They quickly turned around only to catch a glimpse of Hoa, the maid, again.
"Could you please translate for us, Thao? We need to ask the maid something," said Shaun.
Thao called Hoa's name impatiently, and the maid appeared in front of them, with a crooked smile on her face.
"Did you encounter anything unusual in this house for the past few weeks?" interrogated Shaun.
"Everything seemed normal at day," replied Hoa as her eyes looked searchingly at everyone, which was translated into English by Thao. "But things get scary at night. Every night, I have terrible nightmares of wars. And at night when I need to use the toilet, I could not get up. I felt like someone was pressing me down on my bed." Shaun and Jeffrey exchanged glances.
"When did all this start to happen? Is it about a month ago, as stated by Mrs. Mai?" enquired Jeffrey.
"I don't know," responded Hoa quickly whilst looking straight down at her bare feet. Shaun immediately sensed that Hoa was not revealing the entire truth.
"Ms. Hoa, please speak the truth," said Shaun. "If you lie, you'll only make our job more difficult."
"I....I dare not speak the truth, as I may get into trouble," said Hoa as she glanced at Thao.
"Don't worry, we won't reproach you," promised Thao. "We just want to know the truth, that's all!"
"Yes, it was about a month ago that these strange encounters started to occur," proceeded Hoa hesitantly.
"Why did you think you'd get in trouble for saying the truth? Do you know about the origin of these mysteries?" interrogated Blythe.
"It....it must've been my fault. I was cleaning the basement that day when I accidentally knocked over a pot," elucidated Hoa. "I must've affected the feng shui of this house or something, because from then on, these strange things have never ceased to occur."
"Could you show us where the basement is?" asked Shaun as he turned to Thao.
"My grandmother doesn't like people going down to the basement," responded Thao. "But if we wait at night after she's gone to bed, it'll be fine."
Thus, Thao waited until 10 o'clock at night, after grandmother Mai has retired to bed, before leading the friends through a small wooden door in the kitchen. As they tiptoed down the stone staircase, the faint, flickering light coming from a small light bulb hanging on the ceiling casted sinister, dancing shadows on the stone walls.
"AAHHHH!" Suddenly, Tiffany screamed as she perceived something scuttling across her feet.
"What happened?" asked Blythe.
"I think it was a rat," said Jeffrey, calmly. "Tiffany, will you stop making a fuss over everything?"
"We seldom come down here, so it's a bit untidy," explained Thao. "This was used as an air-raid shelter for our family during the war."
~To be Continued~
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