Anyone Dares Bully you, Call Uncles! novel Chapter 364

Josh and Lilly gathered in front of the laptop screen to watch the surveillance footage. Old Mrs. Crawford decided to join in the fun too. That was when all three of them saw how Polly tricked and bullied Bellflower incessantly, including stepping on Bellflower’s head with his sharp talons and attacking Bellflower with his beak. He tortured Bellflower by pretending to lie asleep on the ground, then flying up in the air when Bellflower approached him, squawking “I can fly! I can fly!” Finally, Bellflower gave up and hid from the bird in the shrubs.

Lilly and Josh gasped in shock at their newfound revelation. Even Old Mrs. Crawford cussed under her breath.

Drake Crawford eyed the pesky little bird, begrudgingly admitting that it was a clever creature. Lilly, on the other hand, was less than impressed with her naughty pet. She stood up, eyes wide with anger and yelled at the top of her lungs. “PO-LLLYYYYY!!!!” Lilly’s voice ripped through the air, but Polly was already long gone.

Bellflower approached Lilly with a pitiful look on its face and rubbed against her leg clingily. Lilly picked the little creature up and cradled it in her arms. “I’m sorry for blaming you, Bellflower,” she cooed. “Polly was a bad bird! We won’t play with him next time!” Lilly vowed to give Polly a little scare next time when they were out catching spirits. Bellflower mewed in agreement.

Atop a big tree branch, Polly watched as the shameless cat gained sympathy points with Lilly and her family. Bellflower even turned to look at Polly on the tree with a smug look on its face. Ugh, that two-faced cat! What a tattletale! Polly huffed angrily.

**

It was still bright outside when Grace arrived at Bedlam. She searched everywhere from the entrance of the asylum to the wards, all the way down to the basement. By the time the sky had turned dark, she had not found a single ghost, which was truly a surprise to her. A place like Bedlam was exactly where evil spirits loved to gather and congregate. Even if it was not exactly a gathering of ghosts, there should at least be one single, stray ghost somewhere, but there was none! What Grace did not know was that Lilly had already exorcised and gotten rid of all the evil spirits in the asylum. The remaining stray ghosts had also smartened up after their experience with Blake. They used to spook humans for the fun of it, but now they scattered and hid in the dark whenever an earthly being approached.

Grace looked at her surroundings and grimaced as she noticed talismans hung up in every corner of the asylum and realized what had happened. Lilly had already done the work and covered the entire area! Ugh!

**

The hospital was eerily silent at night since most patients and their family members had gone to bed. Zachary Crawford was having trouble sleeping as nightmares kept plaguing him. First, he dreamt of his Uncle Gilbert holding a knife and pointing it at him with a sinister smile on his face. Next, another doctor entered the room with an even bigger meat cleaver and aimed it at his head, striking down…

Zachary jolted up from his nightmare drenched in cold sweat, blinking at the dark ceiling. His dream had felt so real, as if he felt the pain of dying under the knife. He was never too keen on the surgery in the first place, but the nightmares only made him even more averse to the idea of it. He turned his head only to find his father who was sleeping atop some drawing plans on the small bedside table. It looked like he had fallen asleep unknowingly.

Zachary flattened his lip. He could count with one hand the number of times his parents had ever accompanied him for anything as a kid. Perhaps they did, but he certainly could not recall any of those memories. From what he remembered, his mother had always spent her time with his sister, while his father spent most of his time at work instead of being with his family. He started becoming more introverted since he was three and hated it when anyone entered his room. In a blink of an eye, he had turned eight… and for the first time, his father was here with him, guarding and protecting him at night.

Zachary could not really explain how he felt, but whatever it was, it was clear that he could no longer fall asleep. Suddenly, he heard a strange whistling noise coming from outside the door. Frowning at the door, he figured he should get up and investigate the cause of the noise.

The room became silent again once the nurse had left. There was no sign of the strange whistle either. Liam glanced at his son who did not look like he needed to go to the loo. “Go back to sleep, Zac,” Liam told him.

Zachary got under the blankets once again, but he could not fall asleep no matter how hard he tried. Before he knew it, daylight had already begun to filter through the window blinds. When he turned to face the bedside table again, his father was nowhere to be found. Just as he was about to get out of bed to look for his father, the door to his room opened again, but this time he found himself staring at the old lady from yesterday.

“You’re up early, kid!” the old lady smiled, holding both her hands behind her like she was on a morning stroll. Several patients and their relatives walked past the corridor and greeted the old lady warmly. She seemed to be familiar and friendly with everyone around her. As she noticed Zachary silently observing her, she added, “Ah, I’m just taking my morning walk. My grandson is in Ward 3B as well. What brings you here, kiddo?”

However, the old lady was only greeted with more silence. Not used to being given the silent treatment, the old lady pressed on. Catching Zachary unaware, the old woman tapped him on the shoulder gently. “What’s your name, kiddo? Where do you live? How old are you?” the woman asked a barrage of questions eagerly.

Caught off-guard by the old lady’s uninvited gesture, Zachary jerked backward and took a good look at the woman’s face. She looks awfully familiar… Zachary thought for a second before his vision started to blur and spin around, as if his brain had just short-circuited. The same cheeky gleam appeared in the old woman’s eyes again as she observed Zachary intently and nodded with satisfaction. Five minutes later, she left the room.

As if on command, Zachary moved robotically and headed for his bed, lying down stiffly before closing his eyes.