1 1: Encounter

Hai

Somewhere in Los Angeles

10:00 a.m

This place we live in is downright strange. The village was quiet, but stories around here were loud. Rumors were spreading that anonymous corpses were found in unsuspected areas.

They mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and when the bodies were examined, no traces of injury from bullets or weapons were seen- not even proofs of illnesses, inhalation or intake of substances that may have caused the deaths. I proved those rumors were true today when I overheard cops talking while Police cars roamed our area.

A new corpse was found.

People here didn't fancy sticking up their noses in crime scenes like these so there weren't much people crowding.

They believed in a curse- that if you started investigating on those corpses, you'd be the next one lying on their place.

I knew I had to stay far away from trouble as much as possible, but I could not be contained in one place.

I loved exploring. My feet would always itch to take me elsewhere.

I saw fishermen dispose of the leftover catch they were not able to sell on the heap of garbage piled far from the market. Some of them were evidently rotting with a very pungent smell that flies were already circling them.

I liked rummaging through the heaps to scavenge for treasures- may they be ancient-looking coins, an old diary of a voyager, historical trinkets, antique possessions, bones and remains of odd creatures or anything of the like.

I wanted to look for things that intrigued the common mind and put them on my trove of tchotch​kes. I can't help but love collecting and investigating.

🎶 The Heavy- How Ya Like Me Now 🎶

From close by, I saw that one of the fishes looked like it had a glowing orb of ghastly green light inside its mouth when hit by sunlight. I decided to inspect it and reached for whatever's inside. I pulled it out and to my surprise, it was a translucent tainted glass locket inside a carved metal casing which seemed to contain auras swirling inside.

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The fish carcass all of a sudden, started to jump, toss and turn like it came back to life, only that maggots were still feeding on it, then it gruesomely turned into a human corpse.

Freaked out by the sight, I lost all rational thinking, shoved the locket inside my pocket and ran for my life back to my grandfather only to see him yelling out words I could barely understand from a distance.

"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK, YOU RASCAL!"

My grand father aggressively sprinted out into the wet market to catch a sneaky thief in a threadbare dirty gray jumpsuit and black bucket hat who broke into our small shoe shop.

"COME HERE, MY BOY!" I caught my grandfather heaving deep fast huffs, wheezing while catching his breath and bending down to reach his knees so that he could stabilize himself. I did the same as I felt sweat trickle down my spine.

"I'm here, pops. What do you need me here for?"

My mind was battling whether what I saw was real or not, but the circumstances didn't seem to allow me to process.

"Get me back my shoe adhesives, will you? We've got so much customers waiting. I can't delay work," Pops' request was soon followed by a threat.

"HEY, YOU! YOU TOOK A VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF EVIDENCE! THAT'S A POSSIBLE LEAD TO TRACE THE KILLER! BRING THAT BACK, KID! OR ELSE-"

"Oh c'mon. Give me a break!", I blurted out and ran reluctantly as fast as I could to the center of the wet market where the thief could be hiding.

I'm pressed on both sides. Police men are on my tail now too. Adrenaline coursed through my veins as I felt all sanity dispelled from my body.

'What the hell am I doing?', I thought to myself as I jumped over so many walls and loaded trucks, never in my whole life have I thought of being able to jump over.

I used to be more of an old man than my actual grandpa but just now, my reflexes were sharper than ever. I noticed a black bucket hat sticking out from behind a crate of watermelons and instantly recognized that it was the thief's so I blurted out-

"YOU!"

"HEY!" I ignored the police man and thankfully, my grandfather sensed that I was in for trouble and covered up for me.

After hearing from the men about what they think I did, he distracted them by making up a story saying that one of my idiotic friends threw my locket with so much sentimental value in that heap of trash and I was just out there to get it- that I just ran because he called me with much urgency to run some errands.

I could not understand why they easily gave it a rest, believed such a ridiculous story and just left without further investigation. At least now, I've got only that thief to worry about.

Bothering them to help me would only be useless. It's too petty to put someone in jail for trying to steal shoe adhesives. And I can't return this locket. They would not believe me even if I told them this thing was murderous. I might end up killing someone.

I looked back for a second, took a deep sigh of relief and did what the useless policemen were supposed to do- catch a thief.

The thief gasped when he spotted me, moved out from hiding behind a crate of watermelons and sprinted elsewhere to try and outwit me. I underestimated him, thinking that he was no match for my speed.

He was fast enough to escape every single time I cornered him and even successfully dodged every small impactful object I accurately threw out of impulse near his head!

I swear, I might be going mad to think that I'm dealing with an actual action movie stunt double. He was quite cunning and brilliant in diverting paths that I always got confused with where he headed.

We ran around for quite awhile, causing a lot of havoc, but I eventually cornered the thief at the end of the market bounds near the open road.

Let me show this scum who's the real boss.

I caught the culprit by the pants and so I unintentionally tugged it quite hard, causing the thief to fall on the ground. I held on to the the thief's left ankle to prevent him from escaping again. The thief screamed in pain as I intentionally twisted his ankle.

His bucket hat fell off of his head which revealed long sunlit red-shaded messy hair.

The thief was actually girl-

"Please. I really am just starving. I keep stealing from Mr. Armistice because my friends said if I take a good long sniff from this bottle, I would not feel hunger for the next few days," she begged, looking at me with pleading eyes.

"Whatever they told you was obviously stupid and you still chose to believe that?" I furrowed my brows and shook my head, clicking my tongue in utter disappointment. She has to be better than this.

"Yeah sure, okay, do whatever they say next time and you'll die sooner than you think." I was completely dumbfounded with how ludicrous this all is. I effortfully ran how many bloody kilometers, for this!?!

"I WAS DESPERATE! I AM DESPERATE. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW IT FEELS BECAUSE YOU STILL GET FOOD ON YOUR PLATE!" She retorted and I was taken aback.

Deafening silence then took over. Big tears started to drip like rivers from her eyes as her stomach growled loud enough for both of us to hear. I felt like an older brother who feels the guilt after seeing a sibling being punished for something I have done.

Her silent sobs and the fact that I may have injured her right ankle made me feel so apologetic that I couldn't stand it any longer. We were robbed. Aren't we the victim here? Why does it feel otherwise?

"That's it. Come with me." I forced her to stand up and dragged her back to a small street food stall owned by our neighbors in the market place.

I looked back at her seeing teary but threatening eyes, so I gave her reassurance that I'm not a bad person like how everybody thought I was today.

"Don't fret. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I won't do whatever you're thinking. I'm only treating you food. Consider it as my peace offering." Finally convinced, she willingly followed. I let her wrap her arm link mine so that I could function as her support.

"Aunt Scarlet, please give me one serving of Chinese fried rice and soup dumplings. And uhmm, can I borrow some ice and a first-aid kit?"

"Sure, young man. Who's your friend?"

"She's... Tess- Uhm Tesla. Yeah that's right. She's foreign."

"Tesla? O-kaay. Nice to meet you Tesla."

Auntie gave me a questioning look along with the kit and a warm box of savory food with a pleasant smile. I then handed it to the redhead.

Aunt Scarlet gave out her hand and I told her it wasn't necessary and besides, this poor girl's already struggling with balance. It's a good thing Scarlet didn't push it. When we were far enough from my body relatives, I finally took the time to apologize.

"Tesla? Really?"

"Well, I don't know who you are. I panicked." She laughed.

"And I swear, I wasn't planning to hurt you this bad at all... Anyway, can I take a look at it?'

The girl limped, showing me her slightly sprained and bleeding grazed right ankle. I knelt down to cleanse the wound and treated it with the things inside the first-aid kit aunt Scarlet lent me. We stayed like that for at least 15 minutes to let the ice pack ease the swelling in her foot.

"Alright. It's done." I stood back up and returned the kit I borrowed. She slid the shoe adhesives she stole in my pocket with her free hand.

"T-thank you. Oh and uhmm, I'm sorry too." We both awkwardly averted each other's gazes.

"That's fine. Let's forget all that. So, what's your name again?" I tried breaking the ice to change the uneasy vibe that existed between us.

"Y-you first." She asked, stuttering.

"It's really a silly name. The people here know me by the name, Hai. If you're wondering, Hai means yes in Japanese. I'm an orphan adopted by and Americanized Japanese household for quite a long time now, you see. And I kind of say yes to everyone a lot." She shyly giggled after hearing what I said.

I smiled rubbing my nape as I slightly looked away, embarrassed of having to introduce myself with such a ridiculous name. I partly lied, of course. I can't trust a stranger.

"You?"

"I don't- I don't know my name. But I really like rice. I guess you could call me that."

"That's just as weird as what they call me. But it works. So, okay."

She seemed to be quite a nice person after all, just not herself when she's hungry. I cared less about her background, who her family was and why they left her alone like this, wandering the streets, so I didn't bother asking anymore in the fear of opening up old scars.

For some reason, it really looked like she honestly didn't know who she really was. I loosened up a little bit, but still put up my guard just in case.

We both agreed on a deal. She promised me not to steal my grand father's shoe adhesives anymore but I had to keep bringing her warm food every day. I finally waved Rice goodbye with the widest cheery face. I've never talked to a girl that long before, unless it was a customer.

I can't believe I just made friends with a thief.

She really made me want to know more about her and why she ended up the way she is. I glanced at her every once in a while from afar while I helped the market vendors fix the mess I- we created. I let her off because she's probably the most hopeless person I've seen today and I didn't want to spoil her happiness.

I watched her limp through the market with her head hang low while critics follow her every move with piercing stares. She slowly took spoonfuls of warm rice from the Chinese takeout box and ate some. It made her smile a lot. Her eyes lit up. Suddenly, it looked as if she didn't care that much about people's stares anymore.

I watched her stop in the middle of her tracks when she spotted a blind old lady walking in the middle of the street while holding a mad dog on berserk barking mode tied with a leash. The old lady was struggling to hush her dog but no matter what she said or did, it just wouldn't calm down.

I rushed to the open road but it took me quite some time to finish up helping a vendor stack back the apples that toppled down his stall table.

The sirens of a fast-approaching ambulance resonated through the whole area. An ambulance, seeming to be out of control almost rammed the old lady and her dog dead but I saw Rice pushing them both away to safety.

No way....

I didn't know what to do. In a total state of shock, I froze where I stood. I saw her hip and head slamming against the hood of the ambulance, breaking the windshield.

Everything was happening so fast but to me, the suddenness was in agonizing slow motion. I watched as the debris of broken glass penetrated her skin as she dropped and rolled lifelessly on the ground, leaving her into suffering a fatal injury and swimming in her own pool of blood.

"Haaaai!" I heard Aunt Scarlet's faint call echoing throughout the space.

My mind went blank. What did I just witness?!?

"Where have you been?!? Make him look away, hon." Aunt Scarlet and Uncle Chris approached, scolding me and gently made me turn a different direction.

"Son, this going to be a very long night. But we're here. You'll be alright." Uncle made me face him and locked me in his arms, rubbed my back as if trying to get me to sleep or comfort me from something heavy.

"What's wrong, Uncle?" I frantically asked.

"Your Pops collapsed after trying to catch his breath, searching everywhere for you. The ambulance we called got into an accident but another one's coming soon. He'll be alright."

"What?!? No. No no. Please, tell me it isn't that serious." I asked thinking, 'What in the world is happening?!?'

"Hush now, son. Everything's going to be alright."

The people from the market swarmed like bees around the incident. I heard police car sirens once more and saw blurry red and blue lights flashing.

I kept screaming, pushing uncle away as hard as I could and fought my way to be released from his arms so that I could run inside that functional ambulance unit but I couldnt. Uncle was a big man.

He was too strong and too persistent in holding me back. He and auntie were scared that I would do something stupid and hurt myself because I've done that impulsively many times before.

I just couldn't calm myself down. I don't want to go back to my parents. I am never going back. Pops is my father. Pops is my home.

More ambulances came and I saw stretchers being carried by medical professionals. I could make out a hazy figure of three patients being attended to-

One was a bloody man in a driver's uniform.

The other one was Rice.

And the other one was an unconscious old man.

Pops.

This is all my fault.

No.

This is her fault!

All the rage in me stirred up once again and I was filled with it. My feelings of resentment towards that damned girl resurfaced and intensified.

"I knew we couldn't be friends. If anything bad happens- if my grandfather dies, it's because of that stupid thief!" I stormed my way home, cursing at the wind as I thought of her. The skies fired back at me by threatening me with roars of thunder and drowning me in cold shower.

"I will get back at you! I will find you again no matter where you will be! I will kill you! I swear! I will kill you! I hope you die. You're awful. You don't deserve to live. " Uncle Henry looked at me with much disdain.

I felt my airways slowly swelling up as I found it hard to take deeper breaths through my sniffs and restless sobs.

I found myself too weak to stay awake in the middle of the road so I shut my eyes to sleep and made the concrete my matress.

The next morning, I woke up to realize that I was just robbed of a father.

I must have hit myself somewhere that I've been seeing myself laying down on a grassy meadow as red there were hazy hazy figures of what I think are hovercraft planes flying over my head.



And the locket in my pocket....

It was growing itself on me.

. . . .

Rice

I woke up in a hospital's Intensive Care Unit. I could barely move. I was connected to all sorts of beeping machines and my eyes were the only ones that I could move. I let my eyes roam to its extent and let myself realize that I was the only one conscious. Until...

"I see you're awake, child."

I counted ten more seconds in silence to confirm if I have really heard a voice.

"I'm right beside you."

I wanted to flinch and run away. I saw the blind grandmother I saved earlier just lying asleep on the next bed two meters away from mine but I see her ghost speaking to me.

"Oh, are you scared?"

Of course, I am. Who wouldn't be? What kind of question was that?

"Don't worry. In 10 seconds you won't be. Not anymore, when you'll soon be like me." She laughed as if trying to taunt and tease me and have me forced to join her in the afterlife.

"10, 9, 8, 7,6...."

I could feel my spirit separating away from my body as she started counting.

"No no no no. This can't be happening. Please stop it!"

"Oh, it's going to happen dear. And I'm sure you'll love it."

"PLEASE NO. I JUST TURNED 18. I STILL WANT TO LIVE."

I desperately begged for my life and I was starting to tear up.

"YOU WE'RE JUST EXISTING. NOW, I WANT YOU TO LIVE."

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

I looked at her puzzled not knowing what to do as I felt and saw myself being sucked into a spiraling vortex.

And then I disappeared.