Récit de massacre de démons

Chapitre 3

Reply [8]: It must be so, it must be so.

The older sister continued, "Shen Anting was crying on the phone. She said all men are bad, and that you're too cruel and heartless. You used to cherish her like a precious jewel, but now you're just watching her die. Not only are you watching her die, but you're telling her to die, preferably by hanging herself. You're even suggesting she use an atomic rope to end her life in one go..."

I lowered my head.

The older sister continued, her voice growing increasingly somber and hard: "...Shen Anting made a vicious oath on the phone, saying she would die to show you, that she would haunt you even as a ghost—oh no, I misspoke, she said she would come back as a ghost and kill your girlfriends. She'd kill every one you dated, making you suffer for the rest of your life to vent her hatred. She told me to pass these words on to you..."

I suddenly felt as if I were immersed in an icy sea from my toes to my hairline, stiff and aching, cold and tight.

"Brother!"

"Sister..."

"I think as long as we do some preparation beforehand, and you don't have any connection with her, no matter how fierce Shen Anting is, we can't afford to mess with her!"

"How should we prepare beforehand?"

"Have a few deities enshrined in the house, and put up Taoist talismans on the door. Wouldn't that solve the problem once and for all? As long as you and Shen Anting don't have a formal relationship, she can't enter your house!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

I opened the door, but there was no one outside.

But the bell kept ringing loudly.

"Look at you, so distraught! The phone's ringing!" my sister said.

"Hello!" I picked up the phone. It was An Ting's father calling. On the other end, I heard his hoarse voice: "Oh dear, come to the funeral home quickly! An Ting's eyes have been constantly filled with tears. I've heard that when a corpse sheds tears, it means the deceased can't let go of their dearest loved ones. My wife and I talked to her body for ages, but her eyes still wouldn't close, and her tears kept flowing. I think she must be waiting for you to come and comb her hair..."

My heart was burning with anxiety, and I rushed to the funeral home.

My older sister followed along.

As An Ting's father had said, tears streamed down An Ting's face, neck, and even her collar, soaking her completely.

An Ting's mother stretched out a trembling hand. In that withered hand, she held a comb. I heard her choked voice say to me, "Just comb my daughter's hair now and say some kind words to her. She definitely won't cry anymore. She can go in peace..."

I took the comb, my hands trembling, my heart trembling even more.

Just as I was wondering how to bring it up, my sister snatched the comb from my hand and handed it back to An Ting's mother.

The older sister spoke clearly, word by word: "Auntie, my younger brother is absolutely not allowed to comb or tangle Shen Anting's hair!"

The two elders' expressions changed drastically at the same time, and they blurted out simultaneously, "Why?"

The older sister replied sternly, "It's not for any particular reason, but my younger brother simply cannot marry the ghost of Shen Anting!"

An Ting's father, panting with excitement, said, "But your brother has already agreed..." He looked at me, and in his eyes, there was pain, anger, hurt, sorrow, and even more despair.

An Ting's mother said hoarsely, "If you agree and then go back on your word, An Ting will die with her eyes wide open in disbelief..."

"You don't need to scare my brother like this!" the older sister said angrily. "When Shen Anting was alive, she was the one who did something wrong and let my brother down. Now that she's dead, my brother is already being more than kind by helping with the funeral arrangements. And yet you're pushing your luck, demanding that my brother marry your dead daughter. That's going too far!"

---janeadam

Reply [9]: "We didn't hold a knife to his throat to force him!" An Ting's father, his face covered with age spots, looked tired and weary. He murmured, "He agreed to it himself. He agreed on the other end, and then he brought out his older sister to make excuses to us two old folks..."

I lowered my head and dared not utter a sound.

"Uncle!" The older sister's voice swept over like a machine gun, "You're wrong to say that. Although you two old folks didn't hold a knife to my brother's neck and force him, you knelt on the ground and kowtowed, refusing to get up. My brother couldn't bear it, and because he's a good person, he agreed. He's young and doesn't know any better, doesn't understand the consequences. I'm his own sister, and I have no reason to watch my brother do such a foolish thing. It was I who refused to let him marry Shen Anting's ghost. If you want to blame someone, blame me. Even if Shen Anting is angry and wants revenge, please come to me. It has nothing to do with my brother. But I'm making this clear here: if Shen Anting's ghost dares to come knocking on our door again, we won't be polite!"

An Ting's father started coughing violently, his face turning purplish-red. He showed no signs of stopping coughing for a long time, and he was hunched over coughing. I couldn't help but worry that he might have coughed up the wrong air, but I didn't have the courage to look up and face his pained, pale, and aged face.

An Ting's mother pounded her heart and cried, "So be it! Let's just consider it karma for the sins our Shen family committed in our past life! An Ting is so cruel, she made us two old folks suffer, we didn't have a good life in our old age..."

The older sister softened her tone: "Uncle, Aunt, I have my own reasons for not wanting my brother to marry your deceased daughter! If my brother were your precious son, and the deceased Shen Anting was someone else's daughter, I believe you wouldn't let your son do this either. Besides, my brother and Shen Anting broke up three months ago, and they've gone their separate ways, owing each other nothing. No matter how much Shen Anting wronged my brother while she was alive, she's dead now, so it's all over. But if my brother suffers any more loss, how can you two live with yourselves? Although my brother didn't marry your daughter's spirit, he will still take care of you two in the future. He'll visit you in your village when he has time, and he'll help you if you need anything..."

"You can leave!" An Ting's father said, his throat tightening. "We Shen people don't need your help or assistance!"

"Let's go!" An Ting's mother cried, "You don't need to worry about my daughter's funeral arrangements anymore!"

Without saying a word, my sister grabbed me and started to stride away from the funeral home.

Just as we turned and took a step, a sudden gust of cold wind swirled in the funeral home, lingering around my brother and me. Then came the sound of thunder and lightning outside, and a strong wind and rain began to blow. The sound of that thunderclap, at first glance, sounded just like a woman's mournful howl, which gradually turned into a lingering groan.

An overwhelming sense of terror immediately filled my mind.

When my eyes met my sister's, I quickly realized what was going on.

An Ting is furious!

I felt a sudden, intense chill, as if I'd been electrocuted.

Although I couldn't see it with my naked eye or touch it with my hands, the atmosphere inside the funeral home was truly eerie and strange. I could feel the immense pressure and was certain that An Ting was absolutely furious at that moment!

Instinctively, I let out screams and stumbled out of the funeral home, running outside. Despite the pouring rain, I kept running. My sister caught up with me and held up an umbrella to shield me from the rain. Only then did I stop to catch my breath and look back. The funeral home stood bare and gray in the grayness, appearing even more gloomy and desolate.

In the car, the older sister muttered, "Little brother! Why are you so scared?"

My mind was in complete turmoil: "It's a lie to say I'm not afraid!"

“Scared! There will definitely be some fear,” the older sister said irritably. “But if you think about it, you don’t owe her anything! What’s there to be afraid of? On the contrary, she owes you something!”

"That's true," I said, completely distraught, "but the reason she went to hang herself was all my fault!"

"What do you mean you killed her! She killed herself!"

"Sister, just now at the funeral home, I felt that An Ting was angry..."

---janeadam

Reply [10]: "So what if she gets angry? Is she the only one who gets angry? We can get angry too! She got pregnant and wanted you to eat her dead cat, but you refused. That's only natural. Who can she blame? When she hanged herself, she wanted to take advantage of us and become our ghost, but you refused. That's only natural. Who can she blame? The one to blame is herself for being so weak!"

"Sister, do you think... An Ting might... come back and cause trouble..."

“If she comes back and causes trouble, I have a way to deal with her! There’s a saying: ‘If you have a clear conscience, you won’t be afraid of a knock at the door in the middle of the night.’ Brother, even if you don’t tell her to hang herself, she will still try to kill herself when she has nowhere else to turn! You can’t be afraid of her, so just go for it. If she dares to come back and cause trouble, I have the ability to make sure she never gets out of this world!”

"Stop talking! Stop talking!" I dared not think any further. The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became, and my heart ached as if a sharp knife was being stabbed into my heart.

When I got home, I took a shower first. When I came out of the shower, I saw a locksmith changing the key. "Isn't it unnecessary to be so nervous about changing the lock in the middle of the night?" I said to my sister.

"What do you know!" My sister rolled her eyes at me. "We shouldn't delay."

The locks on all the doors in the house, both the front and back, have been changed, and the locksmith has left. My sister breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Alright, you can sleep peacefully now. Tomorrow, I'll go to the temple to get some talismans to put on. After another week, we can set up altars for Guan Yu, Guanyin, and other Bodhisattvas. You can sleep even more soundly then!"

"Sister," I protested in a low voice, "changing the locks and putting up a few talismans is enough. I don't want the house to look like a shrine!"

What? You're not afraid anymore!

"I'm a little scared, but turning my home into a shrine makes me really uncomfortable!"

"Then, fine, whatever you say."

After my sister left, I lay in bed, tossing and turning, finding it extremely difficult to fall asleep. I don't know when I finally drifted off, but then came a series of short, chaotic, and completely disjointed nightmares. Each time, I would wake up quickly and fall back asleep just as fast...

The next day, I couldn't find peace of mind, so I didn't go to work at the accounting firm and went straight to the funeral home.

However, An Ting's parents are no longer with her.

Even An Ting's body was taken away.

I found an old handyman, slipped him a dollar, and asked, "Did that elderly couple surnamed Shen take their daughter's body away early this morning?"

The old handyman cleared his throat, spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the ground, looked me over, and then said, "Oh, you mean that elderly couple surnamed Shen? They didn't leave early this morning, they left in the middle of the night last night!"

"You left in the middle of the night last night?"

"Yes!" the old handyman said, shaking his head. "They secretly found a car and transported their dead daughter's body back to the countryside. If you had been there last night, sir, I guarantee you would have been terrified too..."

My heart felt like it had been stabbed, and I knew something was wrong.

really.

The old handyman recounted the story at length: "I've worked at this funeral home for over thirty years, and I've never seen anything so horrifying! That woman surnamed Shen clearly died with her eyes wide open! It took seven or eight people to lift her body and put it in the coffin. Those who carried it said her body was as heavy as an iron mountain. And that wasn't all; when her body was moved, the bunch of keys she was holding jingled, sounding so terrifying, like a summoning of a spirit. Also, her eyes were slightly open, tears were constantly streaming down her face, her tongue was sticking out at the corner of her lips, and her stomach seemed to be even more swollen..."

I interrupted him: "So, were they able to move the body after that?"

The old man continued, spitting as he spoke, "Originally, it was too heavy to lift. Then, an experienced man suggested that the old man surnamed Shen lie down next to his daughter's body, and that he be lifted into the coffin as well. That way, the body could be placed inside smoothly. When the old man got up from the coffin, I saw it clearly: the body's tears had stopped flowing, but its eyes were bulging out—it was terrifying! Later, everyone suggested that to avoid further trouble on the way, it would be better to seal the coffin quickly. Oh, sir, if you were there, even with your eyes closed, just hearing the sound would make your legs go weak! You don't know! The sound of the hammer striking—thump! thump! thump!—one after another, sounded like it was being struck on the top of your head. And with each thump, thump, thump, a sob came from inside the coffin, high and low—clearly the body was crying! Later…"

---janeadam

Reply [11]: I felt a chill: "What happened next?"

The old handyman, still shaken, said, "That woman surnamed Shen hanged herself while heavily pregnant! How could it not be a vengeful ghost? The cart carrying her body, even though it was on a flat road, felt like it was on a mountain road, bumping and jolting all the way. The engine stalled before we even reached the intersection. In the end, we had to have the old man surnamed Shen lie on top of the coffin so the cart could move smoothly. Poor old man, he had to lie on the coffin like that for four or five hours before we could get home! He was so old, if he hadn't been able to hold on, had fainted, or fallen, he probably would have been done for! But we had no choice; we couldn't lift or carry his dead daughter's body. If we didn't follow the ancient customs, and the time was wasted, his daughter might miss the time for burial or cremation, and the Shen family would be cursed for life. Not only would the two old folks have no peace, but innocent people would also suffer..."

My heart was pounding, and I rushed back to work in the accounting building.

A subtle commotion and disturbance, figures everywhere, feet moving and hands waving, sounds buzzing overhead, the surrounding colors shifting between black, blue, and gray...

I fainted.

When I woke up, I was already in my own bed. My colleagues from work brought me back, and they left after seeing that I was awake.

For some reason, once my colleague left, the whole room seemed to grow larger, making me feel even more helpless, lonely, and isolated.

I told myself a thousand times not to think about An Ting anymore, but An Ting's shadow, like a dog whirring and finding its way, found me again.

I can't stand here either.

I can't sit down.

I can't just lie down.

Finally, I found several sleeping pills that Anting had left behind in the drawer.

Right now, I'm telling myself that when I wake up, it will be a new day, and all the lingering shadows will completely disappear.

The medication took effect, and I drifted off to sleep.

I created a dream.

I dreamt of my sister, and Anting's parents. The four of us carried Anting's coffin up the mountain to her grave. The grave was incredibly high, requiring a long, winding mountain path to reach it. The path snaked its way up the mountain like a giant python. Looking out, the cemetery was a mountain of graves, thousands upon thousands of old and new mounds, piled high along the slope, row upon row, crammed together. The entire arc-shaped valley was filled with tombstones, high and low, like a stone forest, silent and still, shrouded in boundless desolation. The four of us carried the coffin up the mountain, splitting into two lines. Anting's father led the way on the left, with my sister bringing up the rear. Anting's mother led the way on the right, and I supported her at the very back. The mountain path from halfway up to the summit was extremely steep, with rugged and uneven stone steps that rose and fell dramatically. The four of us had to keep pace to avoid swaying from side to side, so we were very careful with each step. However, the higher we went, the steeper the slope became, and the greater the inclination of the coffin. My sister, Li, was at the back, and the weight on her shoulders grew heavier and heavier, pressing down on her. My cheek pressed tightly against the rough coffin, and my jawbone began to ache. Sweat began to pour from my head and back. The four of us struggled for a long time, only reaching halfway up. Everyone was starting to feel exhausted, but we continued to climb silently, hearing each other's panting. Suddenly, my right foot slipped, and I stepped on a loose stone. I stumbled, my right leg buckling and I kneeling. The entire coffin then pressed down on my left shoulder, sliding towards me. A sharp, piercing pain shot through my shoulder; the bottom of the coffin felt as if it were embedded in my flesh. My vision blurred, tears streamed down my face, and I nearly collapsed backward. In a panic, I disregarded the pain and desperately tried to brace the slipping coffin with my shoulder. But my sister wasn't strong enough to support the coffin's rear end. She struggled, and with a loud crash, the coffin fell to the ground.

Just as I felt a series of spasmodic, throbbing pains in my shoulder, I was horrified to see that there was no body of An Ting inside the coffin in the overturned coffin lid!

There was no body of An Ting!

I don't remember how I woke up from the dream, but I think I must have woken up screaming.

---janeadam