“Huh?”

  Mom spun around, but nothing.

  I could’ve sworn I saw something, though.

  Maybe it was just my nerves playing tricks on me.

  I thought that’d be the end of it. Boy, was I wrong.

  Late that night, that creepy face came back for me.

  It was sweltering, and the AC in the ward was humming away, yet sleep was playing hard to get.

  My brother Anbay was conked out right next to me.

  I was so uncomfortable that I forced myself to close my eyes.

  In that half-asleep, half-awake state, I felt a cold draft blowing on me.

  Was the AC on the fritz?

  I cracked open my eyes, and bam!

  I was wide awake and shivering.

  There it was again, that woman’s face hovering just inches from mine.

  Her features were a blur, except for those blood-red lips, glistening and dripping with crimson.

  I wanted to holler for my brother, but my body wouldn’t budge.

  My voice was stuck in my throat like glue.

  The face, as pale as a ghost, blew its icy breath all over me.

  It inched closer and closer until it was plastered against my face.

  I thrashed around, but my hands just passed right through it.

  Its cold, slimy skin clung to me, sending icy chills prickling through my pores.

  I couldn’t scream, could only flail helplessly on the bed.

  As her mouth covered my nose and mouth, I started to suffocate.

  Just when the last bit of oxygen left my lungs, I blacked out.

  Next thing I knew, I was standing by a long, winding river.

  Across the water, someone was glaring at me with eyes full of venom.

  I couldn’t make out his face, but something in my gut told me it was the snake-tailed guy.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  I tried to hightail it along the riverbank, but it seemed to go on forever.

  His long snake tail snaked around me in the end, and his red forked tongue darted toward my mouth.

  I was terrified out of my wits and squeezed my eyes shut.

  Then, a pair of hands cupped my face.

  I jolted in surprise. These weren’t the snake-tailed man’s paws.

  They were warm and strong.

  I opened my eyes and saw those devilishly charming almond-shaped eyes.

  His figure was superimposed on the snake-tailed man’s.

  One was out to get me, and the other was my knight in shining armor.

  Those eyes looked at me with pity.

  “Still can’t wake up...”

  I felt weak all over and started to crumple.

  His see-through body wrapped around me, and his beautiful, thin lips brushed against mine.

  It felt so real. Even though it was a dream, my heart was pounding like a jackhammer, threatening to burst out of my chest.

  Sensing my racing heart, he flashed a brilliant smile and tapped my forehead gently with a finger.

  “Wake up!”

  I gasped for air and woke up in a cold sweat.

  Next to me, Anbay was looking at me with concern.

  “Anna, did you have a nightmare?”

  “Looks like it...”

  My heart was still going a mile a minute.

  I touched my lips and felt a lingering warmth.

  My cheeks flushed a bit.

  “What’s wrong with your mouth? You feeling okay?”

  “No, no!”

  I shoved him away in a hurry.

  Talking about this dream with my own brother?

  Embarrassing didn’t even begin to cover it.

  As he lay back down, he suddenly remembered something.

  “Hey, who were you calling for earlier? Somebody named Li?”

  “Li?”

  That word made my heart skip a beat.

  I felt like I should remember something, but it was just out of reach.

  “Li...”

  I mumbled, and then, all of a sudden, it hit me.

  The next morning, I begged Mom to take me back home for Grandpa’s funeral.

  She was dead set against it, but I pleaded until she caved.

  Finally, Anbay stepped in.

  “Mom, let her go back for a couple of days. The doctor said she’s been doing okay and suggested some rest at home.”

  I nodded like a bobble-head, pleading with her.

  Eventually, Mom agreed, but she made me promise to come back after two days.

  I would’ve agreed to just about anything to get home.

  I needed to figure out if “that thing” was all in my head or real.

  Mom got my discharge papers sorted.

  Maybe it was because I was excited to go home, but I felt lighter than air on the way.

  Even my usually pale lips had a bit more color.

  I thought everyone coming back for Grandpa’s funeral would cheer Dad up.

  Wrong again.

  Seeing Dad’s tired face and the dark circles under his eyes, I felt a pang of unease.

  The coffin in the main hall looked so heavy and solemn.

  Dad’s first words were like a bombshell.

  “Something’s happened.”

  “Grandpa’s missing,” he said.

  We didn’t get it until Dad opened the coffin lid.

  It was empty.

  Mom was flabbergasted.

  “Where’s Grandpa?!”

  How could a dead person not be in the coffin?

  “I want to know too!”

  Dad exclaimed, biting his cigarette nervously.

  “Grandpa... vanished.”

  Mom whipped out her phone to call the police, but Dad stopped her.

  “We can’t call the cops.”

  “Someone stole the body, and we’re not reporting it?!”Mom protested.

  Dad was getting frustrated.

  “That’s what Grandpa wrote in his will!”

  He handed her a piece of paper.

  It was a will without a fancy heading, but it was definitely Grandpa’s handwriting.

  It said that if anything strange happened after his death, it was payback for the An family and no one should dig deeper or call the cops.

  Meaning, Grandpa expected something wacky to go down after he died.

  “How’s that possible?”

  Mom, a die-hard skeptic, couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of karma.

  To her, if something went missing, someone had to have swiped it.

  But whether it was a human “someone” was up for debate.

  Dad looked at us, hesitant to speak. Mom prodded him impatiently.

  He finally whispered,

  “I saw the blind man.”

  “Which blind man?” Mom was clueless.

  But my heart skipped a beat.

  There was only one blind man in our village.