Chapter 22: Picking Up Mama

"M-Mama?" Chuan Nayi echoed the address. She turned to the door and held herself against it, hearing the voice coming from the other side. "A-Are you going to help me?"

"Yes, but you have to take that thing off first."

Chuan Nayi looked down at her bracelet that was trembling in her wrist. She remembered all the warnings Li Feng gave her about wearing it.

Most ghosts that would like to hurt her would plead her to take it off. She bit into her lower lip, touching the lock of the bracelet. Tears dripped down her eyes, but she wiped it off with the back of her hand.

She ducked down and tried to see under the door. She could only make out a few objects. Soon, she noticed that the floor was reflecting the room faintly. She could make out the sleeping man on the chair, and another figure was seated on the chair she previously used. It was small, but it was in modern clothes.

The sound of the crunching shower curtain took her attention. She sat up and turned to the direction of the shower and saw a blood figure of a woman emerging from the cubicle. Its movements were stiff as if the flesh was fragile.

The bracelet kept on trembling as the blood woman pushed against its invisible barrier. The laughter kept on getting louder, from a victorious tone to a murderous tone. Chuan Nayi could only hold onto her wrist as she backed up against the corner.

"Die, die, die..." The blood woman started scratching against the barrier.

The blood water had overflowed from the sink and spilled on the floor. The shower cubicle had also flooded, adding to the spill. The blood came to Chuan Nayi's feet, making the girl scream as she jerked up and consumed less floor area. She was trying not to get in contact with the blood, but she could only scream as she kicked at nothing.

Soon, there was banging against the door. The girl had no idea if it was Liu Xiaodan, but hearing no voice on top of the laughing woman made her lose hope. Resorting to the dangerous promise, Chuan Nayi ended up tearing the bracelet off of her wrist. "Help me!"

As soon as she did, the blood woman dispersed and fell to the spilling blood on the floor. The banging on the door also stopped.

Chuan Nayi held her breath as she felt everything had calmed before her. She let her breath out loud as hot liquid crawled down her leg. The girl noticed that she had peed herself in fear, but the pale yellowish liquid avoided mixing with her reflection on the floor. She stared at it before noticing that the woman in the reflection leaned closer.

Her eyes widened as the blood woman started to emerge right in front of her. Her bladder would not stop as her tears came back to her eyes. Chuan Nayi stared at the image of a woman made of blood, who was copying her silhouette. The blood woman was about to swing her arm back when she turned to the direction of the mirror.

On the counter stood a child in a brown hoodie and cargo shorts. His hood was pulled up, but it barely covered his dark hair and red eyes. His ghastly white skin made him glow, but his dark aura was nothing innocent and pure.

"No..." Chuan Nayi gasped softly as she recognized the child. It was the same child that killed Huang Kun and the one that she spotted in the café with her mother. She would move, but her joints were locked in place.

Surprisingly, the blood woman breathed aloud. "Xiao Guangru, why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be tailing those other humans?"

"Yeah." His red eyes glared intensely at them. "No."

Before the blood woman could say something in response, she staggered back to the corner of the room. She was hugging herself as the spilling blood came towards her. It was as if the liquid was going inside her, but Chuan Nayi's mind was too confused to think.

All she knew was that she was not yet dead...

Another ear-splitting scream echoed in the room as the woman suddenly exploded. Chuan Nayi was too frozen to shield herself, letting the blood paint the whole of her. No blood splattered on Guangru though.

The human let out a cry one more time before collapsing to the ground. The moment she did, there was nothing on the floor or on the walls. However, she did feel sitting on a warm liquid around her.

Notwithstanding the gross liquid, she fell to the floor. She curled up and cried so loud. She called out a name, but she knew he would not hear him at all.

Small tapping came to the floor, and a hand patted her head. Chuan Nayi looked up to see the owner, only to see Guangru in front of her. She stared at him for a while before he took a hold of her shoulder. He pulled on her shirt as if making her sit.

"Mama, you have to change. That's gross..." The ghost child kept on pulling until she did. "Mama, let's walk outside." He extended his hands towards her. "A walk! Walk!"

"Mama?" Chuan Nayi whispered as she looked up at the child. In contrast to an angry face of the dead, the one standing before her was a sweet boy.

She noticed that his hood had slipped off of his head, revealing the silky black hair tousled by the fabric. The mother pulled herself up with her eyes fixed on the child. She was weak, but she took both of his hands with hers.

A smile rose from Guangru's lips. In a blink, they were both gone.

At the same moment, the father—who was sleeping on the chair—fell over to the side. A loud groan followed the motion, and he rubbed his sore head. Liu Xiaodan then looked around for his girl. He felt something was radiating from inside the bathroom. It was as if there was a leftover from the actions of the ghosts.

"Nayi?" Liu Xiaodan moved his sluggish legs and noticed something was wrong. He looked at his hands and felt like he had not moved them for a long while. His muscles had tensed and hardened... as if something had put him under a spell.

He looked around again and called out with a louder voice. "Nayi?!"

The horseman managed to get up with the help of the chair he toppled. He dragged his legs to the bathroom to check. He heard no water was running, and so he was free to swing the door open. He twisted the knob and pushed the door with a crack.

"Nayi?" He peeked and saw no more than a yellowish liquid on the floor. The washbasin and the cloths were left on the counter. "Where did she go?"

He was about to leave as he closed the door when something got caught under the panel. He pushed the door wider, only to see the broken bracelet. "Shit."

With a heightened desire to go outside and look, Liu Xiaodan ran towards the door. He did not open it; he just passed through. Upon realizing so, he was suddenly pulled back into reality.

He crashed into a body and fell to the floor with him. They both groaned as Liu Xiaodan got hit by a wall-like person while Wen Taio got his head knocked against the flooring.

"Xiaodan?" Xu Disung called out his name.

"Guys..." Liu Xiaodan continued to groan as he pulled himself away from Wen Taio. He sat on the floor and looked up to see their confused faces. He noticed Ruan Jin was standing right before Wen Taio and Xu Disung was holding the knob of the main door.

"Bro, where did you come from?" Ruan Jin forced words out of his mouth.

"That doesn't matter! Nayi's missing!" Liu Xiaodan failed to think of an explanation. He tried to get up again, but his legs refused to move again.

He was lucky Ruan Jin came to him and caught him before he fell face flat on the floor. He held onto the support his friend was giving him, but he still could not understand what happened to his body. He just slid down again and took deep breaths.

"This is all my fault. Dammit, why did I fall asleep?" He mumbled as he held his whole face with a hand. "Nayi..."

…

Chuan Nayi was actually taken back to her dorm. She was taking a shower to get rid of the piss and sweat from earlier. She refreshed the events earlier in the boy's dorm: the haunting of a woman made of blood and the actions of the ghost child.

She finished and walked out of the shower. She took her towel and dried herself before holding a dryer for her hair.

'That woman called him Xiao Guangru...' She stared at her reflection on the mirror as she dried her hair. 'Is that his name? He has a name?'

She brought the dryer down and used her other hand to hold her mouth. The images of Huang Kun's death came back to mind. 'A monster like that has a name?'

She then remembered what Liu Xiaodan told her during the interrogation. 'Xiaodan could see that child from the stairs, and he was not showing signs of seeing him there.

'What did he mean by those words, too? He's always watching us? He will kill the officers... because I was getting distraught?' She shook her head and brought her hand down. She hung her head and huffed. "No, I can't do this anymore..."

"Do what, Mama?" Guangru, who had been watching her from behind, spoke as he heard his mother's exhausted and frightened sigh.

"...You..." Chuan Nayi lifted her face to see a reflection of a child standing by the door. She turned to him and leaned her behind against the counter of the sink. "What do you want from me?"

Guangru only smiled. "It's a secret. Only Baba knows."

Chuan Nayi glared at him, mustering the courage she could gather. She knew this child was more dangerous than the blood woman, but she could tell he was not in for the scare.

She then dropped her gaze to the floor, feeling how wet her hair still was. However, she ditched the drier by turning it off before pulling the plug. She only took a towel from the side to pat dry her hair.

"If you don't tell me, I'm not coming with you anymore..."—she looked up at him—"Xiao Guangru..."

"Ah." The child gasped a little before grinning widely. He raised his arms up in the air in glee. "Mama called me by my name! Yay! She called me by my name!"

Guangru then ran up to her and held onto her waist. "I can't wait to go out with Mama! I walk with Baba, but I haven't walked with Mama yet! Hurry up and change!"

"Didn't you hear what I just said? If you don't—"

"Yeah, I wish this happens every day! No class all of a sudden! No math quiz!"

"I stayed up all night for that! Ugh!"

Chuan Nayi's eyes widened as she heard the voices of her friends and roommates outside. Her eyes shot to the door as their chattering started. She then brought her gaze down to the ghost child before her. She watched him curl his lips and made a rather creepy innocent look.

"Hurry up and change, Mama." Guangru continued to smile.

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