Chapter 105: Yixin’s childhood memories (Part 2)
I thought my life was finally on the right track. Even though the children from the orphanage despised me, at least in cla.s.s, I could be carefree.
Until one day –
I was in gym cla.s.s. Suddenly, the gym teacher had a stomach ache and our homeform teacher came to supervise us instead. We had free time to do whatever activities we wanted.
After playing rock, paper, scissors, I lost and I had to be the eagle. The game was, “The eagle catches the chicken”. While we were playing, suddenly there was a vulgar-looking man staring at us underneath a faraway tree.
I had a bad premonition and halted my steps as I turned towards that direction.
At that moment, I made direct eye contact with the ghost man and he realized I could see him. He smirked as if he had some evil schemes up his sleeves. Then, he began to sluggishly chase after me.
“Get away from me! Ahhh! Stay away!” I couldn’t think of any other solution as I ran like a crazy person towards the sports field. At the same time, the man was still relentlessly pursuing me. I was so frightened that I was in tears.
Based on what I could recall, he was the first scary ghost I had ever seen. I wasn’t sure how many circles I had ran, but I knew I kept going until I exhausted all my strength. I ran until I fell down because my body couldn’t handle it anymore.
My brain was lacking oxygen, but that wasn’t a concern. I looked back and saw that the distance between me and the man was shrinking by the second. The tears in my eyes made everything seem so hazy. I had completely failed to notice my cla.s.smates who had came over.
Out of despair, I wrapped my arms around my head and shrieked, “Get away from me! I hate you!”
After I screamed my heart out, it was as if something had ripped.
The tense friends.h.i.+p string I tried so hard to maintain broke.
With eyes filled with tears, I stared at my surrounding cla.s.smates. Initially, they were so close and dear to me. Yet, in a split second, they were all staring at me with disgust. Now, all of them were whispering amongst themselves.
What do kids know? They’re just very honest with how they feel.
At that moment, their stares were like arrows stabbing into my body; leaving it full of holes.
The man was sneering on the side. I wasn’t afraid of him any longer. Instead, all I felt was hatred.
I also realized something. It didn’t matter if I got rid of all the ghosts from my side. As long as I could see them, I will never be able to escape from this tragedy.
After that incident, my cla.s.smates’ gazes became the same as those from the orphanage. All my so-called friends neglected me from then on.
I became the cla.s.s’s invisible person.
I did attempt to explain myself. I told them those words weren’t meant for them. But it was no use. They seemed to have made up their minds to eliminate me from the group.
Once again, I was alone. Except this time, I didn’t even have my ghost friend.
Actually, it wasn’t that bad to be alone. I didn’t envy those who had friends to hang out with. I wasn’t the type to be upset if no one watched a movie with me either.
I kept telling myself I was fine…
When I turned eighteen, I left the orphanage.
The orphanage was a place I experienced a lot of complicated emotions. On one hand, I knew I was only alive because of the orphanage. On the other hand, all the memories I had from the orphanage were painful and suffocating. Due to my past, I had nothing else to look forward to.
Eighteen was also the age I started working. I needed to work in order to pay my University tuition. Although I was only attending an average University, I was already satisfied I managed to get in.
As I aged, the ghosts around me were no longer the innocent and playful ones. Some of them would stalk me, while some of them would purposely scare me. In more severe cases, some would vigorously affect my daily life.
In addition, I gradually became more and more slow. Sometimes, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart from humans.
“Excuse me, please give me the bill.” I was at the supermarket and the worker was taking forever at the register. I was a bit annoyed.
These days, I was very stressed over my thesis. Now, even the cas.h.i.+er had to make my life difficult?
Suddenly, everyone began to whisper amongst themselves.
I sensed something was wrong and began to a.n.a.lyze the cas.h.i.+er in front of me. I stood on my tippy toes and realized she had no legs! Oh yeah, recently, there was a cas.h.i.+er that died from a car accident….
In my ears, everyone’s comments about me were magnified by a hundredfold. Since I was so embarra.s.sed, I left without buying anything. I gritted my teeth and walked out of the supermarket with my head lowered.
When I had returned back to my rented apartment, I burrowed myself into my blanket and began to vent, “Why me? Why am I the only one who can see these things? What have I done wrong to deserve these looks? For which reason?! Ah!!!!”
I began to throw a fit and punched my pillow nonstop. Eventually, I was drained and entered the dream world.
In my dreams, I was a normal person. Dreams were great…
The human heart was quite resilient. After experiencing negative emotions repeatedly, it will turn numb. Then, it will treat others coldly.
I cannot remember the exact time when I realized I didn’t care anymore. But thinking back, that might not have been a good thing.
In fact, one time, I was supposed to go to a job interview but a ghost came to ruin it for me.
I was abnormally calm about it.
The interview was the final round and it wasn’t easy for me to get to that point. I only had one opponent left. They were going to choose between us.
While I was on my way, a ghost blocked my path. Regardless of how I tried to walk around him, he would still block me. He looked very desperate.
“What do you want?” I asked with no expression. My eyes followed the area he was pointing at.
“Wu… wu….” I vaguely heard someone crying.
Was it really an emergency? I bravely followed the ghost; thinking, I’ll trust you once.
When I entered the alley, I found out that it wasn’t “wu wu”, but “meow meow”. I noticed a big cat pacing back and forth.
When I walked closer, I could see that a group of newly born kittens were stuck in a crack; hence, the anxious mother cat.
“I can’t believe I’m giving up my interview for a bunch of kittens….” I lightly muttered. Since I witnessed this, I could not pretend I didn’t see it. So, I grabbed some random tools and began to break down the wall for the kittens to get out.
At first, the mother cat was very protective and wouldn’t let me do anything. However, afterwards, the ghost around me scared her away.
After spending more than half an hour, I finally managed to save the four kittens. I looked down at my watch and realized that even if I were to run to the interview, it would already be too late.
I held onto the four kittens as I slid down and sat in the alley. I told the ghost, “Ghost! Ghost! Could you stop causing trouble for me? It’s too late for my interview now. Do you know how hard it is to find a job? You’re a ghost, so naturally you don’t have to worry about feeding yourself. But I….sigh, there’s no point in telling you. What do you know….”
So, I returned home with a grey face. The next day, I was sending my résumé to a variety of jobs as usual. Suddenly, the interviewing company called me and said that something had happened to their previous applicant and she was no longer able to take the job. They asked if I wanted to go in for the interview again.
I wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence or the doings of the ghost. But ultimately, I managed to get the job.
After working for a year, I managed to save enough of my wages to rent a nicer place. The apartment was a lot cheaper than the market price of the location. I was astonished and asked the owner why. The owner never told me the reason. But after I had moved in, I realized it was because of the mistress ghost hanging by the window.
I guess I profited from a disaster. Thanks to the mistress ghost, I was able to rent cheaply. Whenever I found her a bit disturbing, I only had to pull down the curtains to avoid seeing her.
Gradually, my ghost family grew.
I had a ghost cat, ghost dog, and a ghost bodyguard. They were all nice ghosts that held no ill intentions. In fact, they were super attached to me.
After spending my life with ghosts for so many years, sometimes I actually felt much more relaxed spending time with ghosts than humans.
Just like that, I began to forget how to get along with other humans. I lived like a human ghost.