Chapter 3 2. Mr. S's home

To get to the gate of the school, you must cross the playground with a circumference of about 100 meters. Under the scorching summer sun, the gravel on the playground is extremely dry.I was among the students who were leaving school and walked towards the school gate, holding in my left hand what I wanted to bring to Mr. S: two sheets of materials printed with contact items, four homework collections, and a brown envelope. The one in the envelope is probably a composition. The homework free composition for Mandarin class a week ago just came back today.At the end of all compositions, there are reflections written by Mr. Iwamura with a red pen.I wrote about the birth of my three-year-old sister Mika this year.At that time, my father and I were sitting on the bench outside the operating room door of the hospital, waiting anxiously.Teacher Iwamura's comment to me was: "It expresses your mood very well."

Looking up at the sky, the low clouds that were still overhead just now disappeared at some point.The bright summer sun suddenly appeared, and the strong wind suddenly stopped. "Hello, Dolph!" Mr. Iwamura trotted up from behind and chased him up. He was wearing sportswear just now, but now he has changed into a half-sleeved shirt, with a suit and briefcase under his arm. "Are you going to S's house? It's hot, be careful not to get heatstroke! What's wrong with you, your face is covered in sweat. Where's the handkerchief?" "Did not bring."

"Lend it to you from the teacher, take it. Just return it to the teacher after the summer vacation is over. Wipe off your sweat!" Iwamura-sensei put a blue handkerchief with white patterns in my hand. "The teacher left beforehand. Don't go to places with few people during the holiday!" Iwamura-sensei patted me on the back lightly, and trotted away again.It seemed that he was really in a hurry, and he was nowhere to be seen by the time I walked out of the school gate. The sun was burning like fire, burning my hair head-on.I was walking alone on the avenue of trees.

The broad tree avenue stretches from the school gate, with tall trees growing on both sides.I don't know if it's called "Tree Avenue", but we all call it that.Walking all the way along the tree avenue, the number of students returning home from school gradually decreased.This is the most common situation.Everyone gradually walked in different directions, turned into different small streets, and walked along the road closest to their home. When I walked past the Children's Park on the right, which was located in the middle of Shu Avenue, there were no students in front of my eyes.Take a look at the clock tower in the park, the big pointer is pointing to twelve twenty.

As I walked, I looked down at the things I brought Mr. S.His hands were sweaty, so there were finger marks on the brown envelope.I was worried that the contents inside might also be stained with sweat, so I looked inside through the opening of the envelope.Fortunately, the manuscript paper is still the same. "Evil King". I glanced at the title of the composition on the top of the manuscript paper. Walking to the end of Tree Avenue, it was a T-shaped intersection, and I turned into the fork road on the right.The right fork was narrower than the left fork I usually took home.On the left and right sides of the road are open spaces where ragweed grows wildly, and there are gravel-paved parking lots, which are not popular.

A warm wind blows from the clearing to the left.I smell a nasty stench on the wind. I covered my nose with my hand and looked down the wind.There is an abandoned car in the clearing.It seems that it has been abandoned here for a long time, the gray paint has been peeled off mottled, and the window glass has been smashed, probably some kind of prank.I walked up to the car and looked in through the glassless rear window.At that moment, I felt as if I had been punched hard on the cheek, and my upper body rolled back involuntarily. A cat died. A fat, full-grown cat.On the car seat that had been eroded by the wind and rain, rustling and cracked, the cat's body was frozen on its back.The white and light tan fur has been mottled and fallen off, and pink flesh can be seen here and there.The cat's eyes were dry, as if buried with two black prunes.The two ends of the half-opened mouth were stretched toward the ears, as if they had been cut open, as if they were imagining something while laughing silently.Ants kept crawling in and out of its nostrils.

The corpse looked weird, like an alien invader in a video game.The two front paws shouted "Long live" and raised above the head, and the back paws were also bent into the shape of a hook.The whole body presents a "out" shape.A cat's front paws seem to be able to assume that posture naturally, but it is absolutely impossible for a cat's hind paws to bend at that angle normally.Apparently the joints of the hind paws were twisted in the exact opposite direction than usual.That is to say—— What is going on here!totally do not understand.There seems to be a white thing in the cat's mouth.I held out my finger and touched it—it was soap.Inside the cat's mouth, which seemed to be laughing, was a piece of dry, cracked white soap.

"Woo..." finally, I understand.This is the weird method of murder. "Ah ah ah ah ah!" I subconsciously ran as hard as I could.My heart was beating wildly in my chest, as if it was about to fly out of my throat.There is a deep bamboo forest in front of you, and there is a fork in the road.Turn left and enter, within about five meters, there is a narrow sandy path leading to the depths of the bamboo forest. Mr. S's home should be at the end of that path.Countless green bamboos stood on both sides of the path like walls, and I walked through it in one breath.When I came to the gate, I was so tired that I put my hands on my knees and bent down.The head began to hurt like a pinprick.No matter how deeply I take a deep breath, I feel breathless.

When I looked up, I had already arrived at Mr. S's home. No name tags.There is a rectangular peeling mark on the right side, as if something had been removed.The sliding iron door was slightly concealed, revealing a gap just enough for a person to pass through. The doorbell was next to the door, and I tried to press it.It seems that the spring inside is broken, the button hits the fingertips, and it deflates with a "poof", and it just can't be bounced back.Nor did the bell ring. At this moment, there were some noises around him.In the pet room on the left side of the entrance, Daji leaned out half of his body and turned his head towards me.

Daji is Mr. S's dog, a brown and white, skinny mongrel dog.I met Daikichi for the first time when I first came to Mr. S's house to play in the first grade.Daji was still a cub at that time, Mr. S told me that he didn't know where it came from.The first name I gave was Lucky, but it didn't feel right no matter how I looked at it, so I changed it to "Daji". Daji crawled on his stomach, barking lowly from the depths of his throat. I was taken aback.Dae Gil has never treated me like this.I still remember meeting Mr. S taking Daji out to play a while ago, and Daji even wagged his tail at me and stuck out his tongue to lick my face.

As soon as I took a step towards the door, Daji rushed out of the pet room, his whole body almost hit the door, the tip of his nose protruded from the middle of the railing, barking desperately at me.His eyes stared at me with a fierce look. "Here, what's the matter..." Dae-gil has a rope around his neck and is tied to a post next to the pet house.The rope was not long, so I thought, if I walked directly through the entrance, Daji would not pounce on me. Through the gap in the door, I went straight to the entrance.At this moment, Daji tightened the rope and rushed towards me desperately, with foam hanging from the corner of his mouth, barking like crazy. Next to the door was a bell that was exactly the same as the one just now.Reaching out and pressing, the doorbell rang. After waiting for a while, no one answered.Press again, still no answer.I tried knocking again.The door was not locked. "Hello!" I gently pushed open a seam and said hello. "Mr. S, are you at home?" No one answered.In the dimly lit room, there was the smell that Mr. S emitted when he passed by. Mr. S's shoes are placed in the entrance. — Mr. S should be at home, right? I walked back and forth in the yard.Close the door and walk slowly along the wall on the right. There are countless trees planted in the yard of Mr. S's house.Those trees were not so much planted as they grew up casually.There is always such an impression in my heart.Innumerable branches and leaves that are not pruned stretch endlessly.Whether tall or short, these trees are growing wildly in all directions. Outside the yard is a vast oak forest surrounded by low bamboo fences.The sound of cicadas is disturbing.In the sound of cicadas, there is a strange sound of "creaking and creaking".It seemed to be the sound of a caught mouse, high, thin, and disgusting. What is that?I tilted my head and walked quickly along the corridor facing the courtyard. Creak, creak— All the windows facing the courtyard were tightly closed, except for the innermost one which seemed to be open.The edges of the khaki curtains fluttered beneath the window frames.In the yard facing the window, you can see many sunflowers blooming. Creak, creak— The deeper you go, the clearer the eerie voice becomes. What is the sound? I finally stood in front of the deepest window.Taking a look into the room, Mr. S is in the room. Mr. S looked down at me at the junction of the bright corridor under the scorching sun and the slightly dark room. Mr. S's eyes squinted badly, so instead of looking straight at both eyes, he just stared straight at me with one eye.Gray T-shirt, dark brown shorts, his appearance is almost exactly the same as Mr. S floating in the air I saw from the classroom window. Mr. S's body was facing me, but he was swaying in a weird way, as if he was drawing a small circle. "what are you doing?" I asked. Mr. S did not answer.The purple lips were motionless.His neck was stretched so long that he looked hardly human. My heart skipped a beat as if it had fallen from a height.My breath became short of breath.Between the teeth, the air made a sharp sound. Mr. S's feet did not stand on the ground. "Ah-ah-" Mr. S, who was protruding from the shorts, had something like mud dripping from the inside of his legs.The thing flowed along Mr. S's dark and thin legs to his bare toes, and then dripped to the ground, leaving a pool of small, complex-colored water stains between the tatami and the threshold. My breathing was deep and shallow, and when I exhaled, I couldn't help but tremble "ah, ah, ah" from the depths of my throat.The high-pitched cicadas seemed to press my head desperately, pinning me to that place, unable to move a single step. A reclining chair is placed upside down behind Mr. S. The rope around Mr. S's neck hangs from the lattice window directly above.The ropes were passed through the posts of the lattice and then pulled diagonally down into the house.The other end of the taut rope was tied to the handle of a single door of a large wardrobe.Due to the weight of Mr. S, the single door of the large wardrobe tied with a rope was wide open, and the large wardrobe was slightly out of place.Because of this, Mr. S's feet almost touched the floor.If the wardrobe was lighter, or the single door was bigger, Mr. S's feet would probably be able to touch the floor. From the belly to the chest, an inexplicable emotion seized me.I wanted to get closer to Mr. S, but just as I was about to move a step, my whole body began to go numb.My knees went weak and I fell to the ground. The ground touched by the knees has been scorching by the scorching sun. It should be hot, but it is extremely cold.I grabbed the edge of the corridor with both hands and looked up at Mr. S.A gust of warm wind passed over my head from behind, Mr. S's body shook again.The creaking sound was like a sharp knife, piercing straight into my ear from above. I can't bear to see Mr. S's appearance anymore.I closed my eyes desperately, and slowly stood up as if picking up my limbs. I started to move, turned my back to Mr. S, and walked back along the corridor, my nostrils twitched and convulsed, and my teeth kept chattering.His legs were limp, and he stumbled.The creaking sound of the rope seemed to follow me like a shadow behind me. Walking to the center of the corridor, I looked back. The figure of Mr. S was blocked behind the wall and could no longer be seen. Eyes full of sunflowers.These huge blooming flowers are all facing the room where Mr. S is.Just now, Mr. S may not be looking down at me, but at these blooming sunflowers.Thinking of this, tears suddenly flowed out drop by drop.