By evening, the rain had blurred the streetlights into trembling smears of gold and white. Below, the road gleamed black with rain.
At the kitchen sink, Mabel Tan rinsed the same cup longer than necessary, watching Ryan from the corner of her eye.
He lay sprawled across the sofa, phone in hand, smiling faintly while the television muttered about flood alerts and reduced visibility.
After a moment, he locked his phone and sat up. “I’m heading out for a while.”
“You’re not going out in this weather,” Mabel said.
Ryan glanced towards the window and shrugged. “It’s only rain.”
“The roads are flooding.”
“So?”
Mabel turned towards him. “So the roads are dangerous. You can barely see. People with sense stay at home.”
A lazy half-smile tugged at his mouth.
“Lucky for me, then,” he said. “I’m not normal.”
“That is not funny.”
“I won’t be long.”
“You always say that.” She was too tired for another argument. “One ride turns into coffee. Coffee turns into midnight. Then you come home acting as though nothing matters.”
Ryan reached for his jacket and stretched.
“Aiya, Jie. I’m not going alone.”
Just One Round
Mabel knew exactly who he meant, and that did nothing to reassure her.
Ken was steadier than Ryan, but he usually went along with whatever Ryan wanted. Jun Wei treated every warning like a joke, and Mei Ling often followed him because arguing was harder.
By the time Ryan reached the door, rain rattled against the corridor railings.
“Be careful,” Mabel said.
Ryan glanced back with a grin. “Always.”
She remained at the doorway until he disappeared down the stairs.
Ken and Jun Wei were waiting beneath the void-deck shelter. Mei Ling stood beside Jun Wei’s bike, her school bag still slung over one shoulder.
“Wah, finally,” Ken said as Ryan jogged towards them. “At this rate, the rain will stop before we leave.”
Ryan grinned and reached for Ken’s keys. “Then I’m just in time.”
Ken frowned as Ryan swung onto the bike. “Eh, don’t start it yet. The road is slippery.”
“I know how to ride.”
“That’s not the problem,” Ken muttered, climbing on behind him.
Jun Wei wiped his mirror with his sleeve while Mei Ling watched the road.
“I still think you shouldn’t go far,” she said. “I have school tomorrow, and this weather doesn’t feel right.”
Ryan laughed. “Since when does rain have a feeling?”
“Since people start acting stupid in it.”
Jun Wei shook his head. “We’re not going far. Just one round.”
Beyond the Bend
“Come lah,” Ryan said, starting the engine. “If we stand here any longer, we’ll grow roots.”
Jun Wei started his bike. Mei Ling sighed, climbed on behind him and tightened her arms around his waist.
The two bikes left the shelter and headed towards the hill road. Before they reached the bend, blue and red lights began flickering through the rain.
As they rounded the bend, the flashing lights sharpened into a line of police vehicles. Blue and red swept across the wet trees while torch beams moved below the guardrail.
Ryan eased off the throttle.
“What happened?” Ken asked.
A section of the guardrail hung over the drop. Beyond it, torch beams paused over the torn mud before moving farther down the slope.
An officer stepped towards the road and raised one arm.
“Don’t stop here! Move along!”
Ryan twisted the throttle. Jun Wei followed close behind, and neither Ken nor Mei Ling said a word.
The Joke No One Laughed At
As Ryan passed the broken guardrail, his gaze slipped down the slope.
A dark motorbike was caught in the undergrowth. Lower down, a white tent showed between the trees, and someone crouched beside something the rain kept hidden.
Mei Ling’s arms tightened around Jun Wei. Behind Ryan, Ken caught hold of his jacket.
The police lights had faded behind them before anyone spoke.
The silence stretched until Ryan broke it with a small laugh.
“With so many police searching, the rider must be dead already.”
“Eh, don’t talk like that,” Ken said.
“What? Am I wrong?”
“It’s not about whether you’re wrong.”
From behind Jun Wei, Mei Ling said quietly, “Some things don’t need to be said.”
Ryan smirked. “What? You think he can climb back up and find us?”
The joke died between them.
A little farther down the road, Ken raised his voice over the engines. “Let’s stop somewhere first.”
Ryan glanced back. “Coffee shop?”
“Anything. Just get off this road.”
Jun Wei nodded, and they pulled into a late-night coffee shop near Ken’s house.
Once their drinks arrived, Mei Ling checked the time and frowned. It was later than she had realised.
Jun Wei lit another cigarette, while Ryan stirred his drink without taking a sip.
Mei Ling checked the time again. “I need to go home. I have school tomorrow.”
Jun Wei nodded. “Okay. I’ll send you.”
“Come back after,” Ken said.
Jun Wei looked at him. “For what?”
Ken hesitated. “Both of you should stay at my place tonight.”
Ryan frowned. “Why suddenly?”
“I don’t know. Tonight just feels wrong.”
Ryan let out a laugh. “Wah, you’re becoming superstitious now, ah?”
“No.” Ken glanced towards the rain beyond the coffee shop. “I just… don’t want to be alone tonight.”
The Sound Beneath the Rain
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Fine. Since you’re so scared. I’ve got nothing on tomorrow anyway.”
Jun Wei nodded. “Okay. I’ll come back after I send Mei Ling home.”
Mei Ling gave a small nod.
After they finished their drinks, Jun Wei sent Mei Ling home. At the foot of her block, she caught his sleeve before stepping away.
“Go straight to Ken’s place.”
“I will.”
“Don’t go riding around again.”
Jun Wei nodded. She watched until his bike disappeared into the rain.
When he reached Ken’s flat, Ryan was already stretched across the sofa. Ken’s grandmother was asleep in the back room, so they kept their voices low.
Ryan dropped onto the sofa and stretched out.
Ken pulled two thin blankets from the cupboard. “Today was bad enough. Let’s just sleep.”
“Good idea,” Jun Wei said.
Ryan stretched out on the sofa. “Finally, something sensible.”
Ken and Jun Wei settled beneath their blankets. Within minutes, Ryan’s breathing deepened, and Ken soon followed.
Jun Wei shifted on the floor, unable to get comfortable. The fan turned overhead while the wall clock ticked through the silence.
After a while, his eyelids finally began to grow heavy.
Something dragged softly across the floor.
The Scrape Across the Floor
At first, Jun Wei thought Ken had shifted beneath his blanket.
The scrape came again—wet, slow and too deliberate to be fabric dragging across the tiles.
He held his breath.
This time, the sound came from beside the sofa.
Jun Wei turned his head.
A muddy hand slid into view near Ryan’s dangling foot. Its fingers spread against the floor, tightened, and pulled.
A shoulder followed. Then a head. Then the upper half of a man.
It dragged itself forward on its arms, torn clothing trailing beneath the ribs where the rest of the body should have been. When it lifted its face, one side had been crushed beyond recognition.
un Wei tried to call out, but no sound came.
The muddy fingers tightened against the tiles and pulled the body closer to Ryan’s ankle.
Jun Wei tried again, forcing air into his lungs.
“RUN!”
Ken jolted upright. “What is it?”
Jun Wei could only point towards the sofa.
Ken followed his hand. The moment he saw the thing beside Ryan’s foot, he recoiled and scrambled away across the floor.
Ryan stirred, rubbing his eyes as he pushed himself up. “What happened?”
Jun Wei had already backed towards the door.
“Don’t ask—just run! Quick!”
Ken shoved past Jun Wei and tore the door open. “Go!”
Jun Wei shot into the corridor. Ryan stumbled after them a heartbeat later, barefoot and wide awake now.
All three dashed down the stairs and did not stop until they reached the ground floor.
Ken led them across the road towards the twenty-four-hour coffee shop, where bright lights and other people still filled the open front.
Five Dark Marks
They dropped into plastic chairs at the first empty table, still struggling to catch their breath.
Ryan looked between them. “What happened? Why did both of you suddenly run?”
Jun Wei leaned over the table. “There was something beside the sofa.” He swallowed. “Only half a body. It was crawling towards you.”
Ryan stared at him. “What half a body?”
Ken slowly lifted his head. “I saw it too.”
Ken lowered his voice. “And I think it followed us from the hill road.”
Ryan frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t tell you all just now.” Ken glanced towards the road outside. “While we were riding, I saw muddy hands gripping the back of the bike in the mirror. But when I looked again, they were gone.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I only saw it for a second. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.”
Ryan suddenly flinched and reached for his ankle.
“What?” Ken asked.
“Pain.”
Ryan pulled up his trouser leg.
Five dark bruises had formed around his ankle in the shape of a hand.
Ryan brushed his fingers over the bruises.
“It grabbed me?”
The question hung between them.
Ken leaned across the table. “You’re staying here until morning. I’ll send you home after.”
Ryan pulled his trouser leg down over the bruises and stood. “Forget it. I’m going home now.”
Jun Wei stared at his ankle. “After that thing left a handprint on you?”
Ryan pulled his trouser leg down. “It’s just a bruise. I probably knocked my ankle somewhere.”
Nothing Will Happen
“You saw the shape,” Jun Wei said.
Ryan looked away. “I’m tired. I just need to go home and sleep.”
Jun Wei struck the table with his palm. “Ryan, don’t be stupid.”
Ryan held out his hand towards Ken. “Give me the keys.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll walk.” Ryan turned towards the road.
Ken swore beneath his breath, then caught up with him and pressed the keys into his hand.
“Straight home,” he said. “No detours.”
Ryan forced a smile. “Don’t worry. Nothing will happen. I’ll go home, get some sleep, and everything will be fine tomorrow.”
As he walked towards the bike, he suddenly paused and rubbed his ankle.
“What?” Jun Wei asked.
“Nothing. Just pain.”
“Call us tomorrow when you wake up!” Ken shouted.
Ryan started the engine, raised a thumb and rode into the thinning rain.
His red tail light grew smaller along the wet road. Neither Ken nor Jun Wei moved until it vanished from sight.
Ken’s phone rang the next morning.
Still half asleep, he reached for it and answered without checking the screen. “Ryan?”
There was a pause.
Then Mabel said, “Ken?”
Something in her voice made him sit upright. He switched the call to the speaker, waking Jun Wei beside him.
“Ryan had an accident. He’s in the hospital.”
“What happened?” Ken asked.
“They found him near a junction. The bike went down.” Her voice trembled. “The doctors say he’s in a coma.”
Ken gripped the phone tighter. “Which hospital?”
The call ended.
Ken lowered the phone. Across from him, Jun Wei’s gaze had already fallen to the floor.
At the Foot of the Bed
Four days after the accident, Ryan still had not opened his eyes.
Ken and Jun Wei had come to the hospital once. Standing beside Ryan’s bed, they told Mabel about the hill road, the muddy hands and the thing that had crawled towards him at Ken’s flat.
Mabel listened without interrupting. Her hand remained on the blanket covering Ryan’s legs.
On the fourth night, she was tucking the blanket around his ankles when something scraped beneath the bed.
Her fingers tightened around the blanket.
The sound came again—wet and slow, as though something heavy had shifted across the tiles.
Against every instinct telling her not to look, Mabel lowered her gaze towards the darkness beneath the bed.
A muddy hand crept from beneath the bed and clawed at the tiles. Mabel’s breath caught as the arm pulled forward, bringing a shoulder—and then the crushed side of a face—into the dim light beside the bed frame.
Mabel stumbled back.
The rider dragged the ruined half of its body into the dim light and stopped at the foot of Ryan’s bed. Its eyes remained fixed on Ryan.
Mabel pulled the blanket higher over Ryan and held it there, as though the thin fabric could protect him.
Just then, voices approached from the corridor. Hope surged through Mabel, and she drew breath to call for help.
Before she could make a sound, the thing vanished.
What Stayed With Him
Morning light had begun to creep across the ward when Ryan’s eyelids fluttered open.
“Ryan?” Mabel leaned over him, relief rushing through her—until he tried to shift his legs and nothing happened.
His face went still.
“Jie.”
Something in his voice made Mabel lean closer. “What is it?”
Ryan stared at the blanket covering his legs. His fingers tightened around hers.
“I can’t feel my legs.”
The room soon filled with nurses and doctors. One of them pressed a hand against Ryan’s sole.
“Push against me.”
Ryan tried, but nothing happened.
The doctor tested his other leg before looking at Mabel. “There’s no movement or sensation below his waist. For now, he appears to be paralysed from the waist down.”
The doctor’s words followed Mabel out of the ward and into the afternoon: paralysed from the waist down.
Later that afternoon, Ryan was taken for more tests. While Mabel waited outside the ward, Ken arrived and told her the police had released the bike and Ryan’s belongings.
She went with him to collect them.
At the yard, Ken reached for Ryan’s helmet. Mabel’s gaze drifted towards the back seat—and stopped.
Two muddy handprints had dried across the leather.
That night, Ryan called to her from his bed.
“Jie.”
She moved closer. “I’m here.”
“Sometimes, when I’m about to sleep, I hear it moving.”
Mabel took his hand.
“Don’t worry too much,” she said softly. “I’m here.”
Before Ryan left the hospital, the story was already being whispered among riders who used the hill road after midnight.
Since then, whenever police lights flash near the bend in heavy rain, riders keep their eyes ahead and say nothing.
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Mabel Tan had already learned that some patients do not come back alone.
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