Case File 091—Ghost Face in the Water (4)

"Heh heh, you young people probably don't know this, but in our day, mental illness meant being crazy. There was no cure. If a family had someone like that, they could only lock them up, tie them down, or let them run wild outside. There was nothing else to be done. When my mother heard what my brother said, she panicked. She chased after him and hit him, cursing him for talking nonsense. But my brother was stubborn as a mule and insisted on seeing a psychiatrist. Some doctors and nurses came to persuade us, including that ophthalmology specialist. He explained to my mother that it might be psychological, causing my brother to see hallucinations. This kind of mental illness didn't mean he was crazy."

"Mm. So you went to psychiatry afterward?"

"Yes, we did. There were only two doctors in that hospital's psychiatry department. One was an old doctor who had studied abroad and returned home in his old age; the other was a young man who had been forcibly assigned to psychiatry. There were quite a few patients in the department, and many had come specifically for the old doctor. Since my mother was crying so badly, the ophthalmology specialist came with us to psychiatry and introduced us, asking the old doctor to see my brother first. They all thought my brother's problem was minor, something that could be resolved quickly without medication or anything. Hoo..."

"And then?"

"Hoo... My brother went in to speak with the old doctor alone. Not long after, the old doctor told the young doctor to go outside and pick up some leaves. I was scared at the time. I wanted to stop that doctor from going in, but my body wouldn't move and I couldn't speak. I could only watch as he went in holding two fresh leaves in his hand. Then... then came my brother's screams. He screamed like he'd gone mad. That sound didn't even seem human. The door wasn't shut, so I looked past the doctor and saw my brother cowering in the corner, wildly waving his hands as if he were fighting something. He screamed himself hoarse, his eyes wide open, but his face was deathly pale. It was terrifying. My mother couldn't catch her breath and collapsed onto the floor. The doctors and nurses were all frightened too. The old doctor shouted for everyone to get out, but the young doctor just stood there blankly and loosened his grip. The two leaves fell to the floor..."

Bzz, bzz.

Click!

"Hiss... hoo... I don't know whether it was a coincidence or whether that ghost did something. The window was open just a crack, I think, but I didn't feel any wind. Yet those two leaves floated up, as though blown by the wind, and drifted toward my brother. My brother screamed even more miserably, but he stopped waving his hands. He clutched his head and tried to burrow into the corner. I don't know how to describe how he looked. Hoo... I couldn't stand it anymore. I rushed in, grabbed the leaves, and tore them to pieces. The old doctor comforted my brother, coaxing him like a child. My mother just cried there. There were other patients waiting in the corridor. I don't know if my brother set them off, but they all had episodes too. It was complete chaos. Ha... I stood in that room clutching the shredded leaves, my head about to explode from all the noise. At the time, I thought it was just too strange. How could something like this happen..."

"But it did happen."

"Yes, it happened, and it happened to my brother! Hoo... There were no psychiatric wards at the hospital then, so we had to go home in the end. After a whole day of this, my brother had been scared half to death, and we got nothing out of it. When my old man came to pick us up, he nearly beat that old doctor. There was another huge commotion... Sigh... That old doctor was really responsible. He even said he would arrange rehabilitation treatment for my brother. The old doctor and my father didn't believe my brother's story about a ghost. They thought he'd simply been scared out of his wits. My father got furious and went back to the factory to start asking around, determined to find out which little bastard had scared my brother. I... I stayed with my brother. I listened to him mutter to himself, laugh and cry, saying it really was a ghost."

"You believed it was a ghost?"

"I had to. My brother was so brave. He wouldn't mistake something real for something fake. And before long, someone else at the factory saw the ghost too."

"Mm. We learned about that as well. After your brother, another two or three people saw that ghost. Is that correct?"

"Two people. One was Fathead, and the other was Little Xu. They were about the same age as my brother and were dating too. They saw the same ghost in those woods at the park. Though... maybe I shouldn't say it was the same..."

"What was the difference?"

"My brother was frightened whenever he saw leaves. They didn't seem to be. I'm not clear on the details."

"Did your father's investigation turn up nothing?"

"Nothing. My mother started arranging for my brother to bathe with pomelo leaves and prayed to gods and Buddha, but my brother was sometimes better and sometimes worse. Sometimes he couldn't see it, and sometimes he could. Later, he gradually stopped leaving the house and locked himself in his room. By then, the factory was already barely operating, and before long it went bankrupt. My brother shut himself up at home. My mother would cry whenever she saw him, and my father smoked like his life depended on it. I... I found a new job soon after that. I just didn't want to stay at home."

"Why did your brother later commit suicide?"

"Hoo..."

"Mr. Li? Is there a problem with that question? If you can tell us, it would be a great help."

"Oh... hoo... My brother... you could say I was the one who got him killed."

"Mm?"

"My brother had locked himself up at home and never went out, so he never saw leaves either... All these years, I've kept thinking that if he'd stayed at home his whole life and never looked at leaves, maybe he could have lived peacefully until now. He was my real brother, my only older brother. It wouldn't have been a problem for me, his younger brother, to support him. But I... I..."

"Mr. Li, are you all right?"

"Mm, I'm fine. Hoo... I... that day, I came home from work... It was autumn, and all the leaves had turned yellow. The day before, my mother had told me that once all the leaves had fallen, maybe my brother could go out for a walk. Whether it was to see that old doctor or pray at a temple, either would be fine. Maybe by next year, my brother would get better... But when I got home that day, I didn't notice anything. I went back to my bedroom and casually took off my coat, tossing it onto the bed. My brother was bathing then, so he wasn't in the room. I went to the kitchen to help my mother cook. When we were done, I went to call my brother for dinner and saw that the bathroom door was still shut. I thought my old man was using it. I went into the bedroom and found my brother wasn't there. When I came back out, I saw my old man coming out of the bedroom he shared with my mother... Hoo... I don't know why, but maybe it was instinct. I turned and glanced at my bedroom. My coat was spread out on the bed. My brother and I had slept in bunk beds our whole lives. I slept on the bottom bunk. There was a shadow on the bed that I hadn't noticed before, but when I turned around that time, I saw it. On my clothes... on the back... hung a leaf..."

"Mr. Li..."

"Ha... I brought a leaf into the house... I brought that leaf inside... I... I got my brother... killed... It was all my fault... This was all my fault..."

"Mr. Li, this isn't your fault. It was an accident, you..."

"Maybe it wasn't an accident."

"What... did you... say?"

"Boss?"

"Mr. Li, your brother encountered a ghost. Whether many things were accidents or not can only be determined after an investigation. May I ask, how many days passed between your brother first seeing the ghost and his death? And how often did he see it?"

"I... I can't remember."

"Then, as far as you know, was your brother the first person at the factory to see the ghost?"

"...Yes."

"Did your brother do anything before that? Or did anything happen at the factory before then?"

"No... Probably... no... right? I really can't remember."

"And Fathead and Little Xu, the two people you mentioned—do you remember their names and contact information?"

"I remember their names, but I no longer have their contact information. After this happened to them, they moved away very quickly."