When he was a little boy, after Lin Chen's prank disturbed him, Lin Yan started to have hallucinations, or whatever you would call them. Though he knew it wasn't real, it was hard for him to understand and come to terms with what he was seeing. He would always believe that what he was seeing was entirely accurate. As a little boy, it was challenging to comprehend whether it was reality or a hallucination. He couldn't distinguish between his imagination and his demons. After the night where he fainted in the graveyard, Lin Yan was brought back by Lin Jing. Since no one could comprehend how terrified he was, they left him alone in the room.
That night when he woke up, he woke up to a horrific scene of a woman leering over him. She was dressed in an old bride's clothing, and she watched him sleep on his bed. She didn't try to do anything to him. Still, the foreboding feeling of constantly being watched by a dead woman was unnerving. No matter how good a ghost woman she was, she still scared him.
Sometimes, Lin Yan wondered whether he was afraid of women because of his hallucination as a child or if it was all because of Luo Xin.
Of course, Lin Yan wasn't going to deal with this matter independently. Once he got scared, he immediately rushed to his mother and squeezed alongside her in her bed. The worse thing about having so many siblings with a single parent was that you can never be the first priority. At first, his siblings would let him squeeze in with their mother because they thought he was scared because of Lin Chen's prank. Later on, the brothers thought he should be over the prank and kicked him out of the shared bed. Now you would have to face the dark and hallucinations while sleeping alone with no one to protect you. Lin Yan didn't like it when his siblings squeezed him out of the sleeping group they formed around their mother just because he was the second oldest.
So, sleeping with his mother while clutching her arm as a form of security became a challenging task. So Lin Yan changed his tactic. He started sleeping on the outside edge of the group. The room was lit up by moonlight on this side of the bed. Through a window, it shined in to help keep the darkness away. He would stay awake, counting the stars until his body gave out and he fell asleep. It was crazy, but he somehow managed it. Sleeping out of pure exhaustion, it wasn't fun for a young boy like him.
Then one night, Lin Yan saw a woman with long inky hair that hid her bloody face. She wore a long tattered robe peering through the window right at him. He didn't scream. Instead, he lay still in his bed, staying motionless and staring at her vacantly like he was dead. He hoped that she would take him as someone who died and leave. He continued to do that until he blinked, and the woman vanished. He knew it was a hallucination, but it seemed pretty real to him. The dread he felt that night, Lin Yan would never forget it.
Of course, he didn't sleep that night, but the morning sun rose anyway. Surprisingly, Lin Yan opened his eyes, which was really shocking because he swore that he didn't sleep at all. He couldn't understand whether he was going crazy. His mother was also acting strangely and swore that he was haunted and should go with her to the temple and have the ghosts exorcised.
Lin Yan refused. He didn't want to show that he was a terrorized coward because he was taken to a graveyard by his little brother and left there as a prank. But then one night, While he slept, he heard someone chopping something. Every time the knife went struck, there would be a loud 'meow' like the thing that was getting chopped up was a cat. The mewling of the cat continued until it finally stopped when the chopping stopped.
Then came the cry of a baby as if it was being tortured. That was when Lin Yan lost it. He ran around the house screaming for his life. Mother Lin, who had had enough of his eccentricity, dragged him to a priest and had him exorcise the ghost that was possessing him. She then went to pray for his well-being at the temple and brought the red string back to protect him.
Lin Yan didn't know whether he was really possessed by a ghost. He was looking for a sense of security and protection. Once his mother brought this red string and tied it around his wrist, he stopped seeing things. Finally, he started to live his life as a normal human being.
Lin Yan could hear the baby's cry from his past resume outside the house. Lin Yan's felt his eyes widen as he squeezed his legs and covered his ears while burying his face in his knees. He wasn't listening to it. Whatever it was, he couldn't hear it at all.
"I can't hear a thing. There is definitely nothing on the roof or outside. There is nothing." Lin Yan kept repeating the sentence like he was chanting a mantra. But the more he chanted, the louder the child's scream became.
Lin Yan took out the broken string from under his pillow. He didn't know whether it would work after breaking, but only this could give him a sense of security right now. He clutched on the red string and chanted the mantra, again and again, hoping for a miracle just like before.
He was older now. He should be more courageous! He shouldn't be acting like a child who wasn't weaned off his mother's milk. But he just couldn't bring himself to face the situation. Anyone, if anyone would come up and help him, please!
"Lin Yan? Are you still awake in there?" like magic Su Wan's broke through his paranoia. Lin Yan sat up straight, his eyes were fixed on the door, but all his attention was on the child's cry. He heard nothing.
There was no sound, only silence. He couldn't hear anything.
Lin Yan teared up. He could feel warm tears dripping like raindrops on his cheeks as he rushed to open the door to get to Su Wan, his savior. Just like a blessing descending from above, knocking on his door, she stood on his threshold. She had a hand raised in the air to knock on his door once more.𝑓𝚛𝚎𝗲𝙬ℯ𝘣𝚗𝘰ν𝐞l. co𝗺
She must have been surprised by his tears and his pale complexion because she forgot to put her hand down. She stared at him in confusion, "Hey, are you okay?"
But Lin Yan didn't answer. No, he couldn't answer. His relief was just too overwhelming. He rushed at her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. He had escaped the chill and torment of his demons.
She was warm, just like sunshine.