[Horror · Mystery · Urban Legends]
My neighbor, Auntie Li, is the kindest person in the world.
She brushes my hair, feeds me hawthorn cakes, and always smells of jasmine. Everyone in the neighborhood says she and Uncle Li are the perfect couple and never argue.
But one afternoon, I caught Uncle Li cheating with my own eyes.
He grabbed me by the throat and cursed, "You little brat, you've ruined my fun!" Auntie Li rushed in and saved me. As she rubbed the bruises on my neck, she said, "I'll make it up to you tomorrow."
That was the last time she spoke to me while alive.
Then, late on the seventh night, Uncle Li stormed into my home with an axe.
He wanted to kill me.
I shut my eyes in despair, but then I heard a muffled, "Hrrk, hrrk," behind me...
In the moonlight, Auntie Li stood in the white dress with the floral print she had worn that day, both hands clamped tightly around Uncle Li's throat.
But she had been dead for seven days.
I thought Auntie Li had come back to protect me.
Until I realized she was clinging to my back, and I couldn't shake her off.
A ghost haunting the school? Auntie Li takes care of it for me.
A dead old man whose spirit won't rest? Auntie Li puts him in his place.
Everyone says there's a powerful ghost at my side, the strongest talisman I could ask for.
But no one knows that every time Auntie Li acts, the dead jade bangle on my wrist grows a little darker.
And no one knows that the way she looks at me is no longer the tender gaze of an elder.
"Auntie, why did you choose me?"
She doesn't answer. She only holds me a little tighter.
