A cozy home

Suddenly, thud-

A dull sound reached his ears, as though something had struck the glass, disturbing his sleep in the dead of night.

Yu Qing rubbed his eyes groggily, climbed out of bed barefoot, and felt around for the switch of the lamp by the window.

It was raining outside. The late-night white noise brought a strange sense of peace.

Yu Qing felt a small protrusion and was about to press it when lightning suddenly split the night sky. Thunder roared in his ears, and he saw what was stuck to the glass-an eyeball!

A flattened eyeball, its white smeared over a wide area, held tight against the glass by sticky blood!

The blood spreading around the white seemed like tentacles, writhing as they gripped the glass. Scarlet veins crossed the pupil, only centimeters from his eyes.

In the instant the lightning flashed, his pupil met the eyeball's pupil.

A chill crept up his back. Yu Qing's fingertips trembled and his eyes widened. As the lightning faded, his vision plunged back into darkness.

Then he heard something sliding down the glass.

Click-

He switched on the lamp. By the warm yellow light inside, he saw that only two scarlet, sticky streaks remained on the window.

The eyeball had fallen reluctantly to the ground. Its tentacles of thick blood flailed wildly before it soon joined a heap of severed limbs and scraps, lifeless.

Yu Qing looked outside. In the darkness, the clowns were out again.

They moved at incredible speed, their grotesque bodies leaving afterimages through the rain. Wielding sharp knives and wearing misshapen clown masks, they slaughtered every "person" in the city at will.

Behind him, the television in the living room began to crackle, as though it had suddenly picked up some strange signal. A voice came through in fragments: "...Bzz... mayor... latest announcement... rules..."

"Clowns... may kill at will... bzz, bzz, bzz... evade... bzz... please be sure to be honest with your parents, they... snap!"

Yu Qing's hand tightened. Just as he was listening intently, the broadcast abruptly stopped, and the electrical static faded with it.

He hurriedly turned toward the door.

Warm light from the living room shone through the gap beneath his bedroom door. His mother's nagging and his father's protests drifted faintly in, offering the purest sense of safety.

Yu Qing lowered his eyes, but his grip kept tightening...

As he approached the door, he heard his parents talking. "It's already noon, and Qingqing still isn't up? Go call him."

"He's a child. Let him sleep a little longer."

"But he can't skip lunch, can he?" His father sounded a little angry. "Look at the time!"

Yu Qing lowered his head and glanced at his watch-midnight.

His parents thought it was noon.

His Adam's apple bobbed. Yu Qing took two deep breaths, then finally raised his hand and pushed open the door.

The moment he appeared, both his parents' gazes landed on him. The corners of their mouths lifted, as though they were salivating.

After a quick glance, Yu Qing stilled his trembling hands and looked at the latest-model wall-mounted television. "Dad..."

He murmured, "Why... did you turn off the TV?"

At his words, his father paused briefly. Then his neck twisted a full 180 degrees at a grotesque angle, aligning his face with his back as he smiled at Yu Qing, eyes curved.

That gaze was vicious and greedy. It was nothing like a father looking at his child. It was more like...

A venomous snake looking at a rabbit.

At the same time, the television, which had already been switched off, began flickering and crackling again, as though desperately trying to warn him of something. "Alert... dan...!!"

But perhaps the signal was too weak. It failed to restart.

The television went black, and the room sank into oppressive, deathly silence once more.

His father stared at him, his gentle voice filling Yu Qing's ears. "You saw it yourself. The signal's scrambled, picking up other channels. There's nothing worth watching."

"No more sleeping. Get yourself ready and come eat."

Yu Qing's grip on the door tightened. He did not answer immediately.

He stared at his father, his long lashes veiling the inscrutable emotions in his eyes. After a long while, he nodded with a smile. "Okay."

With that, he took two steps back. Bang-

He shut the door tight.

With the door firmly closed, Yu Qing leaned against the wall. His tense mind raced, piecing together the scattered fragments of information from the television.

Dad turned off the TV. Dad didn't want me to know. That information must work against my parents!

If it works against my parents, it works in my favor!

Then...

Yu Qing hurried over, rummaged something out of a drawer, and hid it inside his loose coat.

When he opened the door again, he looked a little frightened. As though momentarily unable to control his emotions, even his voice trembled as he blurted out, "Dad..."

Under the warm light, his father had returned to normal.

Seeing Yu Qing's increasingly distressed expression, a stiff look of pity slowly appeared on that slightly aged face.

Yu Qing continued, "I... I have something to tell you..."

With that, he walked up to his father without another word and began quietly sobbing.

His mother, who loved her child, could not bear the sound and simply abandoned her cooking.

She hastily washed the crimson marks off her hands and reached Yu Qing in a few strides, an uncanny strangeness seeping through the concern on her face.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong? Don't cry."

Her gentle voice soothed him tenderly. "Whatever it is, tell us. We'll face it together as a family."

Yu Qing could feel how much his parents loved him. Their four eyes were almost glued to him, their attention centered entirely on him.

Yet layer after layer of cold sweat coated his tightly clenched palms.

He was an orphan. He had no parents.