other members inside the corridor. “I just want to find my lost memory. If you help me, you’re helping yourselves. The opposite is also true.”