Issue #1-Chapter 1

Even though today is bad day for me, I have no idea it would turn into a complete nightmare. I walk forward very slowly with my head down while dragging my suitcase across the street like a zombie, shivering a bit. I sigh and swallow my own spit whenever I think about visiting my own parents on Chinese New Year. I mean, like, I used to love celebrating that holiday with my family and friends. But now I absolutely hate it. I just couldn't stand it, yet fear made me powerless to refuse to go visit at the same time. The only good thing about it really is the red envelopes. I love getting those envelopes during that time, as I'm still single. I mean, who wouldn't want it? But I hate everything else about it. At thirty-three, I couldn't possibly hate it even more now than I've ever been. Sometimes…I just wish I was never born in the first place. Yet while I'm minding my own business through the chatty crowd, I study my surroundings-only to see myself surrounded by a pool of those dull, gray buildings alongside red declarations. A lot of people in dirty, torn-up clothes lying everywhere, begging people for money. Keeping my distance, just a look at these people makes me glare at them; I wouldn't want to date a man like that, let alone be around them. Disgusting. The cloudy sky watches the entire city of colorful neon lights make preparations for that shitty holiday. Vehicles move past one another, the fresh air is mixed in with cigarette smell and people's breaths when it enters my nose, and a cold, late winter breeze hits my face. The winter smoke leaves my nostrils whether I try to breathe the cigarette smell out of my lungs or not. Once I stop by the end of the sidewalk though, I take a look around and sigh with a frown near a couple men in business suits and the traffic light, having horrible memories of my own parents yelling at me haunts my mind. I close my eyes tightly and put my head down, trying to block it out. Yet that completely failed. "Hey, can you believe the population dropped for the fourth year in a row?" ask one man. "Yeah, I know, right?" agrees with another one. "I mean, who would want to have children in this shitty economy? And to top it all off, why would any man want to purchase a house and a car when he couldn't find a good paying job, even after completing that degree anyway?" "Right? Couldn't blame them." Well, their conversation doesn't help me get rid of these terrible memories. They, in fact, make it all worse, thanks to them. But afraid of confrontation, I stand there in silence. I'm glad the walking traffic light turns white, giving me an opportunity to walk away from them. Walking past the other pedestrians, I hope no car would come crashing into me, despite my memories still haunting my mind as I struggle to get rid of them. I try to think of ways to get rid of those memories, anything that'll keep me sane. Yet nothing still works, even when I make it to another sidewalk, which I'm lucky I didn't get hit by a car. Absolutely nothing, zip. With my head still down, my sad eyes remain focused on my destination to my parents' house. I could imagine what to say to them and how to respond. I just simply couldn't handle that. Then my body accidentally collides with someone, making me turn to that person. When I lift my face for my eyes to investigate, I see a man with glasses in a gray business suit. "Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't even notice you. It was my fault." "Oh, no, it was actually mine. I didn't bother to pay attention to my surroundings. Silly me! Please forgive me," I reply when the man and I bow our heads a little at one another and continue walking in opposite directions. Once I turn around though, I widen my eyes out of confusion. They shake sideways whenever they twitch. 'What. The. Hell?!' There I see myself in a different area, an area so…unusual to say the least. With only silence echoing all around me, the area is mostly red with no people wandering around. Not even vehicles. The Chinese lanterns are hung around on each string, moving with the cold wind, dimly lighting the entire area. The buildings are all deserted-every single one of them; in fact some of them are even torn down, decaying away bit by bit. Some blood-old and new-are splattered all over the lanterns and on the outside walls. The air smells of decay and death, making me uncomfortable as it was everywhere. The cold air here also hits my face. I have a bad feeling that something's not right here at all, not in the stretch of my imagination. It appears the Chinese New Year has already begun, even though it begins tomorrow. And the strangest thing of all is the starless night with no moonlight in the sky, despite today being daytime. I quickly turn around and notice the same scene as behind me earlier and notice my suitcase is even gone, wondering where it went. With my heart beating from fear, I pant with my mouth open and turn to both sides of the scene back and forth a couple times. 'Ah! Maybe calling someone might do the trick!' When I look down at my phone, I try to contact my family a couple times and I hear no response from them. So I try calling the emergency phone number several times and nothing works either. 'You can't be serious! I'm trapped here! It was daytime here; I was walking to my parents' house, only to be stuck here in this abandoned place?! Like, seriously! Where the hell am I?! What is this place?! And how the hell am I going to get out of here?!' These are all the questions that come to my mind.

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