"Ok, I won't smoke it."

When I was in high school, there used to be three or five boys that would get together and take a cigarette or two in the restroom.

I tried smoking twice back then. I was very unlucky; when I got the smoke in hand and was going to use it, I was caught by the teacher who was trying to use the toilet.

He got me to his office, didn't yell at me or anything. He simply threw me a pack of cigarettes and said I could leave once I finish the pack.

Just three cigarettes in I was already choking from the smoke and was crying. After that, I had never smoked again.

My cousin's expression was serious, "Do not smoke it. If you want to, you need to endure it."

I did not understand why he was so solemn about it. It was only after I promised that I wouldn't smoke that his expressions softened.

Cousin drove me to the tea house and left.

I opened up the tea house door and took out the paper that he gave me.

I thought it was going to be a very complicated recipe, but it was surprisingly easy. Just mix the oil from granny and regular tobacco leaves, dry them on the oil lamp, and roll it up, and that was it.

Using the key my cousin gave me, I opened up the lock of the back kitchen.

It was kind of unnerving for myself since my cousin never allowed me into the back kitchen; I thought there be some sinister secret that he did not want people to know.

But when I entered, there was only a shabby table and chair in this tiny little room.

That was it; there was nothing else.

I walked up to the table; it was an old design, one of those from ten years ago, the ones with red paint, which was now filled with scratches.

There was a strange smell on the table, a somewhat meaty smell, like the smell of butcher's knife in grocery stores.

I opened the drawer under the table. There was a bag inside, with half a box of tobacco leaves, tin foils, an oil lamp, and rolling papers.

The items for the cigar are all here. Other than that, there was not to much to the room.

I was a little disappointed. There wasn't any secret in the back kitchen, why did cousin not let me in?

I don't know if it was because of the closed window or not, but the meaty smell has gotten stronger. It was somewhat unbearable, so I left the room while pinching my nose.

When I got to the exit, I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

I turned back and looked subconsciously, there was no one there. I scratched my head, thinking that I was going mental; there was just myself alone in the tea house, who would have patted my shoulder?

Closing the door, I went to the restroom for some tools for cleaning. I glanced at the mirror to look at myself, and then I realized there was a white handprint on my shoulder.

Immediately my back was full of cold sweat. I changed cloth just this morning, there was no mark then, did someone actually patted me?

I got close to the window and blinked, the handprint was gone.

There was no mark there.

The entire afternoon I was in a trace, constantly wondering if that handprint was there or not.

Waiting until night time, I finally could not endure the chilling atmosphere in the tea house and decided to leave early to granny's place.

That night the sky was cloudy, with no moonlight or anything like that. The Huang Quan Road was dimly lit; if this was my first time walking here, I would for sure be scared away.

When I arrived at the funeral home, the security booth's lights were on, but there was no one in it. I assumed that the security forgot to turn off the light when he left.

The door was still open; I was ready to enter, and suddenly a shadow dashed before me.

I was taken back a few steps in shock, almost falling to the ground. When I got back to my senses, I realized what that shadow was.

It was a stray black dog.

I remember that dog; the first time I came to granny's, it was this dog that was blocking the exit and almost made me miss the twelve o'clock mark.

The dog grinned at me, showing his sharp fangs and roared deeply as if it wasn't going to let me in.

I was pretty angry; The weird handprint in the mirror scared me, and now even this dog was scaring me, what the freak.

Looking around, I found a brick on the ground, picked it up, and thrown it at the dog.

The dog was hit, sobbed, and ran away.

I entered into the funeral home; usually, the granny was in the room with the light on, this time when I opened the door, she wasn't there.

I looked down at the watch, it had just turned eleven, I came half an hour early.

Seating down in a chair that was laying around, as I was waiting for granny, her voice suddenly came from behind me.

"Kid, you came this early?"

My scalp was numb as I heard her voice; I turned around, of course, it was granny.

I asked her how did she make no noise while walking, it scared me to death.

The granny smiled, "Are you afraid that I am a ghost?"

I didn't answer; the granny turned toward the door, "your items aren't here today, come with me."