Something Was Amiss

I didn't dare look at them and I didn't know why they surrounded me. I felt so cold as if I was on a snowy plain by myself and there was cold air surging toward me from all directions. I felt chills creeping into my heart.

The stalemate lasted for a long time, until suddenly, the murmurs stopped.

As I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a cold hand slapped on my shoulder, sending a shiver down my spine. My heart almost burst on the spot.

I held my breath and turned my head slightly. I could vaguely see a large pale hand on my shoulder in my peripheral view. It was definitely not a human hand.

It was a ghost!

"Amitabha, Amitabha..." I recited my chants.

After awhile, the hand slowly slipped off my shoulder.

I chanted Amitabha again until my surroundings were quiet, even the sound of wind could not be heard.

I sighed and reached out my hand to wipe away the sweat on my forehead. I thought that the danger had lifted. As soon as I looked up, I saw a pale face with upside down eyes. It was a short skinny man. The eyes that were turned upside down suddenly mechanically flipped up, down, left, and right in the bloody eye socket. I was so shocked.

I retracted my head, shrunk my body into a ball, and started sobbing.

If I knew that all this would happen, I would not have entered the cemetery even if it had cost my life. What exactly was the cemetery? It's a place where terrifying entities reside. One wrong step would make me into their plaything.

Rumors said that ghosts were proficient in possessing bodies. Once they possessed bodies that had the same frequency as themselves, they would never be able to leave. When the ghost's thoughts completely devoured the spirit of the possessed person, then that person would no longer be himself. All his thoughts and his behaviors would be controlled by the ghost.

If it was a harmless ghost, it would be fine- a malicious ghost however, would inevitably do evil deeds.

I had a natural-born body that condensed yin energy. Also, this was my first time coming to this place. I had never been on the path leading to the cemetery so only when I went, I realized that the place was infested with ghosts.

Not all of them were harmless. In particular, the man who had its eyes moving non-stop was quite sinister.

"Sixi!"

A familiar voice rang above me.

Shocked, a shiver ran up my spine. But right after, I recognized that it was Silly Er's voice.

I raised my head in disbelief. The tall and towering person standing in front of me was actually Silly Er.

I glanced around again. I saw nothing else; even the ghost fire above the tombs disappeared without a trace.

"Stupid girl, what are you doing!?" Chubby Boy's cry came from afar.

I quickly looked into the direction of the voice, there I could see him more than two hundred meters away from me. Chubby Boy, Lin Xiao, and Zi Yang were waving vigorously towards me and Silly Er. Of course, I couldn't see them clearly as I was so far away. I could only see the outlines of the three villains standing while waving their arms there.

I was dumbfounded.

What about the fog? Why did it disappear so quickly?

How come everything went back to normal in the blink of an eye as if it was a dream.

Was what I just saw a reality or an illusion?

It couldn't be an illusion!

My blindfold had fallen off. How could it be an illusion? Obviously, what I saw was something that normal people couldn't see.

However, fortunately, the ghosts were gone, and I'm still alive and well.

As long as I'm alive! Just stay alive!

I let out a long sigh. It almost took all my strength to stand back up. I put on my blindfold with trembling hands and bent down to pick up the flashlight that was not far away, and shone it at Silly Er's face. It was the familiar fair and clear face.

I finally felt relieved after confirming it was indeed Silly Er.

"Sixi," Silly Er called me.

I glared at him, raised my hand to grab his ear, and scolded indignantly, "Why did you run around? I almost lost my life trying to find you."

I couldn't help but get annoyed. Though, when I grabbed Silly Er's ear like this usually, Silly Er would definitely whimper and howl. However, this time he was surprisingly quiet, and just stared at me with a deadly gaze.

His eyes gleamed in a sinister manner, turning my heart cold, and I quickly let him go.

He stood up straight, looked down at me in an imposing manner, and said, "Let's head back."

"...Oh."

Silly Er turned around and steadily strode towards Chubby Boy and his lackeys' directions.

I followed him, still feeling the lingering fear from the moment before.

After walking for a while, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. It was just that I was in so much shock that I could not make much sense of anything that was happening.

But putting it to the back of my mind, my first priority was to go home safely first.

I quickly met up with Chubby Boy.When I got there, the three of them all had ugly and scary faces. They didn't ask much, and just turned around and walked away in haste. After a short sprint, they jogged all the way back from the ghostly cemetery.

I could finally feel more at ease after I saw the lights from the households in the village.

Chubby Boy and the group had long ran away ahead of us without leaving any trace, and probably went back home for dinner.

Silly Er and I strolled along the path. He walked quite fast and I kept behind. I felt that something was wrong, usually Silly Er did everything slowly, and walking was no exception. Although he was tall and the oldest among the kids, he always followed the crowd obediently. However, now he walked upright with calm strides.

I came to a stop and it was like my feet were nailed to the ground; I couldn't walk even half a step.

I quickly realized that something was amiss.

Silly Er!

Silly Er would not have been able to enunciate clearly aside from calling my name. Back then in the cemetery, he had clearly spoken - 'Let's head back!'

My hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Was this guy still Silly Er?

Could he be possessed by a ghost?

If that was the case, then the things I saw in the cemetery were not hallucinations. Those entities really appeared, but I didn't know why they suddenly disappeared.

I couldn't make any sense of the situation.

Silly Er stopped and seemed to realize that I did not follow him. He turned around and looked at me straight in the eye with a handsome but stern face.

"Why do you stop?"

"Ugh... I... I..."

"I will take you back, then I will go home."

He spoke monotonously but every word of his carried a strong intent despite being a little mechanical. I could still sense a chilly vibe from it as well.

I swallowed my saliva as imminent panic crept upon me.

He was talking to me again, and yet it was so smooth - he couldn't be Silly Er.

I stuttered for a long time, and finally squeezed out words that made sense, "No need. I... I will head back by myself."

Before he could answer, I ran away in a haste.

I sprinted all the way back to my house. I quickly entered the yard and closed the entrance swiftly before sitting on the ground, collapsing on the floor - almost completely exhausted and paralyzed.

As I ran all the way here, I became drenched with sweat. It seemed as though I was caught with heavy rain as my whole body completely wet.

However, I finally felt relieved when I entered my safe yard.

On the door of the courtyard, my aunt had re-attached the statues of gods, so no entities could enter.

A faint light appeared through the glass window. I could see my aunt's shadow pacing back and forth on the window.

I got up and entered the house feebly. As soon as I entered the door, my aunt rushed over. She started hitting my back and bottom.

"Where did you go? Didn't I tell you to get home before dark?"

I did not have a chance to speak up and I would not even dare to tell her about what happened tonight.

"Say it. Where have you been?" She asked sharply.

I closed my mouth tightly and didn't say anything.

Seeing my dumb silence, my aunt's brow furrowed and the anger in her eyes became more intense.