chapter 3
Drip, drip.
Blood seeped from the hem of my dress and fell to the floor.
Jiang Xiaoxiao pointed at the blood that had appeared out of nowhere, her expression shifting from shock to fury:
“Who’s there? Jiang Ye, is that you?”
“Stop pretending to be a ghost and scaring me!”
She stomped her foot hard, straight onto the pool of blood.
“This blood on the floor—did you hurt yourself again?”
“It’s useless. No matter how much you hurt yourself, no one will care about you.”
“They only care about me.”
With that, she staggered to her feet and grabbed her keys, heading for the door.
I tilted my head and followed behind her.
Ghosts aren’t like Western monsters. We don’t kill outright by hacking and slashing.
We use a person’s deepest secrets and weaknesses to provoke their fear.
The moment they’re drowning in fear is the moment they taste best.
The key turned once in the lock.
The door didn’t open.
As if something was blocking it from inside.
“Jiang Ye, are you in there?”
“How did you get in?”
Jiang Xiaoxiao demanded.
Her voice was steady, but I could see cold sweat beading on her forehead.
“Get out of my way!”
She used anger to cover her unease.
She pressed her body hard against the door and shoved inward.
Just as she put all her strength into it, I pressed my hand against the door.
It burst open with a bang.
Jiang Xiaoxiao pitched forward and fell to the ground.
The curses were on the tip of her tongue, but her expression froze.
She stared wide-eyed at the doorway.
The peace doll was wedged in the crack of the door, its head pressed against it, its mouth stretched into a stiff, forced grin, smiling at her.
Jiang Xiaoxiao’s bag slid off her right shoulder, tumbled across the floor.
Her phone fell out.
The screen lit up—it was a call from the hospital.
Jiang Xiaoxiao stared at the doll, not even glancing at her phone.
I answered the call for her.
The doctor’s voice came through: “Ms. Jiang Xiaoxiao, when the nurse went on duty tonight, she found that Ms. Jiang Ye had taken her own life.”
I suppose my death was too bizarre, because even the doctor from that shady hospital sounded a little shaky.
“Suicide?”
Jiang Xiaoxiao murmured.
“Suicide’s good.”
“Now the Jiang family only has one daughter left. Me.”
She swallowed hard and kicked the doll by the door away.
“It’s all an illusion.”
“It’s all an illusion.”
The sticky blood from the doll slowly ran down her face.
Jiang Xiaoxiao stood up and kicked off her high heels.
Barefoot, she walked to the bathroom.
I cricked my neck.
It seemed this fake daughter didn’t watch horror movies.