Even though his idea was strange and wild, Colin still thought about it.
Seeing that it was late, Colin turned off the light, pulled the blanket and prepared to go to sleep. The room became quiet, only the sound of his steady breathing remained.
Suddenly, there was a sound from the door of the room. Even though it wasn't very loud, in the quiet atmosphere of the bedroom it could be heard clearly.
Colin turned over, his eyes unconsciously looking towards the door, that image almost gave him a heart attack.
The door to his room had been opened a small crack at some point. From inside, Colin saw his grandfather's eyes pressed firmly against the door, staring at him without blinking.
Colin stood up from the bed and spoke loudly.
"Grandpa, why are you coming to my room so late?"
"You're still not sleeping?"
"I'm about to go to sleep."
"Then go to sleep quickly."
"Grandpa should sleep too. Staying up late for the elderly is not good for your health."
Colin sighed and stopped raising his voice at his grandfather. After all, grandpa is also a sick person.
Seeing Colin still looking, his grandfather slowly closed the door, then he heard footsteps slowly fading away, it seemed like his grandfather had left.
"Old people... are really scary sometimes."
Colin scratched his head, didn't dare to think anymore and laid down on the bed to go to sleep. But the scene just now still haunted him, making Colin unable to sleep even if he closed his eyes.
Not knowing how much time had passed, the creaking sound of the door hinge appeared again.
Colin, who was still having trouble sleeping, immediately opened his eyes and saw a head almost entering the room through the door.
It's his grandfather again.
"Grandpa, what are you doing! You scared me to death!"
He almost shouted.
Seeing that he had discovered himself, his grandfather withdrew his head, the expression on his face becoming stiff.
"Oh, I thought you were asleep."
"If you keep like this, how can I sleep? Please, go to sleep quickly."
"Okay, then you go to sleep."
Colin's grandfather finished speaking and then closed the door.
Colin covered his face with both hands and slowly touched his chest, feeling that his heart still could not calm down.
"Damned."
He cursed softly, gently stood up and wanted to go to the bathroom. However, when standing in front of the room door, Colin became hesitant.
Things shouldn't be like this.
This is his home, everything is familiar to him, all the people here are his relatives.
But compared to familiarity, Colin trusts his instincts more.
So, he silently bent down without a sound, slowly lowering himself little by little. Through the door below, Colin saw two vague black streaks placed parallel to each other...
…like human feet.
Wait.
Did grandpa never leave?
As this terrifying assumption occurred to Colin, Grandfather's head bowed, his eyes also piercing through the crack under the door, looking straight at Colin.
"Are you not sleeping yet?"
Colin froze before this horrifying scene. He reached up and locked the door, then slowly backed away, towards his bed, his eyes still focused on the door with high alertness.
"Damn it!"
Colin rarely speaks profanity, but now in just ten minutes he has already said profanity twice. He couldn't understand, although his grandfather had also been sick before, the symptoms were very normal, not this kind of horror behavior at all. Staring at someone while someone else is sleeping, just thinking about it makes Colin shiver.
Because the other party is his grandfather. So Colin tried to force his voice as low as possible, speaking calmly.
"Grandpa should go to sleep. If you don't go to bed I'll tell dad."
"Then I'm going to sleep, you should sleep too."
It seemed like it really worked this time, Colin heard his footsteps leaving. After a few minutes of waiting, when he confirmed that his grandfather was no longer coming back, he breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his hand to wipe his forehead, which had been drenched in sweat for some time.
Too challenging for the nervous system.
Colin returned to bed, covered himself with blankets, trying to find some sense of security. Every few minutes, he couldn't help but glance towards the door, afraid that his grandfather would appear there again.
A long time later, there was no movement outside, perhaps his grandfather had really gone to sleep.
At this time, Colin was quite sleepy, he pulled the blanket and turned his back to the wall.
A little wind appeared from nowhere in the room, making Colin uncomfortable. He stood up a third time and went to the window because he thought he had forgotten to close the window.
But when he went out the window, Colin actually screamed in fright.
His grandfather glued his face to the window, so much so that his face became deformed.
Colin's emotions of fear exploded into outrage.
"What exactly do you want?"
"You're still not sleeping?"
"If grandpa doesn't come back to sleep, I'll definitely call dad."
"I just wanted to make sure you closed the window."
"..."
"Then I'll go to sleep."
His grandfather left.
Colin didn't say a word, locked both the windows and the door, and carefully pulled the curtains. But that whole night he still couldn't sleep a minute. Colin carefully thought through all the details. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that something was haunting his grandfather, or...
At breakfast the next day, Colin told his father all about his grandfather's scary behavior. Faced with that, his father was also surprised, but still acted as a peacemaker.
"Later I'll go remind grandpa. Don't worry about it, it's just... your grandfather is old and sick so he behaves differently."
"I know, I don't blame grandpa. But… it's quite uncomfortable."
Since his father said so, what else can he do?
A boring day passed very quickly.
At night, Colin had to confirm with his own eyes that his grandfather was sleeping in the room before he dared to return to his room to sleep. To be sure, Colin still locked all the doors, in case an old man stood in the room staring at him in the middle of the night. If that really happened, Colin wasn't sure if his weak heart could handle it.
Having prepared everything, Colin climbed into bed. He did not immediately go to sleep but used his phone to look up information about the nature of the dream.
Deep down, Colin still hasn't given up on the existence of that possibility. Maybe it's because he doesn't want to accept that a life like this exists and it's true.
The room was so quiet that Colin could hear a pin drop.
Suddenly, he heard some sound.
It was like… something was moving?
Colin followed the direction of the sound, discovering it was coming from the closet in the room.
He stood up, cautiously facing the cabinet and said.
"Who's that?"
There was no response, but that didn't ease Colin's worry.
Normally, he would have attributed these noises to rats or something similar. It's just that Colin's nerves have been tense these past few days, making him wary of everything.
He quietly reached for the baseball bat leaning against the wall. Slowly approaching the closet, with a weapon in hand, the closet door was thrown open by Colin. But the scene inside shocked Colin.
"...Dad?"
"Son, aren't you sleeping yet? I'm a little worried so I wanted to see if you're okay..."
"But… but why are you hiding in my closet?"
"Hiding? No, I'm just worried about my son."
Colin's father laughed and replied, of course that superficial answer could not convince him. In fact, his mind was in a frenzy with countless questions appearing.
"If you have nothing to do, then I'll go to sleep first. You should go back to sleep too."
His father stood up from the closet and went outside. When the door opened, Colin saw his grandfather standing in the hallway not far from his room, seemingly always attentively observing from beginning to end. When he saw Colin's father leave, the old man also returned to his bedroom.
The whole house returned to a peaceful state, but Colin did not.
After locking all the doors, he seemed to have gone crazy searching the whole room, discovering a terrifying truth.
Under the bed and wardrobe had been removed quite a bit, leaving just enough space for one person to stay there. What was the point of moving away? Just look at his father's behavior just now.
Colin felt cold to the bone.
If it was only his grandfather who behaved strangely, Colin could still reluctantly accept it. If even his father did the same, Colin would have been in a panic.
Once again, the hypothesis that the entire event from waking up in the hospital until now was just a dream and part of the test appeared in Colin's speculation.
"If this is just a dream… then I have to wake up!"
"But how do I wake up?"