My House of Horrors

It does feel safer with the hammer.

Chen Ge put on his backpack and left the Haunted House, carrying his phone. Lychee’s show was continuing; she had moved onto the third story. This story was particularly detailed, like she had been through it herself.

To scariest part was that it seemed to be a sequel of the first story. In other words, in the third story, the taxi driver was actually the ghost from the first story.

A ghost taxi driver, that does sound like their style.

Chen Ge waited for a long time at the entrance of New Century Park before they finally found a taxi. It was already 11:30 pm.

Should be enough time.

Chen Ge opened the car door, and before he got in, he heard the rather old-fashioned song coming from the radio. The air-con was not on, and the driver was a middle-aged man. He leaned his arm on the car window, and he moved his head following the rhythm.

This man looks so familiar.

After looking at the man’s face for a long time, he finally remembered it was this driver who had driven him to Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy to complete Zhang Ya’s Bloody Heart Mission. When the knife accidentally fell from his pocket as he reached for his phone, the driver had thought that he was trying to rob him. He had used the banner at the top of his car to ask for help. This was such a coincidence.

“Where are you going?”

Chen Ge was afraid that the man might reject him if he recognized him, so he blocked half of his face with his hands and climbed into the car quickly. He closed the door and said, “Huai Hua Street at the old part of town. I’m in a rush, so please be quick.”

“Huai Hua Street?” The driver lowered the volume on his radio. It seemed like he was conflicted.

“Is there a problem? Do you need extra money?”

“The place is not far, but I hear the place is cursed. Many of my fellow drivers won’t go there.”

“You still believe in stuff like that in this day and age?” Chen Ge said without batting an eye. “Do you mind hurrying? I’m in a rush.”

“But sometimes you have to believe it. A few weeks ago, I ran into something weird.” The driver started the engine and continued. “There was this man who wanted me to drive him to an abandoned school in the middle of the night. I didn’t think too much of it and drove him there, but guess what happened.”

“What?”

“The guy said that he was going on a date, do you know how I felt then? I had a mad man in the car with me in the middle of the night. I was fearing for my life!” The more he talked about it, the more distressed he became. “I suffered from a fever the next day. It was really a curse. I quickly asked my wife to acquire a talisman from the nearby temple. After I took a weeklong rest, I finally found the courage to drive again.”

“Was it that scary?” Chen Ge felt embarrassed. He did not realize that his adventures would cause trouble for others.

“You have to believe me, I’m not lying to you. The man was actually about your size. He looked so normal, but who knows…” The driver glanced at Chen Ge through the rearview mirror, and a chill slowly climbed up from his feet. Why is there a sense of familiarity?

The color on his face faded, and he asked as a test, “Brother, have we met somewhere before?”

Chen Ge believed that the man had recognized him already. “Thank you for driving me to Western Jiujiang’s Private Academy last time. I didn’t expect it would give you so much trouble, I’m sorry.”

The driver’s face froze. He took out the talisman from inside his clothes and tore it up. “Actually, I recognized you when you got in the car. I was just kidding, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. How shall I refer to you? I’m a worker at the amusement park, perhaps we can be friends.” Chen Ge had run into this uncle twice already. He did not know what the uncle thought about him, but he admired the uncle’s optimistic attitude.

The driver looked at the completely empty and dark amusement park, and he said in a quivering voice, “My name is Zhang.”

The two chatted for a while. The driver was still guarded around Chen Ge, just like a rabbit trapped inside a cage with a lion. His hands that gripped the steering wheel were bursting with veins.

Chen Ge was rather helpless when he saw this. It looked like he had left too big a trauma in the driver’s heart that night. Since the driver did not feel like making friends, Chen Ge did not disturb him. He continued to listen to Lychee’s story, hoping to find some information on the ghost stories society.

The eerie music filled up the car, and Lychee’s stories were based on Huai Hua Street. The victims were all taxi drivers, and this made the uncle who drove the taxi start to sweat. He forced himself not to listen, to focus on driving.

When it was nineteen minutes away from midnight, the taxi arrived at the old part of town. The car stopped fifty or so meters away from Huai Hua Street. No matter what Chen Ge said, he would not move forward anymore. Chen Ge felt sorry for the uncle, so he left in a hurry.

The moment he closed the door, the taxi drove away without hesitation.

Am I that scary? The uncle sure is a coward.

Chen Ge looked at the leaving taxi, but it stopped after moving about fifty meters. There was someone waving at him from another alleyway.

A shadow exited the alley and got into the car. The driver did not want to stay there any longer, so after the door closed, he left like his life depended on it.

Wait, someone was calling for a taxi?

Chen Ge thought back to the man’s every action. The distance was far, and the day was dark, so he did not get a good look.

Wait, the person who exited the alley…

Chen Ge narrowed his eyes.

They were running backwards!

Chen Ge put away his phone. Lychee had started her fifth ghost story that was also related to taxi drivers. He ran to the alley, but the taxi had already left.

I need to find him! Chen Ge rushed to stand in the middle of the street. He did not care whether the next taxi had passengers in it or not; he halted it.

“There should be a chat group among all the taxi drivers, right? Help me find someone, quick! He’s in mortal danger!”

The driver was spooked by Chen Ge. Using Chen Ge’s description, the driver managed to contact that Zhang driver.

“Ol’ Zhang, where are you now?”

“Tonight’s customers are all so weird. I just dropped someone at Huai Hua Street, and this new customer wants me to drive him to the bus stop near Jiujiang Crematorium, saying he has left something there.”