Inside a mental hospital, a mental patient was hinting at another patient that the doctor could be a ghost, was this not a sign that they were both sick? From the perspective of a normal person, they would definitely think the patient who said the doctor was a ghost had to be suffering from some kind of illness but Chen Ge did not share that thought, he subconsciously believed that the man’s words were worth studying. In other words, his subconscious also told him that there was some problem with this Doctor Gao.
His brain started to hurt again. Chen Ge gritted his teeth strongly. He was now very lost. His way of thinking was obviously different from a normal person but did that equate to the fact that he was ill? Admitting that one was really suffering from mental illness was something difficult for a stubborn person because once was admission was made, it was basically an overhaul of said person’s entire worldview. When a person’s worldview and thinking framework were changed, then could the person still be called the same person anymore?
He did not think any further, Chen Ge cleared his mind and stopped reaching for his memory in the past. The pain slowly faded away. It had been less than 24 hours since he woke up from his previous fainting spell, but he had already mastered the way to avoid the pain. And this was under the condition where he had lost most of his memory and he was acting for the most part on his instinct. Sitting on the wooden chair, Chen Ge who had his emotion adjusted turned to look at Doctor Gao, he was shocked to realize that Doctor Gao was currently closely watching him. The pair of sharp eyes stared directly into Chen Ge’s eyes, as if he could look directly through Chen Ge’s skin and see what was moving in Chen Ge’s brain, this made the latter feel quite uncomfortable.
“Among the doctors at this hospital, there is such a statement that we share, do not contemplate too deep into the words that the patients say, we only need to believe in the reliability of science and the objectivity of the diagnosis and provide them with the correct prescription.” Doctor Gao said slowly, “This was our responsibility to the patients as well as to ourselves.’
“The patient appears to really believe that he can see ghosts. Doctor Gao, do you think there is actually ghost in this world?” Chen Ge knew Doctor Gao had noticed something. He merely said something to change the subject but to his surprise when he asked whether he believed there was actually ghost in this world, the deepest part of his brain started to blind him with intense pain again! It felt as if someone had asked him this particular question before!
The sudden pause caused Chen Ge to hug his head, he collapsed to the ground and rolled about in pain. Doctor Gao at his side quickly went to grab Chen Ge’s hands. “Quick, calm down and follow the breathing method that I taught you!”
3 to 4 minutes later, Chen Ge finally returned to normal. Doctor Gao also slowly replaced the bottle of medicine back into his pocket, if Chen Ge did not calm down soon, he was planning to feed Chen Ge another 2 pills.
“Did you remind yourself of some very bad memory from the past again?”
“Yes.” Chen Ge nodded, he would not purposely underestimate other people’s intelligence so he did not deny it when the truth was so obvious. “I feel like I have met ghosts before, many different type of ghosts in fact.”
“That is normal, in your own delusion, the identity that you have given yourself is the operator of a Haunted House and thus your employees were various types of ghosts.” Doctor Gao pointed at the fence around the garden. “The source of all your illusion is that Haunted House at Xin hai Theme Park, you have subconsciously posited yourself into the shoes of that female actor. The business of the Haunted House is dying out and most of the employees have quitted, therefore, in your imagination, you created many different kind ghosts and had them become actual workers at your Haunted House to help you resolve the issue of a lack of manpower.”
“Impossible…”
“Why would the employees of the Haunted House leave in the first place?”
“Because there are too little visitors and I could not pay their salary.”
“Do you need to pay salary to these ghosts if they were hired to replace the posts held by the living employees?”
“Well, of course not.”
“There you go. That is the basis of your delusion.” Doctor Gao helped support Chen Ge back to the chair. “In your imagined world, you have possessed everything but nothing has changed in real life. The only thing you could do is to sneak glimpses at that girl behind the window and she is still facing the dire situation of the Haunted House closing.” Doctor Gao sighed. “Do you know what is the thing that worries me the most now?”
“What is it?” Chen Ge asked since it felt like it was the right thing to do.
“The most that worries me the most is that after the Haunted House really shut down from business, you might not be able to see that female actor anymore.” When Doctor Gao said that, Chen Ge could feel his heart grip with pain. “That is the world of reality, it will not change due to a person’s determination. When the wind blows, the grass will bent, you think you are the wind but actually we are all small grass.” There was a trace of sadness in Doctor Gao’s voice. “I do not wish to shatter your beautiful imagination but I know if that Haunted House suddenly close, you might lose the only thing that keep you going and that might cause your condition to suddenly worsen.”
Chen Ge did not respond with anything. Doctor Gao though understood the conflicting feelings that Chen Ge was going through, “What you need to do now is to stop submerging yourself in the imagined world that you have created as a shell and try to a brave step forward to start a new life. Instead of waiting for the Haunted House to close and your condition to worsen and lose the chance to leave the hospital ever again, why don’t you cooperate with us and our treatment so that you can leave this hospital to go find her as soon as possible.”
Every word that Doctor Gao said was reasonable and logical and they were for Chen Ge’s own good, they were all concerns that Doctor Gao had towards Chen Ge.
“Is all my past really just an illusion?” Once Chen Ge imagined the closing down of the Haunted House, there would be an inscrutable pain that wrapped around his heart. This kind of pain was different from physical pain, it was hard to describe, but it was buried deep inside his heart.
“Actually you already have the answer yourself. In your imagined stories, there are many symbolism taken from real life. Did you not realize that in your stories there are more than a handful of psychiatrists and psychologists? They have been everywhere in your whole story and they were always there when your storied life has reached a turning point, do you think they are all just a mere coincidence?”
“Are they not?” Chen Ge’s eyes were dimming. In his shattered memory, there were indeed the presence of multiple psychologists and psychiatrists and each of them seemed to have their own stories and they were very important characters in Chen Ge’s supposed illusion. It was a doctor in a large doctor’s coat that had been killing the younger versions of himself multiple times, the head of the ghost stories society was Doctor Gao, his parents tasked a Doctor Chen to look after himself and if he was not mistaken, the most recent one was a… Doctor Fang? His brain appeared to be punctured by many needles. Chen Ge shivered uncontrollably but determined to pull through.
“The timing of these doctors’ appearance match up perfectly with our medical invention in real life, in reality your stories are just an extension of your real life, you will soon realize that.” Doctor Gao chatted for a while with Chen Ge and then there appeared to be some emergency at the other sick zone, so after feeding Chen Ge another 2 pills, Doctor Gao left in a hurry and left Chen Ge alone in the hospital garden.
“I so wish that I can go to visit that Haunted House in person.” After swallowing the pills, Chen Ge’s mind dulled and the sense of pain faded away. Time appeared to slow down and sleepiness caught up to him. “But a life like this is indeed far more comfortable compared to the scary life that I have led in my imagined stories.” As time continued to move, the outside temperature started to rise. Many doctors and patients escaped indoors until there was no one left around Chen Ge.
And right at that moment, a rustling sound came from the nearby bush. Chen Ge slowly turned his head to look at it. The small branches were pushed away and the head of a cat peeked out from behind the bush. The cat had a snowy white fur coat and it had different colored eyes. When it saw Chen Ge, it immediately bounded over and with a leap, it landed on Chen Ge’s knee. The leg that was encased in plaster suffered the weight of the white cat. It caused Chen Ge to grit his teeth in pain. “Holy cow, you are one big and heavy cat.”
Probably due to its unique breed, the white cat was much larger than a normal house cat, it weighed much heavier than it appeared. But the key issue was the white cat appeared to not know that at all, it very expertly attempted to crawl onto Chen Ge’s shoulder. Holding the white cat by both of his hands, Chen Ge placed it on the space next to him on the chair. “Why would there be a cat at the hospital? Are you a stray that has wandered in from outside the hospital?”
Chen Ge looked at the cat and the cat looked back at it. The cat’s eyes were very spiritual, they appeared to contain many very different emotions.
“Have you been abandoned by our master?” Chen Ge asked the white cat but to his surprise, after he said that, the cat looked at him with clear confusion. “Is it for real? Or I am hallucinating again? How come it feels like the cat is communicating with me with its eyes?” Chen Ge mumbled to himself, not realizing how strangely he was acting.
The white cat titled its head to study Chen Ge for a long time when suddenly a trace of cunningness crossed its eyes. It suddenly leaped into the air and waved its paw to smack Chen Geon the back of his head. Then as if worried of revenge from Chen Ge, it quickly slithered away as fast as it could. Sitting on the wooden chair, Chen Ge was stunned. He held the back of his head and said, “What the, I am already 26 but I was just whacked on the back of my head by a fucking cat?”
The white cat hid inside the bush that was several metres away watching Chen Ge, the confusion in its eyes grew even deeper.
“if not for the plaster on my feet, I would show you.” The drowsiness that came to Chen Ge due to the medication had disappeared completely. He felt weirdly energized now. Looking at the white cat hiding in the bush, there was a strange familiarity with it but it did not go further than that. There was no memory about any cat in his fragmented past. Be it in his illusioned stories or in real life, this white cat did not seem to exist in either of them. In other words, the memory fragments in his mind were only related to people but there was none that was related to any cat. After hearing the threat from Chen Ge, the white cat was not only not afraid, it ran back towards him.
“Well, I have to give you some merit for your courage.” Chen Ge looked into the white cat’s pair of confused eyes. He too thought this was quite strange, because the cat appeared to recognize him. “Are you a stray that I have kept before my car accident? Or I often come here to feed you food when I was hospitalized?” The white cat did not know how to speak. After it realized Chen Ge really failed to recognize it, the light in its eyes dimmed. It bounced around Chen Ge and kept using its head to brush against Chen Ge’s calf.
“Stop doing that, you are pushing so hard. The plaster might break if you continue to do that.” Chen Ge picked up the white cat and placed it on his knees. Looking at the white cat’s dual colored eyes, the sense of familiarity only continued to grow but nothing concrete came to him. Perhaps it sensed something was wrong with Chen Ge, the white cat kept meowing and it went as far as biting Chen Ge on the bottom of his pants as if it was trying to drag Chen Ge to some hidden location. Holding the crutches, Chen Ge stood up and followed the white cat deeper into the hospital. They walked through the entire garden until they reached the fence of the hospital. On the other side of the road was the western side of Xin Hai theme park, the white cat crawled out through the gap in the fences and then turned back to look at Chen Ge.
“You want me to leave with you? You wish for me to leave this hospital?” Chen Ge looked at the fence that was 2 metres tall and then he shook his head. Currently his body was very weak and one of his legs was wrapped in plaster. He had difficulty walking much less climb over a fence that was 2 metres tall. Seeing Chen Ge was about to turn back, the white cat crawled back in, it bit on the bottom of Chen Ge’s pants and refused to let go. About 5 minutes later, when the sound of footsteps came from down the distance, the white cat finally let of and escaped through the gap in the fence again.
“Chen Ge? What are you doing here?” Doctor Gao appeared behind Chen Ge.
“I just wanted to come to look at the theme park closer. Perhaps if I am lucky, I might chance a look at her.” The anticipation was clear in Chen Ge’s eyes. His reason was absolutely solid and it did not appear that Doctor Gao suspect anything else.
“It is about time we return to your room.”
“Okay.” Chen Ge followed behind Doctor Gao. After he took a few steps, he turned back to glance at the fence again. The cat was hiding inside the bushes outside the fence, half of its head was poking out and its dual colored eyes were following Chen Ge closely. When he returned to the room, Chen Ge saw that Zuo Han was still lying on his bed in his bed, even his pose did not change since the last time he left.
“Did you not go for lunch?” Chen Ge felt like perhaps he was born a kind person. Even if he had lost part of his memory, he would instinctually show kindness towards others.
“I am not hungry.” Zuo Han sat up in bed and opened the door for a gap. After ensuring there was no one else outside the door, he sighed in relief. “Where did the doctor take you this morning? Did he conduct some hypnosis on you? Or he has force fed you some other medication?”
“We just went for a sit at the garden. In the middle of it, Doctor Gao had to leave in a hurry because something else happened.” Chen Ge sat down in his bed and then he said in a smile. “Oh right, something very interesting happened to me today. There is a stray inside this hospital, it appears to like me a lot. It sticks to me like it was my pet.”
“Stray cats are usually highly alert, they will not show affection to any random stranger, perhaps that cat is really somehow related to you.” Zuo Han opened the zipper on the back of the pillow and took out several pieces of paper, there appeared to be many things written on them. “Sometimes animals are much more reliable than people because they do not have complicated emotions and most of the time, they are acting out of pure instinct.”
“But I have no memory of that cat at all, or to be more precise, all the memories that I have are in fragments and whenever I try to think about the past, my brain would be assaulted by intense headache.” Chen Ge’s words resonated with Zuo Han. He put down the pillow and silently walked towards Chen Ge. “You are in the same condition as I am. Even though I have not lost any of my memory, I realize there are many logical inconsistencies with them!”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It means that someone has messed with my memory, god damn it! I am very familiar with this feeling but I do not know why!” Zuo Han hissed through his teeth. “There are more than a fair of contradictory details in my memory. Perhaps the person who tempered with my memory thought this was the first time this had happened to me so they were not too cautious, they had no idea that I would suspect my own memory as well!”
“Brother, even though your various symptoms are indeed very similar to paranoia, but I still think you are one hell of an impressive person.” Chen Ge could sense the special presence radiating off Zuo Han. Compared to Zuo Han, he felt much too plebian.
“That is where you are wrong. I have gone around to ask some questions, those kind of white pills are not meant for any person. The doctors will only use them in powdered form when some of the patients are acting up, but in your case? You have to take them 3 times a day and 2 pills each time! I suspect this hospital is trying to kill you through over medication!” the way Zuo Han looked at Chen Ge was filled with caution.
“I think you are stretching a bit there.”
“Never mind, just consider it a warning. Other than that, you have to be careful about this too. Better keep your voices to yourself in the morning, the walls have ears.” Zuo Han said and then returned to his bed. He still did not remove his shoes like he was ready to escape at any moment.
After lunch, Chen Ge had a counselling session with Doctor Gao in the afternoon. Being fed the pills multiple times, his illness did not surface anymore. A peaceful and beautiful day ended just like that, the sky started to darken down the horizon. After taking the medication, Chen Ge soon slumbered into his sleep. At around midnight, he was shaken away awake by Zuo Han.
“What’s wrong?”
“Shush.” Zuo Han pointed at the room door and signaled for Chen Ge to pay attention to his sense of hearing. Leaning on the door, Chen Ge perked up his ears to listen. He could hear the wailing of a man from down the corridor, he appeared to be repeating the same word—ghost.
“Zhang Jingjiu?”
“Do you know him?”
“I have seen him once in the morning, he was grabbing my hands and shouting ghost, ghost, ghost at me.” Chen Ge told the incident in the morning to Zuo Han.
“It is obvious that he is in extreme pain, the hospital is clearly torturing him using some kind of method.” Zuo Han frowned. “The hospital will not torture him for no reason, it must be that he has made some mistake.”
After that Zuo han turned to look at Chen Ge. “Could it be that he has leaked the secret to you? This whole hospital is really filled with ghosts?”
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