My House of Horrors

“What’s wrong with you?” Looking at Xiao Du, who was covered in cold sweat, Su Luoluo also started to get nervous.

“I’ll tell you the truth, but don’t be scared.” Xiao Du huddled with Su Luoluo. “I suspect that this place is really haunted.”

“Don’t try to scare me.” Su Luoluo had visited many Haunted Houses before, but she had never seen one like Boss Chen’s before. The place was like a maze, and it was completely open for visitors to explore.

“Mr. Han’s earlier speculation was all wrong; there was not one worker hiding among the mannequins! They were moving on their own!” Xiao Du gripped his hands tightly, causing his knuckles to crack. “We cannot depend on Mr. Han. I have to report this to boss and Brother Song.”

“They left a long time ago… wait, don’t run so fast!” Xiao Du rushed forward in a hurry, leaving Su Luoluo behind. The girl did not know whether she should run after Xiao Du or stayed behind with Ye Xiaoxin to wait for Mr. Han.

“A haunted Haunted House? Mannequins moving on their own?” Ye Xiaoxin added these two comments into her notebook. “Even professional actors from other Haunted House can be scared. This Haunted House sure is something else.”

She gave a very high review. “I’ve not come across such a high-quality Haunted House in a long time, so today should be fun.”

“The boy did not look like he was lying,” Su Luoluo reminded Ye Xiaoxin. “Let us move as well. It’s better if we’re together.”

“It’s my opinion that Haunted Houses are no different from magic. They depend on illusions and psychological tricks to surprise visitors. The realer the illusion, the more successful it’ll be.” Ye Xiaoxin removed her jacket and tied it around her waist. She stretched lazily, and her voluptuously figure annoyed the only audience somewhat. “In this respect, Western Jiujiang’s House of Horrors is undeniably successful.”

“Then you stay here, I’ll go join them.”

The few visitors were thus separated. None of them realized that the bloody letters on the wall continued to deepen as if the blood was trying to seep out of the wall.

…

“Boss, stop defending him. Han Qiuming is talented, yes, but that doesn’t mean we should allow him to insult us like this!” Song An was angry on Guo Miao’s behalf. “Yes, he came up with the design, but all of us contributed to building the set. In fact, he barely contributed in the construction, so what is he so proud about?”

“Calm down, I understand everything you said, but patience goes a long way. After all, he was the designer invited by our sponsor.” Guo Miao was old enough to see many things lightly. “Haunted Houses are a dying trade, and we’re all trying to find work. There’s no reason to fight among ourselves.”

“But did you not see how arrogant he was? He even wanted to replace you! Honestly, if the sponsor listens to him and replaces boss, I’ll hand in my resignation immediately.” Song An was a straightforward person.

“Don’t worry, the sponsor wouldn’t agree.” Guo Miao sighed. Actually, he was not that confident. After being forced to leave Xing Hai, their numbers had been dropping. “Let’s find that tape recorder first. There are fans of Tian Teng Medical School out there, so we cannot disappoint them.”

“Okay.” The two of them continued to move forward. After turning a corner, they found themselves in another corridor. “What is the meaning of this? They want us to keep on walking until the end?”

The place was dim, and the color of the walls deepened as if they were bruised. Stepping on the uneven mattresses, smelling the mixture of antibiotics and some weird stench that perforated the air, it felt like they were inside the intestine of some weird creature.

“There has to be a reason for Boss Chen to design the place like this. It’s probably to increase the authenticity.” Guo Miao peeled off a piece of the wall, and it crumbled in his fingers. “Along the way, I realized some of the numbers outside the rooms weren’t removed. The rooms in the first corridor all started with four, those in the second corridor started with three, and this corridor uses the number two.”

“The numbers are decreasing?”

“I suspect that this whole scenario is based on a building that has four floors in total, and Boss Chen has replicated it perfectly. Each corridor represents a floor of the building.” Looking at the walls, Guo Miao continued. “Even the numbers are preserved in their well-worn state. Not one detail has been missed. This is more than a mere OCD.”

“Yes, I have that impression as well. We create Haunted Houses mainly to scare the visitors, but this Boss Chen’s creations feel like it is more of a reduplication. So many details, including the bloody letters on the walls, this is already a kind of illness.” Song An’s anger started to dwindle as it was replaced by fear. “The bloody sentences have not stopped since we entered this place. It is hard to imagine how the man managed to write all these letters.”

“Some of the bloody letters look fresher than others.” Guo Miao also felt unsettled as an image appeared in his mind—in the middle of the night, the Haunted House’s boss carried a bucket of red paint alone in the dark and started to write down all these letters like he was possessed.

“Before entering this Haunted House, Boss Chen told us that the place has been in operation for five to six years already. Could it be that he planned this scenario with the help of his parents?”

“To use five years to build a single scenario? What is the point of that?” Since they were in the same business, Guo Miao knew how much time and effort were needed to build a scenario as complicated as this. “When we were at the entrance, a few of us peeled off the flooring. Boss Chen even paid attention to places that normal visitors wouldn’t pay attention to. That was incredibly out of place.”

“Wait a minute, the name ‘Third Sick Hall’ sounds quite familiar to me now.” Song An took out his phone, and the result made his face fall. “Boss, the Third Sick Hall is a real place in Jiujiang! Its patients were involved in many crimes like murders. In fact, a few days ago, the police sent out a warrant to capture the escaped patients!”

“So, Boss Chen wasn’t lying?” Guo Miao’s pupils danced. “He brushed over such an important fact?”

“The internet says that the Third Sick Hall was abandoned five years ago, and his Haunted House began operation five years ago!” Song An compared the timelines, and they were a match.

“This is bad!” Guo Miao suddenly remembered something. “Examine the articles closely. Look at the warrant. See whether there is anyone that matches Boss Chen, like similar weight, height, and so on.”

“Boss, you suspect that Boss Chen was once a patient of the Third Sick Hall?”

“Do you think a normal person would spend five years to reconstruct a mental hospital? Every detail here is so authentic—only someone who spent a long time inside a mental hospital could replicate them so perfectly!” The more he thought about it, the more afraid Guo Miao became. “This Boss Chen cleared Tian Teng Medical School with his heartrate not going over one hundred once. How can someone like that be a normal person?”

“How about we just stop this tour and leave immediately?”

“Leaving now might cause us to get targeted.”

“Why?”

“The Third Sick Hall is not normally open to the public, and Boss Chen said that the scenario is not yet completed. Thinking about it now, those were probably all excuses.” Guo Miao felt like killing Han Qiuming. “This place is probably hiding a huge secret.”

Song An realized how severe Guo Miao’s expression had gotten. He whispered, “What kind of secret?”

“Before I arrived, I spoke with the manager of New Century Park. The man mentioned in passing that Boss Chen’s parents disappeared mysteriously half a year ago without leaving behind any clues.” Looking at the crazed sentences written in blood, Guo Miao’s heart was frozen in fear.

“Mysterious disappearance?” Song An’s shock turned into terror. His eyes bulged as if he was suddenly reminded of something.