I did not actually find out how it felt to be stabbed to death, but when I woke up, I was gasping for breath.

After a long while, I turned to look outside. It was dark. My heart gradually calmed. It had been just a dream.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Suddenly, I heard someone knocking on my door.

“Sir, did we bother you just now?”

It was the voice of the wife next door.

Her voice made me remember my dream: her face cut off, and the man hiding behind her…

My heart sank, and I drew closer to the edge of my bed.

“Sir, are you there? If we bothered you, I apologize,” the wife said again. For some reason, her voice was eerie.

Knock, knock, knock… Knock, knock, knock…

“You don’t have to apologize,” I said instinctively, and the knocking ceased.

“Hehe...”

I heard a soft chuckle.

“You’re in there? Why don’t you open the door? I have something for you.”

Her voice was soft and sickeningly sweet, and it made my skin crawl.

It felt as though she was trying to confirm whether I was really inside the apartment.

I did not dare to respond again.

“Sir, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you there? Are you still there?!”

I heard scratching outside, as if someone was trying to break the lock.

“What’re you trying to do?! Just say it!” I shouted at the door in fear.

Silence again. It was so quiet that I heard absolutely nothing.

I sat in bed for about two to three minutes. Once I was sure that there was no other noise, I wobbled my way to the apartment door.

I looked out through the peephole. It was empty. No one was around.

But in the next moment, the wife’s pale face suddenly pressed against the peephole.

I nearly fell on my behind. The wife had not left! She had been silently hiding in the blind spot!

Was she some crazy stalker?

My heart raced. After I calmed myself a little, I decided to grab a knife.

But right when I was about to move, I heard hurried footsteps from the corridor. Then, her husband roared, “Where do you think you’re going, you idiot?! Run again, and I’ll break your legs!”

I heard running. Someone was chasing after someone else. Then, I heard a door slam shut.

I heard the husband yelling and hitting the wife next door again, and the wife cried pitifully.

But this time, I did not dare stick my nose into their business. I did not want to assume what was going on either.

Had the dream from last night turned into reality?

I was worried that someone would break my lock and the door, so I barricaded it with a cupboard. With my eyes wide open, I sat on my bed until noon. My stomach grumbled.

When I pushed the door open again, I saw someone going upstairs.

It was an old woman. She seemed shocked when she saw me.

“Who are you?”

I hurriedly said, “I just moved in. I live in 302.”

“Oh?” The old woman hurried past me.

“Ma’am, do you know about the couple living in 303?”

The old woman immediately froze. Then, she stared at me in puzzlement.

“303 has been empty for two years. No one has lived there since the fire. What on earth are you talking about?”

I felt my mind go blank when I heard the old woman.

“That’s impossible! I heard them arguing last night!”

The old woman looked strangely at me. Then, she turned and ran off.

Soon, I heard the sound of a door lock snapping into place. The old woman lived on the third floor as well. In fact, she lived right across from me.

Was I really hallucinating?

I had moved into this apartment building for a week, and I was sure that I saw the couple in 303 walking in and out every day. How could it have been empty?

But when I thought about it, I recalled that I had only seen the couple after the sun went down.

I had never really checked the apartment next door, except maybe in my dream.

I felt my skin crawl. I looked outside. The sun was still out, and I felt a little bold.

I could just take a look and see if anyone was really staying there. I could not possibly run into ghosts while it was bright outside, could I?

I had heard the wife knocking on my door last night, though. I had also heard the husband hitting his wife.

While I was thinking about it, I arrived outside 303.

The couple’s door was old, and there was a small crack beside the peephole. Through it, I could look inside the apartment.

Since the crack was small, I had to focus.

The inside slowly became clearer to me, and I sucked in a sharp breath.

It was dark inside, but the light from outside the window filtered in and revealed an abandoned apartment. The place was burnt black from the fire. No one could possibly be living there.

What had I really been hearing coming in and out of the apartment all week?

My skin crawled. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I trembled. When I turned around to look, I was so terrified that my knees nearly buckled.

“Sir, what are you doing?”

The wife was right behind me. In her hands was a bag full of groceries.

Her beautiful face was as pale as a ghost’s.

The sun was about to set.

“You…” I pointed at her, but I found myself unable to even utter a word.

“Are you feeling sick?” She fished out her keys and opened the door.

The smell of flowers came from within, and she smiled at me. “Why don’t you come in?”

“I don’t need to, thanks,” I said and rejected her offer, but my eyes were glued to the space behind her.

The apartment was decorated in a way that made it feel very homely. It was a completely different sight from the abandoned apartment I had seen moments ago.

“Oh, don’t be such a stranger. Come in!” said the wife and grabbed my wrist.

I fought back with everything I had, but she was strong. Her grip was like iron, and I could not break free.

“Let me go!” I shouted and grabbed the door frame. I did not want to go in.

But suddenly, the wife’s face changed. “Come in! Otherwise, no one can save you!”

“What do you mean?”

In the brief moment that I was taken aback by her words, she dragged me into the apartment and shut the door. Then, in a panic, she locked it.

“When I knocked at your door last night, I was trying to save you.”

Her words puzzled me.

“Your husband is the one who hits you—”

But before I finished my words, she covered my mouth.

“Husband? What husband? Just come inside. It’s not safe at the door.”

With my wrist in her firm grip, the wife hurried further inside the apartment.

The layout of her apartment was the same as mine. I saw a memorial photo on the cupboard. It was exactly the same as it had been in my dream.

Right beside the cupboard was the bedroom door.

My legs trembled, and I stopped at the center of the living room.

The wife walked to the memorial photo and touched it. Then, she wiped the glass clean.

“My husband has been dead for two years, but he comes back every night to bother me. I’m sure that he’ll come today too.”

She spoke with a low voice, as though she was mumbling to herself. Then, she showed me the photo.

The moment I laid eyes on it, I felt chills running down my spine.

The man in the photo was the same one that I had seen behind the split head last night!

He was… this woman’s husband…

And he had been dead for two years!

Knock, knock, knock!

Before I could ask more questions, I heard someone knocking on the door so fiercely that it dislodged the paint and plaster on the wall.

I instinctively tried to shout, but the wife covered my mouth and dragged me to the floor with her.

She motioned for me to keep quiet and to hide in the room with her.

“He’s back!”

I hid with the wife in the closet. She was right behind me.

“The door won’t be able to stop him. Don’t breathe too loudly later. Once we get through this, we’ll be fine.”

Right after she finished, I heard the sound of the door chain snapping outside.

Then, there was the sound of heavy footsteps.

I could feel the force of each step right in my heart.

“Lily, where are you? I saw you come in with a man.”

The husband’s voice came from the living room.

I covered my mouth and did not dare speak.

“Did you drag someone here to die with you?”

I shuddered, and then, I felt the wife’s body turn cold behind me.

In the oppressive darkness, I stiffly turned to glance at the woman behind me.