The Jack-In-The-Box of The Dead

Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.

(Jean Cocteau)

A beautiful lady sat under the cherry blossom trees peacefully. They grew beautifully in her garden and she took a really good care of them. She wore her usual white dress but her beauty was evergreen no matter what she wore. She enjoyed the view when the cherry flowers bloomed beautifully as it started to live at its peak. The soft breeze completed that soothing moment. A petal fell down and kissed her cheek. She took it gladly and admired it. She knew that every beautiful living things would eventually die in the end. As life itself, she befriended with death since the very beginning. So she would gladly accept the embrace of the death of her precious ones when the time came because she knew that her dearest friend would take care of them. For that time being, she only wanted to enjoy the moment no matter what, because forever was only a blink of the eye for her.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of daydreaming, a middle aged-man dressed a black robe with a tall hat came approaching her and sat beside her. She smiled while still closed her eyes.

"Alas, my old friend, Yanluo. It was so rare to meet you at my mansion." She talked to her friend gently.

She took a glance at him.

"But you look old, dear friend. Wrinkles paint your face. You look stressed out. I think you should do your job down there with less tension."

She teased him.

His serious look turned sulky hearing what she said to him. This old friend of him didn't change at all. She loved to tease him since they were younger. They didn't look like the Supreme Lord of The Underworld or Empress Goddess at all. It was just two old friend who met each other after a long time.

Her friend replied her,

"Still enjoying the cherry blossom? Centuries has passed but you don't change at all, Shēng huó."

She was a bit surprised for a second but a warm feeling suddenly filled her heart.

"The way you call me shēng huó reminds me to our good old days, dear old friend."

She smiled.

"You must know why I come here. Who is that girl exactly?"

He tried not to beat about the bush. Listening to her old friend, she just took a deep breath calmly and saying nothing. Then she opened her eyes and looked at her friend gently.

"For every human is my daughter and son. So the girl is definitely my daughter."

Her friend was speechless for hearing her response.

"I know, but how could she get that golden eyes? Did you give it to her? Really? You asked me to make her my apprentice then you gave her your golden eyes. "

She smiled then gently touched her friend's chest.

"Calm yourself Yanluo. I believe that you know it for sure, that every fate in the universe sometimes couldn't be told beforehand, Lord of The Great Beneath. Even as empress of heaven, I still find it amusing and thrilling to guess what fate would bring us. Too many hands on the table would ruin the order."

She smiled once again but saying nothing. Meanwhile, her friends was puzzled and confused. Her friend remembered how calm she could be. That was why she was crowned as the empress. Her calm gestures could mesmerize every living thing. No one or nothing could resist it. But at the same time, her calmness could destroy something smoothly without anyone noticed it. He totally knew that fact very well.

Her friend gave up. He just lost it all at the end. He realized that it was completely useless for forcing her to answer His question. He took a deep breath. He ended up enjoying the cherry blossom together with his friend.

For a long time, the old friends Life and Death befriended in harmony. They both enjoyed each other's company.

------

She was left in confusion. How dare that Deity left her clueless like that? She was mad at him in a strange way but her anger disappeared as she heard someone coming. She hunkered down and hid behind the teacher's desk to avoid her from getting caught. The footstep's sounds got closer and she held her breath so that person would not catch her for trespassing the sealed place. Not long after, she didn't hear any sounds. She waited for seconds to make sure that the place was completely empty. Then she decided to move out.

Unexpectedly, Jasper Chu was already in front of her with his hands on side. He looked so mad. There was nothing Xi could do except smiled awkwardly at him.

"You are definitely one of a kind, Xi Yuan. I told you to wait for my text, but you are already here."

She didn't say anything but kept smiling at him. She couldn't tell him for what just happened to him or told him that she met the victim's soul. It might sound surreal and lunatic. She remembered what that soul did before the hell's guard took her away. Then she pointed the locker behind him and told him

"Look, that is Jen Hui's locker. Don't you think that we could find any clues from inside that locker?"

Jasper Chu had to admit that he couldn't stay mad at her for a long time. She was incredible, for sure.

"We? Don't you dare using the term of "we" while you're illegally trespassing the suspected crime scene like this. I could send you for investigations for this"

Xi closed her lips and made a pouty face. Jasper Chu turned around and wore the rubber gloves he had in his pocket. Surprisingly, the locker was locked. But the locked locker was not an obstacle for Jasper. He somehow brought a very thin steel tool and made it into a lock key. He used it like a very professional burglar. Xi dropped her jaw.

"I know what you're thinking. Even a police needs to master this skill, too." He gave her excuses for his weird doings.

The locker was finally opened smoothly without leaving any broken trace. Unexpectedly, the locker's was not empty or filled by books and the stationery. There was a golden box with red stripes there. It looked old for its color started to fade.

Jasper opened the box and realized that it was the jack-in-the-box. As soon as Jasper opened it, the music played from it. Jasper looked at the toy carefully. There was nothing special with that toy's appearances. Xi also moved closer to him and looked at the toy. They moved the box up and down. Then they realized that two alphabets were written on the bottom of the box. It was C.Y not J.H for Jen Hui. There was also a crack on the corner of the box like it was dropped a long time ago somehow.

Jasper Chu and Xi looked at each other and puzzled. They played the music box once again. It was "happy birthday song" instrument. But if they heard it carefully, they realized something was missing there. Some tones were false.

"It is happy birthday instrument. But some tones of it were false. Could it be possible?" Xi asked Jasper while observing it.

Jasper looked at Xi while hearing the music once again. Xi was right. The tones were false not like any other factory-made music box which would have perfect music and appearance. He knew something was fishy about that music box. He then took out a piece of plastic bag and put the music box inside it. He wanted to bring it to the office then left Xi behind.

Xi just dropped her jaw.

"Hey, where are you going??"

Jasper didn't answer.

Xi couldn't believe that both crazy male deity and mortal ignored and left her behind like she didn't exist. She took a deep breath and nothing else she could do except following him out.

-------

The soul was taken to the gate of Diyu by the Horse Faced guard. They passed the queue of the deceased souls. They finally arrived at the front of the throne of Supreme Judge. Yamla sat there graciously with His parchment reading of the sins of that soul.

"Do you know what your sin, mortal?"

She just shook her head and her knees were tremble. She couldn't say any word as for her voice were stolen by the demons before. She didn't believe that she would be eventually dead and be judged in the Underworld like this. She found that the underworld where she thought didn't exist, actually did exist. Her shoulders felt heavy even she was not judged yet. She knew she was a sinner but she was still afraid of the sins she made while she was alive.

"Ah, I forget. Your voice." Yamla just realized about her voice then waived His hand after it. Soon after, she got her voice back.

"Okay. Let's just start it again from the beginning. Let's try your voice. What is your name, mortal?"

"Su Yi Liang."