Split-Level Echo

The dim sky was like a piece of dirty old velvet, weighing heavily over the city. The wind swirled dust and confetti on the street, and a few tattered flyers slapped against the window glass of a certain house, like uninvited ghosts. Chu Ruoxiu pulled up the collar of his coat, trying to block the pervasive dust, but he could not block the city's unique smell of decay - a smell that was a mixture of rust, rain and some indescribable staleness. He turned into a narrower alley. Most of the street lights here were broken, and the remaining one was flickering on and off, lengthening and shortening his shadow, as if it was beating with life. At the end of the alley is an old residential building. The walls are peeling off, revealing the dark red bricks inside, like a scab wound being opened again. "Ruoxiu." A call made him stop abruptly. The voice was very soft, almost swallowed up by the wind, but it was terrifyingly clear. It was Cheng Ming's voice. He turned back eagerly. There was no one in the alley except for the flying garbage and the whimpering wind. His heart hammered heavily in his chest, and a mixture of hope and fear gripped him. As is always the case lately, the boundary between fantasy and reality is becoming increasingly blurred. There was a loud sound of the window being closed from upstairs, which startled him and brought him back to reality. He took a deep breath and pushed open the creaking unit door. The musty smell in the corridor became even stronger.