My House of Horrors

The young face was covered with purplish bruises. She had a pair of dancing eyes and thin lips. She looked gorgeous when she smiled. This was the first time Pei Hu had been in such close contact with a girl. Looking at the head that had twisted 180 degrees, his mind was blank.

“What is happening? I wasn’t rejected, and I didn’t give up from fear; these two things should bring me more happiness. It should be a dream-like happiness waiting for me… but why? Why did everything change?”

The head that sat on the mannequin’s shoulders at impossible angle blinked lightly, and the clear skin turned black and blue as if from asphyxiation. Looking at the protruding set of eyes, Pei Hu’s entire person was shocked beyond belief.

“Help!” A shrill male voice echoed throughout Mu Yang High School as Pei Hu gripped the nametag and ran out of the classroom. The nametag was tied to the mannequin’s neck, so the mannequin was dragged along with him. The tables in the room were messed up, and all the mannequins started to move. Pei Hu dashed toward the entrance like his life depended on it. The huge commotion startled Wang Wenlong, who thought the mannequin was following him, and without a second word, he headed for the door as well!

They neared the classroom door, one running at the front, the other at the back. Poor Wang Hailong was still moving toward the innermost table. The whole room of mannequins was toppled, heads flying everywhere and limbs collapsing; it felt like they had all come to life!

“F*ck! What’s happening!” Brother Long, who cowered in the corner of the classroom, felt like he had entered hell; this scene was one that he would not forget for life!

“Wait for me!” He grabbed the nametag that was left on the table and half-crawled his way through the maze of mannequins. Before he got out, he heard Pei Hu scream, “Don’t follow me! Don’t follow me!”

Pei Hu had forgotten that the nametag in his hand was tied to the mannequin’s neck. In his panic, he had dragged the mannequin along with him to the door.

“Stop chasing me!” He felt like something was collapsed onto his back. When he exited the classroom, without a second though, he slammed the door shut behind him!

“F*ck! Wait for me!” Brother Long’s face was twisted in anger. Unable to stop the momentum of his full speed sprint, he rammed into the door!

He collapsed onto the floor, and the mannequin heads rolled around on the floor. He realized a roomful of eyes was staring at him. Various mannequin faces flickered before Wang Hailong’s eyes. He felt the energy draining out of him; his body was frozen solid, and there were tears in his eyes.

“Pei Hu, you damnable f*cker…”

Outside the sealed classroom, Pei Hu and Wang Wenlong were leaning against the wall, gasping for air.

“That was hella scary. This classroom is definitely cursed!”

“The mannequin moved! She winked at me!”

“Pei Hu, behind you! Look behind you!” the two girls screamed together. Pei Hu turned around and saw that the girl mannequin was hanging on his back. He shivered from fear and hurriedly extricated himself from the mannequin before tossing it down the corridor.

The mannequin slammed against the floor, and the beautiful head detached itself from the body. The face with a curious smile rolled before it stopped at the corner of the corridor.

“It was this mannequin that smiled at me earlier. I didn’t think it would follow me,” Pei Hu groused weakly. “How about we just surrender now? This Haunted House is too much. No wonder the boss is offering a 20,000 reward, no one will be able to win!”

“You want to give up after four minutes? Have you no shame?” Wang Wenlong complained. “The classroom should be the hardest scenario. We have found the nametags inside, so the rest should be easy.”

“If you want to stay, go ahead. I’m leaving.”

“Wait.” Dou Menglu looked into the classroom before asking, “There are only the two of you—where is Brother Long?”

“Brother Long?” Pei Hu and Wang Wenlong looked around, and their faces dropped. “He… he should be still inside.”

The two of them opened the classroom door quickly. Brother Long was collapsed next to the lectern, and there were tear stains on his cheeks.

“Brother Long! Why are you still inside‽”

His lips were slightly purple. When he heard this question, Brother Long almost blew his top off. “You two still have the face to ask me that question? I also want to know why I was left in here! Quick, come and pull me up!”

After a few attempts, Wang Hailong finally found his footing. He cracked his knuckles to work some warmth into them.

“Brother Long, should we just give up? We’ll just sit at the entrance for another twenty minutes then we’ll leave. That way, it’ll seem like we stayed for twenty minutes,” Wang Wenlong whispered.

“Your mind is only filled with horrible ideas like that.” Wang Hailong rubbed his eyes surreptitiously. “That would mean that we have surrendered to this Haunted House. Remember, there are no actual ghosts in this world; everything is a trick created by the boss. He’s probably looking at us through the surveillance camera now.”

“Brother Long is right. If we go and sit at the entrance and the boss suddenly opens the wooden boards, can you imagine how embarrassing that will be?” Xia Meili stood with Brother Long.

“But even now, we don’t know how big this place is. If we run into something scarier later on, what shall we do?” Pei Hu was on the verge of tears. “We have not seen a single actor, but we’re already so spooked. I still think we should not be so stubborn and put ourselves through this misery for the sake of face.”

“Stop talking nonsense. I still haven’t decided what I am going to do with the both of you for abandoning me inside the classroom, and now you’re trying to go against my orders?” Wang Hailong glared at the two of them. “Look at the two of you, even worse than the two girls.”

“But it wasn’t the two of us that cried earlier…” Wang Wenlong grumbled softly.

Wang Hailong pretended not to hear him and said, “We have to pick ourselves back up. I believe we have around ten minutes left. Let’s get moving—we still have a chance to find all the nametags.”

Then, he opened his palm to reveal a nametag. “This is the one I found inside the classroom. Combined with the one Pei Hu found and the first one, we already have three nametags.”

“Make it four. I found this inside one of the drawers.” Wang Wenlong showed his discovery.

“Good, even though the process was tumultuous, the result was good.” Wang Hailong put all the nametags into this pocket. “Actually, if you think about it, there is nothing scary about a bunch of surprisingly lifelike mannequins. The key is we must not scare ourselves, especially you, Pei Hu. Man up a bit.”

“But I really did see the mannequin wink. Her face also changed like she was dying from asphyxiation!” Pei Hu grumbled with dissatisfaction.

“That’s enough out of you. If you’re that scared, go stand behind Meili and keep your mouth shut.” Wang Hailong waved impatiently as he walked deeper into Mu Yang High School.

“But it’s true.” Pei Hu trailed behind the group as they proceeded forward. None of them realized that the mannequin that had been left in the corridor was slowly crawling toward the detached head.