Ren was taking a bath with various combinations of soaps and perfumes that Renu had helped him select, along with clothes, from his apartment. He wanted to ensure all of the blood and stains were removed entirely, so he could finally not be able to smell the horrible stench, plus to make himself presentable as he was looking like a shootout survivor.
Renu was outside the bathroom, checking the black-and-white photos that Ren had obtained from the Gao Ming incident. She also noticed that the image of Gao Ming and Ren was pulsing, and the chains appeared to be moving.
"What's going on with the photo of you and Go Ming?" She asked.
"The chains are a connection between family members. I can gain Gao Ming's ability, but I would also need to preach his pain to other people. I am still thinking about how and the effect it would have on Gao Ming himself. But it would be nice to have a useful ability, unlike this bringing game scenarios to life."
Renu shrugged. "You bring games into reality; it's not really an ability, but whatever happened in that tunnel caused it. We need to check the tunnel to find out what happened to you on that day."
She heard him swearing and put her ear to the door. "Are you okay?"
The door unlocked, and Ren came out wrapped in a long, thick blue towel.
"The whole tunnel thing isn't really something I can do now after what I just finished doing, I just want to go to my apartment and just... You know." He said, walking past her to look for something.
"Where are the clothes?" He asked, wanting to leave.
She went to bring out a thick vacuum plastic seal containing all he needed- underwear, shirt, and jeans.
"Thank you," Ren said, and he began to dress up.
She looked at him in concern. "You know we soon have to go and check out the tunnel?"
He gave a bitter smile, choosing not to respond, as he really didn't want to discuss anything concerning the supernatural right now.
He finished dressing up, collected the pictures from her, and said goodbye.
The rain came again, and he ventured into his apartment. Finally, he was home at last. The home he wanted to escape from before was now sweet to be in.
He laid all the black and white photos he had on his coffee table, wondering what would happen if he summoned these people. He made sure to bring Gao Ming's and the Professor's pictures the next time he wanted to trigger another abnormality, but for now, he was to lie down on his couch and relax a little.
He woke up, not surprised that he had slept off. He checked outside and saw the sky was jet black. He felt hungry, but remembered the series of events he had to pass through with the cycle of weird parents. He didn't want to touch any of the food in the apartment, so he decided to order takeout.
After ordering, he noticed something odd about his wallpaper.
It was a picture of him and his parents enjoying a lovely breakfast; his mom was in a polka dot apron, serving him with a smile, as his dad was just about to sit down, while rubbing Ren's head. He remembered this day as the one when he took time off work to stay with them, to be with them. The issue is that he was sure nobody was in the apartment with them, so who took the picture?
He now couldn't be certain that there wasn't a fourth person in the apartment at that time, and now another odd thought came into his mind.
Eli said that abnormal events caused communication devices to be disrupted, but when he was in the scenario with the weird parents, he was able to communicate fully with them. Eli said these abnormal events started a year ago, so were these odd copies of his parents the ones calling him?
He sat down, trying to make sense of his situation now. He dialled his mom's number and proceeded to call her, but the line was busy.
He was feeling a bit tense and tried calling his dad, but the same thing occurred.
He continued to repeat, alternating each call, regardless of how many times the busy signals appeared. He was pacing back and forth, imagining the worst if the call was answered.
As he continued, the rain that was already pouring out became murkier, the atmosphere grew stuffy, and the temperature dropped. Ren noticed these things but continued to call again and again, his breathing slowing down in anticipation.
The fifteenth try and the call finally went through, causing him to freeze in shock. He put the phone to his ear.
"Hello."
No response, just the sound of static and of something being dragged against the ground. He didn't like this, but he had to figure this thing out.
"Hello, it's me, Ren."
"Ren, stay with us." A faint whisper came out of the phone. He looked around and saw the shadows within the room creeping in the shape of tree branches, slipping out of the shadows as sweat built on Ren's face despite the temperature dropping.
"Ren!!!!!!!!!" A sharp screech came out of the phone, hurting his eardrums as he dropped the phone out of reflex before catching it again. His body was being grasped by the shadows that were wrapping around him and trying to pull him away. He tried to cut the call, but the shadows were pulling his hand down as the lights were flickering.
BANG, BANG!
Someone knocked on his door. "Your delivery is here."
Some of the shadows left him to travel towards the door, and Ren used that opportunity to hang up the phone.
Everywhere returned to normal, Ren went to his knees, gasping at what had just happened. If he didn't hang up on time, then the weird parents would have eventually appeared. And it also confirms that he has been communicating with the weird parents for about a year or so.
His whole body trembled as pain pulsed within him. He hadn't fully recovered from Gao Ming's incident, and he stood up and walked towards the door to collect his delivery.