Chapter 1257: A Mother"s Record
In moments of true terror, one often cannot make a sound. Cold sweat and gooseb.u.mps erupted on Bohemia"s skin as she crawled back a few steps, and the pink bedsheet fell, concealing the numerous little Baby Baos under the bed.
In the night"s silence, she stared fixedly at the slightly swaying pink sheet, her heavy and rapid breaths the only audible sounds.
After a few seconds, her trembling hands and feet gradually calmed down. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to approach the small bed again and slowly lifting the sheet.
Once again, the Baby Baos locked eyes with her. Some of them tilted their chins upwards, others c.o.c.ked their heads sideways, while some just looked straight at her.
A Glowfish suddenly descended and stopped under the small bed. When Bohemia saw it clearly, she exhaled, her whole body relaxing. She wiped the cool tears from her face, scolding herself inwardly, and reached out to grab the Baby Bao that was looking straight at her, pulling it out.
To call it a doll would be too generous. Although it was the size of a toy, it was just a stuffed circular head with a long pillow-like body made of white cloth and cotton, thin limbs sewn together in a rough humanoid shape. Baby Bao"s photos were enlarged and pinned to the head of the cloth figure. The originally flat face was pushed out, and the eye sockets had been stabbed and hollowed out in each face.
At a glance, there were countless small black holes, seemingly staring directly at her.
Bohemia threw the cloth doll into the corner of the wall. It knocked over many things on the children"s bookshelf, making a loud clattering noise that startled the night.
"Are you okay?" Yuan Xiangxi"s voice came from a distance as the door to the darkroom opened, and his m.u.f.fled shout followed.
Bohemia remained silent. She lifted the pink bedsheet with one hand, propped herself up with the other, and bent over on the ground. Once again, she locked eyes with the numerous Baby Baos of all sizes. She s.h.i.+vered all over and couldn"t even curse out loud.
Who did this? Yuan Xiangxi? Or was it her? If it was her, why did she make so many dolls and stick Baby Bao"s photos on them? And why were the pupils in each pair of eyes stabbed and mutilated?
The Glowfish"s close proximity illuminated one round face after another, embedded with numerous black holes, exposing even Baby Bao"s face"s texture.
Hadn"t she ever looked closely at this child before? This child"s face was almost perfectly round, with facial features stretched and flattened, like something swollen and distorted due to some disease.
Remembering that this creature had come out of her own belly, Bohemia wanted nothing more than to punch her own abdomen repeatedly.
But even though Baby Bao"s uncomfortable appearance made one cringe, Bohemia couldn"t tear her eyes away. No, she couldn"t move precisely because Baby Bao"s large, round face, crowded under the bed, was staring at her.
She had shoved the toys under the bed so hard that each Baby Bao doll faced a different direction, their limbs tangled in disarray. However, one detail was consistent: the dolls" feet were all directed towards the wall, with their heads facing outwards, ensuring she wouldn"t damage the photos placed atop their heads.
Bohemia observed the dolls under the bed for a while, and her emotions gradually stabilized, reducing much of the earlier terror. These eerie and abrupt things had startled her. Still, after looking at them a little longer, the photos" eerie feeling had dissolved in the light, leaving a touch of simplicity and absurdity.
Baby Bao"s bed was facing the doorway. As Bohemia peered under the bed from the ground, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the corridor floor outside the children"s room. Her gaze was fixed on Baby Bao"s face when she suddenly turned her head. The Glowfish under the bed immediately swam towards the doorway, illuminating the empty corridor.
Was n.o.body there? She felt like a gust of wind had just now blown in from the doorway.
Perhaps she was overthinking, or maybe it was the three invisible children in the house...What had happened in this house over the past five years? Bohemia pondered while turning her eyes back.
Among the densely packed round faces under the bed, one Baby Bao doll in the corner quickly withdrew its gaze from the doorway and turned its head, motionless.
This time, a genuine scream shattered the silence.
It wasn"t until she stepped on toys, stumbled, knocked over the bookshelf, and Yuan Xiangxi rushed in that Bohemia realized she had screamed aloud. She avoided his hand reaching out to her, staggered to her feet, and for a while, all she could produce was wheezing breaths.
"What scared you?" Her husband"s voice softened as if he felt sorry for her. He gently patted her back. "It"s okay. You"ll be fine. I"m here."
"Ba...Baby Bao..." Her voice barely formed words. "Under the bed..."
The result was almost expected.
After finally understanding what she meant, Yuan Xiangxi lifted the bedsheet. He was also taken aback when he first saw the dolls under the bed, but after pulling each one out for inspection, they found that none of them were alive and could turn their heads.
"Not just Baby Bao. There are three children now." Her husband sighed, not making a big deal out of it. "In this pocket dimension of the house, besides the two of us..."
Bohemia desperately pressed her temples, feeling as if a metal wire was piercing through her brain, causing throbbing pain. Was this house called a pocket dimension? No, it was a playhouse pocket dimension... She and Yuan Xiangxi entered the house together...Right, the most important thing now was quickly figuring out what had happened in this family over the past five years. Only then could she complete this playhouse session based on historical content.
With this thought, her fear dissipated somewhat. This place was too strange, and she had to find a way to get out with this guy. After all, he was not something from this pocket dimension. When Bohemia thought of this, she looked up and met Yuan Xiangxi"s gaze.
Backlit, his face was immersed in shadows, but his eyes staring at her were flickering with burning light.
"I... I understand. I just need to rest. You can go ahead and develop the photos." Her hand tightened behind her, gripping a ring tightly. She smiled at him, and the s.h.i.+mmering and s.h.i.+fting lights created a silent heap of Baby Bao dolls on the floor.
"Are you... really okay?"
"I-I"m fine."
Yuan Xiangxi glanced at her with some doubt, giving her an encouraging smile that revealed a row of white teeth in the shadows. "Then I"ll head downstairs first. If you need anything, just call me. Oh, you"ve also written a baby-raising record?"
"What?"
Bohemia was taken aback, then realized he was referring to something behind her. She didn"t dare to turn around to show her back to him. Instead, she reached back and groped around, picking up a few books from a pile of children"s books. She turned her head to look and found her handwriting: Baby-Raising Record—Baby Bao.
After Yuan Xiangxi left, she pressed her back against the corner of the wall, sat on the floor, and opened the baby-raising record hidden among the children"s books.
The timeframe of the baby-raising record partially overlapped with that of the diary. The hostess considered making a baby-raising record when Baby Bao was six months old. Initially, she didn"t know what to record, so she only wrote about trivial matters and many confessions to her daughter.
"I never imagined there could be such a precious and adorable little thing in this world! Her tiny hands and tiny feet, so pink and tender, I can"t kiss them enough times in a day. Grow up quickly, Mommy can"t wait."
Bohemia looked at the date; it was still mid-1975.
"She said "Daddy!" This is the first word she said! Oh my G.o.d! My baby! You don"t know how happy and complex it makes me... Next time, say "Mommy!"" This was recorded when Baby Bao was six and a half months old.
The next two or three weeks of the records were very short as if just going through the motions.
"For the past few weeks, I"ve been trying to make Baby Bao call me "Mommy. " Today, she finally said it. I cried for a long time. No matter what, I will always love you. I would sacrifice anything for you."
The book also recorded matters such as Baby Bao starting to walk, being weaned, and giggling. However, the entries became fewer and simpler as time pa.s.sed. In the following months, there might not even be a single record. The last entry was abruptly added when Baby Bao was three years old.
"Baby Bao, don"t forget, your mommy loves you!!!!!!!! You"re a good child, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you, Mommy loves you."
The last stroke was long as if trying to fly into the air.
Bohemia tucked the baby-raising record into her bosom, not even looking at the pile of Baby Bao dolls, and walked back to the master bedroom. She took out the diary inside the dressing table and put it with the baby-raising record in her storage items. Before leaving, she nervously looked around but saw nothing strange, so she re-entered the corridor.
Just as she was ready to leave, she stopped and looked up.
...When she scanned the ceiling just now, she noticed that one wooden board"s color was slightly different and had a small iron hook hanging from it. She hadn"t lived in an ordinary house before, so she spent some effort to figure out what that little iron hook was used for. Bohemia threw Higher Consciousness up, hooked it on the iron hook, and pulled down— the wooden board suddenly opened, and a ladder leading to the attic descended from the ceiling amidst a flurry of dust.
The attic was pitch black, but as the Glowfish approached, the darkness receded, and a layer of grayish dimness floated up.
Bohemia hesitated for a few seconds, looking down at the floor below. She couldn"t see the darkroom beneath the stairs, but everything seemed calm and quiet, and it seemed that Yuan Xiangxi hadn"t come out yet. Three Glowfish swam around her, illuminating the surroundings brightly.
She climbed up the ladder cautiously without rus.h.i.+ng into the attic. Standing at the midpoint, she peeked inside.
Old furniture, last year"s Christmas decorations, and many dusty cardboard boxes emerged from the darkness one by one under the fish"s light. After the Glowfish pa.s.sed by, the attic sank back into darkness. It seemed like this was where the family piled up old and miscellaneous items—nothing extraordinary. Because the attic was small, if all three Glowfish followed her inside, it would be so bright that no shadow would be present.
Bohemia was shocked when her gaze swept over the cardboard boxes again. She quickly climbed the ladder and hurried to a stack of boxes, where she brushed off the dust, revealing the words "Bohemia" written underneath.