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I was startled at the robotic voice that welcomed the customer in. I lifted my gaze, from the pile of miscellaneous photos no-one had come back for, to see Captain Xiao walk in.
“We’re closed," Lu Guang stated from behind the counter. His grey eyes flicking to the door for only a second and then returning to whatever he was working on at the moment.
“I need your help with a case,” Captain Xiao said despite Lu Guang’s words and I could see the way his brow twitched into a frown, but only for a second.
“Come when we’re open," I replied, although truthfully I was curious. Last time we’d helped the police it had been a mess and Lu Guang seemed to be in a mood and I did not feel getting mixed into that.
“We recently reopened an old case. Now that we have your powers we may be able to solve it," Captain Xiao continued to explain and walked to the counter, lifting an envelope in his hand. It was thin, if it held photos there were only a few of them.
“What case?” I asked and Lu Guang’s annoyed glare turned to me. I, in return, turned an overly sweet smile his way. I abandoned the photos and headed to the counter to see the envelope Captain Xiao placed on it.
“It involves the murder of two and the disappearance of one," Captain Xiao gave a meaningful look towards Lu Guang as he spoke. “I thought you might be interested.”
Lu Guang took the envelope in his hands without replying to the policeman and gently opened it. He took out three photos. One was the photo of a house, presumably the murderscene, and the two others were of people. One had three people in it, probably a child and their parents. The victims. My brain supplied and I forced my eyes to the third photo. It was of the same young blonde boy that was in the first picture as well, but this time he was alone.
Lu Guang looked at each of the photos, his eyes focused on them, not moving, as he looked through their timelines. His face twisted into an expression of sadness and slight pain. I figured it was because of how that family ended up.
Lu Guang finally looked up from the final picture, the one of only the boy and he shook his head with a bland expression. I could tell something was not quite right despite his seeming uncaringness, he was hiding something,
“What is it?” I asked and rounded the corner, hoping to maybe snatch the photo even if I couldn’t see what he had seen in it.
“We can’t take this case," Lu Guang stated blandly as he placed the photo on top of the two others. He pushed them and the empty envelope towards Captain Xiao who only frowned and opened his mouth to say something.
“Why not?” I asked, before he could and once again Lu Guang leveled me with a glare of sorts.
“Because there is no answer in these photos,” he said with a tone that seemed to add the words: ‘ You idiot’ to the end of the sentence. Something about his voice and face made me feel like he was lying. He wouldn’t seem so indifferent about the case if he wasn’t. There was some other reason, there had to be.
“Are you sure?” Captain Xiao insisted. “That one was taken just a couple of hours before the time of death of those two.” He pointed at the man and woman in the photo of them and the child that lay half hidden by the two others. Lu Guang’s face scrunched up at this, but once again it relaxed almost immediately.
“The person who took this photo found the bodies, they didn’t see the murder," Lu Guang replied with an unnaturally even tone. I tried to catch his eye, try to see what emotions he was trying to hide, but his eyes were set on the wall opposite of him.
“I know that he was our witness, but surely there is something you can get from that,” Captain Xiao’s voice was starting to get desperate and he leaned heavily on the counter like he was also trying to catch Lu Guang’s eye. He gave up quickly and looked at me, raising his eyebrows and giving a small twitch of the mouth.
“I think we should try," I chimed in, internally cursing Captain Xiao and myself for the cold shoulders Lu Guang would undoubtedly give me for the next week.
“If you do anything wrong you may end up being murdered too," he said with a small sigh and I could feel the annoyance swell up inside me. I got it, he was trying to protect me and that was nice, but it was even more annoying.
“It was the same when I went into that mute girl’s body wasn’t it?” I said and could hear the annoyance infiltrating my voice even though I tried to keep it away. I was sort of amazed by how well Lu Guang could keep himself sounding emotionless even when he was clearly more annoyed than I was now. “And I am still alive.” That addition was for lightening up the mood and for my own sake.
“Still-," Lu Guang muttered. He seemed to be deep in thought. Probably weighing whether this argument would end up being more annoying than the jump itself.
“Fine we’ll do it, but the payment better be good,” he finally said and I resisted a cheer, noticing the way he glared at Captain Xiao. Not with just annoyance, but genuine anger too. It was sort of worrying, Lu Guang didn’t get angry. Sure he got annoyed by every breath I even took, but never angry.
“Of course,” Captain Xiao replied, seemingly oblivious to the unusualness of the situation. And the possible danger he was in with that glare leveled at him. “I’ll leave you to it.” He raised a hand in a wave and walked out, leaving the photos and envelope on the table.
“So, do we do it right away or-?” I asked, staring at the back of the man who had just left me to deal with a potential timebomb. I glanced at Lu Guang from the corner of my eye and I could see him taking in a calming sigh as he gathered the photos.
“Let’s go upstairs," Lu Guang replied, walking from behind the counter. He sounded annoyed, but in the way he did when I would accidentally drop one of the photos he was supposed to develop, not in the truly scary way. It seemed like the disaster had been avoided. At least for now.
“This time it is especially important that you follow my guide to the word," Lu Guang said as we walked to the couch and sat down. He had a serious look that he directed at me whilst he picked out the photo Captain Xiao had pointed to as being the closest to the murder.
“Of course," I said, laughing. “When have I ever done anything else than what I was supposed to?” He glared at me, not appreciating my good humour, but held out his hand. I gave him the most mischievous smile I could manage and slapped my hand onto his palm.
As I entered the photo I found myself standing in a living room with an older digital camera in my hand. It was the sort that Lu Guang would treasure above all else if he got his hands on one. In front of me stood the parents and the child from the photo, all moving away from their poses.
“Does it look good?” The blonde haired boy asked, running to me from the two adults. He was practically bouncing as he tried to get the camera from my hands. Instinctively I held it up away from him, but his instantaneous pout and Lu Guang’s sharp cough inside my head made me lower it.
“Yes," I replied, the voice that came out of my mouth sounding oddly familiar. I went to the photos in the camera and showed the most recent one to the boy. He squinted at it for a bit and then smiled, turning to me.
“Gua, you’re really good at this," the boy said, beaming with joy and I couldn’t help smiling. As I did I felt a slight bang of sadness, because I wasn’t an idiot and I knew that this boy would disappear forever after tonight.
“Mom, dad come look!” He gestured to the parents to come closer and they came to look at the photo. They both smiled too, at the little boy and then at me.
“Your brother is right. I’ll go get it printed tomorrow after work," the dad said, smiling and he reached for the camera which I handed to him. He left the room and I became unsure of what I was supposed to do. I called Lu Guang’s in my head, waiting for directions.
“You’ll be going with the boy to the park, when you return these two will be dead.” Lu Guang’s voice said and I felt a twist of sorrow and pain again as I glanced at the mother, listening intently to the little boy.
“You have to be kidding me. How am I supposed to solve this then?” I retorted, ignoring the feeling in my stomach.
“You’ll come back so that you can see the murder," Lu Guang promised. “Just do what I say, I have an idea.” I wanted to scream at him to tell the idea, but he could just leave me to my own devices and that would be horrible.
“Would you take Ming to the park?” The mother asked me and looked towards her. The boy was looking at me with a pout and puppy eyes.
“Sure," I replied and again the sound of my voice bugged me. The boy beamed like he’d just won the lottery and he ran to me. I lowered my hand to ruffle his hair.
“Thank you.” The mother smiled and I turned to follow the boy, Ming, to the foyer, but Lu Guang’s sharp voice interrupted me.
“No, take the camera with you. It might be destroyed otherwise.” I sighed. He could have just told me this before the dad took it away. I told him as much, but then immediately called for the dad.
“Can I get the camera? I thought I could take pictures of Ming at the park,” I said as he peaked his head into the room. He smiled at this and hurried to me with the camera. I gently put the strap attached to it around my neck.
When I finally reached the foyer, Ming was already standing by the door with his shoes on. I in turn stared at the seemingly millions of shoes littering the floor, helpless to know which ones belonged to the person I was.
“The blue sneakers.” Lu Guang said even without me asking and I thought about thanking him, but didn’t, he didn’t deserve it. I started pulling on the shoes he’d instructed me to.
“Why are you putting on those ones?” Ming asked me and I froze for a moment. Had I seen the wrong shoes or had Lu Guang led me astray? Were these the dad’s shoes?
“Is that like a kid question or genuine confusion?” I asked and could hear my voice be full of panic even if it was only the voice inside my head.
“Reply with, you just felt like them.” Lu Guang said instead of actually answering the question. I repeated his words back to Ming, who fortunately seemed satisfied. I swiftly tied my shoes and prepared to get up.
As I gazed up from the shoes I caught sight of myself in the full body mirror on the wall and I froze. The voice’s familiarity made complete sense now.
“Lu Guang?” I asked in my head just to be met with silence. I stared at my reflection for a moment longer. Back at me stared a teenage boy that was very clearly Lu Guang, he didn’t look much older from the boy that I had met for the first time.
“Gua?” Ming asked, startling me. I looked at him and he simply looked confused. I yelled for Lu Guang a couple more times, but eventually just pulled myself up.
“Let’s go," I said to Ming, forcing a smile onto my face. I couldn’t help glancing at the mirror once more as we exited the house. Ming didn’t notice my hesitation as he blabbered on, skipping down the driveway.
~~~~~~
The park was nice, I didn’t recognize the place which made sense since this had to be before I met Lu Guang, surely I would know if his parents were MURDERED! I screamed the last part to Lu Guang and got no reply. Maybe it was harsh, yeah he hadn’t told me, but it had to be a traumatic experience.
“I want ice cream!” Ming yelled as he noticed the kiosk on the other side of the park. I was glad for the distraction. The whole walk I had only yelled Lu Guang’s name in my head and blindly followed the small child here.
“Buy him some.”
“And now you’re there. What the hell is this?” And again silence. I wanted to curse Lu Guang out more than anything, but I had a mission to complete and now that this had to do with Lu Guang I was not going to mess it up.
“Of course," I replied to Ming, hoping my voice, well Lu Guang’s voice, sounded like it should and not as disheveled as I felt at the moment. I probably even looked like I had just heard lifealtering news, which I had.
“Really?” Ming looked confused as he smiled to me. “You never do.” Then he happily started skipping towards the kiosk and I followed him, digging my pockets for enough money for a chocolate ice cream.
~~~~~~
“Lu Ming!” Someone yelled as we sat on a bench, Ming was almost done with his ice cream and he shoved it into my hand as he saw the young girl waving and running towards us.
“Shi Hua!” Ming replied, running to meet the girl halfway. They had some excited chatter going on and the Ming turned to me. I held the ice cream in my hand, not sure if I should eat it or leave it for the boy.
“We’re going there!” He pointed at the small playground. I nodded and watched as he ran there. I held the ice cream in my hand for a while longer as I watched the kids. Eventually I gave up on the mental battle of eating it or not eating it and I dropped it into the trash can next to the bench.
“Oh, Lu Guang," I turned my head as I heard the voice. There was a girl standing by the bench, she seemed the same age as Lu Guang at this time. Her gaze was fixed on the trash can as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Her open hair hung around her lowered face like a curtain with one braid in it.
“This girl will confess her crush. You’ll reject her.” Lu Guang’s voice piped up in my head again. This time I did not comment on the fact that he had been silent for a while now.
“You rejected this girl? She seems sweet,” I tried to get some of my usual humour into the comment, but it seemed to fall short.
“Her name is Yuen Ying.” Lu Guang sounded like he would rather never talk to me again. I didn’t tell him that.
“Hi," I chose to not use the name. The greeting seemed a bit too late, my conversation with Lu Guang had been the length of an awkward pause.
“Do you have some time?” Yuen Ying asked, her eyes flitting to me as her fingers curled around the end of her singular small braid.
“Depends, I have to watch my brother," I nodded towards the playground where Ming and Shi Hua were running around. It didn’t seem like I really had to watch them, but with a murderer running around I couldn’t be too careful.
“We can talk here," Yuen Ying stated and sat down, she was clearly nervous, shifting constantly and glancing around like she expected someone to be listening.
“Come one, I don’t have the heart to reject her,” I whined to Lu Guang. I could hear him sigh in my head and I was not sure if he really did or if I was just imagining it.
“It is an important point.” He didn’t sound as annoyed as I had expected him to be, but maybe he’d stopped caring since the situation was otherwise sore for him.
“I thought it was the murder.” I really had, I still did. Maybe he was just using that to make me do this.
“There are multiple.” That made complete sense, but I was not one to inflate Lu Guang’s ego and I instead turned my attention back to the girl. She was back to fidgeting with the hem of her shirt and mumbling starts of sentences she didn’t even nearly finish.
“So- um," Yuen Ying started and stopped, sighing. She seemed to take a moment to fully compose herself before she tried again. “I’velikedyouforalongtime.” It came out as a quick spurt and I was a bit dazed for a second. I’d register her words and even if I hadn’t I would still know the gist of what she said, still I was a bit lost.
“Uh-” I didn’t know what to say. I had known this would come for a few minutes now, but my mind had been going a million miles per hour with other things. It hadn’t given me the chance to think of what to say.
“I was going to ask you on a date. Maybe coffee sometime soon?” Yuen Ying said, face red. I was glad she had spoken, because this was turning from normal awkward to way too awkward rather quickly.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t feel that way about you," I said, and immediately felt embarrassed at the not so smooth rejection. Lu Guang’s body didn’t say anything about contradicting the statement and that left me feeling a tiny bit better about this.
“Oh, I thought-” She turned even more red. I could only smile awkwardly as she regained herself again. “Nevermind, see you at school tomorrow.” She got up and started walking away with a rather impressive speed.
“You could’ve been more gentle," came Lu Guang’s voice as I watched her retreat. I sighed and turned my attention back to the kids, who gladly were still playing and not kidnapped or murdered.
“And you could’ve given me more time to prepare,” I told the bastard in my head, hoping to feel a little less guilty about my own words.
“It needed to seem like it was at the moment.” I huffed in amusement at this response, but didn’t entertain it with words and neither did Lu Guang.
~~~~~~
I sat on the bench for sometime observing the people around me, was one of them the murder? It was stupid, why would they be hanging out at a playground when they would be about to kill Lu Guang’s parents any second. What even was the motive?
“Start heading back home.” Lu Guang’s voice sounded tired and worried. I didn’t blame him for that.
“Already?” I asked. Surely it hadn’t been that long yet. Maybe it had, I hadn’t checked the time at any point before now.
“Yes, dinner should be ready when you get back.” Was I just imagining or did Lu Guang’s voice crack, like he was holding back tears. It would make sense, after all his parents were going to die. Still it made my stomach twist, Lu Guang didn’t cry, I was not sure I had ever seen him cry. It seemed so uncharacteristic of him.
“Ming!” I yelled as I got up and approached the playground and the little boy peeked his head from behind a slide. “We’re going, dinner should be ready soon.”
“Agh, fine," the boy groaned, disappointed and started following me back the way we came, I didn’t remember much of the way we had come, but Lu Guang’s pointed coughs and Ming’s hand tugging at my shirt kept me on the right route.
“We’re home!” Ming yelled as we entered the house, there was no reply and I gulped. I took the small boy’s hand. It seemed like it was truly about to begin.
“Come with me.” I started walking towards the living room, carefully. The camera was still around my neck and I thought of an idea. I hadn’t taken any in the park in fear of changing something, but now it seemed much more important.
“Don’t.” It was an order and I knew it meant my idea. I let my hand fall from the camera as we entered the living room. Yeah, maybe a photo would change our history a bit too much.
There was a crash in the kitchen. I jumped at the sound and Ming’s grip on my, Lu Guang’s?, hand tightened. I could feel mine or Lu Guang’s heart about to jump out of its chest.
“Wait here," I ordered Ming and started walking towards the sound. I was glad the boy listened as I was not sure I could let go of his hand otherwise.
When I reached the kitchen I froze, Lu Guang’s mother’s body was laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. The stove was on and a steaming pot on it. I slowly turned it off, a fire would only complicate things. Then I saw something from the corner of my eye. It was the murderer. I could see their face as a blur, but not any identifying features. Was this Lu Guang’s idea? Him seeing the face now? Before I could register anything the murderer turned from the kitchen door and fled.
“Check her pulse and keep her in your arms.” Lu Guang sounded like he was crying and it jolted me out of my frozen state. I felt tears pricking at the corners of my eyes.
“Why?” It came out of my mouth. It sounded like something in between a cry for help and just crying.
“That’s how I got my powers.” I didn’t know how this had anything to do with Lu Guang’s powers and my question hadn’t really been to his order. Still I kneeled down and checked the woman’s pulse. It was still there and I could feel the tears starting to stream down my face,
“Where is it coming from?” I asked her, referring to the blood and her eyes opened a little. Her lips formed a small, pained smile.
“Oh, Lu Guang," She sighed. She sounded so incredibly sad, but loving. It hurt me even more than her dying. “Keep good care of your brother, won’t you.”
“Of course," came my choked reply even though I did not even register her words. I felt her pulse starting to fade away. There was a weird sensation in my body as the pulse disappeared. Had that been Lu Guang getting the power?
“Now, go into the dining room.” I got up hesitantly and hurried to the dining room on the other side of the kitchen, tears were now completely blurring my view and I almost ran into many things on the way.
I could make out the outline of another body lying on the dining room floor. It was Lu Guang’s dad with his white hair covered in blood. His head had clearly been smashed on the corner of the table before he’d fallen to the floor. He was obviously long dead by now.
“Now call the police. The phone is where you left Ming.” Lu Guang said as I stared at the body from the doorway of the dining room. His words lit another flame of panic in me.
“Wait Ming!” I had completely forgotten him. The guilt that traveled through my body was mine, but it was also Lu Guang’s and it felt allconsuming.
There was a long silence as I walked back through the kitchen, watching that I didn’t stumble on the woman’s body. Finally as I reentered the living room Lu Guang graced me with an answer.
“Yes.” Lu Guang’s voice was faint, but I still heard it. The living room was empty, lit up by the overhead light and the faint shine of the setting sun. Ming wasn’t there anymore. He’d been kidnapped. I’d let it happen.
“Ming!” I yelled instinctively. I knew it didn’t help. The murderer had left when I had seen him by the kitchen door. It had been so much, the body on the floor and the sight of the murderer, that I’d forgotten about the boy. Lu Guang hadn’t reminded me.
Because he forgot too. I wanted to smash my head through something for even thinking that thought. It was probably true, but blaming anyone other than that bastard of a murderer would be useless.
“Call the police!” Lu Guang stopped me from spiraling too far. I swallowed and started walking to the phone.
“Right, sorry.” I knew my voice was bitter, but I had all the right to be. Lu Guang had just let me let his brother get kidnapped or something.
“And where was the murderer in all of this, I didn’t see his face or anything?” I asked before grabbing the phone.
“I saw his face. He won’t be caught now and nothing will go out of place.” Lu Guang said in a way that sounded somewhat like he was also trying to convince himself of something. Probably that this is the only way to do this. That brought the tears back into my eyes.
“Right,” my voice had picked up the sobbing tone from before and I picked up the phone and dialed the emergency number.
“What is your emergency?” An older woman’s voice asked. My hand shook as I held the phone, I took a long breath that sounded more like a sob.
“My parents are dead and my brother is missing," I cried into the phone and it felt like the reality of the situation was only now fully hitting me.
“What address?” I heard the question from in between my sobs. I took another try at a steadying breath as I listened for Lu Guang’s answer.
“Dian road number 53.” I’d never heard of the road. It had to be far away from anywhere I’d ever lived.
“Dian road number 53," I copied Lu Guang’s words in a much more shaky tone.
“We are sending police and an ambulance there immediately, stay on the phone.” I followed the lady’s instructions and sat down on the floor, crying as quietly as I could.
“Is there a chance of anyone threatening being in the house?” The lady asked after what felt like hours, but was probably not even a minute.
“Say no, the murder left already.” I didn’t need Lu Guang’s guidance to be able to give that answer, but I was thankful to hear his voice anyway.
“I don’t think there is, I think the murder took my brother and left.” I said and the woman said something about keeping his eyes open just in case.
“The police are about to be there and you’re about to come back.” I didn’t reply to Lu Guang nor did I really differentiate his voice from the lady’s. Then, not even seconds after, I was back on the couch, my eyes were still teary.
“Why was that shorter than normal?” I asked the least painful question first. It had just popped into my head as I finally regained myself.
“I pulled you out," Lu Guang replied, he too had tears in his eyes, but his voice was calm and his face otherwise emotionless. He was trying to protect himself by hiding.
“Is there a photo that Ming took around that time? I can go find him like I did with Dou Dou," I asked. It came out as a frantic attempt to save Lu Guang’s little brother, but really it was just something to fill the silence.
“I’m not letting you do it," Lu Guang replied and I noted that he didn’t say there weren't pictures. I sighed and got ready for the harder questions.
“Why didn’t you tell me it was your body?” My voice cracked as I asked it and Lu Guang’s face morphed into pure sadness.
“I was hoping no-one would say my name during that time.” I hated that answer. Not because Lu Guang had tried to lie to me, had lied to me, but because he hadn’t told me ever about what happened to his family.
“Your parents got murdered!” I yelled at him and it felt like some kind of dam broke inside me. It wasn’t just all the feeling from this jump, but from all the times he hadn’t told me anything about what was going to happen. The earthquake for one. “And your brother got kidnapped!”
“I know," Lu Guang hissed and it shut me up for a moment. He was fully crying now and I was tempted to reach in for a hug, but I wouldn’t be ready if he were to reject it.
“And you just let me go with it! Why not try and stop it?” I knew that answer, it would mess up too much. I got it, but it felt so wrong. It always felt so wrong.
“I’ll text Captain Xiao for the details," Lu Guang ignored me and got up, wiping the tears off his face. “I’ll have to give a description of the face.”
“Don’t just run away from it!” I yelled at him. “We should talk about what I just saw.”
“I don’t want to," was the reply and then Lu Guang walked away. I was left to stare at his back as he walked out of the room, his phone to his ear as he started talking to Captain Xiao.