Life seemed to return to its usual rhythm. Lin Zhou forced herself to categorize the guitar melody as an "accidental hallucination." She continued to go to the bookstore every day, reading and listening to music in her spare time, trying to make her life seem full and calm.
On Tuesday afternoon, she received a call from a delivery driver.
"Hello, is this Ms. Lin Zhou? You have a package. I've left it at your door."
"Okay, thank you." Lin Zhou hung up, a little puzzled. She hadn't ordered anything online recently. Who could have sent her a package?
When she got home, she looked around her doorway, but it was empty. She went downstairs to check her mailbox, but it was empty too. She had no choice but to call the driver back.
"Hi, I can't find the package. Are you sure you got the address right?"
"I'm sure," the driver said confidently. "XX Road, No. XX, Apartment 501, for Lin Zhou. I just dropped it off."
"I'm in Apartment 501, but that's on the fifth floor. This is an old building; there is no sixth floor."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then the driver's annoyed voice. "Ah! My mistake! I thought I climbed for a long time! I must have delivered it to 601! Ma'am, could you possibly go up and get it yourself? I'm already in the next district."
Lin Zhou was speechless. The building only had five floors; where did 601 come from? The driver must have been talking about her upstairs neighbor, "Mr. Ghost."
With no other choice, she braced herself and walked up the dim staircase to the sixth floor. The hallway on the sixth floor was even more dilapidated than the ones below. The voice-activated light was broken, with only a sliver of light filtering in from the stairwell window.
She stood before the closed door, which had no apartment number on it. Taking a deep breath, she knocked.
Knock, knock, knock.
No response.
She knocked again, with more force. This time, she finally heard the sound of shuffling footsteps inside, followed by the click of a lock.
The door opened a crack.
A man appeared behind it. He was wearing a black baseball cap pulled down low and a large gray face mask, revealing only his eyes. They were filled with vigilance and exhaustion.
"Hello," Lin Zhou said, trying to make her voice sound as natural as possible. "I think the delivery driver left my package here by mistake."
The man didn't speak. He just glanced down and saw the cardboard box by the door. He bent over, his movements somewhat slow, picked up the box, and handed it to Lin Zhou. He never once looked up.
"Thank you," Lin Zhou said, taking the package.
The man just gave a slight nod and quickly closed the door. The entire interaction lasted less than thirty seconds.
Lin Zhou stood there holding the box, an indescribable, strange feeling in her heart. The man was so completely covered up. And his build... why did it look so familiar? Slender, tall—even with his deliberately stooped posture, she could see the outline of a once-straight back.
Was it just her imagination?
She went downstairs with the package, the cloud of suspicion in her mind growing heavier. Who exactly was this "Mr. Ghost"?