horror effect

A gust of breeze caressed past, the air was unbelievably sweet, the bright eyes illuminated the eyelids and the blood vessels under the skin, even with the eyes closed, the field of vision still showed a warm orange red.Julian took two sharp breaths, filling his lungs.He felt as if he was lying on the turf of the stadium, his cheeks and palms touched the thick and somewhat pungent grass blades, and his nostrils were filled with the smell of sunshine and green grass.

He opened his eyes and found that he was lying under a big tree with pink leaves, and the silky and bright grass around him was covered with clusters of small blue berries.In the distance, the ground gradually rises, green hillsides bulge, and the farthest point is a silver-white peak.

And above the head, a few huge rocks hang tremblingly in the air, blocking the sunlight and casting shadows on the grass.

Julian suddenly remembered that this was the world where he was once attacked and pecked out by a huge white bird, but last time he was on the hillside, but this time he was at the bottom of the valley.He could even hear birdsong in the distance.He stood up and looked around, but found no sign of anyone.The never-ending breeze in the valley stirred the blue and green ground, as if there were invisible knights galloping beside him, as if countless transparent elves were escaping.

He grabbed a handful of berries at random, put one in his mouth, and the gooseberry taste spread on his tongue, and he ate another, this time blackberry, and the next one, cherry, and the next one, Mango... Is "he" entertaining me?Julian couldn't help thinking this way.

He walked towards the hillside while eating the strange-tasting berries.He didn't know how long he walked: an hour, or a minute?In this world anyway, the passage of time has nothing to do with his own world.He continued walking, and after a while, he found a person standing under the big tree in front of him.

is it him?Julian quickened his pace.

When the face could be discerned, Julian recognized the man as Stephen.

"Hi! How are you here?!" he exclaimed, surprised and delighted.But soon, he discovered that this "Stephen" was a little different.

Stephen liked to laugh, he had a pretty face, and he smiled nicely; Stephen's smile was always sly and teasing, but nonetheless it gave off a kind of brightness and simplicity in the heart.This "Stephen" in front of him also has a cunning smile, but this smile is like a mask, through which you can't see anything, no emotion, no soul.

"You're not Stephen," said Julian. "You're Burgess, if I'm not mistaken."

Almost instantly, "Stephen" disappeared, and "he" appeared in front of Julian. "He" stood there motionless, with the same frozen smile; he was dressed in a white robe, and his white hair fell on his shoulders like a collapsed snow.

"You're very smart." "He" finally said.

"We're just following your leads. Why would you do that?"

"Why? There is no reason."

"How is that possible..."

"How is that impossible? Look at the boulder above your head. Gravity, it's the greatest law in your world. In mine, there's no because-so, no why, no causality, your so-called law in I'm dead here."

"It's a dream," said Julian. "who are you!"

"As you found: Perdous Molatov, all files on this man have been lost in the war, this is a dead man."

"Nevertheless," Julian smiled slightly, "You didn't completely abandon our world as you said. Blue berries are delicious, and you came to us, which proves that you still care about that world at least."

"Maybe."

"Are you nostalgic for the world you once lived in?"

"Maybe."

"So you came to us."

"You are alive, and I am dead."

"Then how did you die?" As expected by Julian, Percy didn't answer the question. He turned and walked away. After a while, he turned back and said to Julian who was still standing there: "Follow me." .”

"What do you want to do?"

"Let me show you something."

They went on and on, through valleys, up hills, down hills, through another valley, hills, valleys, and on and on.Julian could not remember how long he had been gone, hours or days.He had looked at his watch and found that the hands had stopped; he hadn't felt tired either.In short, keep going.

Gradually, the surrounding scenery changed, and the trees became taller and taller, and they lined up like soldiers in front.Before they knew it, the trees had turned into columns, and they were walking in an endless corridor.

Finally, a door appeared in front of them, an ordinary wooden door.Burroughs pointed to it and said to Julian, "Open it."

What if it's a trap?thought Julian.And Bergs seemed to know what he was thinking, and said, "You can choose not to open it, then we'll walk back."

"Hi! You're threatening me!"

"You choose to open it or not to open it." Bergs ignored him, took a step back and stood aside.

Julian reached out and grabbed the doorknob, and his strong curiosity drove him to turn his wrist and open the door.To his surprise, it was the lobby of the Cedar Hill Hotel outside, and he could even hear voices.

He looked back at Bergs.

"What does this mean?" Bergs didn't speak, but made a "please" gesture.Julian had no choice but to go out.

As soon as he stepped out of the door, he was hit on the shoulder and almost fell.Julian was about to get angry at the man, but his voice was stuck in his throat.The man who ran past him had sharp fingers curled like eagle claws, and two white tusks stuck out of his mouth, which made him look like a wild boar.

"Damn it."

Julian was talking to himself.Immediately afterwards, another woman walked by. She had the tail of a mermaid but the head of a tiger.And the waiter behind the counter who is receiving customers has the head of a parrot.

Julian stared at Bergs next to him and said, "This is all your trick."

"Didn't you recognize them?" said Burkes.

"Ghosts know them!"

"No, you know all these people." Bergs pointed out, "The man with eagle claws is the tenant next door to you, a stockbroker. He uses eagle claws to grab other people's money, and uses ivory to show off But that doesn't make him look like a decent person, but a pig; the mermaid with the tiger's head is a little famous female star, her lower body is full of fantasies, but her head is fierce Vicious, all day long is how to slander and attack other female stars, so as to make themselves the queen of the entertainment industry; and those reception staff, they only repeat what others have prescribed, without any thoughts of their own, just chatting with each other Like parrots. These people are just what they are."

"That's how you look at people," Julian said. "I wonder what they see when they look at each other?"

"What you see is yourself. In the eyes of the eagle-clawed man, everyone has claws, and in the eyes of the tiger-headed mermaid, everyone has the head of a beast. What people see when they see others is actually their own projection. From their own point of view, what they see is what they want to see. But..." At this point, Berkes smiled suddenly, but this smile made Julian feel a little creepy, "You are very calm, unlike Your accomplice, he was terrified when he saw this."

Julian frowned. "I guessed it was you. Why did you frighten Stephen?"

"I said it earlier: don't ask me why." Julian grabbed his arm when Percy walked towards the door of the hotel. "You hate the people here," said Julian, fixing Percy with a firm, focused look. "You paint them as beasts and beasts because you hate them and despise them. What about yourself? You yourself are What? When those townspeople call you a white lion, you become a beast, and although you have some kind of strange power, you're just a demon when you hurt the people here and kill them."

"I didn't kill them," said Bergs icily.

"So what about the legends? What about the people who died of unknown causes?"

"Ha!" Burroughs smiled suddenly, and a ferocious expression flashed out of his cold smile, "They deserve to die, they don't deserve to live at all. What's the matter with death? Do you want to know? How easy it is to pity the dead from above! What do you know! How do you know that I would rather rot in the soil like those people than have such a body and ability forever? Do you know why Lidi chose to die? "

Hearing this name, Julian shuddered suddenly.

"Your Liddy is a good girl, she is beautiful, she is warm, she has noble feelings, she has compassion for the oppressed like you, she desperately wants them to speak and fight. Such a person, but for you And died. Think, think, why would she die if she could live?"

"Are you bewitching me?" Julian said with difficulty.

"No. I'm just digging out the little things in your heart for you to see clearly. You have sealed them up and you don't want to see them. But why not? Look at them, smell them, Grind them with your teeth, and swallow them whole. Then you'll understand why Liddy is going to die, and why you're the most vile, shameless, nasty creature."

Burroughs' voice became louder and louder, like rolling thunder in Julian's ears, and he had to cover his ears with his hands, but the voice seemed unstoppable as if it came from himself.

In the end, I couldn't hear what I was talking about, only the loud rumbling sound was left. This sound was so desolate, so deafening, and so resounding through the sky, like the howling of waves hitting an isolated island in the ocean and the sound of alarm bells in the wilderness at night.

Renee Hostatova sat on the sofa in the lounge, looking at the delicate snake-headed fritillary on the windowsill.She was very bored, so she left the work to Nicholas and sat quite still.Her eyes were on the flowers, but she was thinking about what Julian Raymond had said yesterday.

Suspecting everyone, deliberately throwing herself into a desperate situation, voluntarily drowning in tears without struggling—so this is the impression she left on him, she thought.Is it true that you are so depressed?For ten years, I did not realize this myself.I have been working hard to live, I have been studying, studying, taking exams, and obtaining the qualification of a medical practitioner; I put all my energy into my work.But these are all just signs of depression.How bad, how bad!Everything I've done in ten years has been meaningless, I've never taken a step forward.But what should I do?

She sighed.

I knew that I could go forward, take that step against the world he was talking about, but I also knew that in doing so, I would lose the peace that I now held tightly in my hands.What about choosing the path that you know will be full of pain but perhaps has a glimmer of hope of finding happiness?Or do I choose the path I know so well, but which is destined to lead nowhere?Two paths, one is only slightly more likely than the other, 50.00% probability.But I still can't make a bet.She closed her eyes.That's who I am, she kept repeating in her heart, that's all I can be.

A gust of cold wind blew, the door was opened, and then she heard Nicholas' voice: "Why are you? Mr. Raymond."

Hostatova opened her eyes at once, just as Julian Raymond entered, who was also staring at her.They just looked at each other steadfastly, almost wanting to say something, but they both hesitated to speak.It took a long time for Hostatova to realize that it was impolite for her to sit like this. She stood up quickly, and at this time, Julian had already walked beside her. He pointed to the sofa and said, "Is that okay?"

"Of course." The doctor nodded.

Julian suddenly gave a reassuring smile and said, "I thought you were going to kick me out."

"She won't, but I will! If you still make trouble like yesterday, don't blame me for being rude." Nicholas who was sitting in the consulting room far away said loudly.The young man pushed his glasses with his fingers, his expression very serious.

"Nicolas," said the doctor, "I don't think Monsieur Raymond would do that."

Julian then said, "I'm here to apologize today."

Hearing this, Hostatova smiled wryly.She didn't need to apologize, and she didn't even think that Julian's behavior yesterday was an offense to herself. In her opinion, Julian should not insist on exposing the scars on her heart, but her mistake was even worse, because it was She herself had allowed the scar to be covered up and out of the sun for years, so that it would bleed at the slightest touch.

"I..." She looked into Julian's eyes, and for the first time she saw that they were bright and sincere black eyes, sunken deep in the black eye sockets and surrounded by fine wrinkles.Those eyes made him look haggard, she didn't know if it was because he didn't have a good rest yesterday or he was always like this, but no matter what the reason, it was these eyes that made his smile very gentle, with a kindness and almost Feminine tenderness, his smile made Hostatova feel kind and comforting.

"I've thought about it for a long time," she said, "and I think you're right that one should not be content with a painful situation, nor should one compromise with it or yield to it, even if the pain is disguised as joy. But , you know, I can't do it, most people in the world can't do it. That's not the way we're going."

"I understand," Julian said.

"You won't look down on me for that, will you?"

"How could it be!" he said, "You have the freedom to choose, and this freedom is actually more important than what you choose."

"Ah... yes," said Hostatova.But in her heart, she thought: How painful and difficult this kind of freedom is. If freedom means pain, who needs it?

"Can you forgive me for being unreasonable yesterday?" Julian continued to ask her.

"No... I should thank you." Saying that, Hostatova took Julian's hand in her own.Like I thought, she thought, these are thick, rough hands; wrinkles, calluses, scars, how ugly they are, how dry to the touch.

However, how much these hands resemble 'his' hands.

She heard a sound: the house was beginning to be renewed; the peeling paint on the surface of the table was reassembled into white flakes and covered the wooden boards; the pages of the book were turning from yellow to white; There is the soft chirping of doves in the air.The old-fashioned fireplace that had been dismantled reappeared in the room, and all the years and time were placed on the firewood to ignite a raging fire.

Anton Hostatov sat before her, smiling, and touching her hand.

Julian watched the tears in Hostatova's eyes dripping from under her lashes.He understood that she was not crying to him, but to another person at the end of time.This made him feel bitter, and at the end of time in his world, there was also a person standing, the Lidi who had made him feel happy and painful, and made his heart full of bitter wine as long as he recalled it.

At this moment, Julian felt a cold gaze staring at him from afar.

He knew it was Nikolai.Could it be that he has established a rival in love within a month of coming to this town?He smiled wryly at himself.