A Guest In A Ghost House

I pulled Xiao Lingdang along with me, and I noticed her hand was sweaty. Is she nervous? Do ghosts get nervous? Do ghosts sweat? Is that my sweat?

I realized that I couldn"t afford to make a careless mistake again. I quickly spun around to stare at Xiao Lingdang, and shouted, "Xiao Lingdang!"

She jumped and then said, "What"s wrong?" I immediately forgot about my original thought because she looked so sick and uncomfortable.

"You tell me. What"s wrong?"

She shook her head and wore a painful expression. "Brother, I feel uncomfortable because of the negative atmosphere in here."

"Xiao Lingdang, do you want to leave?" I couldn"t stand to see her looking so terrible.

She shook her head again and said in a firm tone, "They must be here, and we might be able to get them."

"My sister, get me? What do you mean? Do you want to hunt and kill me?" A soft voice floated through the room.

Suddenly, my whole body was tense. I felt something behind me. Why does the ghost here like sneaking up on me so much?

I turned around, and Xiao Lingdang and I both stared at the twelve-year-old boy standing in the bedroom doorway. He was soaking wet.

Xiao Lingdang did not seem to be scared of the little boy, and she asked, "Little boy, do you live here?"

He nodded.

"Where are your mom and dad?" Xiao Lingdang asked.

As soon as Xiao Lingdang finished her question, I felt concerned. He probably wouldn"t react well to this question. I"d learned a lot over the past few days.

Predictably, the little boy suddenly looked extremely angry and confused, and he began to mutter, "Dad is not my dad. Mom is not my mom. Dad is my grandpa..." As he did so, his voice became louder and louder, and it started to take on a strange tone.

I listened to him repeat himself, then I suddenly had an idea. I reached into the sack Witch Yan had given me and pulled out a handful of rice.

"Stop!" Xiao Lingdang shouted, covering her ears. The little boy seemed frightened and stopped speaking, then he showed an eerie smile and disappeared.

I looked at Xiao Lingdang covering both of her ears and relaxed the arm that had been ready to throw rice at the now empty doorway. Then my whole body tensed up again. My other hand was still holding someone"s hand. If not Xiao Lingdang, then… I turned around slowly and made eye contact with a b.l.o.o.d.y head that was leering at me. I screamed and threw the rice at the head as quickly as I could. The head let out a little cry and disappeared.

In the head"s place was Xiao Lingdang crumpled on the floor. I was confused and rubbed my eyes to be sure of what I was seeing. It was clearly Xiao Lingdang, but her skin was covered in blistering, red spots the size of rice grains.

I rushed forward to help her up, but in my haste, I didn"t think to wipe my hand off. The rice grains that were stuck to my sweaty palm seared into Xiao Lingdang"s flesh, and she screamed out, shooting me a dirty look.

I apologized repeatedly and tried to help her up after wiping my hand off, but she s.h.i.+ed away from my hand. Understandable, I thought.

I continued to apologize until Xiao Lingdang cut me off with a wave of her hand and asked, "Brother, what"s that in your pocket?"

I took out the sack that Witch Yan had given me, then remembered that I had told her about it earlier. To test that this was really Xiao Lingdang, I said, "It"s something that Sister Hua gave me."

Xiao Lingdang tilted her head quizzically and said, "Didn"t Witch Yan give that to you?" So it was Xiao Lingdang after all. I nodded and smiled.

Xiao Lingdang looked at me and said, "Brother, I can help protect you. You don"t need that thing, so you might as well throw it away."

I was suddenly on edge again. Why did Xiao Lingdang ask me to throw it away? Sure, I"d just accidentally hurt her, but the Xiao Lingdang I knew would know that I had just been trying to protect myself. I had another idea of how to test whether this was really her or not, but I dared not carry it out. What if she"s not a fake and I hurt her again? I thought.

When she saw that I didn"t make a move to throw the rice away, Xiao Lingdang gently suggested that I do so again. In response, I said, "Xiao Lingdang, you asked me to carry this as backup protection, remember? Why do you want me to throw it away now?"

Xiao Lingdang looked stunned, then she embarra.s.sedly muttered, "Oh right, I forgot. Fine, keep carrying it." As soon as the words left her mouth, I threw another huge handful of rice toward her. Xiao Lingdang, or whoever this was, screamed out and rolled on the floor. Her skin began to disappear little by little, and she wore an agonized expression. I worried that I had made a mistake, but the real Xiao Lingdang had never asked me to carry the rice. Still, how did she know who gave it to me?

As I hesitated nearby, a strange sound came from behind me. "Uncle, what are you doing to Sister?"

I looked back. The little boy was in the room again, sitting on the desk and swinging his legs back and forth. As I looked at him, Xiao Lingdang let out another cry that tore my heart. I didn"t have time to care about the little boy right now. I ran to Xiao Lingdang, and began sweeping the blackened rice from her body. Had I really made a mistake?

As I swept the rice off of her, Xiao Lingdang appeared to recover. Her crying lessened and she seemed to relax. I opened my mouth to apologize again, when suddenly she looked guilty and said in a low voice, "I am sorry."

It was not Xiao Lingdang"s voice, but instead that of another girl. The b.l.o.o.d.y flesh in front of me had transformed in an instant into scorched flesh oozing a yellow liquid. I jumped back.

This must be one of the other ghosts in the family. After all, three people supposedly died in the fire here.

The little boy was now sitting on the bed and appeared doubled over with laughter, although he made no sound.

My head felt heavy. Where was Xiao Lingdang? As I moved to pick up my rice sack from the floor, a burned hand reached out and grabbed my own.