THE HOUSE WITH THE RED JACKET
My chest heaved as I forced myself to move upstream against the river’s current.
My legs felt like they were about to give out from exhaustion and the biting cold.
Suddenly—
everything went silent.
No shouting.
No dogs.
No footsteps.
It was as if… they had abandoned the chase.
When I climbed out of the river, I saw an old house at the entrance of the village.
The roof was broken.
The door was warped and crooked.
And there—
beneath an acacia tree—
sat a woman.
She was wearing a red jacket.
I didn’t need to ask.
I knew it was her.
“Stop running,” she said softly.
“This is where you stay.”
When I stepped inside the house, the air suddenly grew heavy.
The walls were covered in deep scratches—
marks made by fingernails.
“All of us passed through here,” she said.
“Before we died.”
My knees trembled.
“How do I get out?” I asked.
She smiled—sad, yet resolute.
“You are not the one who will leave.”
“The truth will.”
THE FINAL TRAP
Not long after, Lâm Xuyên arrived.
Angry.
Soaked.
Desperate.
“Jiang Ting!” he shouted.
“Come out!”
The moment he pushed the door open—
police car lights flared behind him.
An officer stepped forward.
“We’ve received reports of kidnapping and human trafficking.”
Lâm Xuyên’s eyes widened.
“That’s not true!”
“She’s lying!”
But at that instant—
the air turned icy cold.
One by one, the women appeared.
Xiao Qing.
Bao Zhu.
The woman with bleeding eyes.
All of them stared at him.
Lâm Xuyên suddenly screamed, stumbling backward as if losing his mind.
“Stay away from me!”
“You’re not real!”
The police…
they couldn’t see anything.
But they did see something else:
📱 Lâm Xuyên’s cellphone, fallen to the ground—
its screen open to chat records, videos, and bank transfers.
Transactions.
Prices.
Names.
Everything.
JUSTICE
The next day, news spread throughout the province:
A human trafficking ring selling women in the mountains had been dismantled.
Fourteen men were arrested.
Twenty-three bodies were unearthed.
Lâm Xuyên was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Before he was taken away, he looked at me, trembling.
“I never loved you,” he said.
“I only marked you.”
I smiled—for the first time without fear.
“And you never thought about us,” I replied.
“But we… will never forget you.”
FAREWELL
I returned to the city.
One night, the silver bracelet on my wrist suddenly vanished.
In a dream, I saw all of them—
wearing clean clothes,
smiling.
“Thank you,” they said.
“We’re free now.”
When I opened my eyes—
it was morning.
And for the very first time…
the world was quiet.
No more crying.
No more warnings.