After work, I went straight to the hospital.
Brother Liu was waiting for me at the entrance.
According to him, the man guarding the morgue at his workplace was an old fellow called Old Wang, an externally hired morgue attendant.
Old Wang had always been pretty brave. Otherwise, he would never have taken a job guarding a morgue.
But the haunting at the morgue last night had nearly scared him to death.
After being brought to the hospital, he had remained mostly out of it. He had woken up twice during the day, but he hadn't recognized anyone, as though he had dementia.
"His soul might have been frightened out of him. Let's take a look first."
I followed Brother Liu upstairs to the ward.
Old Wang had no immediate family and was a lifelong bachelor. His nephew had visited during the day, but he had to work.
Since the incident had happened at work, his employer would naturally cover his medical bills.
Old Wang was lying fast asleep in bed. I called out to him, but he didn't respond.
I lifted his eyelid to have a look, then turned to Brother Liu. "How did the ghost scare him?"
Brother Liu said, "Old Liu always worked nights. During the day, there are people at work and staff in the morgue, so there's no need for a dedicated guard."
"Last night, Old Liu dozed off on the job, then suddenly woke with a start and ran out. He told the officer on duty that he'd seen a ghost-one of the two bodies brought back a couple of days ago."
I asked Brother Liu, "The two who killed themselves? Were they men or women?"
Brother Liu said, "Both men. Old men, too. They were brothers."
I froze.
Old men? Brothers?
Were even