C26 (1/2)
When they reached the photo studio, the sun was about to set. The middle-aged man stuck his head out of the half-closed door.
”If you had come a little later, I would have really left. This street is not peaceful after dark.”
The middle-aged man looked across the street at the homeless and the junkies.
”What's wrong with the picture?” I followed him into the studio.
”Hey, I've never seen such a strange photo in my life, look —”
The middle-aged man took out a stack of photographs and picked out two of them. ”This one was salvaged from one of the damp rolls of film, and when I washed it I discovered that the date of production was 1965, and since the film could not have been made for more than five years, I would assume it was taken in 1970 — and this one was the film inside the camera, which was relatively intact and much clearer. The date of production was 1975.”
”Then the interval between these two photographs should be at least five years —” The middle-aged man placed the photo under the lamp. ”But you see, he hasn't changed at all?”
Under the lamp were two pieces of family property.
On the chair sat Maria and Johnson, with a child between them.
”Logically speaking, this is the period when children grow up. There should be changes no matter what for five years. Do you think they are the same person? Or am I seeing things? ”
The child standing in the middle was Alpha.
1965, 1975 to 1988. He hadn't grown up at all.
In the relatively clear picture, he wore a short-sleeved striped shirt. The exposed arm was full of wounds, and there was a blurry number tattooed on one of them.
43.
Blonde hair and blue eyes, always wearing long sleeves, not as sensible as any of the same age children.
When he held the blind kitten in his hand, he said emotionlessly:
”If you don't kill others, others will kill you.”
”In order to survive, you have to disregard everything. Only with this will you be able to face this cruel world.”
That was what the Nazi doctor had said to the two children who had passed the test in the game room of the Spring of Life.
His talent for chess and his ability to quickly learn a new language are not because of his outstanding intelligence, but because he has lived longer than any of us.
Maybe he would have.
Lina looked at the floor of Room 608 and lamented that she didn't have any toys when she was young.
Of course he had no toys when he was a child, a child raised by the Nazis as the strongest warrior in Aryan. His only toys were pistols and knives.
I quickly recalled that night when he had asked me what I was afraid of, pointing to the deformed image of the infant's skull.
I gave him a perfunctory reply, but he told me exactly what I was thinking: You, afraid, you, will, live, down, one, strange, or something.
In that moment his eyes shone like wild beasts in the darkness, and he peered into the deepest depths of my fear.
And then I had that nightmare.
There was also the picture of Lina hugging the monster that was folded in half.
He was the one who could control dreams and read minds.
He had walked out of the Spring of Life alive, and his body was eternally fixed at seven or eight years old.
Lina is very dangerous!
”Do you have a phone! Call me! ”Give it to me!” I was already mumbling incoherently as I frantically grabbed onto the middle-aged man's collar.
Startled, he pointed behind the counter.
I quickly dialed the home number, and the few dozen seconds I waited for the call to go through felt like a thousand years to me.
”Hello?” Lina's voice came out from the phone.
”Hey!” Lina! Listen to me … Listen to me! ”Leave immediately …”
”Lei, what happened to you? …”
Bang bang bang! Just as I was about to speak, I heard a burst of hurried knocking sounds coming from Lina's side!
”Lei, don't hang up. ”I think …”
”Don't open the door!”
”I'll take a look from the peephole …”
My heart was pounding uncontrollably!
Alpha's voice came out faintly from the other end of the phone, and actually started crying outside the door:
”Lina! Lina! Save me! Grandmother has gone insane! ”
”Don't... ”Don't go out!” I shouted into the phone!
”Lei …” Oh my god! Maria held onto his blade! She wanted to drag Alpha into the house … Alpha was calling for help outside! I have to save him! Hurry up and call the police! ”
There was the sound of a door opening on the other end of the line.
”Lina, don't go out!” I shouted, but there was no sound from the other end of the phone either.
My heart felt like it was about to jump out of my chest, time stopped … 10 seconds … 20 seconds … 30 seconds...
”Bam!”
I heard a gunshot, followed by a heavy echo, coming from the depths of the corridor.
From the distant sky came the sound of muffled thunder, followed by a torrential downpour. I sprinted back to the Joshua Tower.