Chapter 27 Chapter 25 Surface Phenomena

Three people are sitting on a park bench.One of them was reading the newspaper, and the other two were constantly doing the actions of casting the net, collecting the net, and picking out the catch in the net.At a glance, I knew that the two were mental patients, so many people around pointed and discussed.After observing carefully for a while, a policeman asked the two "throwing nets" what they were doing.The two said, "Didn't you see us fishing?" The police turned to the man reading the newspaper, "Do you know them?" The man reading the newspaper said, "Yes, I took them out to relax." The policeman said: "Are they mentally ill? If they do this in public, they will scare others. Take them back quickly." The newspaper reader looked back and said, "I'm sorry, I'll take them back right now." Said After finishing putting down the newspaper, he rowed desperately.

This joke was told to me by a mental patient, and I laughed. The patient who tells jokes is a rather interesting person, very talkative, likes to tell jokes, and is beaming when talking.Most physicians and nursing staff like him very much.The conversation I had with him was when we were walking in the courtyard in the evening. Me: "You have a lot of jokes, which is very interesting. I think you are normal." He: "Normal people wouldn't be locked up here. They said I was paranoid, although I really don't remember." Me: "Some people do have amnesia during the illness, maybe you are the type of amnesia?"

He: "Who knows, anyway, I'm locked in... Just shut it down." Me: "You can really think about it..." He: "Then what should I do? If I make a fuss, wouldn't I become even more mentally ill? It's still a manic type, that's troublesome. Have you seen those wearing corsets in the intensive care building?" Me: "Yes, it's very tight." He: "Yes, I don't want that." Me: "Did anyone tell you what you were like when you were sick?" He: "Well... I told you a little bit, they said that I sometimes shrink in the dark corner of the wall and smile at others with my teeth bared. The smile is very ferocious..."

Me: "Is that paranoia?" He: "That's what they say anyway, but they didn't say what happened specifically. They didn't say who I hurt. Fortunately, otherwise I would feel guilty psychologically." Me: "You are doing well now, you should be fine, I think you will be discharged from the hospital soon." He: "Discharged from the hospital...Actually, I think it's better not to be discharged from the hospital for now..." Me: "Why? How free it is outside." He stopped, hesitating for something. I also stopped: "What's the matter? Is there something wrong at home or something else?"

He bit his lower lip: "Well...Actually...some things...I haven't told anyone..." Me: "What didn't you tell anyone?" He looked at me hesitantly: "Actually... I remember some things when I got sick..." Me: "You mean...do you remember?" He thought about it seriously for a while, as if he had made up his mind, then looked around and lowered his voice: "I know who was grinning." Me: "Wasn't you at that time?" He: "It's not me, it's something else..." There was fear in his eyes. Me: "Something? What kind of thing?"

He: "When I was young, I often played with a few children in the courtyard. Because I was relatively thin, they always bullied me. One summer vacation, when we were playing in the courtyard next door, we found a The basement of the building was left open for some reason, and they decided to go down and explore." Me: "How old were you then?" He: "About seven or eight years old." Me: "Oh...and then?" He: "We split up to find rags and old brooms, wrapped the cloth around the brooms, and lit them as torches. Because the door to the basement was very narrow, we had to go down one by one. I deliberately walked in the middle, Because I was afraid. That kind of basement is full of floor partitions, and it looks very messy. You can still see a little light on the basement floor, so I don’t think it’s so scary. Then they said to go to the second basement floor, and I said I wanted to go back. Those older kids said no, we had to go together, so I went down with them. I went around the second basement floor, and went to the third basement floor..."

Me: "So deep? How many layers are there?" He: "I don't know, maybe it's the fourth or fifth floor, because the fourth underground floor was flooded by stagnant water, and I couldn't go down, so I could only go to the third underground floor. When I saw the stagnant water at the entrance of the fourth underground floor, I don’t know where there was a muffled sound. We were all terrified, and we ran back desperately without saying a word. Because I was short, I was pushed from behind when I was running, and I hit a partition all of a sudden. wall, and I passed out."

Me: "Didn't the other kids notice?" He looked at me in horror: "No, they all ran away by themselves. I probably woke up within a few minutes of fainting. Seeing that my torch was about to go out, I was terrified. I got up and ran as fast as I could without crying. But that basement was full of those kind of partition walls, I couldn't get my way, I got lost. I didn't know what to do, I stood there and watched the torches in my hand go out little by little, and it was pitch black, except for my Breathing, no more sound. I was dizzy, scared stupid, standing there at a loss... Do you know that feeling? The feeling of being gripped by a huge fear, no Dare to shout, dare not move, dare not even breathe! Just stand there so stiff."

I feel like the roots of my hair are standing up. He: "After an unknown period of time, I couldn't tell whether it was a hallucination or real. I vaguely heard the sound of humming a song. Although the sound was very small, I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but I felt that it was everywhere. At that time, I was so scared that I couldn’t help but shed tears, but I couldn’t move, just like a nightmare, fixing me there. When I felt that I was about to collapse, something seemed to touch me slowly. My feet don't touch me one by one, but the kind of touching that doesn't leave the skin, along my feet, touch my calves, thighs, body, shoulders, and then stop on my neck for a while, that's it A kind of vague touch, I feel that it is not a hand, but the shape of a claw of something, it is very big... At that time, my whole body was soaked, tears kept streaming down, but I couldn't cry out at all, and I couldn't move. No... the last thing I remember is that claw opened my mouth, and then I don't remember anything..."

With tears in his eyes, he looked at me tremblingly: "I don't know what happened later, I don't remember anything..." He hugged his shoulders and slowly squatted on the ground, his body twitching non-stop. I hurriedly squatted down and patted his shoulder lightly: "Okay, it's okay, don't think so much, it should be just a nightmare..." I looked around, trying to see that there were no doctors or nursing staff nearby. Suddenly he grabbed my hand, raised his head, and stared at me with a bared grin: "It's actually me!" It was a completely unfamiliar voice.

I was terrified, and instinctively stood up and tried to break free, but fell to the ground. He stood up slowly, I looked at him in horror, and he stretched out his hand to me with a gentle smile on his face: "I'm sorry, I scared you." He pulled me up, who was still in shock, with an apologetic smile: "I'm so sorry, I didn't expect such a big reaction, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Me: "You...you just..." He: "Ah, I'm really sorry, that's my nonsense, it's not true, I'm sorry to scare you, I'm sorry." I can't tell you what it feels like: "My God, you..." He looked at me with a serious face: "My acting skills are not bad, right?" I froze for a moment: "What?" He: "Look, the rumors about my acting skills are all rumors. You saw it just now. Am I qualified for this role?" I was still a little dazed and didn't recover: "Role?" His expression returned to beaming: "Yes, I have studied the script in depth, and I think this character is not only..." A doctor ran over from a distance: "Are you okay?" It seemed that he was talking to me. Me: "It's okay... I..." The doctor could see that he couldn't help laughing: "I can see the general idea after seeing you walking. I will follow you from a distance in case you have any accidents. However, this patient is just scaring people, and there is no other threat, so..." He interrupted the doctor: "Look, I analyzed it right?" I froze there not knowing what to say. Physician: "You're right, but go back to the ward first, we'll discuss it when we get back." I was out of my mind the whole way home that day, and I admit to being a little intimidated.When I got home, I realized that I forgot to turn off the recorder.Sitting there in a daze for a while, I couldn't help listening to the recording again, thinking it was ridiculous even in retrospect. I keep forgetting what the patient told me - he was delusional. I didn't have any nightmares that day and slept well.