Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Approaching step by step

In a few months, Shi Lei will turn 18, and next is me. 18 years old is the age of adulthood, and the imminent college entrance examination is approaching a little bit. Although time is filling the air like an endless river, we still remember the smell of rapid fermentation in the air in spring. Day after day passed by in a hurry, and my heart was filled with unspeakable fear.Shi Lei and I hid in the bedroom, flipping through our scrapbook over and over again.After so many years of accumulation, the scrapbook has filled my drawer.Our cartoonists are also getting old day by day, only the eyes are still clear.

Two changes occurred, which we discovered almost simultaneously. It was Sunday, and Shi Lei and I took out all the scrapbooks, planning to do a thorough cleaning and mark them in chronological order.Just when I was about to start, the doorbell rang, Shi Lei sat cross-legged on the floor and sorted out the scrapbooks one by one, and I went to answer the door. The people from the courier company came, and a set of beauty books my mother mail-ordered arrived.After I signed for it, I tore off the packaging of the book according to the habit I had developed over the years, and began to flip through it in a hurry in the living room-my eyes quickly and nervously scanned all the pictures, even the ones the size of a fingernail. Pictures are not spared either.

Unsurprisingly, I found my cartoonist, this time he appeared among the spectators at the stadium, with a national flag painted on his face, and his eyes were fixed on the football in the middle of the stadium.The camera was aimed at the female celebrity behind him with sunburned makeup. She deliberately wore a pair of sunglasses to cover her eyes, but the delicate makeup and distinctive dress clearly showed her identity to people everywhere.The painter was beside him and was photographed together.His face was well defined due to the vantage point, which allowed me to see his eyes clearly. Seeing his eyes, my heart seemed to change its beating frequency.

I saw him in another picture yesterday, and when seeing him is not unusual, I got used to it, except for cutting out the picture with him in my collection, my mood and behavior are no longer because of his appear to change.But this time is different.This time I felt a huge change happened to him.He was completely different from the cartoon man I was familiar with over the years.It was still the same face, but there seemed to be something more about him, and something was missing.I have never felt such a strong change from him, even if he has changed from a child to a teenager, this change is not as strong as his change from yesterday to today.

What exactly has changed? I searched him suspiciously, and finally settled on his eyes. His eyes have changed! They used to be a pair of human eyes, but now they have become like stones, like those stone statues without pupils in ancient Greek statues. Although his eyeballs are still in their sockets, they give people a petrified feeling. Looking at other places, there are similar changes in all parts of his body.Nothing can be seen on the surface, but the feeling of being petrified is obvious. For some reason I felt a tinge of fear. I was planning to find Shi Lei's illustrator to see if the same situation happened, Shi Lei had already shouted in the room.Hearing the sound, he was very panicked.I was about to run into the bedroom when he rushed out waving a scrapbook, his head drenched in sweat.

"I found..." he said, looking at me incredulously, "I found him approaching us!" "What did you say?" Before I understood what he meant, goosebumps had already appeared on my skin. "Look!" He hastily unfolded a piece of white paper in his hand and showed it to me. Some words were written on it in a mess. I glanced at it in a hurry, and vaguely saw the words Los Angeles, Mexico, Paris, etc., all of which were place names. Many cities I don't even know their names. "What is this?" I asked. "It's a place name," he said.

"I know it's a place name, but what does it have to do with him?" "He first appeared in our city, followed by Shanghai, Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Bahamas..." Shi Lei said quickly, "In short, he started from Asia and passed through almost the same latitude along the way. The city, from west to east, passed through Asia, America, Africa, and then back to Asia, and now he has returned to China!" "What does that mean?" I asked. "I suspect he will return to this city soon." Shi Lei said.He paused and said: "I still doubt...he will appear in front of us soon!"

My throat became very dry, and my eyes were dark: "Are you kidding me? He's just a painter..." As I said that, I rushed into the bedroom, and Shi Lei also rushed in. All day long, we've been flipping through our scrapbooks.Afternoon?book club? He was right. The two of us, the cartoonists, set off from us, circled the earth, and returned to China.If you guess correctly, he will gradually approach us from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and finally appear in front of us.And from the moment he set foot in China, their eyes and bodies seemed to start to petrify. It is one thing to have a cartoonist who appears in pictures every day, but it is quite another thing to be a living cartoonist who appears in front of your eyes.The whole thing has lost its fun, and we feel nothing but deep dread.What to do next?What happens when he comes up close to us?It is impossible to say that nothing will happen, there must be some purpose for all these years of approaching, and none of us thinks that it is a purpose that is beneficial to us.

Fear, once germinated, becomes irresistible.This time the fear came especially turbulent, as if it was endlessly emerging from the body.I began to instinctively avoid the carrier that might have a picture, so as not to see that the pictured person was one step closer to me.However, he can always appear in unexpected places. Yes, I can see that he is getting closer and closer—I always save the pictures of him morbidly, and look for his location according to the characteristics of the pictures. And every discovery makes Shi Lei and I tremble with fear.They have been approaching us, coming step by step from the far west, and every step they take, the petrification of their bodies becomes more serious.And this kind of petrification can only be seen by us, it is a feeling beyond vision.

"What should I do?" Shi Lei asked me in panic. How do I know what to do? "Don't look at the pictures," I said after thinking for a long time, "don't look at any pictures, I guess, as long as he doesn't appear in front of our eyes, he can't stay close to us." "Will it work?" Shi Lei asked while wiping away his cold sweat. I nodded vigorously.In fact, I don't know if this will work, but it is the only way we have to trust him. But there is no way to hide. No matter how we hide, they are always in front of our eyes.Walking on the road, I hardly dared to open my eyes, just looked down at the ground, but he would always stare at me with stone-like eyes on a piece of waste paper on the ground.When I was in class, I was always distracted, and I was called by the teacher several times. Only when I was in class was relatively safe. Fortunately, I was admitted to this high school with a good style of study. In class, apart from textbooks and reference books, other pictures Neither can get into the eyes.However, after class, it became very bad. The magazines and stickers passed among the students often irritated me deeply.Seeing my pale face and sweating profusely, the teachers and classmates thought I was sick.

Shi Lei's situation is worse than mine. He goes to a private high school and has more opportunities to get in touch with various pictures.We often meet, and I feel that his mental condition is getting worse and worse, and he has lost weight several times.After a week, news came: Shi Lei has gone crazy.I was completely stunned by this news, and by the time I realized it, the person had already run outside. I have to go see Shi Lei.I want to know whether his madness is caused by the mental tension caused by the ever-approaching cartoonist, or because the cartoonist has appeared in his life. If it is the latter, it will be terrible-he can make Shi Lei out of control. Crazy, what else will you do to him next?What will happen to me? It's not easy to meet Shi Lei, I'm still a minor, and I was immediately blocked outside the mental hospital.Fortunately, I met Shi Lei's mother whose eyes were red from crying. When she saw me, she jumped up and cried.I didn't have the intention to comfort her, I just kept repeating that I wanted to see Shi Lei.Of course she would not refuse, greeted the doctor, and walked into the ward with me. The creepy atmosphere in the mental hospital, even the air is full of crazy factors, which makes me wonder whether I will be infected with mental illness at any time.When I saw Shi Lei, he was facing the door with his back facing the corner, motionless.The nurse called him a few times, but he didn't respond.I went in with his mother, and what I saw was a yellow and dull face with a pair of completely lifeless eyes.At my strong request, they finally allowed me to stay alone with Shi Lei for a while. When only the two of us were left, Shi Lei's eyes suddenly lit up. "Aren't you crazy?" I asked quietly. He nodded with a smile. "What's going on?" I asked.In fact, I have vaguely guessed it, but I still want to verify it.Sure enough, the situation is almost exactly as I thought: like me, Shi Lei has a strong sense of fear of everything that may have pictures attached to it, so that it seems a little abnormal. After being asked by his parents several times, he suddenly With an idea, he simply exaggerated his condition and was sent here soon. "I really have no choice," Shi Lei sighed, "Do you think there is any place in the world that can escape pictures? But the mental hospital is different, only here can completely block all pictures." His expression Very helpless, but also very relaxed.I'm almost envious of him. "But it's too extreme, isn't it?" I still couldn't help but persuade him, "You can tell your parents the truth." "You think I didn't say it? But they don't believe it, even if you show them the scrapbook, they don't believe it either!" Shi Lei said helplessly. Yes, they won't believe it... Even if they do, they won't do anything, they are too busy - I think of the experience of asking for help when I was a child. Even though I knew they wouldn't believe it, I couldn't help but tell my mom and dad about the painter.I wanted support and protection, but I saw horror in their eyes.In the few days after I told this story, my family has been looking at me with a strange look, I can feel that they are observing me all the time, evaluating my behavior, and considering whether I have become a lunatic like Shi Lei.Sometimes I really plan to hide in a mental hospital just like Shi Lei. In such a strange atmosphere, 18 years old finally arrived. And I finally know what kind of attitude the cartoonist will enter my life. Before that, despite my best efforts, the picture man still entered my eyes irresistibly and approached my city step by step. On the day before my 18th birthday, I finally saw him appearing in my eyes from a picture. The city where he is now - he set off from this city, circled the earth, and finally came back. He's coming for me! On my birthday, a small party was held at home, all the relatives came, and my sister brought her new boyfriend. Her new boyfriend is the one who came back to this city to draw pictures! As you can imagine, the moment I saw him, I was almost petrified! This man, who was nearly 40 years old, had an olive-shaped mole on his ruthless chin, his eyes were cloudy, he looked at me seriously, and stretched out his hand.And my sister in the Mood for Love was looking at him with infatuated eyes, as if she had never seen a man in her life. How dare I shake his hand? I almost ran out without thinking. In the hot summer streets, I ran aimlessly, not knowing where I was going.All the people were chasing me. They shouted my name on the street, which made me feel ashamed to death. However, something more terrible than losing face had happened. Even if I was killed, I dare not go out and have direct contact with the cartoonist.Sister, sister, why did you bring such a...a person who doesn't know what it is, back home?I hid in a remote alley, gritted my teeth to prevent myself from crying, tears had already blurred my eyes. I just wandered the streets for several days.How I got through these days, I don't even remember.I never thought that one day I would have to worry about eating and drinking water. I endured hunger to get through the first day, and then I wanted to dig through the trash can in the next few days. The smoky smell finally made me leave.Sleeping in the park at night, first you have to sneak away from the guard's inspection, and then you have to silently fight with other homeless people to seize the suitable sleeping place.It's been a rough time, everything, hunger, thirst and filth are beyond my tolerance.Four days later, I finally couldn't take it anymore and ran to my uncle's house.Uncle moved to this city a few years ago, he knows about the painters, so he should understand, right? My uncle was surprised to see me appear at the door, but he didn't ask any more questions.After wolfing down all the food in his fridge, I quickly told him why I left home. "It's really him?" Uncle couldn't believe it either. "Yes, have you forgotten that mole on his chin?" I looked at him eagerly. The uncle gasped, and after pondering for a long time, he said, "Take a bath first, and I'll talk to your parents." "The important thing is to communicate with my sister, you must not marry this person!" I hurried into the bathroom after saying this. When I came out of the bathroom, there were four more people in my uncle's family: father, mother, sister, and my sister's boyfriend, who was the damn cartoonist. I was betrayed by my uncle! I should have thought that grown-ups can't be trusted.He didn't help me when I was young, and he won't help me now. "Let's go, let's talk alone!" The painter walked towards me with a friendly smile.From a distance, he is indeed a mature and stable elite, but I can see the stiffness of his body, I can see the statue-like stones in his cloudy eyes, and I can clearly see that every step he takes is so heavy. I step back step by step. I turn to my loved ones for help. They looked at me helplessly, the eyes were exactly the same as Shi Lei's mother looked at Shi Lei. The picture-maker grabbed my hand. His strong, deeply wrinkled hands gripped my wrist like a rock, and pulled me into the bedroom. He closed the door. "Why are you against me and your sister?" he asked mildly. Didn't uncle tell him? I took a few steps back. He came towards me. keep coming. He walked through my body and walked directly behind me. At that moment, I felt as if after thousands of years, my body suddenly became extremely heavy.I froze in place for a long time, but he patiently persuaded me to accept him as if nothing had happened. It was late, it was late, and the most terrible thing happened.I stood there blankly for a long time, not listening to what he said at all. After a long time, I came to my senses, rushed out of the room, and rushed into the bathroom under everyone's surprised eyes. My face was reflected in the mirror. It was the face of an 18-year-old youth with a slight stubble on his chin.This is a familiar face, but it already carries something strange, the tiny stones in the eyes, the precursor of the body's stiffness.My shoulders are heavy, and the stone has already weighed down my shoulders.I am 18 years old, and the picture-maker finally came. He ended his journey and fulfilled his mission. I have no need to oppose him, and soon, he will become my brother-in-law. Soon, I was admitted to the university. On the eve of graduation, the school held a coming-of-age ceremony for all of us.Standing among the students in a suit, watching the wind blowing through the tall tree crowns, my heart ached.We are no longer who we used to be.Everyone has a picture guy, he came when he was 18 years old, took something away, left something behind. I threw away those scrapbooks - I never saw my brother-in-law in pictures again, he lived in front of me, no different from ordinary people.He was just a normal guy, I realized later.Before throwing away the scrapbook, I lined up all the pictures - in chronological order, it is the journey of a person from youth to middle age, and in reverse chronological order, it is like watching a middle-aged man gradually regain his youth .Unfortunately, time cannot be turned back. Time goes by, we are all getting old, only Shi Lei still maintains his 18-year-old appearance, his eyes are always so clear, the wall of the mental hospital blocks the attack of the painters, I saw him sitting alone in the room facing the wall , I can't tell whether he is lucky or unlucky. Many years later, on the train, I accidentally flipped through a magazine and saw a photo of myself in it—the photo appeared in a foreign country, and I have never been abroad in my life.But I will not admit my own face, not to mention the scar on my brow that I fell from when I was a child.I suddenly understood everything, and couldn't help but smile wryly, my shoulders seemed to be even heavier.Facing the children under the age of 18 in the carriage, I couldn't help but wonder: Whose picture artist am I going to be?