i haven't woken up yet

"I seem to be entangled."

After poking the rice almost into rice paste with my chopsticks, I opened my mouth abruptly.

Ning Qing, who was stuffing braised pork into her mouth in front of her, looked up at me when she heard the words, then chewed and swallowed the meat leisurely before opening her mouth: "Oh, which girl?"

"Oh no, let me tell you!" I was a little excited, and almost stood up when I slapped the table, "It's not a girl, and I can't tell... I don't know what it is, I just feel like I'm being entangled by something."

silence.The chewing stopped.

"Damn it, isn't it you?" Ning Qing laughed abruptly, and he sprayed a few grains of rice directly on the table, barely getting into the dish, "I said Ning Huan, how can you still say that when you are so grown-up? This kind of nonsense? Congratulations, you have finally come to the point where you are driving yourself crazy by conceiving messy plots!"

Embarrassed, I glared at him silently, and tried to convey to him the idea of ​​"I'm not joking" through the window of my soul.

No fruit.

I sighed, and felt that I was an idiot for seriously talking about this topic with Ning Qing, "You are really...well, well, you pretend I didn't say no."

"Success, it must be done."

Ning Qing frivolously tapped the bowl with her chopsticks, cheerfully taunting me with the corners of her mouth still upturned.I was angry, but when I thought that I was always the one who couldn't please myself when I quarreled with Ning Qing, I simply kept silent and went to eat my meal.

After eating, I didn't stay any longer, I helped Ning Qing wash the dishes together, then put on a scarf and went out.It was the end of autumn, the weather was dry and cold, and the biting wind directly and violently poured the chill like tarsus maggots into the human body.

Although it was cold, I didn't leave immediately after leaving the gate of Ningqing's residential building. Instead, I stood under an old tree against the wind and took out the smoke.This tree looks old, and its branches can be called Panqiu Crouching Dragon. The bark is rough and dry, like the chapped skin of a dying person, and a large piece of bloody flesh can fall off when touched. Scarlet eye-catching.

I stared at the old tree with a cigarette in my mouth for a while, and when I came back to my senses, I secretly laughed at myself that I was really crazy about writing novels recently.I took out the lighter again, carefully protected the flame with my hand, lit the cigarette with my back hooked, and took a deep breath.

Actually I don't smoke much.But I don't know why, but recently I have become obsessed with this taste.

Some... familiar taste.

There was only a cigarette holder left. After I stubbed out the cigarette, I threw the cigarette butt on the ground without public morality, and kicked it away with my foot.Seeing the cigarette butts mixed with the soil until the original color could not be seen, I walked towards the gate of the community.

I don't know if it's because of the cold weather. There are very few pedestrians in the community, even when they go out of the gate.I walked on the sidewalk and found that there were not many cars on the road, but once I drove past, there would be a gust of wind, and the flying smoke and dust and grass clippings from nowhere would smear people's faces.

After another car drove by, I spit out a mouthful of muddy spittle with a stiff face, and pulled up the scarf, directly covering most of my noble face.

My home is very close to Ningqing, and it takes only five or six minutes to walk.I quickly walked into the community, took the elevator, and took out the keys, all in one go, but suddenly I stood at the door and froze.

Because I heard something ringing inside the door.

To be honest, it's hard for me to describe that sound.What I have to say is probably someone coughing, but it doesn't look like it, because the cough is mixed with swallowing and panting sounds, which is weirdly tight.The hairs all over my body stood up as if facing a formidable enemy, and the cold sweat oozed out, moistening the scarf viscously, making it stick to my face and neck, like a layer of cold belt, slowly Tighten my breath.

My hand holding the key also trembled slightly.

I was a little at a loss. After a long while, I walked forward slowly a few steps, lay on the door, and aimed my eyes at the cat's eyes.Looking at the cat's eyes from outside the door, I can only see a small round white light spot, but I didn't move, still staring at it without blinking.

One second, two seconds.

After an unknown period of time, the white spots in the cat's eyes were covered.

total darkness.

I know what that means.

—Someone is looking out from the inside.

At that moment, my mind was blank.I heard the strange "ho ho" sound from the depths of my throat, which was produced after extreme fear, as if I would be strangled to death by an unknown force in the next second.I could feel the gloomy, emotionless gaze of the person at the door looking at me.I tried desperately to back up, but I couldn't move, not at all.

One second, two seconds.

We are looking at each other.

Three seconds, four seconds.

I heard the soft "squeak" of the doorknob opening.

Five seconds, six seconds.

The door opened.

I don't see anyone.

Nobody.

I stood there blankly and didn't move for nearly ten minutes.My breathing was like a bellows, heavy and heavy, with embers of panic and bewilderment.I raised my numb hand and saw that I was still holding the key in my hand, so I wanted to take it out, but maybe I held it too hard before, and I couldn't stretch my frozen stiff fingers for a long time. The key slipped from my palm and fell to the ground, making a crackling sound in the silence.

I shivered suddenly, and finally came back to my senses completely.

It was this real, horrible hallucination again.

I rubbed my dry eyes and walked into the room almost in a daze.It's still the same familiar room, a little messy and not too big, but I've lived here for a long, long time.I closed the door, hung my coat and scarf on the chair, and decided to relax and take a nice hot bath.

I went straight into the bathroom, because I was afraid of the cold, I turned on the shower first, and took off my clothes one by one after the white steam began to fill the bathroom.When I stood under the shower and let the hot water flow all over my body from head to toe, I let out a long and comfortable breath.

I didn't turn on the extractor fan, so the fog filled up very quickly, and the shower glass was covered with a layer of water mist in a few minutes.The water mist covered each other layer by layer, and then condensed into water droplets one by one, leaving meandering crawling marks on the glass.The main entrance of the shower is facing the mirror. Although the fog is heavy, I can still see my reflection in the mirror.

I hummed an out-of-key tune and began to squeeze the shower gel.I'm a bit of a clean freak, so I take my showers very seriously.When I started rinsing off the shower gel foam on my body, I scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on the glass of the shower, and saw my face in the mirror at that moment.

No, that's not my face.

I froze for a moment and stopped moving.

After a few seconds, I vigorously wiped the mist off the glass and looked into the mirror again.Although the mist condensed quickly, I still saw my own face.

It is indeed my own face.

I stood under the shower in a daze. For some reason, the feelings in my heart were unbelievably complicated. Apart from fear, I actually felt...sad.

But why am I sad?