Before the event

As the sun gradually fell and the remainder of the day got darker, Diyi called out to her nephew to sleep.

"Alright, Xiao Xingyun, let's go night night. Come here, and auntie will tell you a bedtime story. I'll tell you a family history tonight. It was also when your daddy was as tiny as you."

Xongyun always enjoyed stories of his father's childhood, so he dropped his device and ran towards his aunt to prepare to sleep. His aunt bathed him and helped him put on his pajamas. They both rested in his room, and she began the story.

"Long ago, in the Wang dynasty, our family ruled over lands and managed many civilians. Unfortunately, war occurred, and to save the lives of the remaining civilians, our ancestors were forced to become nomads. Our family has retained the imperial seal for many decades in hopes of reinstating our land again. However, this seal has many spirits attached to it. One, in particular, is the great General Yang. Who, 'til this day, may be seen roaming your halls if you have the seal in your residence.

Xongyun didn't fully understand, but it piqued his interest when the paranormal was brought up. He wanted to see the seal, so he asked," Auntie, what's a seal? Where is it?"

Diyi responded," We don't have the seal now because, at your grandpa's deathbed, your great step-uncle pestered him to give him the seal and promised to hand it to your uncles or daddy once they become adults. To this day, he has gone against his promise by not giving it back to us, so he still has it."

Xongyun grumbled the great uncle was a bad guy. He then asked his aunt to continue with the story.

Aunt Diyi explained," When your father was four, he was home alone with your uncle, two aunts, and me. As children, our curiosity makes us do many things. In this case, we recently watched Ghostbusters (1984) and wanted to interact with the unknown.

The day had just finished raining, so it was dark and dreary. Our little group huddled in the corner of the living room. We decided to go on an adventure at home to vanquish the evil. We roamed the apartment in armor made of pillows and hangers as weapons. In our imagination, we fought for glory and defeated many underlings. On our way back to the living room kingdom, there was a sudden gust of cold air. The light flickered in the bathroom on our right. A rattle caused by a fallen toothbrush sounded after. Everyone was frozen in fear and then ran immediately to the couch."

Aunt Diyi blew into Xongyun's ear to express the gust of air. Xongyun opened his eyes and felt a chilling sensation. He eagerly asked," Then what happened?!"

"Everyone was scared but also excited about the paranormal activity. So your Aunt Zhenni suggested blowing up a balloon and throwing it towards the hallway. Aunt Hua blew up a balloon and asked me to tie it. Before we threw the balloon, we repeated," Whoever is there, show us where you are!" The balloon went high and lightly fell to the ground in the hallway at a standstill. Ten seconds passed, then suddenly, it slowly rolled into the bathroom. The bathroom was only open ajar but filled with pitch-black darkness. Everyone glanced at each other; goosebumps and hair were raised. Then suddenly, everyone started pressuring who would check and grab the balloon. Your daddy, the youngest of our group, got irritated and stood in a Superman pose. With his imposing stance, he agreed he could go. He has his weapon and can defeat all monsters. Everyone snickered at his funny pose and accepted. Your dad crept slowly toward the hallway but paused midway. He froze on the spot when the light flickered again and ran as fast as he could back toward the group.

Usually, when everyone doesn't want to do it, they would pressure me to hold off on any paranormal activities. I sighed, walked towards the bathroom, grabbed the balloon, and walked back. What I saw in the dark was a blurry black figure of a child staring back at me in the dark.

Our parents and elder siblings came home later in the day. We never spoke of what had happened. However, in the middle of that night, our group glanced out into the hallway and saw a tall black shadow roaming back and forth in the halls. At the end of the hall was our parent's room; the tall man would stand guard at the end of the hallway for two minutes and then continue forward."

Xongyun laughed at his dad. He said," I'm brave; I can do it. Daddy couldn't do it. Look, I'm super strong!" While patting his round tummy. His aunt smiled at her cute nephew and deliberated how similar her nephew was to her brother.