Home of the Unusual Creatures

Chapter 1 “Mysterious Pendant Part 1”

Bang!

Heavily locking the door behind himself, the man turned on all the lights that he could find in the quickest possible fashion. For a while, the room became as bright as the sun itself. Squatting in a corner, cold sweat came pouring out of his forehead as the heart thumped violently due to the panic crawling up from behind.

“Old Lin, what’s wrong with you?” The man’s companion strolled out of the inner restroom with a cigarette in hand. When he saw how frightened-looking his friend was, the man grew wary of the situation and quickly asked for more details.

“Ghost… There’s a ghost wearing a blue dress out there! Old Ginger, stop talking and hide!” Old Lin shrank further against the corner and shivered some more.

“HAHA, where in the world did a ghost come from in this materialist world? You drank too much, didn’t you?” Old Ginger bellowed out a hearty laugh and puffed a smoke ring from his mouth. Then casually smothering it out in the ashtray, he squats down and pats his friend’s shoulder to calm him.

Exactly like those old corny horror movies, it’s at this very moment the lights snapped out, leaving only a pitch-black room with the sound of pouring rain through the window. The whole room was suddenly thrust into an eerie mood of hair-tingling atmosphere.

Click-Click…

The freaky sound resonated without notice, causing Old Lin’s breath to slow down to a crawl. His pupils dilated violently as he tried to stop his own breathing with those hands covering his mouth.

“He-Hear that?” Old Lin whispered, his voice whimpering on the edge of crying.

“Mhmm… I heard that.” Old Ginger’s voice was calm as if nothing could scare him.

That indeed managed to calm the frightened man somewhat since his friend sounded so confident: “It’s like…. It’s like the sound of bones being arranged?”

“Yes, we have to be careful, it is indeed very abnormal…”

The familiar voice next to him was still calm, but Old Lin suddenly realized something to his own horror, which caused his limbs to turn cold.

That weird bone sound… it’s coming from beside himself!

On signal, a bolt of lightning streaked through the window panel and illuminated the entire night sky. Turning around to face his companion, Old Lin found a pair of white hands reaching over to wrap around his neck.

“Ah!!!”

…..

Early next morning, dozens of black police cruisers were parked outside the Farmers’ Market with sirens blaring one after another. There was a heavy police force surrounding the premise as they cordoned off the area.

Dawn was one of the many onlookers present this morning as they watched the police carry out a stretcher from within the market. Though covered with a thin layer of white cloth to hide its occupant, anyone with an eye could still tell it’s a corpse underneath. What’s more, the exposed wrist was still dripping blood!

Dawn sighed inside as the discussions continued around himself. Everyone here lives nearby so they’re all familiar with one another. Imagine having someone you knew murdered, that’s going to create a sensation for sure. To be clear, the security around these parts weren’t bad by any means; in fact, there hasn’t been a robbery in years around here, let alone murder in such a cruel and perverted fashion.

Making a shiver despite the warm weather of July, Dawn silently departed after watching for a bit more. He’s not going to get his grocery done today for sure after this huge incident. However, things weren’t going to calm down so quickly either. Right after he placed his empty basket down at home, he only got a second of leisure before a loud knocking of the door interrupted his break.

“Dawn, auntie here needs to discuss something with you.” Outside his room was Aunt Zhang, a tenant of his who sounded urgent.

“Dawn, I’m really sorry but we are going to move out right away.” The auntie was rubbing her hands together in a nervous fashion like she wanted to flee.

“Moving?” Dawn was taken aback by the sudden demand, “Aunt Zhang, you only lived here less than two months! Didn’t we agree on a year for the rental agreement? If you move now then what about the deposit?”