The Ghost Bride

My name is Jian Yu. Since childhood, I’ve been haunted by recurring dreams of a mysterious man whose features remain indistinct. The elders in my village warned me this was the spirit of a dead man seeking to claim me as his bride, making me fear I wouldn’t survive beyond eighteen. Yet here I stand at twenty, still breathing against all odds. I recently purchased an affordable villa, but each night brings the same chilling sensation—icy fingers brushing against me in my sleep. Then one fateful night, the faceless figure finally revealed himself… only to declare himself my… husband?!

The dreams grew more vivid as time passed, his shadowy presence becoming impossible to ignore. Cold whispers would echo through my room, though no one else could hear them. The villagers’ warnings came rushing back—what if their superstitions held truth? My villa, once a sanctuary, now felt like a gilded cage. Every creak of the floorboards sent shivers down my spine. And then, one moonlit night, he stepped out of the darkness, his voice both chilling and familiar. “I’ve waited long enough,” he murmured, his touch freezing my skin. “You are mine.”

Sleep became a battleground, my dreams no longer my own. His presence lingered even after I woke, the air thick with an unnatural cold. I tried to rationalize it—stress, perhaps, or an overactive imagination. But deep down, I knew the truth. The ghost groom from my childhood nightmares had returned, and this time, he wasn’t just a figment of my mind. He was real, and he had come to collect what he believed was his.

The villa’s walls seemed to whisper his name at night, the wind carrying his promises—or were they threats? I couldn’t tell anymore. My reflection in the mirror sometimes flickered, revealing him standing behind me, his hollow eyes burning with possession. “You cannot run from fate,” he’d say, his voice like winter’s breath. I wanted to scream, to flee, but my legs refused to obey.

Was this truly my destiny? To be bound to a spirit I never chose? The villagers’ warnings now felt like prophecies, their fearful glances making sense. Yet, despite the terror, a strange curiosity gnawed at me—who was he in life? Why me? The answers, I feared, would only drag me deeper into his ghostly embrace.

Each day blurred into the next, the line between dream and reality fading. His touch, once distant, now left frostbitten marks on my skin. The villa, my supposed haven, had become his domain. “Our home,” he called it, as if I had any say in the matter. The thought sent a fresh wave of dread through me.

I searched for answers in old village records, desperate for any clue to break this curse. But the more I uncovered, the more I realized—this wasn’t just a haunting. It was a vow, a bond sealed long before I was born. And now, he had come to fulfill it.

The final confrontation loomed, the air thick with anticipation. Would I submit to this spectral marriage, or fight for the life I barely got to live? His voice echoed in my mind, relentless. “You were always meant to be mine.” The choice, it seemed, was never truly mine to make.