Lonelytree

  Millman97

  With the mortician and dollmaker talents and the experience of making hundreds of mannequins, he had faith in his prediction.

  Pulling his arms back, Chen Ge stood where he was. The surroundings were quiet; there was no sound and no special smell.

  The more Chen Ge considered it, the more likely it became. The husband left at midnight, and the wife who was pregnant with the second child chased after him without locking the door. Under normal circumstances, the child who was left alone at home would not sneak out alone unless he saw something or someone familiar calling him.

  The word ‘neighbor’ was a common term, but it carried a different meaning for Chen Ge now because the Nightmare Mission that he was conducting now was named ‘Neighbor’. Taking another step forward, Chen Ge still felt it safer to move by the wall, but when his palm was about to touch the wall, he halted. His experience earlier left a trauma in his heart. He was afraid that he might touch something unsightly again. His fingers dropped on the wall, and after touching the cold, hard wall, Chen Ge sighed in relief. If not necessary, he did not want to touch any more ‘people’.

  Chen Ge convinced himself as he continued to move forward. When he moved his body, he felt something pull on his shirt.

  He froze on the steps. His eyes were blindfolded, so he could not see anything; he could only wait for the other person to let go.

  After five seconds, Chen Ge took another step forward, and he could clearly feel a force pulling from behind him. The person did not plan to let him go, and Chen Ge was not going to force his way through this. He took one step back and felt that the force had weakened greatly.

  A scary thought appeared in his mind. Chen Ge slowly squatted down and whispered behind him, “Da Bao?”


  The pulling force disappeared for a moment, but it soon returned.

  “Is it really you?” Chen Ge tried to speak as slow as he could. “Your parents are looking for you. You’d better go home.”


  Perhaps the sentence triggered the boy because the force started to pull heavily like the boy was trying to drag Chen Ge into the wall.

  “Wait, if you don’t like your parents and don’t want to go home, I can stay to accompany you!” Chen Ge instantly changed tact. “Actually, my childhood was not that memorable either. My parents always argued due to some small issues. Seeing them in that state, I only wanted to curl up in a corner. Other families were so happy and joyful, but my family was always so lonely and cold. Even if the three of us occasionally got together, it always ended up in an argument.”


  What Chen Ge said seemed to work; he could feel the force weakening.

  “Arguing, throwing things around the room, they would sometimes vent their anger on me. The constant arguing made me live my life very carefully; I didn’t dare cry too loudly.” Chen Ge sighed with regret. “Even though I am much older now, I’ll never forget that experience. The wounds haven’t been healed by time, but as time moved on, I have slowly learned to coexist with the pain.”


  Chen Ge squatted on the stairs and turned around to face the darkness, mumbling, “Isn’t it sad? I am just a child. I cannot get an adult’s love, but I have to force myself to be a responsible adult.”


  The force slowly weakened; the words seemed to find resonance in the child.

  “I’ve experienced that loneliness before, so I became very sensitive and cautious to everything. I know how bad that feels, but if you don’t mind, I can be your friend. I do not wish for you to experience the things that I’ve had to go through.”


  The force completely disappeared. Chen Ge maintained his posture. The adult’s response was a mirror for a child. A good response could help the child see the good in themselves, but a bad response would be like a concave mirror, leaving a contorted impression on the child’s growing mind.

  Even though Chen Ge was childless, he had interacted with children many times, and he knew how to form a bond with them. Da Bao came from a sad family background. If it was within his power, Chen Ge was willing to help the child. There was no more sound, and there was no pull on his shirt. The child seemed to have left. Chen Ge could not see anything. His hands pressed against the wall, and he did not feel anything weird.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not leaving you behind. I’m just going to the roof. After I’m done, I’ll be back.”


  After saying that to the darkness, Chen Ge slowly stood up. He was about to continue climbing the stairs when his hand near the banister felt a chill like someone had stuffed a piece of ice into his palm. His fingers trembled. Chen Ge was sure that someone had grabbed his hand. Goosebumps appeared on his neck, and Chen Ge stopped for two seconds before gripping the small hand tighter. “We can go together. You have to promise me one thing. If there’s danger, you have to run and ignore me, okay?”


  With that hand holding him, Chen Ge continued to move up. He successfully moved from the seventh floor to the eleventh floor without any accidents. But when he reached the eleventh floor, the elevator down the corridor rang with a ding as the doors opened. Someone had used the elevator to come to the eleventh floor at midnight. It was unclear whether it was a person or a ghost. To prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings, Chen Ge stopped moving.

  Footsteps appeared in the eleventh-floor corridor. Then came the sound of keys brushing against one another, followed by the key entering the lock. The spring loosened, and the door opened. Just as Chen Ge thought that the person was entering the room, a giant force came from the corridor. Someone was pulling him by his left arm like they were trying to drag Chen Ge into the door that had just opened!

  His body lost its balance. Chen Ge would have fallen if not for the force that pulled on his right hand trying its darnedest to stop Chen Ge from being dragged away.