Chapter 4

The company Lin Huijun worked for was on one of the upper floors of the building and one is required to take the elevator for a while to reach there. Originally, she arrived there with her colleagues and just as she had walked out of the elevator, she suddenly felt a stomach ache and left for the bathroom. She didn’t know if it was because she ate something bad or any other reason, she had to stay there for more than ten minutes. By the time she came out of the bathroom, there was no one to be seen on the whole floor.

She entered the elevator, pressed the button to the bottom floor, and retreated into the corner. It was almost time to get off work, and many people would get off work and come down soon. It was always like that.

Sure enough, after a while, many people entered the elevator one after another, squeezing inside the already crowded small space. Lin Huijun had to retreat to the innermost part and lean against the cold wall. But, compared to usual, something seemed to be out of place?

But, what was wrong? Lin Huijun couldn’t figure it out for a while, but then she realized. It was too quiet in the elevator.

Under the usual circumstances, no matter how many people were inside, they will talk. Sometimes it would be too noisy. But currently, not a single person was making a sound. The elevator was too quiet, and she could hear the slight mechanical friction sound as the elevator descended rapidly.

Lin Huijun couldn’t help but observe the people around her, but she discovered that everybody had their heads lowered, and she couldn’t see their faces. Why did people in this building suddenly become strange? Lin Huijun swallowed her saliva and hugged her bag tightly.

Time passed by, but the elevator had yet not reached the bottom. Lin Huijun’s heart became more and more uneasy. She looked up at the red floor sign on the top of the elevator door, only to find that the numbers had turned into a mess. At this moment when she was already extremely distraught, the lights inside the elevator flickered a few times and went out, and the surroundings were suddenly plunged into darkness.

How did this happen? Lin Huijun felt as if she was about to cry. Her hands trembled as she reached out to her bag in the darkness. She opened the bag, reached out to her mobile phone, and took a look. There was no signal! In the dark, the mobile phone’s screen spread a faint cold light, and Lin Huijun suddenly felt that there were many pairs of eyes watching her. She looked up and found that the people who had lowered their heads before, all had their heads raised and were staring at her. This horrifying scene terrified her, and the mobile phone fell to the ground with a “Pa!” sound.

Unable to pick up the mobile phone, Lin Huijun was trembling violently. She shrunk herself into fetal position/ ball. What was happening? What was going on here!

“You guys… Yes! You… Who are you people? And what do you want…?” As she spoke, her teeth clattered and her voice trembled. Tears and cold sweat were streaming down all over her face, blurring her vision.

The mobile phone had fallen on its back, and the light shone from bottom to top which made the people in the elevator look more and more like ghosts. They were just staring at her without any expression and no one moved or talked.

Lin Huijun had already collapsed on the ground, with her breathing in disarray and heart beating wildly. She cried out, “What do you want? I haven’t done anything bad…”

As soon as her voice fell, the lights turned on for a moment and then went out again. Because of the quick flash of light, she was blinded for a short time. When she regained her eyesight, she saw that the elevator room, which was packed full of people a moment ago, was totally empty. There was only one person left in the corner opposite to her.

It was a slender woman, wearing a yellow windbreaker with many dark stains on her hem. Her head was lowered and she was motionless. Her long black hair covered her face.

It was her! It was her again!

Lin Huijun looked at her and said in a hoarse voice, “Why do you keep following me? Have I ever done something wrong to you? I have never ever even seen you before. And if I really did something wrong to you, it must be unintentional. Please forgive me… “She was shaking all over. At this moment, she realized that the woman in yellow was not human. Not anymore at least.

After saying those words, Lin Huijun was already in tears, and she was really terrified. Please disappear! Quickly disappear! She desperately prayed in the heart.

However, the woman in yellow did not disappear without a trace as she had wished for. She raised a hand rigidly and pointed to Lin Huijun. She opened her mouth faintly and said: “Give it back to me…”

Lin Huijun was dumbfounded, and then kept nodding: “OK, OK, I’ll give you back, but what do you want me to give you back?”

The woman in yellow slowly raised her head, and Lin Huijun stared at her blankly with tears. Under her black hair, what kind of face would it be? Will it be blue-faced, fangs, seven holes bleeding?

But at this moment, the mobile phone, which was the only light source inside the elevator, suddenly faded, and it was totally dark all around. Lin Huijun grabbed the mobile phone in a hurry and pressed the button again. When the screen of her mobile phone lit up, she heard a tiny sizzling electric noise, and then the elevator room became bright again stinging her eyes and momentarily blinding her. The lights were on again. She hurriedly looked at the opposite corner, but there was no one there.

Lin Huijun was stunned. Was everything an illusion? No, no, she had definitely seen and heard everything. She had seen that ghost in the yellow more than once. She said ‘Give it back to her?’ What was she supposed to give her back?

Lin Huijun was still in a panic, with her thoughts numerous and head sluggish. At this moment, she heard another sound, which made her jump. Upon a closer look, it turned out that the elevator had reached the ground floor and the door opened.

Lin Huijun was holding the bag in one hand and taking support from the wall from the other, walked out slowly. She felt very weak now, her legs were soft, and her inner clothes were soaked in a cold sweat. She walked back into the broad bright world and saw people passing by. She felt as if she had made a trip to the afterlife and then returned to the land of the living. She really realized what it was like to be human again as if she had been born again. She didn’t dare to go home alone, so she called her fiancé Jiang Hao and asked him to pick her up. After hanging up the phone, she sat on a bench on the side of the hall on the ground floor, tightly hugging her still trembling shoulders.

Over an hour later, Jiang Hao arrived. When they met, Lin Huijun couldn’t help but throw herself into his arms and cry bitterly, and then told about her terrible experience. After listening to her story, Jiang Hao was a little sceptical. He wondered whether she had hallucinations because she was too busy with work and marriage and had too much pressure. Although he thought so, he still expressed his belief in her and comforted her.

When the two returned to Lin Huijun’s home, Jiang Hao decided to stay there for the night. Lin Huijun lied in bed tossing and turning until late at night, still unable to sleep. The man next to her was fast asleep and snored slightly. The figure of the woman in yellow still lingered on her mind, and the sentence “Give it back to me!” kept ringing in her ears.

So many strange things kept happening these past few days. By what was the cause? Thinking carefully, when did it start? Lin Huijun opened her eyes wide and searched in her brain. Suddenly, she was shocked all over – the wedding dress! Ever since she had bought back the wedding dress, terrible things kept happening one after another. The ghost in yellow asked her to give something back to her; didn’t she mean the wedding dress?

That must be it! That must be it!

The more she thought, the more determined she was, and the more excited she was. She couldn’t fall asleep. When she thinks more deeply about it, why didn’t the person who originally ordered the dress want it anymore? Something must have gone wrong with the wedding. Did something happen to the bride? The more she thought about it, the more she felt that her speculations must be correct. So she woke up Jiang Hao beside her and told him exactly what she thought. Jiang Hao didn’t believe in ghosts, but in order to reassure her, he promised to accompany her to the tailor’s shop in the morning. After comforting her with a few words, he fell asleep again.

Lin Huijun could not sleep for the whole night and kept her eyes open until dawn. Early in the morning, she called the company to ask for leave. Then she took the unfortunate wedding dress and dragged Jiang Hao, who was still sleepy, to the flea market and found the tailor’s shop that sold her the wedding dress that day.

In the tailor’s shop, there was still only the old man with almost silver hair. Lin Huijun showed the dress to him and asked who was the customer who ordered the dress and why she didn’t want it anymore. The old man took out the reading glasses from the drawer and put them on. He looked at the clothes carefully for a while, and then he found a thick yellow pamphlet. After looking at it for a while, Fang slowly said, “The guest who ordered this dress is named Han SuSu. As for why she didn’t want it, I have no idea.”

Lin Huijun urgently said after hearing these words: “Can you give me her contact information, telephone address or something like that? I am looking for her in a hurry.”

The old man raised his head and looked at her and said slowly, “It is not good to give the contact information of the guests to other people casually.”

Lin Huijun was anxious and begged again and again. The old man just shook his head and refused. When she was so anxious that she was about to cry, Jiang Hao, who had been silent beside her, slapped a red note on the table. The old man looked at Jiang Hao, picked up the note, pinched it and put it in the drawer. Then, show them one line on the thick book.

Finally, she had obtained the phone address of the original owner of the wedding dress.

Lin Huijun couldn’t wait to dial the phone number, and her heart thumped in anxiety amidst the busy tone. If she was not able to contact her through phone, she will have to go to her address.

She dialled several times in a row, but no one answered. Just as she was about to give up, someone finally answered the phone. It was a hoarse old woman’s voice: “Hello, who is it?”

Lin Huijun said hurriedly, “Excuse me! Is this contact number of Han SuSu?”

The person on the other side seemed to choke on her tears for a whole and then replied, “SuSu, she…., she has passed away. May I ask you…?”

After hearing this, Lin Huijun sighed in her heart that it was just as she had guessed. Then she lied that she was an old friend of Han Su who had not been in contact for a long time. She asked about the reason for her death and the place of her burial, saying that she hoped to pay a visit.

The old woman must be Han SuSu’s mother. She did not doubt Lin Huijun’s words and told her everything she wanted to know.