At last he reached the entrance.
He looked inside.
The bathroom was as dark as a cave and smelled strongly of blood. Someone was standing by the sink tearing something apart. All Fang Mu could see was the movement of the person's head and shoulders. A wet, squishing noise was coming from his mouth. He seemed to be chewing.
Fang Mu quietly reached for the light switch and turned it on.
In an instant, the fluorescent light buzzed to life and the bathroom was bright as day. Having grown accustomed to the darkness, Fang Mu's vision blurred and he felt dizzy. He quickly grabbed for the door frame to keep from falling over.
The person at the sink was also startled, and he abruptly spun around.
It was Meng Fanzhe.
In the intense fluorescent light, the rims of Meng Fanzhe's eyes looked green and his eyeballs pure black. Their whites were nowhere to be seen.
The area around his lips was bright red and thick, red liquid dribbled from the corners of his mouth. Looking closer, Fang Mu could see that several black and yellow hairs were stuck to his lips.
He was so shocked that for several seconds he and Meng Fanzhe just stared at one another, neither of them saying a word.
At last, in a faltering voice, Fang Mu asked, "Meng Fanzhe, what are you doing?"
For an instant, he was certain he saw a murderous look pass through Meng Fanzhe's eyes, but then it disappeared and they were filled with only helplessness and despair.
"I…" He suddenly smiled, but almost at once the smile vanished, his gaze fell, the corners of his mouth drooped, and with a voice that sounded like he was on the verge of tears, he said, "I don't know…"
Fang Mu noticed that Meng Fanzhe was holding something in his hand. He focused closer on it. It was the furry, blood-soaked leg of an animal. From the looks of things, it appeared to belong to a cat.
He looked past Meng Fanzhe. The sink behind him was a horrible sight. Bloody flesh, internal organs, fur, and skin lay everywhere. Some of it still seemed to be steaming.
Walking past Meng Fanzhe, Fang Mu cautiously drew closer.
It was just as he thought. The animal whose parts were scattered in and around the sink was none other than Meng Fanzhe's cat — Tom.
Fang Mu looked around. He didn't see a knife or any other sharp object.
Meng Fanzhe had torn Tom apart by hand while the cat was still alive.
Fang Mu turned around and looked at Meng Fanzhe. He hadn't moved an inch and was still staring at the entrance, as if none of the carnage had anything to do with him at all.
Fang Mu tugged on his sleeve and then pulled the cat leg from his hand and threw it in the sink.
As if in a daze, Meng Fanzhe did nothing to stop him; in fact he made no resistance at all.
Fang Mu stood in front of Meng Fanzhe and looked into his eyes. "Fanzhe," he said slowly, "can you hear me?"
After a long time, Meng Fanzhe's eyeballs slowly rotated toward Fang Mu, and he nodded slightly.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
The corners of Meng Fanzhe's mouth moved. Then, as if he had suffered a stroke, half of his body slowly turned and he pointed at the cat in the sink.
"Tom… They all hate him…so I can't…rely on him…any longer…"
Looking into Meng Fanzhe's dull eyes, Fang Mu did his best to understand what he had just said.
"What do you mean, 'rely on him'?" He shook Meng Fanzhe's shoulders. "Come on, speak!"
Fang Mu's actions caused Meng Fanzhe's body to sway violently, and he seemed to become much more lucid.
"I don't know, I don't know!" he cried, roughly wiping his mouth. When he saw that his hand was covered in blood and cat hair, he grew so frightened that he immediately tried to rub his face clean, but all he did was smear himself with blood.
"What exactly is going on?" asked Fang Mu in a low voice. He caught Meng Fanzhe's hand and held it tightly.
Only then did Meng Fanzhe seem to realize that it was Fang Mu standing before him. "Is that you, Fang Mu?" His body went limp at once. Tears streamed from his eyes and mucus dripped from his nose. "Help me, help me, please. I don't know what I've done; it's like I was dreaming…"
Fang Mu put his hands under Meng Fanzhe's armpits for support and did his best to hold him up.
"I will, I will help you. Now tell me, what is going on?"
Meng Fanzhe's gaze went to the sink. At once his senses seemed to return. Shaking with fear, he pointed at Tom's remains. "I didn't do it, I didn't do it…it wasn't intentional…"
He leapt at Fang Mu and grabbed at his collar, his eyes full of fear and desperation. "Don't tell anyone," he entreated. "Please don't tell anyone. I'm not crazy… I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to. I'm not crazy…"
He pushed Fang Mu away, shot toward the sink and picked up the bloody flesh and fur. He looked all around, his mouth still moving nonstop. "Gotta take care of this now. Can't let anyone else see…gotta take care of this now, now, now!" He spun around in place, looking wildly for somewhere to put his cat's remains.
Fang Mu was so disturbed by all this that for a moment he had no idea what to do. At last he picked up the big plastic trash can from the doorway — normally used for throwing out leftover food — and signaled for Meng Fanzhe to put the remains in there.
Meng Fanzhe forced Tom's skeleton into the dirty water at the bottom of the trash can. He then ran into one of the stalls, grabbed the wastepaper bucket and dumped its contents in on top. Next he hurried to the sink, turned on the tap, and let the water wash away the bloodstains. When it wasn't rinsing fast enough, he used his bare hands to scrub the sink clean.
After the last cat hair disappeared down the drain, Meng Fanzhe grabbed a mop from behind the door and vigorously scrubbed the blood from the bathroom floor.
At a loss, Fang Mu could only watch as Meng Fanzhe rushed to clean every inch of the bathroom. A million thoughts were going through his mind at once.
At last Meng Fanzhe stopped and leaned exhaustedly against the wall, panting heavily.
Cautiously, Fang Mu asked, "What happened? Can you tell me?"
Meng Fanzhe shook his head weakly. "I don't know. But recently I've been feeling so strange. I'm constantly forgetting what I've been doing, and there are all these things in my room that I don't remember having brought there."
Fang Mu thought for a moment. "Do you want to go see a doctor?"
Meng Fanzhe shook his head repeatedly. "No, no, no, that's not necessary." Then as if thinking aloud, he said, "I will get better, yes, I will definitely get better. I don't need to rely on anyone else…"
He muttered this over and over again, as if he had no faith in himself.
Fang Mu watched him silently. He had no idea what he should say.
Suddenly Meng Fanzhe stood up straight. Forcing a smile, he looked at Fang Mu and said, "I…I'm gonna go back to my room. Will you…" he dropped his eyes, "keep this a secret for me?"
"All right. However, I still recommend that you see a doctor."
"Okay, I understand. If I think it's necessary, I'll go. See you later." Then he walked unsteadily out of the bathroom and back down the hall toward his room.
The bathroom was quiet once more. The only sounds were the gurgle of water rushing through the pipes and the hum of the fluorescent light overhead. For a long time Fang Mu just stood there, barely moving a muscle. He looked at the spotless sink, and then at the trash can. What the hell was going on with Meng Fanzhe tonight? His behavior made no sense at all, was just utterly strange.
Even stranger than that first day in class.
CHAPTER 21
Early the next morning, Fang Mu knocked on Meng Fanzhe's door. There was no answer. He knocked again and again, almost 20 times, but there was still no response. He looked through the small window in the door. No lights seemed to be on inside. He didn't know whether Meng Fanzhe had already gone out or just didn't want to answer.