Love in Cthulhu

Chapter 8 I Ate Your Girl

Zhou Lan was stunned and trembling with fear. Her brother had never been so angry with her before. Although he had bullied her when they were little, he would at most pull her braids and mess up her hair.

But this time he was truly enraged. His two sword-like eyebrows stood up like demons. Only then did she realize that her brother was not only distinctive in appearance, but also in a way that made him seem reliable when he was quiet. In his rage, he was like the evil spirits in New Year's paintings who held swords and came to life, looking fierce and menacing.

"I...I just wanted you to go back...Why are you yelling at me..." She lowered her head, staring at her toes, only then could she keep from crying out of fear.

Zhou Nan was startled. He realized he had lost his temper. He was holding back a lot of anger, which was always simmering inside. If someone accidentally punctured it, it would hurt him and those around him as well.

My sister did nothing wrong. He would have done the same thing. Who doesn't know that a family should live in harmony?
But some things are not something you can just let go of as you wish. He had never told anyone about that three-tenths of the secret—it concerned his dignity, his future, and the irreconcilable conflict between him and his father.

From then on, he began to take his studies seriously. When the new semester started, students were divided into arts and science classes, and he was determined to get into the strongest class, where several students every year were aiming for Tsinghua and Peking Universities.

But past defeats remain indelible scars for him, and he is unwilling to admit that they were his failures.

If it weren't for the theft of his documents, he would have succeeded easily. That was a scar that would haunt him for life, the first time he had tasted humiliation and a fate-determining failure. He could not accept his father's proposal; in his eyes, it was charity, compensation from adults for the mistakes he had made. If he had been more careful and checked his documents before entering the exam room, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

Only Jian Xi knew this secret and understood why he hid alone in the old house. That's why he was willing to tell her, because he knew that no matter what, she would stand by him, instead of being like Zhou Lan who insisted on calling him back to face someone he didn't want to see.

"Alright, alright, what's there for siblings to argue about?"

Jian Xi clapped her hands, breaking the awkward atmosphere. "Look at me, I can't even find someone to argue with. It's always just me at home, so lonely."

She grabbed Zhou Nan's hand, then Zhou Lan's hand, placed them together, and shook them vigorously. "Looking for you, looking for you, brother! I found a good brother! Give me a salute, shake my hand, you're my good brother!"

She deliberately sang the adapted children's song off-key in an attempt to ease the tension, but both siblings turned their heads away and refused to look at each other.

They're truly from the same family; they're both stubborn as mules.

With no other option, Jian Xi rolled her eyes, tightened her grip on Zhou Lan's hand, and glared at Zhou Nan with feigned anger.

"Fine, let's go to tutoring together, you two besties. Look how mean your brother is, he likes to yell at you. Why don't you stop being his sister and become my sister instead? I promise I'll treat you a million times better than he does!"

Zhou Nan didn't say anything, silently watching them go to the entrance to change their shoes. Actually, this was quite good. He wasn't good at saying comforting words, and if Zhou Lan were still here, he wouldn't know how to end the situation.

"I...I'll come back! You have to go back for the New Year!"

Before Jian Xi pushed her out the door, Zhou Lan poked her head back in and defiantly threw out this sentence, waving her little fist in a show of defiance.

The door closed, and Zhou Nan listened to their footsteps receding into the distance by the window before sitting at the table in a daze for a long time.

Actually, it's not that he hadn't thought about going back. There's nothing in the old house. The water and electricity had been cut off, but he went to talk to the building manager, and they only turned them back on because they watched him grow up. It's already quite remarkable that they've been able to keep it running for so long.

I still have two years of high school left, and the school will be moving to a new campus after the new semester, which is almost in the suburbs. I will need to live on campus and can't stay here forever.

But the thought of going back and facing those mocking looks extinguished his small hope once again. He felt utterly ashamed when he was looked at like that, like a tiny person only a few centimeters tall, with the whole world a towering shadow mocking his failure.

There's nothing wrong with being alone here. At least it's peaceful and quiet, and he's not lonely either, since Jianxi will keep him company.

Thinking about this, the dream I had last night, which went on and on, came back to me. Compared to the short and bland dreams that came later, the first one seemed long and bloody. The death felt too real, and it felt like there was still a twisted pain in my neck.

He reached up and touched his neck, took a deep breath, and relaxed in the way he usually did after finishing his homework. He grabbed his coat from the back of the chair, got up, and went out.

The sky, washed clean by the rain and snow, was still overcast, everything was gray. After walking a few steps, Zhou Nan stood in front of the old house, took out his key, and gently pressed it on the door.

The door opened just like that, and before he could even exert any force, a cold draft rushed in, making him feel chilly all over.

If feelings could be visualized, then right now his head would be topped with a huge question mark, just like the characters in those comics.

He couldn't possibly make such a basic mistake as forgetting to lock the door, after all, this was the only place he could live in now, and he cleaned it thoroughly every week and always checked it carefully before leaving. If this place was deemed a dangerous building, he would be kicked out.

So, what's going on?

He was losing control of himself and turned to check the lock cylinder.

It really was open. In that dream, he watched as the thief he possessed pried open the door of the old house. Because the thief saw a strange black shadow as soon as he pushed the door open, he didn't have time to do anything else. For convenience, the lock was always in the open position, and it was still like that now.

He looked back at the front yard, and in his memory, the place where the thief was finally killed was just a few steps away.

There was no blood, no hair, and no pieces of clothing. Clearly, the guy had been twisted and exploded by some incredible force when he died, and the astonishing amount of blood loss was enough to stain the entire wall red.

But now there's nothing here, just like always. The withered grapevines in winter point to the sky like bare hands, and he stands bewildered under the crisscrossing trellis.

Something's not right. If it was just a dream, the lock shouldn't be open. If it was reality, there should be a corpse here!
He pressed his forehead, carefully recalling the details of what he had seen last night. It seemed that ever since he met Jian Xi and came back to life, strange things had been happening around him one after another.

In the unfathomable darkness of his heart, a pair of pitch-black eyes slowly opened, their shadows like black snowflakes, as if the world had awakened. It seemed that at the last moment of the dream, that familiar name was almost uttered, but was abruptly cut off by some external force.

Who is standing in the old house? And who gave me this feeling of déjà vu? Why do I feel that the silhouette I can't see must be beautiful?
Because... that's the girl you know best. Even if you can't see her, you can smell her fragrance and recognize her shadow. Even standing in a bustling world, if she glances at your back, you'll feel that overwhelming gaze. Turn around and you'll see her bright, smiling eyes in the dim light.

It's you, isn't it? You were so surprised because you saw me. No girl in the world wants anyone to see her worst side. You decisively unplugged your senses. Was it shyness or fear? No, no! Now is not the time to think about these things!
He suddenly woke up and realized that he had made a huge mistake. He still didn't know whether Jian Xi had really been resurrected. How could he let his sister be alone with her at this time?

That guy might really be a monster!

"The number you dialed is out of service..."

"The number you dialed is out of service..."

"The number you dialed is out of service..."

Zhou Nan ran down the long street, and every call he made ended with a cold, mechanical female voice saying "busy," while Zhou Lan's phone remained silent.

He went to the tutoring center, and the teacher said that Zhou Lan did not come today. He went to all the shops that Jian Xi liked to shop at and asked every shop owner, but they all said they had not seen her at all. He even secretly went home, but when he opened the door and took a look, there were no Zhou Lan shoes on the welcome carpet.

It was as if the two girls were just bubbles, walking side by side on their way to tutoring class, when they quietly burst and dissolved into the air.

A tremendous fear exploded within him, and he began to tremble uncontrollably, almost dropping his phone.

The scene that the thief saw played out in his mind again and again: the hand that was raised to try to cover itself transformed into a girl's fair and slender arm, and a childish voice kept crying out in his ear, "Help me, help me..."

He bit his tongue hard, telling himself not to think about those terrible things.

Perhaps the shop owners were just eating and didn't notice? Jianxi's steps were always so light and quick; she pulled the person along and they were gone in a flash.

It's possible that Jian Xi simply skipped class with Zhou Lan. After all, they had argued, so it's understandable that she wouldn't be in the mood to attend class. She wanted to cheer Zhou Lan up, so missing one class occasionally wouldn't be a big deal.

Why didn't you answer the phone? Where could you have gone in such a short time? What kind of place could have cut off your cell phone signal?
The more he thought about it, the less he could convince himself. The bloodiest scenes from the horror movies he had watched before were playing out in his illusion again and again, with Zhou Lan always taking the lead.

"Calm down, calm down, calm down!" he shouted to himself.

The more panicked you are at this time, the less useful it will be. Think carefully, where in this city haven't he been with Jian Xi? He knows all the places she's been. If you want to erase someone without anyone knowing, where would be the most suitable place?

The secret hideout of my childhood, through repeated self-questioning, leaped out from the depths of my memory.

There, the sun's warmth mingled with the dew's moisture. On the slender tips of the grass, a girl in a white dress once lifted her thin leg with one hand and danced the dance she had just learned just for him alone.

He wasn't sure if that was the right answer, and he didn't have time to try and fail one by one, but as soon as he thought of that place, his strong intuition made a bold assertion.

Climbing over the rusty iron fence, a large, untended lawn stretches from the riverbank all the way to your feet. It is said that someone bought this place many years ago, but for some reason, neither a house was built nor a nursery was established. It has been neglected for many years and has now become a playground for children. People often sneak over the fence to play here.

Zhou Nan was walking down step by step. In the low flower bushes hidden by the shadows of the trees, the long hair of the figure behind him swayed like seaweed. Behind Jian Xi lay Zhou Lan with her eyes closed.

He walked straight over and picked up his sister. Her chest was still rising and falling slightly, which meant she was alright. She also didn't look injured. It hadn't gotten to the worst point yet. Fortunately, Zhou Lan was still alive.

Noticing someone's arrival, Jian Xi turned around and saw Zhou Nan. She wasn't surprised; she smiled with her hands behind her back, a smile as sweet as ever.

The closer he got to her, the clearer the memories that had been forcibly cut off last night became.

Although it was only for a moment, Zhou Nan was almost certain that the dark figure was Jian Xi. The two of them slept in bedrooms separated by only one wall, yet he hadn't noticed her slipping out of the room.

The two stared at each other for a long time, their dark eyes waiting for the other to speak.

But what should I say now? Standing here like this feels like an old art film, where a lonely boy meets a lonely girl on a riverbank bathed in the morning light—a romantic yet unreal encounter.

But the other party is a monster. Would the little monster understand Ultraman's sense of justice? Could she even have the capacity for love?
"who are you?"

After a long silence, Zhou Nan spoke first. What's the point of agonizing now? Since the secret has already been seen through, there's no need for any more pointless probing. Whatever she is, just ask her directly; it's better than agonizing over it yourself.

"I've solved your problem. No one will come to call you back anymore. You can stay here with me as long as you want." Jian Xi said, her hands behind her back, tilting her head, her long hair falling from her ears.

“I’m asking you who you are.” He stared intently into her eyes.

"Jian Xi, is there even a need to ask?"

"Don't be silly, Jian Xi is really dead. I saw her body."

That's really strange. There's clearly someone named Jian Xi standing right in front of him, yet he's referring to her in the third person.

"Oh, I see." Jian Xi nodded, speaking so calmly, yet seemingly a little annoyed. "I should have eaten the body along with it."

"You killed her?" He gripped the fruit knife tightly in his pocket.

"No, I just ate your girl."

(End of this chapter)