Artifact Report

Chapter 39: Chase: The First Resident He Met

At first, there were people coming and going in the ward.

Strange faces came and went, their features soon blending together, leaving Chai Si unable to distinguish who was who. He remembered traffic police, nurses, doctors, detectives, social workers... Each of these flesh-colored, blurry faces would open their mouths and pour out endless questions at him.

Who is your mother?
Where did you get on the highway?
Did you notice the car door? Was it closed? Did she jump out of the car?

Where's your dad? Oh, never seen him?
Are there any other relatives in your family?
Apart from being able to answer "My mother's name is Daisy Monroe", Chase couldn't answer any questions.

In the past, Chai Si sometimes imagined that he actually had a father, and that he was a CIA agent who was always hiding abroad; or that he was a top scientist who was working on a secret project, so they couldn't meet - these were all very common fantasies of children.

But during those days, Chai Si, with his arm cast on, sat alone on the hospital bed, watching strangers come in and out one after another, leaving snacks, empty coffee cups, cigarette butts, contact cards, and countless questions in the ward...

All the naive fantasies of the past fell away in the face of reality, just like he was shedding a shell that was no longer suitable.

"It's just me," he told the officer. "I'm the only one at home now."

That day, he heard several people talking at the door - it was difficult for a child to tell whether they were police, social workers, or someone else.

"I've been in this business for decades, and I've never seen a mother run away like this." The middle-aged man chewed tobacco and said, "It's quite common for parents to leave home in the morning and never come back... But how could she disappear in a car accident?"

"It's strange. The traces at the scene don't show how she died," said another younger-looking man. "But ironically, if she hadn't suddenly disappeared, the child probably wouldn't have just had a broken arm."

"Oh, yes, you mentioned it before. Something about the direction of the car's front?"

"Well, you've heard that in emergencies, drivers will subconsciously turn the steering wheel to the left, letting the passenger seat take the brunt of the impact, right? That's not always the case; some drivers will turn in the direction with the wider gap. But in this case, the child's mother had no choice but to turn left—"

Because there is a cliff on the right.

This answer also came to Chai Si's mind at the same time when the middle-aged man said "Oh".

"She probably hadn't turned the steering wheel yet, or had just started to turn it when she disappeared from the driver's seat. She let go, and the steering wheel returned to its normal position, right? According to the child, after realizing his mother was gone, he subconsciously reached for the steering wheel... This caused the car to veer slightly to the right, but cleverly not too much, so that it wouldn't crash through the guardrail and go off the cliff. Instead, it was just right, causing the child to suffer minimal injuries. It was truly a miracle."

"He's so lucky," the middle-aged man said, then stopped. "...No, you can't say he's lucky. He's only five years old and he's already left without a parent. What's next?"

"His mother has a distant aunt who lives in Blackmore City. She's agreed to come and look after him for a few days," a third person chimed in. "But whether she's willing to be a long-term guardian is unclear... If she's not willing, the child will have no choice but to be sent to an orphanage or foster home."

On the third day, Chai Si was discharged from the hospital with a broken arm in a cast and a bill that he didn't know what to do with.

My aunt was quite old, her glasses always slipping down her nose, and she would doze off at 8 a.m. Neither she nor Chai Si knew how to get along with each other, and the usually bustling little apartment was as quiet as if no one was there.

On the sixth night after the car accident, Chai Si couldn't sleep no matter what.

The arm pain was one thing, and his aunt always snored after falling asleep; every time he raised his head, he saw a strange, mountain-like figure sleeping on his mother's bed.

In the middle of the night, Chai Si could no longer bear the boredom and torment, so he quietly got out of bed and went into the living room. In fact, there was nothing in the living room. He thought he wanted to play with toys, but he stared at the box for a while without even reaching out to open it.

Chai Si walked to the window and looked at the familiar street downstairs that was deserted.

If only Mom could come back, he thought. Right now, walking back from the street, wearing the clothes she wore the day she disappeared, carrying the snacks and breakfast she bought for him, the keys in her hand jingling with every step...

Although he was only five years old, Chai Si had already realized that his imagination would not become reality.

So when he actually saw his mother walking towards him step by step on the street, he was so shocked that he leaned forward and hit his face on the glass with a "bang".

"...Mom?" he called softly.

The apartment was on the second floor, quite far away from my mother, but she looked up at him as if she had heard him.

At that moment, Chai Si didn't move, his forehead pressed against the cold glass.

Half of my mother's face was covered in blood.

The blood beneath the night sky was darker than the night itself, making half of her face look as if it had been swallowed by nothingness. One of her eyes could no longer be opened, and only the one stained in the black blood looked at him, its pupil slightly gleaming.

But it was indeed Mom.

The moment their eyes met, his mother stretched out her hand and waved vigorously a few times, just like when she went to pick him up from kindergarten before; then she continued to limp and stagger towards the apartment, and almost tripped because of her anxiety.

At this time, he should have woken up his aunt quickly, but at that moment, Chai Si didn't even remember that there was an aunt in the room; he quickly ran to the door, opened it, and went downstairs with quick steps.

"mom!"

Chai Si ran forward desperately. If his mother hadn't quickly caught him with one hand, he would have almost crashed into her arms with the plaster. "Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"I accidentally fell," Mom gasped, half bent over, and laughed: "It hurts so much. Your arm -"

"where have you been?"

Mom looked at him for a while before saying, "A... a very strange place. But it doesn't matter. I'm back. Don't worry, I won't go there again..."

Having said this, the strength that had supported her walking home seemed to suddenly loosen up, and she collapsed on the side of the road like a pile of building blocks that were suddenly kicked over.

"Mom?" Chai Si was startled and hurried to help her. He couldn't really help her, so it was more like he was holding her arm and fell to the ground with her.

But his mother waved her hands, indicating that he was fine: "I'm just tired... take a break... Are you alone at home?"

"My aunt has come from Blackmore," Chase replied.

"Go home... and ask her to call an ambulance..."

Chai Si lowered his head and found that the front half of his body, his arms, and the plaster were all stained with blood.

"Hurry...go quickly." Mom said softly, her voice seemed to be blown away by the wind.

Chai Si nodded his head several times desperately. Before he stood up, he suddenly touched his mother's body lightly with his trembling hand.

He may have wanted to see where his mother was injured and whether it was serious, but he bumped into something strange.

"Mom," Chai Si was startled, "What are you wearing?"

At that moment, my mother's face froze.

Chai Si had never seen such a terrifying face in his life - because the owner of that face was himself in overwhelming fear.

The suffocating fear, as thick as cement, gradually suppressed the air. For a moment, Chai Si suddenly wanted to shrink very small so that no one could see him, including his mother.

Mom didn't look down at her waist, as if as long as she didn't look, her fear wouldn't become a reality. The only eye that was open stared at Chai Si, and I didn't know if it was filled with tears, but the light was so bright that it was frightening.

"Wha...what? What...is wrapped around me?"

Chai Si had been crying without realizing it, tears trickling down his face.

"I, I don't know." He didn't know what he was afraid of. He didn't even dare to pull his hand back. He still stopped at his mother's waist and said in a trembling voice: "It seems like a thin rope..."

Just then, he felt the rope under his hand move slightly.

It was as if someone had tugged at the other end of the rope.

The other end...

Chai Si vaguely realized that the rope around his mother's waist should have another end.

"Don't look,"

He heard his mother's voice, pleading with him, "Don't look back, Chai Si... Go home, run quickly..."

Chai Si turned a deaf ear to her. His body seemed to be taken over by another self. He stood up involuntarily, took a step away, and his eyes fell on the ground behind his mother.

A rope lay there limply, extending into the night behind, gradually sinking into the darkness that even streetlights could not illuminate.

...It's strange, who tied a rope around my mother?
The rope moved again.

"Chai Si! Come back!"

Chai Si was stunned, and then he realized that he had unknowingly walked several steps forward along the rope; he looked back at his mother, and turned his head again - this time, there was not only darkness, streets and long rope ahead.

A huge black shadow holding the other end of the long rope was standing in front of him at some point.

"Run!" Mom's almost shrill shout startled Chai Si and brought him back to his senses.

He didn't have time to see the shadow clearly, and turned and ran. He seemed to scream, but it seemed not to; it seemed that a neighbor turned on the light, but it seemed not to.

At that moment, the world suddenly dropped the appearance of rational operation, revealing a dark and sewage-like nightmare underneath. Nothing seemed real anymore.

He heard the shadow speak.

Its sound spanned the night and drifted in the air.

At that time, he didn't understand, but every word was deeply engraved in his bones; later, Chai Si understood the meaning of those words, but time had passed and it was too late, and he never thought about it again.

Only once, when he was interrogating a traitor, for some reason, the residents' words suddenly popped up in his mind.

When Chai Si came to his senses again, he was being held by someone around the waist, and someone was begging him to stop. The traitor had been beaten into a bloody mess by his punches, no more human-like than a pile of mud.

"Thank you,"

The resident said, "The only way I could come to the human world is to find a dog, tie it to a leash, and let it lead me in. You don't really think you can escape from me, do you? Do you really think you can come back and reunite with your son? Ah, let me taste it... I heard that the most delicious thing is the unfulfilled hope of mankind."

　I thought about the name of Chai Si's mother for a while and finally chose Daisy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)