The Eldritch Files

Chapter 3: Chapter 1: The Headless Little Doll

’The door... the door should appear now...’

Clutching the key tightly, he repeated the words in his mind and looked up.

A bizarre scene unfolded. At the end of the pitch-black corridor, the very space ahead began to distort, as if something was squeezing its way in. After his vision swam for a moment, a door marked with the word "EXIT" appeared before him.

The style and design of this door were vastly different from those of the Ancient Castle, as if two completely unrelated things had been forcefully cobbled together in this very moment.

Han Su’s heart leaped with joy. Dragging the doll-like girl with one hand and clutching the Brass Key he’d snatched from the monster with the other, he charged straight for the iron door.

Behind him, the monster had stumbled to the doorway, only to be blocked by the piano it had thrown there itself.

Its heavy body made it impossible to leap over the piano. It could only roar in fury, tearing the obstructing instrument to shreds.

Taking advantage of the delay, Han Su practically dragged the young, doll-like girl toward the iron door. A large patch of skin had been scraped from her fair knees, and they were bleeding.

But she didn’t make a sound, understanding that they were fleeing for their lives.

The Brass Key, pulled from the monster’s body, was bone-chillingly cold and coated in some strange, viscous fluid. This fluid seemed to give the key a mind of its own. Catching Han Su off guard, it suddenly slipped through his grasp and wriggled out of his hand.

CLINK. The key fell to the floor.

Han Su had never experienced this before. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He wanted to bend down and pick it up, but the monster had already charged into the corridor.

"Brother!"

A clear, crisp cry rang out. The doll-like girl being dragged by Han Su saw the key fall. She reacted quickly, snatching the key from the floor the moment it landed and urgently handing it to him.

At that moment, she even had a happy smile on her face, as if she felt she was finally no longer a burden.

She had helped.

"I..."

Han Su snatched the key. Without even turning his head, he relied on the familiar feel of it, inserting it into the keyhole with his back still to the door.

At that moment, he felt a surge of intense gratitude for this doll-like girl—the youngest of them all, but obedient, smart, and always able to help at the most critical moments.

But in that same instant, the doll-like girl’s delicate little face suddenly exploded before his eyes.

Her eager smile still lingered in his vision, but her head had already split open.

Blood splattered across Han Su’s face. His gaze pierced through the crimson spray, and he saw the monster by the doorway. It had just burst out of the room, but its massive body made it impossible to catch up. So, it began to melt.

Flesh and blood flooded the corridor like a river, rapidly approaching. Within the deluge, he could even see its melting face, its arms, and its gore.

It was an arm, lashing out from the viscous torrent, that had shattered the doll-like girl’s head. Its sharp claws even grazed past Han Su’s right eye, leaving behind a cold trace.

His eye didn’t hurt, but it felt as if it were deflating. A sticky liquid began to cover his face two seconds later.

But Han Su was in no state to worry about that. He just stared with his uninjured eye at the little girl who was still clutching his hand.

Behind him, the iron door was open, a blinding light streaming in from outside.

In the corridor, the surging tide of monster flesh crashed against him. Han Su slowly let go of the little girl’s hand, allowing her small body to fall away. At the same time, he took a step back.

He stepped back into open air, into a free fall.

Before him was the furiously churning flesh on the other side of the door. Above him, blinding sunlight.

"Hah..."

Han Su woke with a gasp, panting heavily.

Sitting up, he found himself in a university lecture hall. His arms, which he had been using as a pillow, were numb and tingling. His sleeves were damp with sweat.

The classmate next to him turned around with a grin. "Well, look at you, Han Su. Daring to sleep through the Abbess’s class? What, finally decided you want to be degenerate like us rich folk?"

...

Han Su stared blankly for a long moment before he realized it. He had escaped. He was back.

This time, again, he had escaped alone.

He glanced at the digital watch on his wrist. 4:52 PM. Time was still moving forward, as if nothing had ever happened.

He sat there, motionless, taking a long moment to process the emotional impact and the new fragments of memory. Finally, he slowly turned to his buddy, Xu Ji. "Let me borrow your mirror."

Xu Ji’s expression shifted dramatically. "Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t wear makeup. Why would I have a mirror?"

As he spoke, he glanced around, then pulled a mirror from his small bag and handed it over, whispering, "It’s my girlfriend’s. She left it at my place."

Han Su opened the mirror and saw his own nineteen-year-old face.

Delicate, Pale. It could have been called handsome, if not for a hideous, stitched scar that ran from his right eye all the way to his hairline, making him look almost frightening.

It wasn’t just the scar. His right eye had also faded to a dull, grayish-white, giving it an ugly, fierce look. Just like the defeated dog he felt he was.

"What, complaining about the scar again?"

Seeing Han Su studying the scar, Xu Ji grinned. "You’ve earned a good bit of money from your part-time job. Why don’t you get surgery to remove it!"

"If it’s not enough, I’ll lend you the rest."

Han Su didn’t answer him. He just stared absently at his reflection, a single thought solidifying in his mind: ’Maybe if the key hadn’t slipped, it would have been okay. Maybe both of us would have escaped, then.’

"Han Su, someone’s here for you."

He was just packing his things, getting ready to leave, when he heard a classmate he knew call into the room.

Han Su turned his head and saw a man and a woman standing outside the lecture hall.

The man was in a suit, the woman in a white dress with a delicate necklace of smooth, round beads. A driver stood behind them, holding their bags.

They looked important, and probably wealthy. But their faces were veiled with the kind of dejected sorrow that only years of grief can create.

"Holy crap, they’re here again?"

Before Han Su could say anything, Xu Ji’s expression soured. "It’s been almost ten years..."

"Xiaohan, Xiaohan, over here..."

But before Xu Ji could finish his complaint, the couple had already spotted Han Su and were hurrying over, pushing through the crowd.

The woman’s face wore a look that was both mournful and pleading. "Please, please, don’t be annoyed with us..." she begged.

"Have you... have you remembered anything new recently?"

"We really don’t mean any harm, and we don’t mean to bother you, really. We just want to find out what happened to Manman. Even if... even if it’s just her remains..."

...

The other students nearby saw this and instinctively gave them a wide berth.

Everyone knew that their classmate, Han Su, had been kidnapped as a child.

Dozens of other children were kidnapped along with him. It was a huge incident at the time; detectives from all over the city were mobilized.

But in the end, only Han Su came back alive.

He told the police he had been trapped in a dilapidated castle where the other kidnapped children were also held. He said there was a monster in the building that ate the other kids.

Alarmed by his words, the Public Security Bureau deployed special forces and a large number of officers to search, but they never found any such castle, let alone a monster.

At the time, everyone just assumed Han Su was severely traumatized and spouting nonsense.

But the fact remained that all the other children had vanished after that day. They were never seen again, and no other leads were ever found.

So many years had passed. Many parents had given up hope and were left to grieve alone, but some still came to see Han Su regularly, hoping he might remember some useful clue—even if it only led to their child’s remains.

This couple was one of them.

Han Su understood. After all, just a few minutes ago, he had been trying to escape with their daughter.

She really was adorable.

It was just a shame she’d lost her head.