9 He Knew Something
I'll be here,
Even when the world disappear,
I'll be waiting for you,
Like the first time you pursue.
***
THE YEAR 1904, a century away from the present time.
She smashed into different people on the way as she scampered her way out of the crowd. The people were shouting in agony as someone ran into their stores and turned the tables again, not wanting to start their morning with that kind of person. There were a lot of people confused with the passerby, wearing foreign clothes, flailing around like she had been chased. The people halted on the street, with their bags made of the sack, observing the woman who was running over at the wooden tables.
Althea was pursing her lips, determined to hide with the man that introduced himself as Wang Qing Long, the same as the one with the King who had been cursed by the Nian beast on a Lunar New Year.
Althea hid on a small side street and covered her mouth as the tears welled up in her eyes. She was huffing some air as she looked up and saw that the streets had been driven by people, who were wearing their traditional clothes. Althea wiped her eyes as she looked at the street inside and saw that it was deserted. She licked her lips as she furrowed her eyebrows while she said, "Where am I?"
She peeped again and saw a woman smiling down at the people passing by. She was confused by what they were wearing, the way they talk, and she racked her brain open to remember what timeline she had learned from school that the people were wearing that kind of clothes. Until Althea remembered her teacher saying the promotion of changing the hairstyle and changing the clothing too that had been as the policy of Qing Dynasty.
She gasped and covered her mouth as she saw a man stopped at the front of the wooden table with his head shaved at the front and only the backside of his hair had been braided down on his back. Althea heard the smile of the man wearing gray, thin horseshoe sleeve clothing as she looked down and closed her eyes.
"Manchu people, Qing Dynasty," Althea breathed as she shook her head and wished that it was all a dream. She looked again at the woman who was selling root crops and she was smiling as she arranged it once again. She observed her robes, and it was called Changfu.
The woman looked so beautiful with her dandelion Changfu on her body, with the azure lines on each sleeve as she turned her heel around, leaving her post for a while. Her hair had been braided down and Althea squinted her eyes as she leaned her head back on the wall.
It was the Manchu people that had been established in old China by the last centralized Monarch Dynasty called the Qing Dynasty. They had been ruled by an emperor and an empress and based on the knowledge that Althea had been attained from her childhood years, it was the last imperial dynasty for China.
Althea just rotated her heel around, walked over the narrow street, not knowing where to go. She gritted her teeth as she knew that she will not believe everything she sees. She stopped in the middle of the street as she heard something on her right side. She widened her eyes when she narrowed her eyes, and she opened her mouth slightly as she heard a greeting from the person inside. She averted her eyes towards the wooden window, and she closed her eyes.
"Where am I?" Althea whispered in herself as she heard Chinese New Year greetings inside.
She heard the distant and faint sounds of the gong being thwacked. Althea reached the end of the street and her heartbeat so much louder. The street had been packed with Manchu people, chattering here and there, and the children were jumping up and down. Althea looked up at the sky, and she saw that the rain had subsided.
She saw that there was a thin rope that hung over at the nails nailed through the wood, and it had different cut-off paper arts that were evident in the broad daylight. The craftsmen had painted different animals and letters on the paper. It swayed through the air as Althea saw another square piece of red paper on the walls, with the symbol of Fu-- which means happiness and good fortune -- that had been pasted upside down.
The whole place had been assembled with different stores and such, and Althea, was there, alone. She looked at her pockets, and she saw that she has a cell phone that had been drenched with the water on the river. She knuckled her fists as she doesn't know where she was, and Althea just gritted her teeth. She turned her heel around but she bumped into someone.
She looked up and widened her eyes. She gaped as she saw that it was the man with the shadow white eyes, long robes, and was wearing a Magua. His head was not shaved, so she was confused why. The man immediately covered her mouth as Althea wriggled out of his wrists, who was now holding her waist. The man tightened his palms as he felt guilty about doing it. Althea lost her consciousness as she closed her eyes for a little.
Qing Long caught her on her waist as he hoisted her legs on his arms.
.
.
.
.
.
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Althea dreamt about her grandmother, smiling in her dreams and caressing her face. She was laughing in her dream, until, someone stabbed her grandmother on the back that made her cough up with blood. Althea shouted at her dream, so vivid in her consciousness, as someone was holding her back. She saw that claws were screeching through her skin, and she was astonished when she saw that it was an azure skin of a dragon. She turned her head around, but she just gasped in the air.
Althea's eyes shot up awake as the beads of sweat trickle down on the side of her face. She furrowed her eyebrows as she saw a rocky ceiling on her sight. She creased her forehead as she tried to stand up from the bed. She successfully sat down in her position as the dream was so vivid. She pursed her lips as she looked around and saw that she was...
"A cave?!" Althea shouted inside and opened her mouth widely. She stood up as she saw the opening, with the sun setting down on the horizon, the whole Qing Empire was lit with the afternoon sun. She swallowed constantly as she hissed and knew that it was not a dream. She felt the pointed rocks on her sole, and she grunted in pain. Someone was standing at the mouth of the cave, and she glared right through the man.
She consoled herself to control the pain as she walked bare feet outside. She pointed at him as Qing Long avoided his face right away. Althea's hair flowed out of her chest and loose towards her shoulder blades, as she was wearing clean clothes right now.
"What did you do to me?" Althea asked furiously as Qing Long was holding rotten wooden barks of the trees nearby, for the campfire later. Qing Long swallowed as Althea looked and scoffed at him.
"Excuse me, mister, but you are not in the right mind to kidnap me from there," Althea added through her annoyance as she huffed, infuriated, on the air as she looked at the hill down the mountains. She looked around, and she saw the roofs of the halls of the Qing Empire. She bit her lip as Qing Long put the bark of the trees outside of the cave and looked at her again.
"I know you're not from here," Qing Long simply said with her manly voice as he turned his heel around and Althea gaped at her place. She stared at the deep red-orange tinge of the sky as she caught up at the man with the shadow white eyes. She swallowed as she sniggered and Qing Long was crouching down on the comforter he laid down earlier.
"How could you say that I am not here?" Althea lied through as she knew that Qing Long knew something. Althea's heartbeat thumped louder as she put her hands on her hips while Qing Long was sighing in his place. He stood up and let the comforter loose once again as he placed his hands behind his back. He walked at the steps towards her and just stopped at a safe distance.
Althea swallowed as she looked at his shadow white eyes without even flinching. Qing Long breathed silently as he said, "You fell from the river, don't you?"
Althea's stance earlier broke down as she was surprised by what he said. Qing Long smiled a little towards her as she froze and was stunned in her place. She creased her forehead as she swallowed once again, unable to move. Qing Long continued from what he was doing as Althea felt like she was catching her balance.
