I ran out of the bedroom and saw the moonlit living room.
The living room connected directly to the front door. A man lay there, holding up his hand. His index and middle fingers were twisted out of shape, as if they'd been caught in a pair of iron tongs.
The man howled in pain.
I saw a wisp of yin energy floating beside him.
It was a tiny wisp. I could make out the outline of a baby, but something seemed off. It didn't look quite like any baby I knew.
It was so small, perhaps a newborn, and malnourished, too.
A shadow fell across the living room. A cloud passed in front of the moon outside, then drifted away a few seconds later.
The man stopped howling and only gasped for breath, his face twisted in rage. When he saw me, he scrambled backward and reached for the door lock.
The front door was reinforced, and the lock was built into the handle. It should have opened when he turned it.
The man pushed the handle all the way down, but the door clanked and locked itself.
He frantically tried the handle several times, making strange noises. At last, he realized something was wrong and tried turning the small lock on the handle.
The moment his hand touched it, his body went rigid.
I saw the ghost covering the lock.
The man fumbled around for a moment, then suddenly toppled backward and landed on his backside. He scrambled away on all fours, crying out in terror.
"Darling..."
I turned and saw a woman leaning against the wall as she came out of the bedroom.
Her face was flushed, and she looked very weak, but her eyes were bright. When she saw me, she froze, then immediately widened her