Horror Game Designer

Timid but not cowardly, passionate but scared, determined but careless. Gao Ming, in this room, was filled with contradictions. There was nothing special about him. All his choices were normal. He was the most normal Gao Ming. However, the most normal self might become the most unique one.

…

“Everything in this world is governed by fate. Nothing is decided by man.

“Gao Ming, we gave you this name for a reason. You are born under the lonely star. You will not get married and have progeny. Your life will be filled with tragedies, and you will end up on the loneliest path. Therefore, we added the character Ming or Destiny in your name. With that, we hope that you can master your own destiny. No matter how dangerous the world becomes, at least you will have yourself as your companion.

“Your parents left this world early. After grandma is gone, you’ll be alone. However, you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine.”

An elder’s voicemail came from the phone. It repeated many times. After a long time, a hand covered in characters reached out of the bathroom to switch it off. The bathroom door was left half-open. A set of wrinkled school uniforms was tossed at the door. A thin high schooler stood inside the bathroom. The faucet was running. The cold water splashed on the student’s body.

“Why can’t I wash them off?”

He stood before the mirror, fully naked. Every inch of his body was covered in words. Some of them were used to increase one’s life expectancy, while others were used to bless one’s family. All the words had good meanings, but when they appeared on a human’s skin, they only felt scary.

Closing the faucet, the student raised the basin and allowed the water to run down his body. Water splattered everywhere. He grabbed the towel to wipe his body, but the characters wouldn’t come off.

The basin was thrown against the ground, and it shattered into pieces. Wet hair stuck to the forehead. The student pulled his hair up. He saw that the characters were written on his scalp too.

“I look like a monster in the mirror.”

After drying his body, he put on the uniform and stood in the middle of the living room with his phone. The arrangement of everything in the room was similar to the one in his memory. However, he didn’t dare to sit. “Is this really my home?”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The bathroom was near the centre of the home. Before the living room door was a narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor was a mirror. The place was dark even in the day. It was dim even with the lights on. Walking around, one would be assaulted by a strange smell. It smelled like something rotten. This room was at the end of the corridor. The door faced the mouth of the staircase. The wind kept blowing through the gap in the door, causing people inside the home to shiver involuntarily. The home had extremely bad Feng Shui. The interior design was baffling too. There were fishbowls with dead fish and wilted trees in the living room. Black dirt was hidden under the old carpet. A rusted knife was tied to the living room lampshade. To the north of the home, there was a fire pot filled with paper money ashes.

The phone rang again. Since there was no answer, the granny sent another voicemail, “Gao Ming, don’t leave the home. Sensei said you have to stay for seven days to resolve all the sickness and tragedy in your life.

“Trust granny. I’ve asked Sensei to protect you. You just need to follow the instructions.

“Your parents were harmed by tragedy because they refused to listen to me. You are my only family. You have to stay inside for seven days.”

The student listened to the message silently. He didn’t leave the home but slowly walked to his bedroom. The corridor between the living room and the bedroom was strung with red threads. Bells hung from the threads. Ashes and white rice littered the floor. With his head lowered, he opened the bedroom door.

The faded red light made the words on his body look even stranger. He paused and looked inside. The bedroom was small, but the white walls were painted with red lines. Many giant eyes were drawn on the ceiling, and ears were drawn on the walls. His heart beat calmly. He looked down and saw a heart painted in the middle of the room. The heart was stabbed by knives and sealed by talismans. The student closed the door expressionlessly. He opened the dresser and sat inside.

He hid from the eyes on the ceiling and the ears on the walls. He closed the dresser door, and using his phone as a light source, he took out a diary from the pillowcase.

“My name is Gao Ming…”

When he was young, Gao Ming’s parents went missing when they went out at night. They were still not found. His grandmother was advised by the Sensei that they shouldn’t go out that night, but they refused to listen. From that day onwards, his grandmother seemed to have lost her mind. She trusted everything the Sensei said. Apparently, Gao Ming’s parents didn’t die, but they were kidnapped by ghosts.

To find the two, she changed the home’s Feng Shui and did many rituals. She turned the home into a Yin Home to beg the ghosts to let Gao Ming’s parents back home. Gao Ming was raised by such a grandmother. The protective words on his body were carved on his skin since he was small. They had already grown into his flesh.

That was not the worst. Even though Gao Ming was young, his body had been through many tortures.

His grandmother didn’t allow Gao Ming to go to school. He was discovered by a kind man in the neighbourhood, and that was how he got the chance to study. However, his appearance made him a monster. He couldn’t get used to the gazes of others.

The diary recorded his life at school. He was very clever and learned things quickly. However, he was kicked out of school for various mysterious reasons. His grandmother wanted to draw his blood to find her son and daughter-in-law. She wanted to sacrifice them to the Sensei.

Gao Ming had lived such a life. He used the pen to write down the date in the diary, 14th July.

“Granny, I believe in ghosts now. I believe you.”

The phone lit up then. His grandmother sent more messages. Gao Ming ignored them and kept writing.

“After all, you are dead. I saw you die before my eyes. So how can the dead keep on talking?’

The knocking suddenly came. The bells started to chime.

“Do you want to come home? Can you still come home?”