Chapter 127: Blood and Ghosts
She picked it up and froze at the sight of a severed, blood-soaked finger.
Her head snapped up: Yunice lay lifeless on the bed, eyes wide open in death. One limp hand hung off the edge, dripping blood, while the rest of her mangled fingers thudded to the floor beside Lily’s feet.
With a gasp, Lily jolted upright, her breathing sharp and erratic. She was drenched in cold sweat. Looking around again—she was still in the hospital. Elsie was still asleep in the bed next to hers.
But this time, there was no Yunice on the bed, and no fingers on the floor. It had been a dream within a dream. It took Lily several minutes to calm down, but even then, she didn’t dare fall back asleep. She turned on every light in the room and leaned against the headboard, scrolling through her phone.
But she couldn’t focus on anything. Her mind was scattered. After aimlessly flicking through a few news headlines and videos, something flashed across the screen—a picture.
Lily blinked, thinking she’d imagined it. She scrolled back up. Just a normal video. No picture.
She let out a breath. “I’m scaring myself,” she murmured. She kept scrolling, almost out of habit—until a black-and-white photo suddenly stared right back at her.
It was Will’s photo. On the screen, his eyes seemed alive—fixed and stern, staring straight at her.
“Ah!” Lily shrieked, flinging her phone away like it was cursed.
Elsie shot up, startled. “Mom? What’s wrong?”
Lily lunged toward her, pointing at the cot with a look of sheer terror. “Your dad! Your dad’s alive! No—he’s not alive—his spirit came back to find me!”
Elsie gave her a strange look, then walked over and picked up the phone. Lily immediately curled into herself, as if she were afraid Will might crawl out of the screen.
Elsie turned the phone toward her and scrolled up and down. “There’s nothing here, Mom. You’re just under too much stress.” She set the phone down and pulled out a bottle of calming pills from the drawer. “Here, take these with some water. You’ll stop having those dreams.”
Lily wiped the sweat from her forehead. Maybe it was just the stress. She grabbed a cup and headed to the water dispenser. She pressed the button; the sound of water filled the quiet room.
She took a deep breath, waited for the cup to fill, then bent down to turn off the dispenser—and froze. Her pupils dilated. The liquid coming out of the dispenser wasn’t water—it was red.
The cup in her hand was filled to the brim with bright red liquid. No—not liquid. Blood. It was blood!
“Ah!” Lily shrieked and hurled the cup across the room, collapsing onto the floor in panic.
Elsie rushed over and pulled her up. “What happened? What’s going on?”
3:32 PM
Chapter 127: Blood and Ghosts
But after a quick glance, her voice grew annoyed. “There’s no blood, Mom. You’re scaring yourself over nothing.”
“That’s not…” Lily’s words faltered. She went stiff. There was no blood on the floor. Just a puddle of water from her cup.
Refusing to believe it, she reached out and touched it. It was clear.
Elsie looked at her, worry written all over her face. “Mom, I’m gonna go find a doctor to check on you.”
After Elsie left, Lily sat in silence. Was it really just my imagination?
She’d never seen herself as someone who believed in ghosts. After all, she’d lived in the mountains for fifteen years. She’d been through every creepy environment imaginable.
So why would moving Will’s grave scare me like this? she thought.
Right then, the light above her crackled. The bulb flickered. The curtains and the papers on the table stirred—despite there being no wind.
Lily screamed. By the curtain, Will’s shadowy figure appeared. His eyes, dark and sunken, were locked onto her.
With another scream, Lily bolted from the room. Bam! She ran right into Elsie.
The moment she saw her, Lily clung to her like a lifeline, shouting, “Get Owen back! Tell him to come back right now! Will’s here—he came back for me! He thinks I hurt his daughter—he’s here for revenge!”
Her voice trembled so hard it cracked.
Elsie glanced awkwardly at the doctor nearby, nervous and embarrassed. She tried to soothe Lily. “Mom, I’m right here. I’m fine, aren’t I? You didn’t hurt me. You just love Dad too much, and now you feel like you didn’t do enough.”
Lily was still gasping for air when she finally noticed the other people in the hallway. Elsie slipped into the room, wanting to check things over herself.