Apartment for Rent

Two spectacular movies were being played at the same time in the apartment house.

One was a complex psychological thriller.

The other was a horror movie with an absurd conspiracy theory.

Mr. w.a.n.g went back to his room, locking the door behind him and deciding to stay out of whatever was happening. But his curiosity quickly got the better of him, so he actually just closed the door so he could eavesdrop on what was going on in the hallway without being obvious.

“Speak! Why are you hiding under my bed! Did he give the keys to you!?!” Miss Chen screamed hysterically at Bo Ya while pointing at Old man Zhang.

“Why would I give the keys to him? I have no reason to!” Old man Zhang was getting irritated and angry at the same time; how dare she expose his secret.

Bo Yan covered his private parts, shaking his head violently: “I don’t have your keys! Besides, if my intentions were to peak, why would I come out from under the bed?”

Miss Chen didn’t care, she already made up her mind; it had to be Old man Zhang’s keys, screaming: “You d.a.m.n pervert! It had to be you!” And she flung the pillow in Old man Zhang’s face.

Old man Zhang awkwardly caught the pillow, his face full of unanswered questions. He turned to Bo Yan: “Dips.h.i.t, you better give us a good explanation, or I will call the cops on your a.s.s!”

 “Call if you dare,” the agitated Bo Yan screamed back. “f.u.c.k you! I’m not afraid of you!”

Old man Zhang twitched his neck, but just when he was about to get physical, Miss Chen buried her face in her hands and cried: “Get the f.u.c.k out, the both of you! Get out! I’m changing my locks tomorrow! You are both f.u.c.king perverts!”

Old man Zhang wanted to explain but he didn’t know how. Bo Yan, on the other hand, was relieved to hear Miss Chen telling him to get lost. He quickly lifted his naked b.u.t.t cheeks and ran. Taking the opportunity, Old man Zhang carefully closed the door after him, then sat down next to the trembling Miss Chen, trying to soothe her with gentle words.

When a terrible woman like Miss Chen experiences such thing as extreme emotions, and especially after taking a beating, she became particularly vulnerable.

I couldn’t hear the words of comfort Old man Zhang was saying; I could only guess he was trying to explain himself. However, Miss Chen didn’t nod or shake her head; she only continued to tear up.

I didn’t do what I did before, getting in the way of the returning naked Bo Yan, you know, to thoroughly humiliate him.

Because.

Guo Li was already standing in the hallway, like a scarecrow slowly fading away from reality.

“f.u.c.k! Stupid f.a.g! Bo Yan shouted angrily while dashing towards Guo Li standing in the middle of the hallway on the third floor with the speed of a runner.

“Hold on…” Guo Li stopped Bo Yan in his tracks, looking at him like a lost puppy.

Bo Yan had shamed himself twice already in front of Guo Li. Even now he didn’t know which one of the two, Guo Li or Ling Hu, raped him from behind. Or perhaps both of them did. The nasty mix of shame and anger made Bo Yan lash out in anger as he punched Guo LI hard in the face.

“f.u.c.k you, stupid f.a.g,” he scowled.

In the midst of the chaos, Guo Li didn’t see the attack, a punch at point blank range, coming. So he ended up taking the full brunt of Bo Yan’s fury. Blood gushed out from his nose and some even splashed over Bo Yan’s face.

“Bo Yan…I…need to know, Ling Hu…” Guo Li clearly didn’t have patience or the time; he just stared at Bo Yan and continued. “Where is he?”

The question only served to further irritate Bo Yan.

“Who the f.u.c.k cares?! Get out of my way,” he shouted back, filled with inconceivable notion.

“I know it is you. Ling Hu gave you his keys,” Guo Li dropped to his knees, holding on to Bo Yan’s leg. “Right? Tell me, please! It has to be, there’s no other way…”

From his height, Bo Yan threw another hook which landed square on Guo Li’s head. Yet, completely unruffled, Guo Li continued to ask.

“We can talk about it like gentlemen. Since you did what you did, you must have prepared the demands for the exchange, right? Tell me. What do you want?”

The manifestation of Bo Yan’s terrible mental scar kept holding onto his leg like that, had added another layer of angst to his mixture of anger. All I saw was a pair of fists terrified of the filth that he had become, continuously and unrelentingly battering Guo Li. But Guo Li a.s.sumed it was the natural outburst of a lover’s death and he took it willingly. He had no intention of letting Bo Yan go.

“Take me to see him, please? I just want him back. I will do anything you ask…” Guo Li begged and cried; Even Bo Yan was confused.

It was time.

I opened the door and began my walk down the stairs.

“Huh?!” I pretended to be surprised.

Bo Yan turned his anxious gaze towards me; even Guo Li regained some of his senses and let Bo Yan go.

“Can you guys not do that here?” I showed my dismay. “People come through all the time…can’t you do it in your room?”

“f.u.c.k off! Stupid f.u.c.k!” Bo Yan angrily kicked Guo Li away, and ran past me to the stairway above.

Seeing Guo Li still collapsed on the floor, I sighed.

His clothes were torn and his face was a mess; I could smell the stink of urine everywhere.

Guo Li watched me with his pair of soulless eyes; he seemed to be at a loss for words.

He was close to collapse, mentally. The only thought in his mind was probably “What is Bo Yan up to? How can I get him to let me go?” or something similar.

“Being rejected hurts,” I sighed as I lifted him back on his feet, “but it’s not the worst thing in the world. It’ll pa.s.s, I’m sure.”

Guo Li kept on nodding senselessly.

I shook my head and said: “Take care of yourself; there is nothing that you can’t survive.”

Guo Li closed his eyes, telling me to let him be.

So I turned away with a wicked smile on my face.

I knew that when I got back to my screens, I would have many more strange midnight movies waiting for me that night.

After two nights of continuous and unexplainable soul-crushing defeat, his inner terror and anguish had become the force with which he slammed the door.

Bang!

Exhausted, he fell back against the door as he slowly slid down to a sitting position…

There, he sat quietly, like a naked sheep with the wool sheared from him.

Under the cover of his loose black hair, his hands scratched his head in agony and defeat.

Everything had long exceeded his imagination; he had lost control. The magical shadow of the fourth dimension had swept away all his senses.

“f.u.c.k! Fuuuuuuuck!” Bo Yan burst out in tears, and curses continued to pour from his mouth.

And then…

He leapt onto his feet, screaming.

His point of view quickly switched to the pale but muscular arm protruding from underneath the bed.

Instantly, his lonely and fragile self transformed yet again, turning all the emotions bubbling inside of him into an armor of fury.

An armor full of spikes.

He got up to his feet, shouting: “Stupid f.a.ggot! Get the f.u.c.k out!”

Ling Hu, of course, couldn’t have come out.

Dead bodies would always be the best mime actors out there.

“I told you to get the f.u.c.k out!”

Bo Yan shouted even louder as he leapt forward, pulling Ling Hu’s exposed arm from under the bed.

Pull!

His brows came together for a split second only to fall apart a moment later.

“Woah!”

Bo Yan’s scream continued on for several seconds before he threw up all over the floor!

Ling Hu’s upper body lay sideways on the floor, staring at the ceiling, eyes-wide.

Sometime and somehow, a fly had landed on Ling Hu’s colourless eyeball. Through the reflection of the blade still stuck in Ling Hu’s chest, I saw how badly Bo Yan was throwing up.

 “How…” Bo Yan could barely stand; he wanted to speak but his throat kept being choked by the nasty liquid coming back up.

What could he be thinking right now?

Was he wondering when his other self could have killed Ling Hu?

Did he finally make sense of Guo Li’s almost maddening plea earlier?

Did Guo Li witness his other self do something unspeakable?

No longer having the strength to stand straight, Bo Yan fell to his knees.

His face was chalk white.

The last few times he had lost control of his body had only led to awkward, violent, or even humiliating situations. But this time, he had really f.u.c.ked up.

He killed someone.

Knock Knock! Knock Knock!

Guo Li hammered at Bo Yan’s door.

As a well educated man, he naturally wouldn’t have believed in ghosts. Therefore his logical mind naturally pointed him at Ling Hu’s lover, Bo Yan.

Only he could have had Ling Hu’s house key.

Staring at the door, both the look of an innocent man and a scared criminal, two entirely contradicting expressions appeared on Bo Yan’s face at the same time. Bo Yan was totally not prepared for this, even less knowing what to do. He was the complete opposite of Guo Li who had already prepared to meet the demands.

“f.u.c.k! What the f.u.c.k do you want?!” Bo Yan shouted over the door, his disheartened voice trembling slightly.

“Bo Yan, can you please open the door? We can talk about this. I’m begging you! I’ll do anything you ask!” Guo Li had already given up; he was on the verge of tears.

Guo Li had to be extremely optimistic that it could work out, it was the only reason he kept trying to reason with Bo Yan.

“And he was right, if Bo Yan really wanted you dead, he would have called the cops already. The only reason he took Ling Hu’s body was because he wanted something from you. If he wanted something, then you were pretty much safe. You just had to beg with everything you had. It was a necessity,” I cleverly commented the situation.

“Shut up! I don’t know what you are talking about!” Bo Yan had regained some of his bearings. “Keep denying” seemed to be his current strategy.

When a person of interest started to make a scene outside the door, it could very easily make the idiot who thought he had just killed someone lose his s.h.i.t.

Bo Yan was like that.

But I wasn’t sure if Bo Yan would come up with any clever ideas even if I had given him a whole day to think about the situation.

“I know everything. I’m begging you, just talk to me. I mean the whole thing started because you were having an affair with him, and I… I will wait for you outside!” Guo Li began to realize the volume of his voice could have alerted Ying Ru living across the hallway, (He didn’t know Ying Ru had yet to return from her night out.) and shut his stupid mouth up. He seemed calmer as well.

Bo Yan clenched his teeth, and then slapped both of his cheeks.

Still naked, he got back up and shoved the ice-cold Ling Hu firmly back under the bed, then moved a bunch of shoe boxes and other random objects around, blocking in front of Ling Hu’s body: the perfect cover.

Still not satisfied, Bo Yan grabbed a dozen tissues and wiped the floor clean of the nasty liquid. He then walked to the bathroom and began washing his hands. He had wept for as long as he washed, and he cried like a girl.

Guo Li on the other hand, sat motionlessly in front of Bo Yan’s door. His body smelled, and looked even worse than an already decayed corpse.

Yesterday, Guo Li had killed the one he loved the most; he had killed his conscience.

And today, Guo Li had lost his soul.

One body, and two killers. Well, if not counting me.

The game had just begun.