The soothing and relaxing piano sounded from the study room and flowed into the dim corridor.
The melody lasted for several seconds, then suddenly stopped, and the sound of the keys echoed. McPherson turned his head, as if he was frightened. "What's wrong...?" Doreen appeared at the door, the coffee in her hand steaming up.
Seeing that it was his wife, MacPherson exhaled slightly: "Maybe it's because I just moved to a new home and it's a strange place. I always think about something more... Go to bed early and start working again tomorrow morning."
Doreen walked into the study and put the coffee on the table: "But I've already made the coffee."
"I'll drink it when I wake up tomorrow morning. It will just make me energetic." Macpherson put down the cover of the piano, sorted out some scraps of piano manuscripts, and threw them into the wastebasket.
Doreen paused for a moment on the wastebasket and talked about other topics: "Speaking of what's going on with the neighbors, I just went downstairs to clean up the garbage in the yard and heard them talking about this."
"What did you say? A great artist as their neighbor?" McPherson chuckled to himself.
Doreen frowned worriedly: "I couldn't hear clearly, but they seemed to be afraid of this place... this house..."
"Maybe they are afraid of strangers. You know, we are foreigners, and it is normal for locals to be afraid." McPherson didn't care much.
"Can……"
McPherson pulled his wife, who was still about to say something, to sit on his lap, put his arm around her waist and said softly: "I know you still have complaints, but it's not bad to buy such a big house for tens of thousands, right?"
Doreen broke away angrily, stood up and walked to the door: "I'm going to bed first, and I have to get up early tomorrow to find a nearby college for Beth."
"Wait for me."
McPherson covered the coffee with a piece of brown paper to prevent dust from falling, picked up the oil lamp in the piano room and chased him out.
Bang.
The door closed, and the piano room behind him fell into darkness.
Returning to the bedroom, the couple reluctantly saw their daughter in pajamas playing with Jack.
"It's time for you to go to bed." Doreen walked into the room and picked up her daughter with her hands on her hips.
Jack wanted to jump up and play with his little master, but Doreen patted him on the head. He had no choice but to follow the family of three with his tail down, and followed them to the bedroom at the end of the corridor.
He carried his daughter to the bed, covered her with a quilt, touched Beth's forehead with his lips, left an oil lamp on the bedside, and the couple retreated to the door, said good night, and closed the door.
The room darkened nicely, and a thin humanoid outline suddenly appeared on the ceiling above the bed.
"ah--!"
Beth's eyes widened and she screamed in horror.
The door that had not been closed was pushed open and the lights were turned on. The couple were shocked to see their daughter pointing at the ceiling and crying: "There is a person on the ceiling!"
The couple's hair stood on end when they heard this, and they subconsciously looked up, but there was nothing except the ceiling and the dark gap.
Looking at each other helplessly, Doreen walked to the bed and comforted her for a while, then called the golden retriever over, hugged her to the bed and said, "Jack is with you, are you not afraid anymore?"
"Hmm..." Beth nodded timidly, grabbing the edge of the quilt with her little hands.
Doreen breathed a long sigh of relief, stepped back to the door and turned off the light: "Stop scaring us."
Click.
The two exited the room.
As the door closes, the last ray of light disappears.
"Woo..."
Beth shrank into the quilt in fear.
The footsteps outside the door gradually faded away, and the golden retriever lay beside him, holding the quilt.
With Jack by her side, Beth plucked up the courage and quietly poked her little head out, staring at the chaotic room with her dark eyes, blinking and blinking.
"It's impossible for Beth to really see anything..."
On the way back to her room, Doreen muttered something under her breath.
McPherson yawned and said, "Maybe it's a rat in the attic. I'll go up and have a look tomorrow morning."
"Huh? The wallpaper is torn."
Doreen stopped and frowned when she saw a gap in the wallpaper, revealing the gray wooden board behind it.
The breach was right next to my daughter's bedroom, but I didn't notice it when I moved in.
MacPherson gently pushed his wife forward and said helplessly: "It's okay. If you think the wallpaper doesn't look good, let's go buy new ones tomorrow."
"No need, we have no source of income..."
The two returned to their bedroom, changed into pajamas and went to bed early. They had a busy day moving and were all a little tired.
Snapped.
McPherson dimmed the kerosene lamp on the bedside table.
The moment the room became dark, a dry human silhouette flashed across the ceiling.
…
Jack suddenly raised his head and looked at the ceiling.
Beside it, Beth was sleeping soundly, lying on her side, holding a soft golden retriever in one small hand.
Jack seemed to have seen something. He raised his head and moved slowly, as if he was following something on the ceiling.
"Woo..."
Jack let out a low whimper, suddenly stood up, lowered his tail, jumped out of bed, and ran to the door.
It stood upright, put its paws on the handle, and pressed the doorknob down easily.
snap——
The door was open a crack.
Jack pushed the door open with his head and slipped out.
The dark corridor was silent, and the sound of paws tapping on the wooden boards could not be heard very far.
Jack slipped into the gap not far from the door and, as he did during the day, bared his teeth warily at the damaged wallpaper.
Something was happening in the darkness. A dark, substantial arm poked out from the wall little by little, grabbing Jack with its dry fingers.
"Ugh...!"
Jack's ears drooped, his tail was tucked, and he whined and made a threatening sound.
The arm was indifferent and still stretched out towards Jack.
From the corner of its split mouth to the base of the ear, it suddenly bit into the dark arm.
clatter--
There was a crisp sound of teeth closing together, and Jack went straight through the dry palm and bit it into nothing.
Jack was stunned, and at the same time, the thin, dark arm that could not be touched had touched the back of Jack's neck.
Click——
The outline in the darkness changed, and Jack's head drooped weakly.
"Ouch——"
Jack only had time to let out a small scream, and then there was no sound again.
The dead silence lasted for several seconds. In the darkness, the sound of heavy objects rubbing gradually sounded. A black shadow on the ground was dragged behind the wallpaper little by little.
In the bedroom, Beth suddenly frowned while sleeping.
As if she had a nightmare, she vaguely raised her little head and shouted toward the door: "Jack?"
The quilt next to her was still warm, and it seemed like Jack had just run away not long ago.
"Jack? Where are you?"
The little girl climbed up clumsily in the dark, stretched out her two little hands in front of her, and stumbled to the open door.
"Jack where are you?"
Beth stuck out her little head, but there was no light in the dark corridor, and there was no response at all.
The corridor was very dark, and she was afraid of panic and worried about Jack. She looked like she was about to cry and went back to the bedroom, picked up the oil lamp, hesitantly walked out from behind the door, and walked forward while feeling the wall.
Beth was ignorant of the unknown path to the torn wallpaper.
Suddenly, the dark arm that appeared earlier stretched out from the damage and grabbed Beth's slender arm.
The little girl of five or six years old barely reacted and was instantly pulled into the wall by her arms.
Boom——
The oil lamp fell to the floor, rolled around a few times, flickered and went out.
