Keeping Watch

The middle-aged man glanced at the burly man, only to be glared down by him.

The awkward scene came to an end.

The burly man stood up and said it was late, so they should call it a night. He'd take the first watch and urged everyone to get some rest.

The burly man's shift was from ten to midnight, leaving six hours of watch duty.

After discussing it, Jiang Cheng and the others decided that Jiang Cheng would take the midnight-to-two shift, the middle-aged man would take two to four, and the fat man would take four to six.

The burly man brought over a thick cushion and sat by the fireplace with the others. The flames cast flickering light across his face.

The sofa Jiang Cheng lay on was beside the fat man's. The middle-aged man was some distance away, at the other end of the living room.

"Hey, bro." The fat man leaned his neck over and asked softly, "Are you asleep?"

Jiang Cheng rolled over, turning his back to him.

Jiang Cheng stayed awake throughout the burly man's two-hour shift. Thankfully, nothing happened except for the sound of the firewood burning.

When the time came, the burly man walked over and nudged Jiang Cheng, who "woke up."

"Stay sharp while you're on watch. If anything happens, wake us up right away," the burly man said, as if he still wasn't reassured. "The chances of something happening are highest late at night."

"What kind of things?" Jiang Cheng sat up and asked.

The burly man's expression darkened, but he still lowered his voice. "Paranormal events."

After their brief exchange, the burly man lay down on the sofa Jiang Cheng had just vacated. Jiang Cheng went over to the fireplace and took up his watch.

It was quiet all around them. Apart from the fat man's occasional snoring, there was hardly a sound.

The middle-aged man and the burly man both had their eyes closed, as if asleep. But Jiang Cheng suspected they were both awake, just as he had been.

Two hours passed quickly. Jiang Cheng crossed to the other side of the living room and woke the middle-aged man.

They exchanged no unnecessary words. Jiang Cheng went back to bed, while the middle-aged man picked up a bottle of mineral water and took a few swigs before heading to the fireplace.

First, he added some firewood. Then he sat cross-legged in front of the hearth.

He held his pocket watch in his hand as well.

The middle-aged man had less experience than the burly man and the woman, but he'd narrowly survived one mission, so he knew exactly what the burly man meant by "paranormal."

He knew even better how terrifying it was.

Just as Jiang Cheng had guessed, the middle-aged man had stayed awake ever since the burly man began his watch, on alert for anything that might go wrong.

An hour and a half passed without incident.

He added more firewood once during that time. The flames burned brightly, warming him through and seeming to drive the chill from his heart.

His two-hour shift was almost over. Slowly, he rose to his feet and turned to look toward the window.

Through a gap in the curtains, it seemed the sky outside had begun to lighten.

People trapped in nightmares stubbornly resisted the dark and were especially fond of daylight.

The middle-aged man was no exception.

Just as he was stretching his limbs, preparing to wake the fat man for the next shift, a sudden, powerful urge to urinate hit him, catching him completely off guard.

He stared at the bottle of mineral water in his hand. Had he drunk too much?

The thought that dawn was near made him feel much more at ease. He turned around. The bathroom was in the corner of the living room, not far away.

Adjusting his glasses, he decided to wake the fat man first.

But as soon as he turned his head, he spotted the fat man already up.

And somehow, he'd come to stand right beside him.

Pretty alert. The middle-aged man muttered to himself. Then he waved to the fat man and headed for the bathroom in the corner.

He carefully opened the door, then carefully relieved himself. The bathroom door was wide open; after all, everyone in the living room was a man.

After shaking himself off, the middle-aged man felt much lighter.

Truth be told, after a full day of running around and six hours without sleep, his strength and energy were starting to give out. He wasn't in his twenties anymore.

Looking at his exhausted reflection in the mirror, the middle-aged man sighed. He took off his glasses, turned on the tap, and splashed cold water on his face. It was icy, but it felt great.

Just as he was about to wash his face a second time, he caught sight of something in the mirror's reflection. Behind him, slightly to the right, by the door, someone was standing there.

The person had appeared without a sound. He hadn't heard a single footstep.

"Who's there?!"

His fright lasted less than a second before he calmed down. He wasn't wearing his glasses and couldn't make out the person's features, but that stout figure gave away who it was.

"It's me."

Hearing the fat man's voice, the middle-aged man relaxed completely. Then, displeased, he said, "Next time, say something when you come in. Don't suddenly appear behind me."

The middle-aged man wiped his face twice with his sleeve, then put his glasses back on. Drying his hands as he turned around, he saw—

The moment he fully turned, a chill ran from head to toe. It was as if his blood vessels had frozen solid.

There was no one behind him.

Where was the fat man? Where had he gone?!

His eyes instantly reddened. He instinctively started to turn back toward the mirror, but stopped when he felt a weight on his shoulder.

As though a pair of hands had settled there.

Dawn broke.

Like the people downstairs, the three people in the upstairs bedroom had left one person on watch.

The male clerk, curled up in the corner of the bedroom, was just about to yawn when a pig-like scream cut him off. He jumped in fright and nearly fell off his chair.

The woman and the girl sleeping on the bed were startled awake by the scream, too.

After exchanging glances, they rushed downstairs.

Jiang Cheng and the burly man were gathered around the fat man, who sat on the floor, deathly pale. It was obvious who had let out that pig-like scream.

All three of them were staring at the bathroom in the corner.

They were frightened, uneasy, and confused.

The woman with a mole on her lip looked around. She couldn't find the middle-aged man, and she already knew what that meant.

She let go of the girl's hand and walked toward the bathroom alone.

The bathroom door was open. She stood in the doorway and quickly glanced inside.

Even she, for all her experience, sucked in a sharp breath.

The middle-aged man stood ramrod straight in front of the mirror, facing the door with his back to it. But his head had been twisted a full 180 degrees, turned backward toward the mirror.

In the reflection, the middle-aged man's eyes were wide open, nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Once she'd calmed down, the woman cautiously approached the middle-aged man. The burly man followed.

After watching for a few seconds, Jiang Cheng went over as well and looked inside from the bathroom doorway.

The woman withdrew her hand from the middle-aged man's neck. After a moment, she said, "A tremendous force suddenly snapped his neck."

It was obvious, and no one objected.

"He was terrified before he died, too," the burly man added, staring at the middle-aged man's bulging eyes.