In retrospect I still don't think water is evil, except that through it we occasionally get a glimpse of some other side of life.
After that nightmarish night, I think I may have a mental problem.
All day today I felt that someone was following me, and those snapping and crackling footsteps were always lingering in the back of my mind. The owner Larry probably saw my anxiety and advised me to go home and rest.
Go home? I shook my head. I was already on the verge of a breakdown, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle it alone if anything happened to me.
But that's the way it is.
What you fear always comes back to haunt you.
In the afternoon, two policemen came to our restaurant in the rain, carrying a bloody jacket. I immediately recognized it as Vivi's clothes.
The two officers told us that they had received a call this morning from her roommate saying that she had not returned home all night. Later, a plumber reported that he had found the bloody coat in a drain. They have accessed the CCTV and confirmed that Vivi was there last night, but her whereabouts are still unknown.
I nearly fell to the ground when I heard that, but fortunately Larry held me up. He looked very pale, too.
Later on, the police accessed the restaurant's CCTV.
Vivi was on a full shift yesterday, and everything was normal for her until I left in the afternoon.
The restaurant closes at 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and at 10:30 p.m. on the remaining three days. The CCTV showed that Vivi had been sitting at the bar since eight o'clock last night. I've been sitting down and doing nothing for a while since the rain dispelled almost all the customers. However, Vivi was in a different state.
She was staring straight into the air across the bar, like a statue. Although she looked like she was in a daze from afar, when we drew closer the video, we realized that her expression was not stagnant, but had a hint of alertness.
What kept her in the same position for more than two hours? ... ...
Just as everyone was puzzled, Vivi suddenly picked up a cup and put it in front of the empty bar.
It was 10:27 p.m. Larry and I glanced at each other in unspoken agreement. At that time, only the soaked-wet girl would be sitting there.
But… but she was not there!
Vivi picked up a kettle and started pouring water into a glass. She didn't stop until the kettle was completely empty. Water was dripping down from the table, extending into a linear shape all the way to the front door.
A few moments later, Vivi put on her jacket and left the restaurant. Every step she took was inside the water streak on the floor, like a mermaid complying to some aqua-bounded taboo.
The video ended, and we all got speechless for a moment.
"Geez... I wondered why there was water all over the floor when I came upstairs yesterday... …" Larry was the first to break the silence.
One of the officers asked, " Didn't you feel something was wrong when she simply left like that yesterday?"
"How can I put it…" Larry looked somehow embarrassed, "Vivi, the girl, has a big personality and does everything her own way, so for her to leave without any greetings...I didn't feel anything strange about it. If it was Elin who did that, I'd definitely be worried!"
He turned the tables on me all of a sudden. I failed to react for a moment and didn't know how to answer.
"Hmm." The young officer swept a quick glance at the two of us. I feel there was a speculative whimsy in his eyes.
If that girl had come and taken Vivi last night, why was she missing from the camera footage? If she hadn't come, how could Vivi exhibit such bewildering behavior... ...
"Splat-pat!"
The sound of footsteps disrupted my thoughts.
I jerked my head around, only to see that the cook was frozen in place, his eyes glaring wide with horror.
That sound was in no way a hallucination on my part! I turned my head to look at Larry and the two policemen, and found that they were also in a daze.
"Shit of luck!"
Before we could say anything the cook threw off the apron and ran out of the restaurant as if fleeing. Larry chased him out and shouted a few times, but had to give up when he heard no reply.
"What's going on?" The police asked.
"That's our restaurant's cook, I don't know what suddenly got on his nerves." Larry picked up a rag and wiped the rainwater from his body, then gave the two policemen a cigarette each.
"It's been raining non-stop lately, and there's been a lot going on in town."
He smacked his lips. "It's not the right place, not the right time, how can it rain like this?"
"Anything can be washed away when hit by this kind of strange rain, things that are normally invisible will also be washed out..." The older policeman couldn't help but sigh, "You two need to pay more attention, in the past few days, there have already been several missing cases in town. "
**********
The cook never came back to work again.
As evening approached, Larry cooked some dishes and brought them upstairs.
Outside, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and the heavy rain, swayed by the wind, seemed to flicker like human shadows. He smoked one cigarette after another, and I had no appetite. The two of us just sat at the table, lost in our own thoughts.
"My daughter..." He pressed the cigarette butt into the bowl to put it out, slowly exhaling a mouthful of smoke.
"She has started losing teeth recently too."
I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say. My heart sank.
"She's almost twelve now, and her teeth should have already fully changed… Her mother took her to a famous hospital in the city, and the doctors said there was nothing wrong… But if there's nothing wrong, why is she still losing teeth?" Larry rubbed his head harshly.
I had never seen him so vulnerable before, and a wave of sorrow welled up in my heart.
We didn't know what was happening, but we both felt an ominous sign of something... evil to come.
Larry told me he might have to close the restaurant for a while. To be honest, even without the case of Vivi, there had been no business for quite some time. Many restaurants and shops in town had already shut down—faced with this strange, endless rain, closing might be the most economical decision.
But the thought of not having enough rent money and no way to support myself filled me with anxiety. That fear even, to some extent, outweighed my dread of the eerie events that had been happening recently. So, I pleaded with him to let me stay in the restaurant, at least so we could look after each other.
"If… if that girl comes back, we might be able to find some clues about Vivi!" As I spoke, I felt my face heat up.
Vivian was a good girl. She always looked after me at the restaurant and stood up for me. Although I genuinely wanted to help her, I wasn't willing to risk my own safety for it. Now, I was just using her as an excuse to keep my job. I felt despicable.
"No, it's too dangerous for you," Larry shook his head.
"But I can't just leave her alone!" I clenched my fists in shame. "Vivi is my best friend—I can't just stand by and do nothing… Her family is still waiting for her!"
Larry probably thought of his own daughter and felt some sympathy, so he reluctantly agreed.
In the afternoon, he went over the details of opening and closing the restaurant with me before rushing home. Although I had managed to stay, the pressure in my heart only grew heavier, fearing that the sound of those crackling footsteps would echo in my ears again.
Since nightfall, I had been keeping a close watch on the restaurant entrance, afraid that at any moment, someone would emerge from the darkness beyond the rain.
No one likes getting an injection. The pain of a needle piercing the skin is nothing to fear—it's just a momentary sting. What people truly hate is the time spent waiting for the needle to go in. With experience and animal instinct, we anticipate the incoming pain, distort and magnify that imagined suffering, and transfer it into the act of waiting. That's why waiting becomes the perfect way to experience fear.
But what I had to face was far worse than just an injection.
After much deliberation, I decided to close the restaurant early.
I was truly worried about Vivi and didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
But if possible, I never wanted to see that girl again.
**********
Lately, after brushing my teeth each day, I run my fingers over every tooth to make sure there are no signs of them falling out. I've also stopped eating hard or chewy foods I once loved. It's kind of funny when you think about it: teeth are supposed to be the hardest part of the human body, yet now they've become the most fragile thing I want to protect.
On the way to the restaurant, the rain suddenly grew heavier, making the sidewalk almost impossible to walk on. Normally, I would've pushed through it, but since yesterday I've been the only one left in the restaurant, so there was no need to worry about being late. Seeing the few pedestrians ahead of me all ducking under nearby eaves for shelter, I decided to join them.
We stood in that narrow space without saying a word, everyone just silently watching the rain with gloomy faces. Surrounded by a wall of people, I gradually began to feel warmer. The steady rhythm of the rain filled my ears, and before long, I started to get drowsy.
In a daze, I felt something poke me. Cold and hard.
I looked down and saw that it was the umbrella of the person standing next to me, sticking out from an unzipped tote bag. I kindly pointed it out to him. He nodded and said something in response.
The rain was too loud for me to hear, but judging from the movement of his lips, it probably wasn't "thank you."
His hat shaded most of his face, and his tote bag and raincoat were dripping steadily with water. I felt a bit uneasy, but didn't bother engaging further.
By the time I arrived at the restaurant, more than an hour had passed. Since I'd volunteered to stay behind, all the upkeep now fell on me. In addition to daily cleaning, I also had to go downstairs periodically to check for leaks.
Ever since I saw the mysterious water creature down there the other night, I hadn't returned to the basement. The drainage pipes were all fixed now, but the humidity below was still heavy. The floor was constantly coated with a layer of moisture like dew.
The basement lights glowed with a bluish-white hue, and the bulbs were older and dimmer than before, making the whole space feel eerily green and gray. Aside from the freezer, I shut off all other power sources and laid down plenty of glue traps. Strangely, I hadn't seen a single live rat in the restaurant lately.
Drip... drip...
I flinched reflexively, my knees going weak.
Pull yourself together, it's just the faucet dripping... I shut off the light and hurried back upstairs.
I mopped the floor, wiped the tables, counted the cash at the register, and cleaned the drinks and alcohol in the freezer again. When I had nothing left to do, I turned on the TV.
Coincidentally, a familiar face appeared on screen—it was the old police officer who had come to investigate Vivian's disappearance.
The news was covering a murder case.
Early this morning, in the eastern district of the town, a whole family of five—including a child only eight years old—had been brutally killed. The murder weapon was estimated to be a knife between 20 and 25 centimeters long. Police had retrieved security footage and obtained an image of the suspect.
The suspect lived right next door to the victim's family. According to neighbors, he used to be close with them.
"The suspect moved to this town about five or six years ago… He and the Gibbs used to get along well. The two families often went on walks together… In March this year, the suspect's wife suddenly got sick and died. After that, he seemed to change. He shut himself in and stopped talking to the Gibbs family. Such a tragedy… How could someone like that do something like this…" said one neighbor during an interview.
In the end, the officer spoke directly into the camera, saying the local police had requested support from higher authorities, but due to the weather, help wouldn't arrive until at least tomorrow. Residents were advised to stay home, lock their doors and windows, and report any suspicious individuals immediately.
Then, the TV broadcasted an image of the suspect.