“When are you leaving? When are you coming back?” Fanny asked impatiently.
“It doesn’t go that fast,” Chen Zhao said. “Fanny, if you need acupuncture now, I can help you do that first.”
“Fanny, since Mr. Chen said that, you don’t need to worry.”
“I just want to know the exact time.”
“Mr. Chen, can we stay the night?”
“Sure. Be my guest.”
After accepting Chen Zhao’s acupuncture, Fanny felt the stinging pain in her palm lessen.
It didn’t feel like she was getting stabbed by needles anymore.
However, it could only relieve her pain temporarily.
At night, she woke up from the pain again.
She went downstairs to find water and suddenly heard a whoosh.
When she turned around, she saw a huge creature fly across the front yard.
The creature was huge. Its back was already taller than one floor, so Fanny couldn’t clearly see what it was at all.
Plus, it was too fast. It disappeared in the blink of the eye.
Fanny was a bit confused. She actually didn’t feel any fear.
Instead, she walked out of the room and went to the yard.
Fanny looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything in the lake on her left.
There was a waterfall in the distance. She stared at it.
There seemed to be light in the waterfall.
Fanny walked over, almost on autopilot.
The waterfall wasn’t big, but the stones under it were a bit slippery.
Fanny stood up with difficulty. She saw that there was more than one light spot in the dark cave inside the waterfall.
There seemed to be something staring at her in the darkness.
Now, Fanny wasn’t sure if this was a dream or reality.
Perhaps it was a dream.
“Hello?”
A snake head darted out of the cave.
Huge! Huge!
One pair of light spots were from this head. There were other spots of light deep inside the cave too.
There was a sharp horn on the snake’s head. The skin was slightly red and a red tongue darted out. It approached Fanny.
Fanny was completely treating this as a dream now.
She reached out her right hand, slowly approaching the snake.
The snake’s tongue licked Fanny’s palm and slowly opened its mouth.
This scene should be terrifying, but Fanny felt no fear.
Perhaps it was due to it being a dream.
She didn’t feel any evil intentions from the snake.
The snake started inhaling. Something seemed to get sucked out of Fanny’s palm.
It was a green vapor.
It felt comfortable, like when she applied the ointment—the cool feeling.
After a few inhales, the snake licked Fanny’s palm again.
Suddenly, she heard a voice sound in her ears.
“Sleep. Go to sleep.”
…
“Mr. Chen, Fanny still hasn’t woken up?” When Kyla went downstairs, she saw Chen Zhao sitting in the dining room alone.
“No. Let her sleep a bit more.”
Kyla waited for two hours, but Fanny still didn’t get up.
Opening her bedroom door, Kyla found her still deep in sleep.
“That’s weird. Is she that tired? She’s sleeping like a rock.”
Just then, Fanny happened to wake up.
“Kyla, why are you in my room?”
“Fanny, aren’t you a picky sleeper too? How come you slept so well?”
“I don’t know… I had a weird dream last night.”
“Okay, I’m not interested in your dream. Get up and go wash.”
“Huh?” When Fanny got up, she discovered that her palm didn’t hurt at all. The burn seemed to have healed a lot too.
“What’s wrong?” Kyla asked.
It was sticky? Fanny touched her left hand.
There seemed to be a layer of sticky stuff on it.
This was too weird. What was it?
“Do you feel unwell? Should I call Mr. Chen?”
“No, I don’t feel unwell at all.”
Fanny went downstairs. She was still confused about the stuff on her left hand.
“Fanny, what are you looking at? Is there something on your hand?”
“Kyla, does Mr. Chen have a big snake?”
“Big snake? Yeah, did you see Raymond?”
“Raymond? Where?” Fanny hadn’t seen him.
“Look, it’s under the plant.”
“Wow… Such a big…poisonous snake.”
Fanny was shocked, but she quickly calmed down again.
“No, that’s not it.”
“What’s not it?”
“I dreamed of a big snake yesterday. It was in the cave under the waterfall.”
“You went to the waterfall last night? It’s dangerous. It’s too slippery.”
“No, it’s just a dream.”
After breakfast, Fanny was about to put on her shoes when she realized her feet were dirty.
“Huh?” Fanny’s eyebrow arched.
“Fanny, ready? We have to leave.”
Fanny suddenly rushed out barefooted.
“Fanny… Where are you going?”
Kyla followed Fanny out. Fanny ran to the front yard and then the waterfall.
“Fanny, come back. It’s dangerous. Don’t slip.”
Fanny was unmoved. She didn’t care about the waterfall splashing on her either.
“Are you there? Hello… Are you there? Mr…Snake.”
Just then, Chen Zhao walked over.
When Kyla saw him, she immediately said, “Mr. Chen, do you know what’s going on? Why is Fanny acting like this?”
“I don’t know.” Chen Zhao shook his head.
Strange. Did I mess up anywhere?
Fanny ran into the cave. It wasn’t deep. There were only five or six meters.
There was nothing other than some puddles of water.
“Nothing? How can there be nothing? Why is there nothing?” Fanny’s face was filled with confusion. This was impossible. Why was there nothing here?
She ran out of the cave again and went to Chen Zhao and Kyla.
Pulling Chen Zhao, she demanded, “You know, right, Mr. Chen?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The big snake. Where is it?”
“What big snake? You mean Raymond?”
“Not Raymond. A big snake. Bigger than me… Maybe like me. Its head has a big horn.”
Chen Zhao glanced at Kyla and whispered, “Are you sure Fanny’s all right in there?”
“I’m not crazy. Don’t think I have mental issues. I’m very clearheaded.” Fanny was like an angry cat. “I know what I’m saying. I realized that my feet are dirty.”
“Oh… You were walking around the house barefooted,” Kyla said.
“No, I’m sure. I had moss on my feet. Look, it’s like this.” Afraid that she wasn’t being clear, Fanny even lifted her feet. “I wasn’t dreaming last night. I really did come here and saw a big snake. A really, really big snake.”
“Kyla, I know a therapist.”