Chapter 1: I woke up and I wasn’t in my own bed... *reupload*

Chapter 1: I woke up and I wasn't in my own bed...

In the packed streets of Beijing, China, a popular comic book cafe runs its business as usual with the dim, but bright lights on, extraordinary smells of delicacies escape the gaping doors, and a welcoming aura that draws people inside. Everything was going on as usual except for the large signs posted on the windows outside written in large striking letters saying, "Last Chance to Get a Comic Book! Store Closing Today!" which made old customers weep to think such a grand place was closing down after 15 years in business. A young man enters the store after stopping to read the signs posted over the front windows. He sighs sorrowfully, looking around the shop, which was in the middle of packing up its books. He knew the comic book cafe would have to close for his uncle, the owner, had to pay for his aunt's cancer bill. Regardless of trying to prepare himself for the closing, he hadn't prepared enough as an empty feeling resides in his heart as he sees the boxes that surround the shelves of books.

Memories surge back in the boy's head of the comic book cafe. When he had gone there to read some comic books accompanied by cup-o-noodles. When he would come with all his books to study and listen to the warm buzz from the customers. Even the times when his uncle grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the store to get a break from studying. The store had been there for as long as he remembered, and if it were to go, it would take along a massive chunk of his childhood along. It would also take away the one place he felt safe and secure, other than his house, like a home away from home. He strolls over to the check- out counter and leans over, calling out quietly so he would not disturb the customers.

"Uncle, I'm here. You said you had something to show me?" A rustle is heard from the backroom and a man in his 30's appears in front of the counter. His shirt is damp and beads of sweat hang off of his face, dripping down his toned skin and into his shirt.

"Zhao Hui, you're here? You came earlier than I had expected…" He says wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

"What were you doing back there Uncle…?" Zhao Hui says teasingly as his face grows into a smirk, "You're sweating so much…"

"You shameless brat, how can you say this in front of the customers?! I have a wife!" His uncle hisses, sounding flustered.

"I didn't say, anything Uncle, are you thinking about something dirty~," Zhao Hui says as his smirk widens and his uncle's face becomes a deep shade of red.

"You better man-up, you're already 20! This is why you've never had a girlfriend!" His Uncle exclaims with his face so red Zhao Hui can't help but tease him even more.

"I never knew you were such a man Uncle! Not only do you do weird things in the backroom but keep up the stereotype of old pervy uncles!" Zhao Hui gushes with both of his hands on his cheeks, laughing uncontrollably.

His uncle shoves Zhao Hui behind the counter and into the backroom with a strong grip on his wrist. Zhao Hui doesn't resist as he is laughing so much at the joke before he can barely breathe. In the backroom, boxes are heaped up on the left corner, labeled and all, probably ready to be shipped into his uncle's house or given to other comic book stores. A ladder is seen traversing up to the mysterious attic in which Zhao Hui had never been allowed. Once, he had tried to sneak up there to see what was so special that had to be hidden from him but he ended up getting caught red-handed. Whatever happened as the consequence after that is up to your imagination. After that incident, he assumed that the attic was where his uncle hid his "not so PG" books and never again tried to sneak up there. As Zhao Hui had expected, a man was in the backroom helping move boxes. The man, Zhao Hui recognized, was his uncle's friend, and he quickly bowed down to greet the man, who greeted him back. He then followed his uncle up the ladder, step by step, into the dark attic. Or so he thought.

The attic was something Zhao Hui didn't expect it to be. In all the comic books he had read, the attic was always a bad sign. From cobwebs to stray ghosts, the attic had a knack for drawing evil beings, however, this attic looked as if it was meant for a young child. The floor and walls were wooden and stained dark brown. A small wooden table was located on the side of the room, accompanied by a charming lamp. Apart from that, shelves and shelves of colorful comic books filled the rest of the room, making Zhao Hui's eyes pop out of their eye-socket. From thriller to romance, all kinds of comic books filled the shelves which would attract any comic book lover, let alone Zhao Hui.

This, Zhao Hui thinks to himself, must be Uncle's private library! Why has he hidden this from me all these years?!

"So, what do you think of my library?" His uncle swings his arm gracefully in the direction of the shelves, smiling as he watches Zhao Hui's eyes widen like a baby's, a huge grin already forming on his face.

"It's amazing! Wow Uncle, and to think all these years you kept porn up here! This is even better than I thought!" Zhao Hui exclaims browsing through the shelves.

"I'm so happy that you- Wait. WHAT DID YOU THINK I HID HERE?!" Zhao Hui's uncle roars as his face becomes red once again.

"Nothing! What did you think I said?" Zhao Hui raises his eyebrow, smiling like a jokester.

"Seriously, how have I dealt with you for all these years?" Zhao Hui's uncle sighs tiredly, looking at Zhao Hui with disappointment. "What I was GOING to say was, you can choose any comic book to take home with you. Just as a little something from me since the shop is closing."

"Are you sure about that? It looks like you really care about these books. I mean, they've been here for who knows how long." Zhao Hui lifts an eyebrow accusingly.

"Of course I am sure, go find a book!" His uncle gives Zhao Hui a small shove towards the bookshelves.

"Alright, alright, I'm gonna go now!" Zhao Hui says excitedly bouncing up and down as he heads towards the bookshelves.

Zhao Hui thanks his uncle multiple times before walking through the shelves, his hand brushing against the spines of every comic book, collecting dust. He soon finds himself in the darker corners of the attic where the light doesn't reach there as well as the rest of the shelves. His hand comes to an abrupt stop at one book which he would've missed if his hand didn't feel it. Zhao Hui gently takes out the comic book from the shelf and traces the title on the cover with his index finger. He flips through the comic book to get some glimpse of the drawings and chooses this as the one he would take home. He walks back into the light where his uncle is writing labels for boxes. He sneaks up behind his uncle and grabs his shoulders tightly.

"HeY there UnCLe!" He yells into his uncle's ear, making him jump up in surprise with a loud scream.

"Holy- Zhao Hui! How dare you sneak up on me?!" He says with his eyes wide open. He lunges to punch Zhao Hui who, since he fences, dodges the punch successfully.

"Bye Uncle, and thanks for the comic book!" Zhao Hui yells, showing off the book as he jumps down the ladder, and dashes out of the comic book store, surprising some customers who were about to enter.

When he stops to restabilize his breathing, Zhao Hui realizes he ran himself into a park subconsciously. The park he ran himself to was located 15 minutes away from his house and one of the many things he adored on par with the comic shop as his motivation was perpetually located here for his novels. It hadn't been renovated for a while, but the park was still in excellent shape, and since it was spring, cherry blossom trees, which were planted all over the park, were flourishing as young children ran around and couples stopped to enjoy the view. This park was the best place to read and write as it was not too loud or quiet, and the scenery was remarkable. Zhao Hui finds himself an open bench, laid down on his back, and opening to the first page of the comic book. For the next hour, he was on his back and read the comic book with most distinguished interest without being disturbed until he flipped to the last page which read "The End". He finally gets up from the bench and rubs his bruised back. He dries the tears which escaped his eyes and childishly giggles, holding the book on his chest.

"Oh my gosh, that was the greatest thing I've ever held in my hand!!!" He announces loudly, catching the attention of many visitors in the park, however, he didn't care much. He looks up for a second, and back down at the book, saying in a whisper, "The sex scene was amazing, but why the flippity fuck would they do it behind a fucking bush?! And that villain was total shit, I would've beat the crap outta him the first time I saw him! That bitch was pissing me off ever since I SAW him, you don't know how happy I was when the bitch got stabbed!"

Zhao Hui's phone suddenly begins vibrating, blasting his ringtone, which catches him by surprise, causing him to jolt. The book slides from his hand and Zhao Hui jerks forward to intercept it, but it slips right through his fingers. Zhao Hui picks up the book from the ground, muttering curses as he brushes off the dirt that had piled up on the leather cover. He seizes his phone from his pocket and sees that he missed 15 calls from his mom. He swallows, knowing that he was screwed no matter what he did. If he picked the call up, he's screwed, and if he went home without picking the phone up, he better have his Will ready! Zhao Hui chooses the path of the phone since his mom couldn't beat him up from behind the phone.

"Hey mom, how's it going?" Zhao Hui says cowardly, shrinking as he hears her breathing.

"Is this how you greet your mom after picking up after 15 missed calls? Was your ringer not on?! Boy, don't play smart with me! I know what you did!" His mom yells into the cell phone causing Zhao Hui to flinch.

"Mom, I didn-"

"I know you ate those cookies I left out! Those were for your dad!" She says disappointedly, which was easily masked by anger.

"Oh, uh sorry. I didn't know they were for dad." Zhao Hui says chuckling awkwardly with a guilty conscience, his hand scratching his neck awkwardly.

"Oh, you are so dead when you come home…" His mom says murderously before shutting down the phone. A cold shiver travels up Zhao Hui's back.

"She sounds mad… What should I do?" Zhao Hui murmurs under his breath. Suddenly, he gets an idea and grabs his book, leaving the bench and walking through the cherry blossom path.

Zhao Hui cruises around the enormous park, his nose buried in the comic book, peeking up only when he needed to cross a major intersection to reach the store. As he reaches his destination, Zhao Hui looks up at the door, expecting it to open automatically, however, he was proven wrong as BANG! He bumps face to face with the glass doors and falls down on his butt, the comic book flying out of his grasp. He groans as he gets up, his blood boiling.

"BRUH! LIKE, STOP." Zhao Hui kicks the door with his toe, which only results in him being hurt further.

He enters the store limping in pain.

Finding himself at the snack isles, Zhao Hui passes through varieties of chips, cookies, sodas, and other unique delicacies. Grabbing a pack of Talkis, chocolate milk, chocolate chip cookies and Flakes chocolate bar, he walks over to the self-checkout and pays $12 from his wallet (I'm too lazy to convert). Starting his journey home, Zhao Hui hangs the small grocery bag on his wrist as he uses both of his hands to hold up the book. By the time he reaches the gates to his home, it's dark and he's been reading under the light of the street lamps. Opening the gate with his key, Zhao Hui enters the house followed by his mother running out in an apron.

"Zhao Tai! Do you know how late it is?!" His mom's face looks worried and relieved at the same time, but what gave it away was the name. She'd only call Zhao Hui by his real name when she was mad or really worried.

Running over to Zhao Tai, she immediately begins attacking his back, slapping him with a wooden spoon.

"Mom, it's only 9!" Zhao Tai whines like a 12-year-old.

"Only 9 dumbass? Come here, you're about to get a beating!"

"I took a while to bring you replacement cookies and your favorite snack! I'm sorry for eating dad's cookies! I got Flakes chocolate just for you!" Zhao Hui yells, running away from his mother, extending the bag in his hand. Lucky for him, his mother stopped.

"Your token of condolence has been accepted." His mother grabs the bag, going through the contents, her eyes widening in happiness as she sees the chocolate.

"Did dad come home yet?" Zhao Hui asks happily, proud seeing his mother smile because of him.

"Yes, he's already inside, today I made your favorite dish, Wonton Soup." His mom replies, retreating back into the house closely followed by Zhao Hui.

"Sounds delicious, my mouth is already watering!" He pipes up as he takes off his shoes in the front and enters the warm house. He retreats to the bathroom to change and wash his hands, then gets seated on the table where his father was already seated.

"Hello, dad." Zhao Hui greets his father as he sits down opposite him.

"Hey, dad!" Zhao Hui's sister, Chang Lian yells from her room and comes running out.

"Hey bitch, what's up?" Zhao Hui looks at his sister, grinning.

"Stfu hoe and eat." Chang Lian glares at Zhao Hui and sits down at the table next to him.

Zhao Hui's mother exits the kitchen with a pot of steaming soup in her bare hands, a sight that the entire family was used to by now as Zhao Hui's mother had a very high heat tolerance. Setting the pot down lightly on a wooden pot mat, she opens the cap of the pot and steam pours out of the top, the air being indulged with the lovely, light, and savory smell of Wonton soup. Taking a huge breath of air in, Zhao Hui sighs as he grabs a bowl and begins to pour soup for himself. Gulping the steaming soup down his throat, Zhao Hui finishes his soup and immediately reaches for seconds.

After having at least 5 refills of the soup and being bullied for it by his family, Zhao Hui finally retreats to his bedroom. Filled from the warm soup, Zhao Hui invited the gentle breeze from outside as he opened his window, his curtains flowing gracefully with the wind. Zhao Hui snuggles on his bed, covering his bottom half with his blanket as he uses a small lamp light so he could reread his comic book for the fifth time that day. This was when he had realized that he was addicted to this book. However, struggling to keep his eyes open, Zhao Hui finds himself falling asleep with the book hugged tightly around his hands, and the usual sounds of crickets chirping before his eyes flutter shut and the noises gradually die out.

When Zhao Hui wakes up, it's still dark, but the light from the moon bleeds into his room, while hues from light provided by candles are evident. He sits up on the bed and rubs his back, yawning. When his eyes open fully, he stands, shocked. The walls weren't filled with posters he knew he put up, the floor was a weird old wood, and his bed wasn't a bed at all. It was made of wooden poles and fabric tied tightly around it to hold a human's weight. Zhao Hui gasps, looking around frantically, his anxiety peaking, and after taking a few breaths, he assesses the situation.

"This doesn't look like my room…" He says pulling at his hair, but suddenly stops. His hair feels long and silky, unlike his usual short, ruffled bed hair. He reaches for the bottom of his hair and realizes it's now down to his waist, and his clothes were unlike anything modern. He was beginning to feel the anxiety entering his veins again.

By the door, a beautiful silver sword lies on the floor, intricate designs covering the handle and the cover. A small tassel hangs from it, a mint green aesthetic completing it. Everything in his sights gave him an odd sense of deja vu. From the room, to the hair, even to the clothes in his back, everything looked as if he'd seen it before, but he couldn't pinpoint from where. He couldn't even tell if it was something he'd seen in real life or in his dreams.

Wherever he was, all he knew for sure was, he didn't wake up in his own bed.