Flowers of the Departed Souls - Chapter 21

Luo Xiaofeng lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She had long sensed her grandmother’s strangeness, but she always thought it was due to her grandmother’s old age, causing a change in personality.

Yes, Grandma had always been very concerned about her health; even a slight cold would send her to the doctor. She usually took great care of her body, always nagging Luo Xiaofeng that her body was her own, so she must treat it well. How could someone who couldn’t treat herself well treat others well? Even her current fear of seeing a doctor was understandable; at a certain old age, people were very afraid of death. What she couldn’t understand or imagine was that Grandma’s hands were covered in black fur, like those of primate crawling animals. No, how was this possible? Could it be due to some medicine Grandma had recently taken?

As Luo Xiaofeng pondered this question, she subconsciously tried to rationalize it, yet the more she thought, the more frightened she became. She simply couldn’t sleep. However, she didn’t want to go to the inn again in the middle of the night. This deadlock left her both exhausted and terrified.

In a haze, she heard her room door being gently pushed open. She covered her face with the quilt, but couldn’t help but peek through one eye. She saw Grandma walk in as if sleepwalking, but her appearance seemed even stranger. Her arms looked like they had grown significantly longer, and she walked with a stagger, not the carefulness of an elderly person, but rather the swaying of someone just learning to walk upright. Aside from her face, her bare hands revealed fine, black fur.

At this moment, she walked to Luo Xiaofeng’s bed, then suddenly tore off the skin on her face. God, it was simply an ugly gorilla! Luo Xiaofeng instantly leaped out of bed, trembling, and asked the gorilla, “You, who are you? Where’s my Grandma? What did you do to her?”

But the gorilla’s voice was still so familiar to her, and its expression looked extremely pained. “I am your Grandma, your good granddaughter. I really am your Grandma.”

“No, no, my Grandma isn’t like this. Don’t come closer!” Luo Xiaofeng picked up a vase from beside the bed. “Otherwise, I won’t be polite.”

“Xiaofeng, I really am your Grandma. I don’t want to be like this either, but I’ve been cursed, been given medicine. Grandma is really suffering.”

Luo Xiaofeng looked at her half-believing, half-doubting. “Who turned you into this?”

“A terrifying monster, granddaughter, you must save me.” At this, it lunged forward and embraced Luo Xiaofeng. Luo Xiaofeng couldn’t dodge in time and was caught. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw a bloody, mangled mess there. The gorilla was holding a piece of flesh it had torn from her shoulder, savoring it.

Luo Xiaofeng screamed and woke up, drenched in cold sweat. It took her a while to fully regain her senses. It was just a dream.

Perhaps Grandma’s hand had scared her so much that she had such a dream. Grandma, a gorilla? No, that was too absurd, but for that hand, she truly couldn’t find a reason to explain it to herself.

At this moment, she heard rustling sounds from inside the house. The sounds seemed to come from the hall, as if something had entered the main door and was passing through the hall. Remembering that dream she just had, Luo Xiaofeng felt sweat break out. She heard the sound getting closer and closer, seemingly already at her door. Luo Xiaofeng tried to calm herself down, then crawled out of bed, placed her pillow under the covers, and crawled under the bed herself.

Yes, thump-thump, thump-thump, what was that sound? Immediately, she heard a soft admonishing voice: “Come back.” This must be Grandma’s voice. The strange footsteps stopped, then turned and rushed in the opposite direction—that must be Grandma’s room.

Luo Xiaofeng crawled out from under the bed and pressed her ear to the door. There was no sound outside. So she gently opened her door and quietly stepped out. Yes, what kind of person or thing was looking for Grandma? Was it directly related to Grandma becoming increasingly strange recently? Whatever it was, she had to find out.

She tiptoed, gently passing through the hall, but couldn’t help but glance at the photos again as she passed. The photos were very dark, only showing rough outlines. Only then did Luo Xiaofeng feel that Grandpa’s photo seemed to have been cut from somewhere. He should have been standing with someone else in the photo, and that person should have been Grandma.

In fact, Luo Xiaofeng had long sensed something abnormal about these photos. She usually hadn’t paid much attention to these two photos. She almost couldn’t remember what they originally looked like. It seemed a long time ago, there used to be a joint photo of Grandpa and Grandma here. At this moment, her heart was filled with more doubts. Yes, why wasn’t Grandma’s photo on it? Her parents were photographed side by side, and judging by the date, they must have been taken on the same day. So, Grandma and Grandpa were also photographed together. Could there be an unknown secret hidden here?

At this moment, Luo Xiaofeng had reached Grandma’s door. She pressed her ear to it and heard faint sounds, like something being gnawed on, and also gasping sounds, very rapid, like the sound of an asthma attack.

Grandma wouldn’t be in trouble, would she? Remembering her fever from earlier, in a panic, she suddenly felt a great courage in her heart that made her forcefully push the door open.

She saw a carrion vulture perched on the window, and her grandmother was holding a decaying human foot, gnawing on it.