The Hidden Chamber

By Chang Hua

A horrible secret haunted Mrs Zhen, tormenting her night and day. For months she lived in complete isolation, avoiding the outside world. She thought that no one would ever discover what she had done. Until one day she received a phone call from a mysterious woman who forced her to face her past.

Taipei in the 1990s. In a materialistic society a girl has to do her best to achieve her goals. Her mother wants her to get into the most prestigious university of the island and pursue a successful career. But when her father unexpectedly loses his job, she has to drop out of university and work to support her parents. Through a matchmaker her mother finds for her a suitor, Victor, a successful businessman. At first she refuses to marry him. She loves her boyfriend Nick, she doesn't want to give up her love and her freedom. Yet due to the desperate financial situation of her family she ultimately gives in.
The marriage with Victor, however, is only the beginning of an unhappy life that will end in a tragedy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AsianFiction Publishing House
• Release date: Sep 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301472260

Chang Hua

Influenced by the writings of Edogawa Rampo and John Carr, Chang Hua depicts in his works the small world of the island of Taiwan (Republic of China) from an unusual perspective. What interests him are the dark sides of an apparently peaceful and harmonious society: the nightmares behind the dreams, the suffering behind the pretended happiness, the untold secrets and the human fragility behind the facade of success and strength. His mystery stories are above all the mysteries of the human soul.

Book preview

The Hidden Chamber

(a mystery story)

by

Chang Hua

copyright © 2012 by Chang Hua

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Chapter I

The Awakening

She'd never thought it would happen. One day, she was suddenly seized by fear, looked around to see if anybody was in the room. But, of course, she was alone. In the dark room she was alone, yet she felt as though eyes were fixed on her, judging her, condemning her. Eyes of somebody who knew her deeply. She'd thought that everything was under control. Her plot had been carried out with masterly cunning. She'd left no traces of her deed. She had considered every detail and acted cautiously. She had been absolutely certain that nothing would happen to her. Nobody would suspect her.

But those eyes...

They kept staring at her. It was a presence she'd felt from the very beginning. She had ignored them, like one ignores the voice inside one's heart. Men live with secrets, there are countless things which are hidden in the remotest depths of everyone's soul, carefully sealed, protected from the light of day. It is something, a voice barely audible, always in your heart, resting, slumbering like a deadly cancer. You believe to be the master of your self. But just a word, an image may suffice to awaken that part of yourself which you avoid to see.

She had been living with that secret for months. She couldn't bear it any longer. Knowing that some day, somehow, her secret would come to light.

She had enjoyed every moment. Aware of the brutality of her scheme, she had thrown herself into a world of darkness. She had glorified her basest, vilest instincts. She had fulfilled her most appalling wishes. She had rejoiced in every moment of carnal pleasure. From the outset the consequences were all too clear. Her soul would die a painful, slow death. She would turn into a cold, inhuman creature. Hatred led her to this path. For almost a decade – so far as she could remember - her heart had been filled with nothing but hatred, which had grown so strong that all other feelings had become subjugated to it. Now that she had revenged herself, all her hatred had vanished as if it had never existed. She realized with a clarity that frightened her that there was no possibility to escape from justice. Not because there was anybody in the world who could have forced her to abide by the