Chapter 19: 1.18 First Small Star [Extra 2] – Horror Tale VI
The scream of the man from the forest wasn"t completely heard by the other people residing inside the abandoned building. The place is so creepy and the event unfolding before them that they couldn"t focus on something else. After all they"ve witnessed a pen moving on its own without anyone holding it. It even answered the question Xue Luli had asked. This whole event remained bizarre and creepy for everyone.
"Let"s continue asking. Who wants to ask the second question?" asked Fu Lian, looking at the rest of the partic.i.p.ants surrounding the paper and the pen with him.
The other three scaredy cats all shook their heads and didn"t speak as if mute. They were so terrified for their lives that they even wanted to scold their past selves that wished to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of supernatural event.
Fu Lian looked at his quiet little brother beside him.
"Jingjing, what about you?" asked Fu Lian.
"I... I will think of a question first. Big Bro or Big Sis should ask next." replied Xue Jing.
Fu Lian nodded at him and then looked at his girlfriend.
"Lili? What about you?" asked Fu Lian.
Xue Luli flinched when her name was suddenly called by her boyfriend.
"A--... A"Lian should ask next..." responded Xue Luli but her shock was evident on her ashen face.
Fu Lian frowned a bit and was worried seeing his girlfriend in this state. He wanted to finish this whole event and get home early. His eyes move back to the hovering pen on the top of the paper.
"Pen fairy, how many times could we ask you questions?" asked Fu Lian.
Then the pen trembles for a moment before writing the answer on the paper.
[Six questions. You"ve asked two questions. There are four more left.]
Seeing the pen move for the second time the three scaredy cats couldn"t help shrieking with one of them even fainting from fear. The people in their surroundings started murmuring as well after hearing Fu Lian read what was written on the paper.
Xue Luli spoke, "Four? Jingjing you can ask the last question. Let"s ask the others if they want to ask something. How about you three... I mean you two?" she asked the other three partic.i.p.ants with one of them unconscious right now.
"I-I-I-... No questions!?"
"M-Me N-Neither!"
"Okay. How about anyone from the crowd?" asked Xue Luli.
The people who were watching from the sides all remained silent and moved backward as if wanting to run away. Obviously there are already a few who took their leave after witnessing such a scene.
"Th-There is no question!"
"We don"t want to ask!!?"
"f.u.c.k this s.h.i.t! I"m out of here!!"
"M-Me too!!!"
"Ah! Wait! You can"t just leave!!"
Some students who were cla.s.smates to those guys tried to stop them but seeing them running away fast. They didn"t try to follow them. The place is already creepy enough. It is better to be with the larger group than the minority.
"Big Sis should ask the questions. Leave one to me." said Xue Jing with a smile.
Xue Luli seems to always pause her words whenever Xue Jing is talking to her. Her eyes sometimes become dazed before it returns to normal.
"Sure. Pen Fairy aside from you? Is there some other ghost or spirit with us right now?" asked Xue Luli.
The pen trembles before it starts writing. They"ve watched as the pen wrote the answer.
[Yes.]
[There is since the beg--] This incomplete sentence was erased by dashing two lines over it as if pen fairy wrote it wrong.
[There are a lot in this land and in this building.]
Fu Lian was the one who read the reply of the pen fairy once again but this time his eyes stared at that deleted incomplete sentence written by the pen fairy.
"What is the meaning of this incomplete sentence? Is there something with us since the beginning!?" asked Fu Lian.
This question of Fu Lian made the rest of the people with him in this building gasped collectively. They didn"t see what was written on the paper but there seems to be some problems with Pen Fairy"s reply. Only the partic.i.p.ants saw what really happened. The Pen started moving once again to reply to Fu Lian"s question this time.
But for some reason the pen was writhing as if fighting something. On the papers the distorted circle shape and x shape continues to overlap on the paper. Seeing this horrifying scene made them want to run away. This time even Xue Luli is scared.
"L-Lian... L-Let"s end... t-the game... End the game!" said Xue Luli as she grabbed the arm of her boyfriend.
Fu Lian with an ashen face nodded in agreement. He was about to ask Pen fairy to leave when suddenly the unconscious partic.i.p.ant just now woke up and witnessed this even creepier scene. He could no longer hold back his fear and stood up from where he was seated about to run away.
"AAhh!! I had enough of this s.h.i.t!!!" This man tried to run away.
But before he could even leave his seat, the other two on his side even Fu Lian had to grab him to stop him from leaving. If it is before the game starts or if the pen didn"t move at all. None of them would believe this farce but this nonsense ended up becoming real. The pen really moves on its own!
"You can"t leave!!"
"STOP!!"
"Stay here!!"
Three people held on to the man who wanted to leave. Unable to escape from the three men who were holding him down.
"AAHHH!! Let go! Let me go! I want to go home!!"
"Calm down. You can"t just leave like this!!"
"We need to send away the Pen Fairy!!"
"You lunatic! Can we even send that thing away!!?"
The panicking man retorted back with a question. But what they didn"t expect is for this question to be considered one of the four questions left that could be asked to the Pen Fairy. Xue Luli and the audience who saw the pen moving on it"s own again screamed. Xue Luli was especially shocked at what was written.
[I can"t be sent away. I will stay here until all questions are answered. You have two more questions left. Ask away. It will be the last few you can ask.]
KYAAAA!!
The last sentence written by the pen fairy left an ambiguous meaning to those who read what he replied. Xue Luli screamed because she could vaguely feel the meaning of those words. It means after the last question is made the rest of them wouldn"t be able to ask anymore. Not tomorrow or in the future. Once everyone read what was written on the paper, this time everyone in the building ran away.
"I knew it!! f.u.c.k!!"
"I... I"m out of here!!!"
"d.a.m.n s.h.i.t! I"m going home!!!"
"Go home! Let"s go home!!!"
"Let"s leave this scary place!!"
"AAHHH! This is crazy!!!"
Some even had to push those in front of them just so they could leave ahead of others. Everything in the place turned chaotic. Xue Luli was among the crowd who was pushed.
Ouch!
"Lili!? Are you alright?" asked Fu Lian worriedly as he protected his girlfriend from the panicking crowd.
"I... I think I twisted my ankle. Hiss!!" replied Xue Luli.
Fu Lian checked on her foot and saw it swelling. He tried to reduce the swelling.
"Don"t move, let me check it thoroughly." said Fu Lian.
Xue Luli groans in pain. There are traces of tears on the corner of her eyes.
HISS!! "It hurts! A"Lian it really hurts!!" said Xue Luli.
"I will carry you on my back. Get on!" said Fu Lian.
Xue Luli climbed up on his boyfriend"s back and noticed his little brother still crouching over the paper and the pen. Xue Jing seems to be talking to the Pen fairy.
"Jingjing? What are you doing?! Stay away from that thing!! It"s dangerous!" said Xue Luli and Fu Lian.
"I... I only tried asking it a few more times and it really replied." said Xue Jing with a trembling voice.
Fu Lian asked, "What did you ask, Jingjing?"
"A... A lot. First I ask if we can leave. It says "We can"t".
Then I ask if this place is dangerous. It replied "Yes".
Then I ask again why it is dangerous here? He replied "The seal to this h.e.l.lhole was open because we came here. He said that those guys will come out because today is Ghost day. It is the day they would be free to roam in our world."
I asked again how can we leave? At first it hesitated but it still replied. It says "Look for the most beautiful looking ghost. Only he is able to help you leave. This ghost is a whimsical one. He might help if he wanted or not if he doesn"t. But his help doesn"t come without an exchange. You should be prepared."
After that the pen stopped moving." explained Xue Jing while holding the pen and the paper.
Fu Lian and Xue Luli"s expressions turned gloomy when they heard what Xue Jing had said. While they were thinking of something they suddenly heard screams from the outside of the building right after a loud bang sound of something falling.
"What does he mean that we can"t leave?" asked Xue Luli.
BAM!!!
AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
The three run out of the building only to see people straying around the building. Most of them were on the ground seated with panicking and terrified expressions on their pale faces. There"s a clear and intense fear imprinted on their faces.
"What happened?!" asked Fu Lian as he grabbed a boy from his cla.s.s among the crowd.
The cla.s.smate he asked was trembling like a newborn quail. He was dazed as he was frightened and shocked by the events just now. But he still heard what Fu Lian asked. He couldn"t form words right away and just pointed behind Fu Lian.
"Behind me!" said Fu Lian.
KYAAAAHH!!!
Xue Luli was the first to scream but it didn"t take long for her to warn her little brother.
Xue Jing asked, "Why did you scream, Big sis? What"s behind us?"
"Jingjing! Don"t look!" yelled Xue Luli.
Fu Lian immediately covered the eyes of their little brother with his free hand and pulled him over as he hugged him.
"Close your eyes, Jingjing! Don"t open it until your brother tells you too!" said Fu Lian.
Xue Jing nodded as he grasped at Fu Lian"s clothes. Once Fu Lian felt the eyelids of Xue Jing move down only then did he remove his hand but his body still blocked the scene behind him.
Behind them a smashed up corpse of a familiar person was found. The corpse was unbearable to look at. Bones broken and twisted in weird angles, crimson blood pooling around and that distorted expression paired with a lifeless eyes. This is the man who ran away first, the person who was until a few minutes ago was seated together with them screamed and trembling in fear. It was the man who tried to run away the moment he woke up from his fainting moment.
He was still alive a moment ago though now he is nothing but a broken dead man.
"What happened to him!?" asked Fu Lian.
"W-We don"t know."
"We only saw him run straight to the forest alone t-then..."
"Then what?" asked Fu Lian. The people around him started to speak what they"ve seen.
"Then we heard something falling behind us!"
"W-When we come over to check... H-He... He who is supposed to be in front of us..."
"Seems to have appeared somehow behind us and has fallen from the rooftop of the building."
"I swear. I was looking at the sky when I saw a dark figure appearing on top of the building. T-Then... it falls."
"What the h.e.l.l is happening here!!!?"
"I want to go home!"
"Let go! This is your fault! Making this kind of event!"
The people outside the building gathered and didn"t try to venture towards the forest to leave the place. Most of them had seen what happened to that man just now. They saw him suddenly disappearing from the forest and suddenly reappearing from the rooftop only to die on his fall. They were all afraid. Some of them even started to break down and cry.
Fu Lian slowly put down his girlfriend on the ground to lean on some rock. He asked Xue Jing to look after his sister.
"Lili, I will handle the crowd first. Stay here okay?" said Fu Lian.
Once Xue Luli saw the panic in the crowd she could only nod her head albeit reluctant. It was supposed to be her job to calm down the crowd but with her foot like this, she couldn"t even do her job as the school president of their grade.
Only when Fu Lian was about to leave when someone grabs his clothes. When he looked down he saw Xue Jing looking at him with an extremely frightened expression on his face and his pet.i.te figure trembling as if coated in ice.
"B-Brother... I feel c-c-cold. I-I-It"s so c-c-cold." said Xue Jing.
"Jingjing?! What are you okay?" asked Xue Luli when she touched his little brother"s skin, the tingling feeling as if touching ice with extreme coldness, left a burning sensation on her fingers.
Fu Lian and Xue Luli looked at Xue Jing. They could see his lips turning purple and when they touched his skin, it was icy as if he was placed inside a refrigerator. Xue Luli tried to hug him to warm him but there was no use. Fu Lian even tried to cover him up with his blazer but it seems to be no use. He thought of making a bonfire but aside from tree branches not far from there he got nothing from him to light a fire. All of their equipment was left inside the building.
The couple had no other choice but to hug him in between them to share body heat.
"Jingjing, please bear with it for a bit! Just a bit. Okay?" said Fu Lian.
"Lian. Go ask someone if they have something that could make a fire. A lighter or a match. Jingjing might get frozen if this continues." said Xue Luli.
Fu Lian agreed with her but before he could even stand, Xue Jing hugged the two of them tightly, not even wanting to let go.
"No. Stay here. Brother stay here. It"s dangerous. Can"t get separated?!" said Xue Jing.
They"ve tried comforting him, "Jingjing. It will not take a few minutes. Brother will just borrow a light to make fire okay? Let go for awhile."
But the child tightens his grasp instead while shaking his head, clearly the child is not willing to let either of the two to leave his side. Thankfully the student blogger overheard their conversation. He helped them make fire with the use of his lighter and join their small group.
Obviously these three were being isolated as Fu Lian and Xue Luli were the ones who made this event. But thinking about it, obviously everyone agreed to creating this event and felt that it will be unfair for these three to be avoided just because they"ve made this event under their persuasion. This student blogger named Ye Lou approached them because he also felt bad for the young boy Xue Jing who now looks even whiter than before.
"I will help you make fire for the boy." said Ye Lou.
"Thank you. Thank you!" said Xue Luli, who had tears on her beautiful face.
Xue Jing looked at Ye Lou and smiled a bit, "T-Thank you. B-Brother." his small voice was told in whisper but the blogger still heard it.
Ye Lou smiled when he saw Xue Jing smile despite looking sick. "Just get warmed up. Children get a cold when exposed to this kind of temperature."
"Ye Lou you. What about the rest?" asked Fu Lian.
Ye Lou replied, "They want to isolate you two. They were blaming you for creating this event. s.h.i.t! Have they forgotten they were the ones who asked for this d.a.m.n thing!"
Fu Lian and Xue Luli frowned when they heard about this. They were disappointed by how their cla.s.smates suddenly treated them like this.