My name is Barbaris, and I'm a television salesman from Wisconsin.
I have a beautiful wife who loves each other, and a lovely little daughter.
Although our family of three is not very wealthy, we live a very happy life.
Beyond that, I'm a devout believer... an extremely devout believer...
***
Barbaris looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar small building, his lips trembling slightly. It's been over a year since he left home.
After a while, Barbaris finally plucked up the courage, walked forward slowly, and rang the doorbell.
"Who?"
The door opened, and a woman with disheveled hair and a very haggard appearance appeared.
"Hi, Amy."
Barbaris managed a forced smile.
The woman opened her eyes wide, and after a moment, she suddenly let out a scream, rushed forward, and slapped Barbaris hard in the face.
Barbaris touched his cheek. To be honest, this slap was not unfair.
Half an hour later, Barbaris walked downstairs after washing himself and changing his clothes. In the restaurant, his wife was preparing food, while his beloved little daughter was sitting at the dining table, looking at him carefully and vigilantly.
"Hi, baby."
Barbaris waved to his daughter, who lowered her head in panic, not daring to look at him again.
When the little girl, who was only six years old, needed the love of her parents the most, her father suddenly changed his temperament and ran away from home. First release@@@
This left an indelible shadow in the girl's mind.
Barbaris also knew that he had done something wrong. He stood at the door of the restaurant a little helpless, wanting to get close to his daughter, but he didn't dare.
"Are you hungry? Come and sit down."
It was the wife who broke the embarrassment.
Barbaris sat down in a somewhat reserved position at the dining table. His wife Amy placed the plate full of food in front of Barbaris. Barbaris was tired and hungry, so he started gobbling it up without using a knife or fork.
Amy looked at Barbaris with some surprise. Barbaris also felt something was wrong and quickly wiped his mouth with a napkin: "Sorry, I haven't eaten your cooking for a long time."
"It's nothing, I was just a little surprised."
"What accident?"
Amy sighed, sat down next to Barbaris, and said softly: "You used to pray before every meal."
Barbaris snorted and said disdainfully while eating: "Don't worry, my dear, I will never do this kind of useless work that wastes time again."
"My God, Barbaris, you have changed so much." Amy said in surprise, "I still remember when you ran away from home, you must have sensed the signs and heard the whispers from heaven, but now..."
Barbaris reached out to hold his wife's hand and said in a deep voice: "Can you not mention this matter? My dear, I just want to resume my usual life now, be with you, and never be separated again."
Amy pursed her lips and nodded heavily.
After being missing for more than a year, Barbaris must have lost his original job, but fortunately he had experience in his previous job and began to resubmit his resume online.
After losing the family income, his wife worked as a cashier in the largest supermarket in the town. She also had to take her children to school, which made her life very hard. But before finding a job, Barbaris took on the role of a "housewife."
Although it was trivial, Barbaris felt very happy.
Everything seems to be back on track.
Except that his daughter still doesn't want to talk to him.
A week passed like this. That night Amy came home from the night shift and told Barbaris a strange thing, which caught Barbaris' attention.
"Raw meat?"
Barbaris frowned.
Amy nodded while lowering his head to eat: "Yes, Apu is our neighbor. You should still remember it, right? It's not just him, his whole family is a firm vegetarian. But tonight, he bought Got a big bag of raw beef.”
Barbaris put down the clean dishes in his hands, walked to the window, and looked at the house diagonally opposite. The entire three-story building was completely dark, and nothing could be seen at all.
"Other than that? Is his behavior any different from before?"
Barbaris picked up another plate and began to wash it slowly.
"Huh?" Amy hesitated for a moment, then suddenly smiled and shook her head, "It's nothing, I should be blinded."
Barbaris turned around and said in a deep voice: "What did you see?"
"It's nothing, except that for a moment, Apu's eyes all turned black." Amy smiled, "But I must have seen it wrong, because when I looked carefully again, there was nothing wrong with his eyes. .”
"Dang Cang..."
The plate in Barbaris's hand slipped into the pool.
Amy was startled, and hurriedly came over, looked at the stunned Barbaris, and said softly: "Are you okay? Put it down and let me clean it. My dear, I have said it many times, don't do it to yourself It’s too much pressure, but my daughter and I will be very satisfied if you can come back.”
Looking at his smiling wife, Barbaris felt a pain in his throat. He took a deep breath, glanced out the window again, picked up the plate, and whispered: "We have nothing to do with the Apu family, right?"
Amy pouted: "No, his family is weird, and he is not close to anyone in the town. But he is a nice person, and he even helped me pick up my daughter before when I was busy."
Barbaris suddenly grabbed Amy's arm and gritted his teeth: "Remember, from today on, they will never be allowed to get close to my daughter again. Do you understand me?"
Amy was frightened.
Barbaris took a deep breath and let go: "I'm sorry, I've been a little too nervous recently. You go upstairs to put your daughter to bed first, and just leave it to me."
Amy nodded hesitantly, stood on tiptoes and kissed Barbaris on the cheek: "Then hurry up, I'll wait for you."
Watching his wife go upstairs, Barbaris turned and looked out the window. This time, although the small building diagonally opposite was still shrouded in darkness, Barbaris could feel that there was a pair of eyes in the darkness, staring at him viciously.
"Damn it, why can't you let me go? Why can't you let me return to a normal life? Why are you still pestering me?"
Barbaris's fists clenched tightly. After a while, he took out a large bag of table salt from the cupboard, poured it into a kettle and dissolved it with water, then carried the kettle to the living room.
From the living room closet, he took out a silver cross pendant and a Bible. Barbaris put the cross into the kettle, opened the Bible, and began to read in a low voice.
Ten minutes later, Barbaris closed the Bible, took out the cross from the kettle, and carved a small cross on the living room door lock handle.
"My dear, my daughter has fallen asleep. Are you coming?"
My wife's soft call came from upstairs.
"Now, honey, give me a moment, I want to make sure nothing can break in."
Barbaris called back and walked towards the other doors and windows with the cross in hand.
midnight.
Barbaris opened his eyes suddenly. His beloved wife was still sleeping beside him. The bedroom was quiet in the middle of the night, but he felt something strange.
He slowly sat up and looked at the side window. I saw that the curtains that were originally closed had been partially opened at some point. And on the window glass, there was a huge palm print.