Change The Story

Peng Xiao found himself waking up on the floor of the room with an excruciating headache. His body was still tangled in the warm blankets of the bed: had he moved too much and fell to the floor? Most likely, it wouldn't be the first time.

He often woke up lying on the floor of his room in the company of back pain but, strangely, this time there was only a headache. He yawned, bringing his hands over his head to give a little hit to wake up. He was still sleepy and didn't want to open his eyes, get up and change to go to university. He was in his second year now, but it was still the same story. Moreover, the dream he had just had seemed really real: his heart disease was diagnosed at the age of nine and, the only person who didn't care about such bad luck, it was his father who even after that news, didn't stop drinking alcohol and beating him for every little thing. He sat down on the ground of that room only to stretch further, it was after this gesture that he heard the previous sentence repeat itself: «young sir... are you okay?».

He had just opened his eyes when he heard that unknown male voice. 

He widened his eyes immediately looking up in panic, he had already thought of something to say if he was a thief or worse, a serial killer!

He froze. 

The man who had just said that sentence wasn't at all one of the figures he thought of: he wore a brown tunic, accompanied by a dirty white apron of who knows what similar to soup and, on his head, he wore one of those ancient hats that the Emperor's servants had (or at least, that was what he attributed it to).

But worse still, he looked around... he shouldn't have done that. That wasn't his room! That wasn't his bed, and surely the one he wore wasn't his beloved Harry Potter pajamas at all! He began to stammer something incomprehensible even to that unknown person still standing staring at him with a worried air. Could it be another one of his weird dreams? Maybe, a nightmare?

Something scary leapt to his mind and once again he found himself widening his eyes and getting up in a hurry, almost tripping over himself into the blanket, looking for a mirror or something he could reflect in.

«Young sir?».

The man with no known identity called him back with that appeal. At least, was he calling him or someone else?

When he finally found what he was looking for, on the nightstand next to a tall rectangular thing with clothes on it, he pointed through the glass and then touched his face... only then did he scream in panic, scaring that humble servant, if he was truly a servant! That scream could be heard throughout the building!

At this point, Peng Xiao found himself shaking while still staring at himself through that round mirror made, probably, of a material similar to gold. His trembling hands came back to his face, he squeezed his cheeks until he had a fish mouth, slapped them in vain (maybe he thought he could wake up like that). He stroked his hair, which was long to just below his ribs, inspecting and smelling it. The servant was even more shocked at that scene... probably when he fell he hit his head and went crazy!

He turned to the still motionless man, who blinked as the young boy took him by the shoulders and shook him.

Peng Xiao: «why am I here! Who are you, what the heck of a place it is! Ah, do you want some money? If so, I have no money to give you, if you want to kill me do it now without hesitation!»

He moaned and whimpered like a five-year-old! The poor servant was even more shocked and if his young lord continued to agitate him like that, he would surely have suffered from a migraine: «ah, young sir, I don't know what you are talking about, please... this poor servant is weak, if you continues to agitate me in this way I could seriously join my ancestors in the grave».

Ancestors? Servant? What a hell of a meaningless dream it was!

At this Peng Xiao released his grip, making him breathe and apologizing in embarrassment, scratching an indefinite part of his head. He once again he looked around trying to take stock of the situation.

«Peng Xuan! Damn, where is my sister! You didn't hurt her, did you! If you have touched her even with just one finger, I-»

«The young lady is... in her room. Nobody could hurt her, what are you implying?».

In her room... but not in her real room! If these psychopathic people had kidnapped both of them, surely as that short man said, they had attributed to both of them two different rooms!... no, if they had been kidnapped they would have found themselves tied to a pole together, with some wounds on the body still bloody and aching. Peng Xiao bowed before the man making him shake more and more: «eh!?? What are you doing, get up for heaven's sake!».

The boy clung to the sleeve of the man who was trying to lift him off the ground, begging him again: «Don't hurt her! Peng Xuan is just a little girl who has yet to grow up, please!».

They were both very confused but, most of all, that poor servant didn't even know this Peng or anything. He found it strange... maybe he was really crazy.

«Young sir, I have already told you that I'm not any kind of living sickness! I don't know any Peng... Xuan, I just came to bring you breakfast».

Breakfast. This word was enough to stop the young boy from holding tightly to that already low-quality piece of cloth. The man sighed in relief, pointing to the plate with good food placed on the nightstand next to the bed. Peng Xiao stood up alternating his gaze between the man he had next to him and what was on that piece of furniture. He slowly walked over to it, taking the bowl of soup in his hands and bringing it to his nose to inhale the smell of it, perhaps looking for some kind of poison or the like. Shortly after, he brought the precious spoon to his lips, savoring with taste what was inside that object: it all seemed normal... he wasn't feeling bad, he wasn't about to die!

«Ah, is it to your liking?» asked the brown-robed man, with a smile on his face. The young boy slowly turned to him, nodding, with still a slight fear within his eyes. The servant once again spoke up: «if you wants to see your sister, I can call her for you»

Peng Xiao: «sister? Oh, my sister... yes, yes please»

At that last word the man opened his eyes for the umpteenth time: the young sir asking please? Oh no, he was really crazy! He smiled sarcastically, bowing respectfully and then left the room with almost extreme speed... he was really weird!  Too much. Apparently, the lashes given to him by his father three days earlier had taken on a different effect on him than usual.

The girl in question took the name of Song Liuhua, who at the time was having her long black hair styled by her servant Xun Fang. Ever since her brother Song Liuyuan passed out in her arms, after stopping her father's wrath for the umpteenth time, she hadn't been able to turn a blind eye to her concern at night. Although the two were half-brothers, the girl had a strong attachment to him: she had always defended him, since childhood.

Xun Fang: «That's it, my lady: do you like it?»

Song Liuhua: «it's beautiful, thank you A-Fang...»

She smiled softly immediately after saying that sentence, stroking her beautiful hair, lowering her eyes slightly. Her servant understood immediately how she troubled her young lady's thoughts: «My lady, don't worry: I'm convinced that your brother will recover as soon as possible»

Song Liuhua: «I know, but... it's inevitable for me to feel this way about him»

A few moments later someone knocked on the door and it was the young woman's servant who opened the door and took the message that the man had come to bring back. She nodded and went back to her mistress of hers happily: «My lady! Your brother... he woke up, he wants to see you!».

At that news the girl immediately got up in the grip of her joy, leaving her eyes freshly made up, become lucid.

Song Liuhua: «ah? You mean it, Xun Fang! Let's go to him!»

When she reached the entrance doors of her brother Song Liuyuan, she didn't wait a second to set foot in his room: «Liuyuan?» she called him in vain, as she didn't find him enjoying his breakfast. In the blink of an eye she saw a blue dress fly right in front of her, then a white one and another in the shade of midnight blue. It was something that made her jump unexpectedly. She took a few steps forward calling him back, and then stopped when she saw all those precious clothes on the ground among the dust, among the dirty floor.

Song Liuhua: «Liuyuan! What the heck are you doing! Are you crazy by chance!?»

Peng Xiao to a shrill female voice in that way was frightened by jumping and sliding on his clothes, stepping on them and leaving who knows how many footprints of him and in the end... he found himself with his face on the ground. Song Liuhua was slightly shocked to see that scene, and as soon as she saw that his poor stepbrother fell to the ground, she hastened to cover her face from his embarrassment. He had never behaved like that, in fact, he seemed to have totally changed. Peng Xiao moaned in despair once again, trying to get up off the ground even with the help of the mysterious girl.

Peng Xiao: «yes, or at least I'll do it in a moment! I don't know who the heck you are, but I want my hoodies back, maybe my pants too, thank you!»

Song Liuhua, hearing that frae, frowned at him, imitating a light amused laugh. He couldn't have really forgotten about her.

Song Liuhua: «you...- Liuyuan, it's me, I'm your sister! Stop joking you idiot!»

The girl sniffed at it with a punch on the shoulder of the other, who looked at her blinking quickly: seriously, who the heck was this girl? He admitted that looking at her closer, it really made one think of a resemblance of her to his sister Peng Xuan but, she certainly didn't have that kind of long hair. She had always hated having them too long in fact, every time she went to the hairdresser, she wanted a short cut, slightly above her shoulders. Besides this little detail, she was continuing to call someone else.

Peng Xiao: «I'm telling the truth! And besides, I think you have the wrong person!»

The two servants were at the edge of the door spying incredulously at that scene... they exchanged a look of amazement and from the lips of the man who served the young lord Song, Song Liuyuan if not Peng Xiao, he spoke at that scene: «not he may have really lost his memory... he-»

Xun Fang: «It's only that man's fault! He should stop treating him in that horrible way...»

Young Mr. Song's servant, Zhang Chen, sighed at this. He knew the young master from an early age and, every time, he witnessed the outbursts of his father. The man always found an excuse to be able to treat him badly, once he held him in detention under the snow: needless to say, if he hadn't been for a miracle, he would have died frozen. But, after all, he was just a useless servant... what could he do to help him? Nothing, the only way was to stay close to him as long as he needed it.

Song Liuhua couldn't hold back some salty tears, something that alerted young Peng Xiao. He didn't know what to do in those situations: he had never been good at comforting someone but, before speaking, the girl hugged him tightly, stroking his head.

Song Liuhua: «There's nothing wrong with that, I'll help you remember-... you can always count on me, sweet brother»

That warmth was so familiar... somehow, the figure of Peng Xuan appeared in his mind. His little sister would grow up and, saddest of all, wasn't being able to be there with her to celebrate.

"change history". 

This sentence was constantly being presented in his head: that was the beginning of it all.