"Ah!"
A sharp scream pierced the twilight in the parking lot, startling the people parked nearby.
Inside her Chevrolet, Melissa looked around in panic as if waking from a nightmare.
Only then did she realize there were no raindrops, no blood dripping from the rearview mirror, and no person sliced into pieces—especially one resembling her own father.
Was it all just a false alarm? Yet, why did it feel so real?
"Meli? Meli? What's wrong? Don't scare me!" came a woman's voice from the phone. Melissa realized it was her assistant, the same person who had just advised her
to call her dad. Taking deep breaths, Melissa patted her chest, saying, "I'm okay, just got a little scared by some kid. It's nothing."
"That's good to hear. So, shall I go ahead and check on that person you mentioned?" the assistant asked.
"Wait!" Melissa stopped her. "Did you just suggest I call home?"
"No, have you been overworking yourself lately? But you really should call Mr. Joseph."
"Alright, I got it. That's all for now."
"Okay, Meli, bye!"
"Uh-huh."
After hanging up, Melissa leaned on the steering wheel, taking deep breaths for a long time before finally starting the car and driving off. But where to go?
After the nightmare-like experience, Melissa was in turmoil. The image of the bloodied, sliced person haunted her mind.
She wanted to go home and sleep, but the thought of being alone in her large mansion terrified her.
She feared every dark corner, every sofa back, every closed door, and even under her comfortable, soft bed.
She felt as if her mansion, bought for over 3 million dollars, might hide a bloodied "sliced person" in every unseen corner.
Melissa, who had been fearless all her life, helping her family with kidnapping as a child, committing murder at fifteen, and dealing in human organs by twenty-one, was now afraid to go home alone.
Slamming on the brakes, she cried uncontrollably, hugging the steering wheel.
Despite the honking from cars behind, Melissa remained stationary until a traffic officer knocked on her window, causing her to pull over tremblingly.
...
In Kate's store, Kate herself sat cross-legged on the floor, holding a slightly yellowed notebook. The originally colorful figure on the notebook was fading.
Kate shook her head regretfully, "I didn't mean to take that person's life this afternoon, but he had a heart condition and died with just a slight push from me."
"Now, unexpectedly, his death will also be counted against me. I was supposed to send Melissa to hell today, but there are no extra 'lives' left to use now..." Kate
sighed, closing her notebook and picking up her handbag. He seemed to address the air, saying, "I'm going out for a while, I'll be back soon. Don't run around, or I'll let Ray beat you up."
He left the shop she had just rented, leaving it seemingly empty. However, careful observation would reveal small handprints, footprints, and buttock prints appearing on the floor, walls, and ceiling from time to time.
About half an hour later, a van parked in the pedestrian street parking lot. Maxwell and his colleague Harper, looking at the large pieces of furniture in the van, called the client.
"Hey, buddy. We can't get our truck down your street!"
"No worries, just bring it to the store, number 24, not far from the parking lot, just diagonally across less than 200 meters. I'll tip you, fifty each."
"God bless you, you're a kind soul, but don't let my boss hear about the tip."
"Sure, just leave the receipt."
"Alright, then we'll start moving!"
"Okay, the store's empty, just leave everything there, shout 'Done!' towards the door, and then leave."
"No problem!"
After hanging up the phone, Maxwell and Harper, the furniture store's delivery men, got to work.
They first brought in a long, large floor desk into the shop, noticing that it was indeed empty, and then went back for the next item.
After several trips, they had moved all the items into the shop. Following Kate's instructions over the phone, Maxwell shouted "All done!" before heading back to the parking lot to leave.
As the car started, Maxwell in the passenger seat realized he had forgotten to leave the receipt for the buyer. Remembering the buyer's specific instructions, he quickly told Harper to stop the car, "Oh, no, stop the car! I forgot to leave the receipt; I'll go put it inside!"
Harper teased him, "Buddy, you're getting old, your memory isn't what it used to be!"
They stopped the car, and Harper ran towards Kate's shop. Upon arrival, he found the previously open shop door now locked from the inside, so he had no choice but to squat down and push the receipt through the gap beneath the door. While doing so, Maxwell shouted, "Anyone there? I forgot to give you your receipt, bringing it back now!"
Suddenly, Maxwell felt a chill coming from under the door, and saw the receipt being grabbed by an overly white little hand from inside.
Looking up, he saw a little girl with two ponytails, her skin as white as a corpse's, staring back at him.
Startled for a moment, then smiling, Maxwell said, "Hey?! Little darling! You look quite cute!"
He lightly tapped on the glass door, reached out to touch the little girl's face through the glass, then stuck out his tongue and made a face at her.
The next moment, the girl smiled at Maxwell, mimicked his action, tilted her head—
Her small, white head with two ponytails rolled off her neck.
"gulp"
The girl's headless body picked up the head with both hands and, through the glass door, banged it against Maxwell's face outside, who had turned pale with shock.
After banging three times, the head held in hands also stuck out its tongue at Maxwell.
In an instant, Maxwell, who had been squatting, sat down hard on the ground, finding it difficult even to breathe.
At the same time,
"Tinkle"
At the entrance of Miami Baptist Hospital, a wind chime hanging from the strap of Kate's shoulder bag rang melodiously.
"Who got me into trouble again?"Kate took out a doll with glowing red eyes from her white bag, saying, "Don't just stand there, hurry up and help!"
In front of Kate's doll shop,
The girl who had been holding her head turned and ran away, and a similarly pale-faced little boy appeared. The boy, with red lights shining in his eyes, stared at the
twitching delivery man outside—
Maxwell, sitting paralyzed on the ground, stiffly got up from the ground, wobbled back to the parking lot, and got into the delivery van, sitting motionless in the
passenger seat.
Harper, seeing Maxwell return, didn't say anything and drove off. Not far away, he shivered, cursing, "Fuck, is the air conditioning too high? Why is it so cold?!" He
looked down and realized the air conditioning wasn't on at all.
In the passenger seat, Maxwell, with a furrowed brow, found himself in a daze, unable to recall what had happened between delivering the receipt earlier.
...