7
1058words
I locked the door behind me, dove under the bed, curled into a ball. On the other end of the line, juts a busy line. No one picked up.
The doorbell kept ringing more and more frequent. My breath quickened. I couldn’t wait. I called Officer King.
Right now, he was the only one I could trust. The only one who might help me.
I made the call,but the other end kept showing no answer. I suddenly remembered the scene in the video, the one where the intruder glanced at his phone under the door.
A huge sense of panic surged through me. It turned out that the savior I thought was actually the one who wanted to kill me.
What now? What the hell do I do?
In my panic, my hand brushed something — a plastic bag, puffed up with fine white powder.
My eyes landed on the glass cup on the. The one An Mo had spiked, —that one had been taken by the police, taken away as evidence.
He said it before: just a small amount of this powder, about the amount that could fit in the gap of a fingernail, mixed with water, and then if the water came into contact with the face or was drunk, it could make a person lose consciousness instantly.
I grabbed the plastic bag and slid it out from under the bed. Thankgod, I always kept the hot water boiling.
I dumped the entire bag into the thermos. Then the doorknob shifted, slow and quiet. He knew. He knew it was locked from the inside.
He stopped turning the doorknob and instead slammed an axe crashed into the door.
My hands moved faster and faster. At this moment,I was extremely calm.
I dragged the desk in front of the door —not to block him, but to buy a second. When the bedroom door exploded inward, I crouched low. This was it. My moment.
He shifted left—just enough. The second his face was in view, I splashed the water in my hand onto his face.
I was shorter than him,and the water splashed into his eyes and flowed into his mask along the nasal bridge. He wiped his face with the hand that had the wound,and simply took off the mask.He even licked the water on his lips.
I stepped back,not knowing when the effect of the drug would kick in.He walked towards me slowly.I was really curious why he was doing all this.
He raised the axe and only said:"It's fun,like a cat catching a mouse."
"I went to your house that day and found out that you were actually the daughter of that murderer.It's really disgusting."
My heart was greatly shocked to my core. Before I could close my eyes and despair,he fell to the ground unconscious.
Thinking back on the despair and fear of the past few days,I gradually broke down.I didn't feel any sense of relief at having survived. I picked up the axe on the ground as if possessed by a demon and hacked at him.
Blood splashed out.Looking at the blood on my hands,I came back to my senses.I had become a murderer.
I killed him when he had was defenseless.
Countless nights after that,I would fall into a nightmare,with blood that couldn't be washed off my hands.
If I could do it all over again,I would definitely turn around and run the moment he fainted,leaving myself a clean future.
I suddenly remembered the security guard. I sprinted to his booth, slamming my fists against the door, bloody handprints smearing each other like a desperate cry for help.
When he opened the door and saw me, standing there, he didn’t look surprised. He just asked me what wish I wanted to make.
"Can you … send me back in time?"
He raised an eyebrow:"I can."
I instinctively reached for his sleeve, but he gently patted my hand:"It's alright. No rush. Take your time. What is that you truly want?"
"I want to change everything." What did I want?Of course,I wanted to change all of it. If I could really go back in time, if there was even the slightest chance—I’d do anything.
I didn't want to be a murderer. I didn't want people saying that I was just like my father. I didn't want to live under a shadow for the rest of my life.
The more I thought about it, the more I lost control . My teeth clenched, my body trembled. I stared at him, at the person in front of me with longing and hope.
He dinally seemed to understand how desperate I was. He nodded and smiled: "Of course you can."
I suddenly felt that the whole world was full of hope.As long as I could change the past, I was willing to pay any price. So when he told me that there would be a cost, I did’t even hestitate. I said yes. Immediately.
He used some method to turn me into a video, only allowing me to appear and warn my past self at 11:55 p.m.
I used to forget to shut down the computer, so I simply appear on the screen.
When my past self in front of me starred back in horror, I suddenly realized why it felt so familiar. It all had been decided long ago.
It was already too late to stop it. I could only watch helplessly as"she"called the police.
When Officer King later checked the computer,he casually clcked opened the email, probably trying to confirm whether if the video had been sent automatically. The blood-red words —"The daughter of the murderer deserves to die" were still there, glaring on the screen. I saw him narrow his eyes meaningfully, and then exchanged phone numbers and WeChat with"her".
Things had gone too far. I just wanted tostop the past me from repeating my same mistake.
I could only follow the preset timeer at 11:55 p.m. each night, and try to stretch the video just a bit longer, hoping to leave a clue. Just something to make her realize.
But again and again, I watched as she turned into a murderer.
Again and again, my warning became the start of her dowfall. We were both trapped in this endless loop.
