Nightmare

Hiss.

"Ma'am, would you mind repeating what you just said?"

Hiss.

Hiss.

"Yes, but please. I beg you, don't tell anyone, especially my husband, or my daughter!"

"I understand. Shall we begin then?"

"It all started with a phone call.

My sister called me three nights ago, late at night.

She sounded strange, her teeth chattering, her voice like it was being squeezed out of her throat.

I asked if she was feeling unwell, but she didn't answer. She just kept repeating a dream she'd been having."

"A dream?"

"Yes, a dream.

She said that lately, she'd often dream of waking up in the middle of the night, getting out of bed, and going down the stairs from her attic room, finally stopping in front of the basement door.

It felt so real, incredibly real, so real it didn't feel like a dream."

"But your sister still described it as a dream. Why?"

"Because… she doesn't have a basement!

What's even more terrifying is that when she faced that unfamiliar door, she felt an urge to open it."

"And then?"

"She disappeared. The very night she called me."

"So, you came to me today because..."

"Dr. Jiang!"

"Yes, please continue."

"I also dreamed of a door. Yesterday."

Jiang Cheng clicked off his recording pen, and silence fell in the not-so-large room.

Jiang Cheng sat at his desk, his eyes cast down. On the desk lay a copy of Rong City's evening paper from that day.

"Missing Person: Hu Yan, female, 47 years old, 160 cm tall, longish face, fair skin. Recently left home late on the 13th due to poor mental state. Last seen wearing a light pink silk pajama set. Any information is appreciated."

His gaze skipped over the contact information. Slightly to the left of the missing person notice was a photograph of an older woman.

The same woman who had visited him yesterday and left the recording.

Jiang Cheng didn't have a habit of reading the newspaper. The police had brought it about an hour ago.

They had followed a lead and knew that Hu Yan had visited him before her disappearance.

He had truthfully recounted Hu Yan's mental state and the story she told.

He had also handed over the recording, with Hu Yan's permission.

After taking their statements, the two officers, a man and a woman, left with the recording. The female officer, with her neat ponytail, couldn't help but glance back at Jiang Cheng a few times.

This man, around her age, seemed too calm, both when being questioned and when recounting the unbelievable story.

He politely stood up to see them out, then Jiang Cheng returned to his seat.

The crisp sound of keyboard typing occasionally broke the silence. Everything was proceeding in a normal, orderly fashion.

The night deepened, and the distant neon lights flickered on one by one.

Jiang Cheng glanced at the time in the bottom right corner of his computer screen, then stood up and walked to the studio door. He first closed the glass door on the outside, then the inner door, and finally locked it.

After doing so, he took a moment to make himself a cup of coffee.

Holding the coffee mug, he walked over and sat on the sofa.

The sofa was for customers who visited his studio.

Ms. Hu Yan yesterday, and the two police officers not long before, had both sat here.

Jiang Cheng reached into the gap between the armrest and the sofa, skillfully retrieving a recording pen.

The indicator light for recording glowed. After a slight flick of his index finger, the officers' voices began to play.

Jiang Cheng sipped his coffee as he listened.

By the time he finished his coffee, the conversation with the officers had also concluded. Even as he sat up from the sofa, his face showed no particular expression.

He inverted the washed coffee mug on the drying rack, dried his hands, and walked towards his desk.

He picked up the recording pen as he passed the sofa.

Business hadn't been good lately. Before this, the recording was from this woman, Hu Yan. Jiang Cheng remembered her well.

While her story was bizarre, for Jiang Cheng, who had encountered a considerable number of patients with mild to moderate paranoia, he was more concerned with the completeness of the narrative.

Unlike ordinary patients who exaggerate certain differences to gain attention, thus blurring or even ignoring details, Hu Yan's description was more complete and handled details well. In Hu Yan's own dream, she even remembered stepping on her daughter's plush slippers as she went downstairs.

The police's visit also brought Jiang Cheng some new information.

During their conversation, they had subtly hinted at suspecting Hu Yan's disappearance was related to a relative. In Hu Yan's story, her sister disappeared before her.

With both accounts aligning, the disappearance of Hu Yan's sister should be credible.

Furthermore, there was the missing person poster put up by Hu Yan's family, stating that Hu Yan left home late at night wearing only a thin silk nightgown.

In the late autumn season, Jiang Cheng, based on his understanding of the person involved, felt she wasn't the type to do something so foolish.

Combined with Hu Yan's bizarre disappearance and her sister's prior vanishing, Jiang Cheng felt the matter was not as simple as it seemed.

So.

So.

To save brain cells for potential business the next day and preserve his collagen, Jiang Cheng, after applying a face mask, went to sleep.

His studio was divided into two floors. The first floor was used for receiving customers, while the attic above naturally became his living space.

About thirty square meters, it was partitioned into two rooms.

The living room was at the top of the narrow stairs, and the bedroom was further inside.

There was no bed in the bedroom, only a thin mattress laid on the floor.

At this moment, Jiang Cheng lay in the center of the mattress, the quilt pulled up to his chin, sleeping meticulously.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Cheng on the mattress suddenly opened his eyes.

He stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes gradually unfocused, then narrowed to slits.

He lifted his upper body off the mattress and slowly sat up.

What was going on?

His mind was clear, he could feel every part of his body responding, yet he couldn't control this body at all.

An unfamiliar palpitation surged from his chest, as if something had been unlocked.

First his left leg left the mattress, then his right. He stood up, his movements stiff and mechanical.

While his brain was frantically trying to figure things out, his body began to move on its own again.

Forward.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot.

One step, two steps...

He walked towards the bedroom door like a zombie.

Then into the living room.

Finally, he descended the wooden stairs, step by step.

The old stairs, which should have creaked incessantly, made no sound at all.

Not just the stairs; Jiang Cheng, after waking up, hadn't heard any sound.

The night was as silent as death.

His eyeballs rolled within their limited range. The current situation was undoubtedly bizarre and dangerous.

Through the darkness, the once familiar environment had become strange.

As his last foot landed, he saw a door standing before him.

A pure black door.

Embedded in the wall.