Extreme Horror Story | The Bed Next Door

The day Chen Cheng checked into the hospital, an old man was already lying in the bed next to him. The old man was very quiet, facing the wall all day, not speaking or turning over. Chen Cheng was a little scared, but a passing nurse said it was a long-term patient whose family rarely visited, so he'd get used to it. On the first night, Chen Cheng couldn't sleep. Past two in the morning, he heard a faint sound from next door, like someone counting. "...twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine..." It stopped at thirty. The next morning, Chen Cheng casually asked the on-duty nurse, "What's wrong with the old man in the next bed?" The nurse paused for a moment. "Which old man?" "The one in the bed next to me." The nurse flipped through the records, her face changing. "The bed next to you... has been empty since last month. No one has occupied it." Chen Cheng froze and slowly turned his head to look at the next bed. The blanket was neatly made, and there wasn't even an indentation on the pillow. He didn't dare to sleep that night, staring at the ceiling until dawn. Exactly at two AM, the sound came again, this time closer, right by his ear. "...twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine..." Then there was silence. Chen Cheng felt a corner of the blanket being gently lifted, and a hoarse voice whispered by his ear: "Thirty. Your turn."