咪芽貓在美國

Around three o’clock in the morning, Mandy suddenly woke up and sat on her bed, sweating heavily. There was something prowling in the room, she was sure of it. Mandy could sense it! Its scent, its existence… all of it! This has already been the thirteenth time this month. The thing kept on appearing in the midst of her sleep. If it goes on, Mandy doesn’t think she could stand it any more. She has been sleeping very badly since this unknown thing showed up. Every time she tries to close her eyes, she would hear its sound and all sorts of terrifying nightmares would start to haunt her.
Mandy tried to complain to her parents, but they thought it wasn’t a big deal. They thought that perhaps the reason she was having these hallucinations was because she has too much pressure. They suggested her to go out, have some fun and relax. Mandy’s parents were scientists that don’t believe in super-natural phenomena. They were crazy about all sorts of experiments and often busied themselves with unrecognizable missions. Not being able to get comfort from her mom and dad, Mandy turned to her friends. However, her friends just laughed right in her face, saying she was cracking up. “Maybe I am cracking up.” Mandy thought. “No… no, it can’t be!” Mandy shook her head violently. Since nobody would believe her, she decided to protect herself. But what can she do?
Mandy took out a pen and some paper to scribble out her ideas. She started brainstorming how to catch that intruder. In her mind, all sorts of plans started to form. “Hmm... if it’s an animal sneaking in, maybe I should put some poisoned food around my room. If it’s somebody joking around, I should prepare a weapon. What if, it’s something ghastly!?” Mandy couldn’t think she can conquer any thing that’s super-natural but she still decided to put a cross in her room.
However, after a few days Mandy redecorated her room, she was still feeling the thing in her sleep and woke up to find herself sweating and shaking. Queer wounds and mysterious scratches would be found on her the next morning. More than that, things grew even worse, Mandy started to break down and cry with no reason. She would abruptly stand up in class and yell: “Stop stalking me!” She dared not to sleep all night, curling beneath her bed with a razor in her hand. Mandy totally stopped all contacts with her friends as she couldn’t trust anybody! Even when she was with her parents she was still scared to death, she would look at them timidly as though she spoke one word, the strange thing would pounce out and attack her.
No one at school wanted to be friends with Mandy any more. All of her friends thought that she had gone nuts. They started to jeer at her and threw garbage at her. Whenever Mandy walked in the hall, she’d be either pushed around or tripped down on purpose. The teachers at school tried to commiserate with Mandy’s situation but they too, were worried about her mental condition. Her school counselor called Mandy’s parents to inform them her behavior and express his concerns. To the counselors surprise, Mandy’ parents said they think Mandy is perfectly all right and they don’t feel that there’s anything wrong with her. They refused to have a talk with Mandy or take her to see a doctor.
One day, things have gone out of control at school. Mandy’s classmates pushed her off the stairs as a mean joke. Luckily, when Mandy tumbled down the stairs she had covered her head with her hands so there were no big injuries but a couple of bruises. After Mandy’s teacher took her to the hospital, he drove her home to rest. When Mandy got to the door she heard voices yelling inside her house. She quietly opened the door and tip-toed through the living room to get to the loud voices. As Mandy got nearer, she recognized the yelling voices belonged to her parents. They seemed to be arguing in her father’s study. She peered inside the half closed door and eavesdropped at their argument. Mandy’s mother was screaming and sobbing at the same time: “Stop it, stop it!! That’s enough!!” When Mandy’s father heard this, he thundered: “No, it’s not finish yet. How dare you try and make me stop my precious experiment?!” Mandy allowed a deep breath escape from her. She’d thought something serous had happened to her parents. At least what they were storming at each other was their favorite topic. But what they were saying next had totally thrown her in surprise!
Mandy’s mom spoke with a raw voice: “She’s our daughter! I can’t stand it any more. Please stop torturing her! Mandy is your daughter, not any experimental animal!” With obvious anger her father replied: “Never, my great theory hasn’t surfaced yet, I won’t quit! I know she will be driven mad eventually but I just wanted to see how long it will take. Hahaha…!” Upon hearing these words, Mandy staggered. What is she hearing? Her father, the one that’s responsible for all her nightmares and wounds!? She couldn’t believe it! Mandy yanked open the door and shouted: “What are you talking about? What is going on?” Her parents both hurled around, being truly shocked that Mandy had overheard their conversation. Her mother stammered in surprise: “Mandy, darling… umm…” Mandy chose to ignore her mother’s uncomfortable stammer and demanded: “Tell me!” Her father smirked and said coldly: “Well, dear daughter, since you really want to know, I’ll tell you!” As he was about to tell Mandy, Mandy’s mother suddenly rushed toward him and grabbed his arm. “Please don’t say anything. The truth will kill her!” Mandy’s father roared with rage and kicked her away with a mighty strike. “Shut up!” He turned to Mandy as his eyes glinted with madness: “Mandy, this experiment is the most brilliant one among my experiments. I’ve been trying to find out how to drive a person crazy in the shortest time and observe how the person would behave afterwards. You are my chosen one, the most suitable candidate for me to carry out my research. And I almost succeeded, didn’t I? I used every once of the intelligence I have to haunt you. Hahaha…” Mandy watched her father laugh evilly with stunned silence. He is her father! How could he do this to her? It couldn’t be true. Mandy started to feel nauseous and her legs wavered. She didn’t notice that her father retreated to his cabinet and took out some ropes and a dagger. He crept near her and said: “That’ not the end. You must finish the experiment! I will imprison you in your room until everything is done! Hahaha… I won’t let you ruin my perfect theory!” Mandy shrieked with fear “No…! I’m your daughter! No… Daddy, no!” As if he couldn’t hear her, he reached out for her…
Suddenly, several shots rang and her father staggered. He froze with pain and toppled over, bleeding heavily. Mandy’s mom crawled up from the floor, shaking greatly. In her hand was a forty four gun that was still smoking. “Mom!” Mandy rushed to her side and hugged her. Her mom collapsed on her and sobbed: “I’m so sorry. Your father has suffered from schizophrenia a couple of years. His condition has worsen and started to have all sorts of mad ideas. I couldn’t stop him. Oh…”She hiccupped and continued: “I couldn’t save you, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Mandy raised her hand shakily and squeezed her mom: “It’s… it’s over now, I guess…” “I couldn’t save you last time and I couldn’t save your dad, but I swore to myself I must protect you this time!” As her mom was saying all this, her voice quaked with regret. Mandy held on to her mother for several seconds and burst into tears. Her hand soundlessly reached for the smoking gun that’s in her mother’s hand. Without any warning, Mandy slid the gun between them and pulled the trigger!
“Bang!” The bullet went right through the stomach of Mandy’s mother. She crumpled onto the floor with a face filled with incredulity and unbelief. Mandy’s mother croaked: “Why…?” Mandy laughed insanely: “You call yourself a mother? I’m already mad!! How could you! Treat me like this???” Her mother’s eyes widened with helplessness. “No, believe me! I tried… I…” As Mandy yelled wildly “No excuses!” she raised the gun and fired straight at her mother’s face. Laughing and kissing the gun, Mandy smiled and said to herself: “It’s finally over.” She wiped the gun’s handle with a cloth and carefully replaced it back to her mom’s hand.
An hour later, the police came and took Mandy away. A neighbor had heard the gun shots and called the police. By the time the ambulance came, her father was already dead because of over bleeding. As for her mother, nobody could believe that Mandy had really shot her. They thought her mom had first killed her dad than committed suicide. Mandy nodded and smiled to herself in the police car. She knew that from now on she’s freed from her ghosts.