The woman answered the phone.
"Yeah, yeah."
"Hmm, hmm."
"I was planning to go with them. But I suddenly fell ill and had to come home for medication. Let them go tonight. I'll rest at home."
"It's okay. Don't worry, I'm fine."
The woman hung up the phone, turned around, and walked towards the bed.
"Clack."
She took off her shoes by stepping on the heels, and the high heels almost fell right in front of Jeff, so close that he could even smell the odor coming from the shoes.
Then, the bed shook slightly.
The woman must have lain down directly on the bed.
And let out a comfortable long sigh.
Apparently,
after a day's work, she could finally have a moment of peace, away from the family activities with her husband and children. Even if it was due to her health, it must be quite pleasant.
Under the bed, Jeff began to ponder his next move.
He now regretted not wearing a mask beforehand. If he had known that the woman would be coming home alone, he could have intimidated her with a masked face, telling her not to move, and then left.
He believed that the woman alone would not dare to act recklessly, and since he hadn't stolen anything yet, she might... even choose not to call the police!
But it was just his imagination.
Even if it was certain that just one woman was lying on the bed, he didn't dare to crawl out from under the bed and threaten her.
He tried his best to open his mouth and silently took deep breaths to alleviate his tense emotions.
Waiting for the woman to fall asleep. Waiting for the woman to fall asleep...
After she fell asleep and before her husband and children returned, he could quietly crawl out from under the bed and leave without alerting the woman.
The woman lying on the bed hummed a tune. The sound of flipping book pages came from her hands.
D*mn, why aren't you sleeping yet?
Jeff didn't know how long the woman above had been reading. At this point, under the bed, he had lost his sense of time.
Finally...
"Snap."
He heard the sound of the book being closed.
The woman got out of bed.
Barefoot.
She began to walk towards the bedroom door, yawning as she went.
Is she going to take a bath?
Jeff felt relieved.
While she was taking a bath, he would be able to slip away!
However,
To Jeff's dismay, after hearing a "click" sound, the woman came back, and the static noise from the radio followed.
"Creak..."
The woman lay back down on the bed and picked up the book.
Soft music played on the radio, and the woman hummed along.
D*mn, she's not going to wait for her husband and children to return before going to sleep, is she?
As the song ended,
a man's voice came from the radio.
"After a short break, welcome back to the Roja Storytelling Club. We continue with the story we have just told. Our protagonist, Catherine, was lying in bed with a book in her hand, listening to music, and enjoying the brief leisure of the night.
She always envied other housewives, because for a woman to work outside and take care of family and children at the same time was exhausting."
"Alas..."
Jeff heard the woman sigh on the bed as if she had a similar experience.
However,
at this moment, the words from the radio made Jeff's hair stand on end!
"But what Catherine didn't know was that while she lay in bed enjoying this rare leisure, under her bed, a person lying there..."
Jeff was speechless.
The woman was stunned.
The sound of the woman sighing and flipping through book pages stopped abruptly.
At the same time, the sound from the radio paused, as if there was a signal problem or an issue with this old radio, and static noise filled the room again.
Jeff's heart was almost in his throat and he found it difficult to breathe in this eerily quiet atmosphere.
"Haha... whatever..."
From the bed,
laughter from the woman came through, seemingly trying to alleviate her embarrassment and, of course, the main purpose was to dispel the oppression of "scaring herself".
If the environment allowed, Jeff would want to laugh along.
Look, ma'am, don't listen to that bast**d on the radio talking nonsense. How could there be a person under your bed?
However,
at this moment,
Jeff saw a foot slowly descend.
The woman shifted her body towards the edge of the bed.
Jeff looked at the foot, and his fists gradually clenched.
He saw the woman's toes tense up as well.
The woman seemed eager to get out of bed and peek underneath, and Jeff knew that once she looked, she would see...
But,
her foot, after just touching the floor, slowly retracted.
Phew...
Jeff sighed in relief.
Unconsciously, his head was covered in cold sweat.
But while panting, he had to control himself. He hated the scene, he hated the situation, and he even hated himself for planning to come as a thief.
Perhaps,
five minutes passed.
Jeff didn't know if it had been five minutes. He had no watch and couldn't count the time under the bed.
Suddenly,
Jeff saw a strand of hair falling from the bed.
Under the bed, Jeff could almost imagine the scene. The woman on the bed was trying to lean her head down to look under the bed.
The hair,
got longer and more numerous.