Ties [by Kitoky] - [Part II Updated]

[Kitoky]

Okay guys, it's winter break and I wanted to get some work done with some fanfiction ideas I've had for a while. So read and review for me! There's going to be a few parts to this, probably 3 parts - this being possibly the shortest part of the 3. I'll post the other parts soon, I've got the outline pretty much done and I've already got started on writing part II, so I'm sure you guys don't have to wait long .

If someone could create a feedback thread in the Fanfiction Feedback for me, that would be great.

Enjoy!

-[Kitoky]

===============================

I looked upon her face. The face, which I dreaded to see ever since I had received the call from Yat Wah, appeared before me and it struck my heart and soul harder than I had ever could’ve imagined. I suddenly realized how tired I was, and how looking inside the coffin made me want to lie down, and sleep forever. Like her. She’s sleeping, so peacefully. So soundlessly. It was precious.

If only it were true. Reality struck. She wasn’t sleeping. So peacefully. So soundlessly. She was not doing anything at all. She was there. Now, nothing more than a memory. I looked around, beyond the coffin at the Reverend. Behind me, at everyone who attended the funeral and I saw all the grief that was in the room. No, she wasn’t just a memory. She was Mei Ling. Yung Mei Ling. She’ll always be here.

I berated myself. What was I thinking? I’m becoming delusional. She was gone. She was actually…. gone. This wasn’t right. Why was I looking down on her face, in a coffin for that matter? She wasn’t supposed to be there. Why are they putting her in there? I should help her…. help her get out of there, it must’ve been cold…. drafty…as it was outside in the lounge….

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Mei Ling cried as she was suddenly splashed with VERY cold water.

Kiu Wai grinned and continued splashing the water at her, irresponsibly getting both of their costumes wet. They were supposed to film a big scene in their production of The Foundation but there was a minor set back on the crew equipment so they had some time to basically chill.

“You do know that we’ll get yelled at for getting these absolutely soaked and wasting MORE time, right?” Mei Ling retorted as she started jumping in the water along the shore and splashed Kiu Wai back.

“Don’t worry, we’ve been working for hours and hours on end these past few days. I’m sure they won’t mind if we just have a little fun.” Kiu Wai reassured her, even though she didn’t buy a bit of it.

“You’re just lucky you’re Mr. Charming so that you can get away with these things.” Mei Ling said as she plopped down on the sand her feet still soaked in the water. Kiu Wai plopped down right next to her after he knew and recorded his victory.

“Yeah, I guess I am lucky. But you have to admit. My devilishly good looks and talent have some part of it, right? Right?” He was taunting her.

Mei Ling only snorted.

“How very lady-like.”

“Thank you, I’ve been having a lot of practice on that.”

“You so need me.”

There was a pause. Mei Ling looked at him oddly.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean. Your absolute blunt personality and my charming sweet talk, I think you need me to balance it out.”

“Of course I do. And I also need you to be annoying, conceited, and downright rude.”

“That too.”

Mei Ling couldn’t help it. She let out a giggle. Albeit a small one, but Kiu Wai caught it, and Mei Ling kicked herself for letting him win. Again. Of course, y’know, letting him win. She was losing on purpose.

Kiu Wai felt a water drop on his forehead. Then his nose, then a slight heaviness on his shoulder.

“Oh this is absolutely SPLENDID!” Mei Ling cried and got up abruptly. Kiu Wai could only shield his eyes as the water droplets became bigger and colder. He got up as well and ran away from the shore to find some sort of shelter in land.

“Hey! Wait! Help me!” Mei Ling called. Kiu Wai looked up front but she wasn’t there, rather, she was behind him. Still at the same spot they sat.

“Why aren’t you coming? You’ll get sick!” He called back.

“Like I could, oh genius one. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m STUCK!” She yelled back grabbing at her right leg. “I guess there was a hollow area under the sand. It’s collapsed…and I can’t get my leg out.”

Kiu Wai stood and watched her for a moment. She looked pitiful. Boy is he going to love torturing her about this later.

Someone grabbed me. Or rather…I felt, two people. They grabbed me, pulling me away from the wooden box. Why are they pulling me?

“Get a hold of yourself, Kiu Wai!” It was Tak Wah. What did he mean? A hold of myself? Why?

“You can’t bring her back…” Tat Wah said on the other side of me, and I received a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. I looked into his eyes and realized.

I was trying to get her out.

Trying to take away her pain.

Her suffering.

Had she suffered for so long?

Why didn’t she say anything?

Why didn’t we see?

We should’ve.

We should’ve seen it. We should’ve been there.

But we weren’t.

I closed my eyes and broke away from the grasps of my fellow actors and close friends. I couldn’t think straight, being so close to her. I stalked out of the room, my only destination being in a quiet place.

I bumped into someone. And before then, I never realized how hot and sweaty I was in the room. Wasn’t it a bit cold in there? I looked up and looked into the eyes of Chun Yip. Err. Kent. That’s right. He preferred it if we called him by his American name.

“Kent.” I spoke, ever so softly. I looked into his eyes to see his reaction, and I expected a reply, a mirrored ‘Kiu Wai’ in acknowledgement. He said nothing. He looked up at me and I felt a string of sadness again. He’d been losing sleep as well.

“Everything’s been happening so fast…everything’s changing.” He said, breaking his gaze to look at his shoes, which was very polished.

“Yeah.” I gave a short reply, afraid to say anything more. Kent was the worst of all of us. He was the one getting accused looks. He was the one getting blamed for everything. And the sad thing was, I thought, he was taking the blame. He himself also believed that he was the cause of everything; the cause of everything going so fast…so out of proportion.

“I..ca—“ He paused. I looked at him encouragingly (or perhaps, he mistook it for another gaze of accusation). He never looked up. “I better go talk to her parents…” With that, he left. I didn’t say a thing.

I remembered back when we were carrying her casket. Actually…. I didn’t remember Kent being there. He seemed so quiet. So unnoticeable. As if he wanted to disappear. We all felt like that, didn’t we? Did we deserve to live? Why didn’t she?

I decided – it didn’t feel comfortable at all being in the building. I needed out. Let me out. I was heading quicker and quicker to the door to the outside world, not realizing when I started to move my feet. I pushed open the door and looked up to see the bright sun looking down upon me (as the weather broadcast reported), and giving me a new light, a new flame.

It was raining.

Stupid weathermen.

[Kitoky]

Okie guys, here's part II of the 3 Part one-shot here. It's only a tiny bit longer than the first part though.

Wow, I mean, it feels really weird writing as Miu. But I think I stayed true to his personality.

Enjoy!

Thanks Lanie for starting the feedback thread for me!

-[Kitoky]

+++++++++++++++++

It had been a month. I sighed and crossed out the date on my calendar. I felt absolutely restless yet unable to do anything for the past month. My manager was looking for any good wig-makers in the area. I felt kind of bad for him. He’s done a lot for me. But I can’t do anything right now. There’s something else I have to do…before anything else.

I suppose I could ask my manager to schedule a psychiatrist appointment soon. He would be happy to do so if it would help me get off my butt. I lied down on my bed. So this is how it felt like to be depressed, huh? Odd feeling…

But seeing images of someone close to you? Was that normal in depression? Was there even a cure for depression?

‘You idiot,’ I heard my conscience say. ‘Stop asking so many questions. You certainly can’t answer all of them. You’ll make your head explode.’ I closed my eyes.

“Idiot.” I said out loud, repeating my conscience. “Idiot….”

I felt a strong breeze come through the room and I opened one eye to see the source was from the window across the room, I blinked and look to look at it more clearly. The curtains swung happily against the air but behind the curtains…

Well that’s curious…what was that behind the curtains? I don’t remember getting a stand…. was it a stand?

I rubbed my eyes, blinked again --- though it didn’t help much, it certainly made my eyes blurrier. I blinked several times, looked at the swinging curtains and saw a familiar face.

“Mei Ling?” I sat up, blinking at the same time. She was gone.

I sighed exasperatedly, fell back onto the bed and covered my face with my hand.

“Psychiatrists are good…Psychiatrists are good…. Psychiatrists are good…”





Well…turtles are interesting. What do they do all day? They always say things in simile to the speed of a turtle. Why would that be an insult? They always take their time. Maybe it’s not that they can’t go fast. Maybe they just like going slow. Maybe they enjoyed their time to go slow, take everything in. Think about things.

I snorted.

Think about what? Whether or not they should buy that fur jacket in the window shop?

I sighed and watched pitifully down at the small soft shell turtle in my hand. It was squirming excitedly.

“Hey, little guy… I won’t hurt you…Can’t I just rub my palm on your shell so many tonight I’ll turn into a turtle too? So that I can pass time by sitting on the side of a busy highway a mile away from the nearest water-source?”

I heard shuffling and looked back. Some schoolgirls were giggling and passing me by on the sidewalk.

I sighed again.

‘Tabloids are going to be booming tomorrow.’ He thought and looked back down at the turtle. “Don’t mind them. They always like staring at handsome turtles like you. Well, I’ll let you go now. Have fun strutting for these gals. Give ‘em a show, my friend.”

I heard more shuffling and an audible huff. I smiled secretly. ‘I must’ve upset them.’

I watched the turtle walk oh-so slowly into the water and when it was entirely engulfed in the dirty liquid, it seemed to move a lot faster. I stood up, stretched my legs, twisted my body, and laid out the kinks in my shoulder. I looked down, readjusted my comfort in my shoe after having kneeling down for a while. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and looked up thinking it was a duck on the shore, looked down.

Wait.

That was a really big duck.

I did a double take and squinted (seems I do that a lot lately), and saw a figure.

It was familiar, the figure. It was fragile but strong…

Mei Ling?

“Mr. Miu?” I couldn’t control my instincts and my head snapped over to one of the schoolgirls that were huddled over on the sidewalk. I looked back to the site and saw nothing there.

“Mr. Miu?” She repeated.

“What is it?” I replied still looking around.

“Um…well…. if you don’t mind, I’d like an autograph. I love your movies and shows and I think you’re a great act—“

“Sure, yeah. Um, do you have a pen or a marker?” I asked, whilst grabbing her photograph of me. It was huge…. where do they get these from?

Why is my forehead so big?

“Here’s a marker.”

“Oh, thanks. And your name is…?” I trailed off.

“Qing Mei, sir.” She said. I observed her for the first time. She reminded me of Mei Ling, except taller and younger. She didn’t have butterfly teeth and her face was sharper.

“Sir? I’m sorry, is there something on my face?” She looked down and started wiping her face self-consciously. I was staring? Wow, smooth, dude.

“Sorry, it’s just…you remind me of—“

“Of Miss Yung Mei Ling, right?” She interrupted. I was going to say ‘a friend’ but I nodded silently.

“Yeah, everyone tells me that. But I could never be like her. I admire her and her work. Or….” She looked down at her shoes or was she looking at her briefcase? “I should say admired…No, I still admire her. Even in death.” She finished firmly.

I smiled warmly at her, glad that Mei Ling had at least one fan that stood by her. I finished the autograph, and drew a bunny on there. Sure, it was sloppy but I’m an actor not an artist so I’m sure she won’t be expecting a Picasso.

“Here.” I said and I handed her the picture of myself with black ink all over it.

Well, at least my forehead doesn’t look as big.

“Thank you so much, Mr. Miu!” She smiled and bowed low. I bowed my head and bade her farewell. Then realizing that she recognized me from afar and with my back to her, I bent the front of my cap tighter and held my hand up to it to cover more of my face.

I certainly didn’t want to be mobbed and end up starting a crusade of deaths within our group of friends.

Hmm…I do have sunglasses….

That’d be cheesy, though….

…..Forget it, I value my life. I shoved my hand into my pocket for my sunglasses.

I value my life.

And Mei Ling valued hers.

So why would she commit suicide…It was an accident right? But, I mean…what were the chances? Gas leak? Her, out of all people?

But the symptoms… They were common, right? Not acting any different a few days prior? And the phone call to…. whatshisface…

A horn beeped and I realized I was at a crossing and the driver was urging me to go so that he could turn.

I hated it when they do that.

They always have to be a Good Samaritan.

What if I like standing at the corner of streets, looking at my feet, shielding my face like I’m on a plan to rob the bank or something huh?

Of course, I’d be a little underdressed and bit noticeable but that’s beside the point.

I gave a small grateful [not] wave to the driver and quickly crossed the street.

Now where was I?

Oh right.

The phone call, it was strange actually.

It really isn’t like Mei Ling to beat around the brush. Perhaps she was looking out for Chun Yip… perhaps she was afraid to ask him about their relationship so as to not cause any false alarms. As stars, we ARE under a microscope. One wrong move and you’re the talk of the week. Or month. Or year.

Well, I did talk to a turtle.

My guess it’ll last a day.

I peeked out from between my thumb and my index finger at the cars zooming by. There’s something addicting about that. I mean, watching the cars. Watching people taking life so fast – too busy or too lazy to take the time to walk around from place to place and enjoy themselves.

I watched a convertible zoom by with its hood down.

Okay, I guess they are enjoying life – just at 35 miles per hour.

…Of course I can’t talk. I have 3 different cars. I smirked.

Hey, cars are cool, okay?

My eyesight followed another car but this time, there was a flash of something appear on the other side of the street. I stopped walking. Another car went by and the figure was still there.

It was Mei Ling.

What’s going on? She’s dead.

She’s dead.

I stood there. Frozen on the spot. I felt the heels of my feet in my shoes. Did I always feel that?

The sun was against me, regardless of the fact that I had a cap, the brightness around me made me squint.

She was staring back.

She smiled.

Is she?

Another car zoomed by.

Gone.

What the hell?

[Kitoky]

Here's part III for the archives. I know it's like... almost a year later. I'm terribly sorry. I am a horrible, horrible person to make you all wait so long, but I got it out at least. =/

So without further delay!
++++++++++++++++++

Part III (End)

“How are you feeling today?” Asked the psychiatrist. He readjusted his glasses and looked up from his clipboard. I was sitting on an incredibly comfortable couch. Well, it wasn’t a lying down couch, but it was incredibly comfortable. I wonder where I can get one of these…

“Mr. Miu?”

“Huh? Oh…uh, I’m fine. Everything’s fine.” I said.

“Well, apparently not everything’s fine if your manager insisted that you meet with me today.” He wrote something on his clipboard. I didn’t say anything. I looked over at the clock. 3:35 PM. Only 5 minutes have passed? This is going to be a long meeting.

“What has happened in the last 3 months, Mr. Miu?” Did he always sound so monotonous?

“Uh…well. I was recruited for this tv show. One of my bestfriends died. My pet turtle ran away…” Okay, so the turtle wasn’t MINE. He was a cool buddy.

“Your…pet turtle…ran away?” That monotonous tone!

“Yes.” I gritted. Through my teeth, I gritted.

“Let’s go back to your friend here. Now, your friend’s death. This was…Miss Yung Mei Ling, is it?” He looked through the bottoms of his glasses and read on the clipboard.

How the hell do they KNOW these things?

“Yes.” I found that I was still gritting.

“It’s rude to talk like that, Mr. Miu.”

I sat and pouted. Slightly. Only slightly.

“Now, what was your relationship with Miss Yung?” Still monotonous.

“I said friend, didn’t I?” He gave me a look over the top of his horned glasses. Woah, did it get colder in here?

“How did her death make you feel?” How would you feel if your best friend was found sprawled over the floor of her apartment and the paparazzi are stating of a possible suicide?

I shrugged.

“Can you describe that feeling?”

I shrugged again.

“Do you have feelings at all?”

I gave him a look of annoyance. He scribbled on his clipboard.

“Look. I’m fine. I don’t need this appointment.” I said to him exasperatedly.

“And that is why there will be no follow up appointment until I see if you really are fine.” He said not looking up from his clipboard. “Obviously, if your manager asked for the appointment and not you, there is controversy to the actual subject being questioned.”

“What are we downtown and in a questioning room? I didn’t commit a crime.” I was irritated.

“Many would like to think so.”

“That I committed a crime?”

“No that we’re downtown and in a questioning room. I get that a lot.”

“I can only imagine why.” Okay, I smirked, if only a little. He was starting to get irritated. Strike one!

“What did you think of Miss Yung?” He went back to her.

“You wanted an autograph, didn’t you?” I asked with a grin on my face.

“What did you think of Miss Yung?” He pressed. Now it’s on the border of annoyed. Strike two!

“She’s an amazing woman. Great friend. Best I could ask for. Great person to work with as well.” I said, thinking back.

“Did her death surprise you?”

“Of course it did! It’s not as if she told me ‘Hi, I’m going to die tomorrow.’ Everyone was surprised. I think even she, herself, was surprised.” This guy had nerve. Talking about her so calmly and so casually. Like she was last year’s news…

“You do not think that then she was planning to kill herself?” He asked.

“I’m sorry, is this about me or is this about her? Because If you’re going to sell this information to the pre—“

“I am proud to say that I find great importance in my patient confidentiality.” He said in a strict tone.

Woah. That was one hell of a drafty breeze….

“You don’t have a girlfriend, do you?” I asked. Strike three! And that’s a ballgame, folks!






I sighed and stared at the official floss colored paper in my hands that officially scheduled my follow-up appointment. My shoulders slumped and I made my way down the stairs to get out of the building.






It was a beautiful day. It was almost evening but the sun was still shining and there was a slight cool breeze against my skin. I folded up the appointment paper and placed it in my shirt pocket. I sat on the park bench with the shade of the a few trees behind.

Suddenly, at the corner of my eye, I saw her.

She was sitting there in the clothes she was found in. She was sitting right next to me on the park bench.

But she wasn’t looking at me.

She was looking out at the park and the beautiful day. The beautiful day that didn’t exist for her. Or did it?

Oh my god! A psychiatry appointment had me leaving WORSE than I arrived! I can sue for this, right?

I’m not seeing this.

I wasn’t seeing things the other day.

I’m not seeing things now.

I’m not.

I’m not.

I’m no---

“It’s so pretty out here.”

Oh. My. God.

My feet were frozen in place. I was yelling at myself to bolt out of there and go home or I’d have to call my psychiatrist to reschedule the appointment for an earlier date. But I couldn’t. Did I want to?

“I froze your body. You can’t move. Ghost powers, y’know?”

“You WHAT?!” I exclaimed. Wait, I talked. She didn---

“I was joking! Really!” She chuckled.

Her chuckle was the same. She couldn’t be a ghost.

“Did you fake your death or something?” I asked, relieved and angry at her. Why would she fake her death like that? Everyone was in a riot! I have to attend a follow-up therapy session!

“I didn’t fake anything.” She smiled down at her hands in her lap. “Well, except that last bit with the body freeze.”

“Oh yeah, so I’m just seeing your ghost that only I can see.” I said to her sarcastically, getting more irritated at her games.

She said nothing and was still staring at her hands.

“Are you happy now? Now you have to explain everything to everyone. AND you have to give my psychiatrist an autograph. You’ll give an explanation to the press and then I have to testify and then the paparazzi will be in an uproar, AGAIN.” Still, she said nothing. And I didn’t feel angry anymore. But nervous now. Why was she so quiet?!

“Can you do something for me?” She finally spoke. She faked her death, disappeared for 3 months and now she’s asking for a favor?

“You want me to act as your murderer?” I asked coldly. And instantly, I regretted it. She hung her head, pathetically, submitting to me. That wasn’t like her. She would snap back. Snap back at me and I’d snap at her. Like the days of our verbal judos. But she wasn’t snapping. She wasn’t glaring. She looked so pathetic.

“Why did you do that?” I asked, gently. As gently as I could.

“Do what?” I heard her.

“Take off. And who acted as your TWIN?” I continued.

“I didn’t. I didn’t do anything.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I’m dead, Kiu-Wai.”

No.

“No. No, you’re not. You’re sitting here. Right now, telling me you’re back. And that you had a reasonable explanation for why you did what you did. Or that you were kidnapped and forced to do this…I—“

“No, Kiu-Wai. I’m dead. I’m sitting with you here as a ghost. I’m here to ask you one last thing from you as a friend.” She said, looking up and she placed a gentle hand on my forearm which lay motionlessly on my lap.

“….So I’m sitting here and everyone is thinking that I’m talking to myself and freaking out like what this psychiatrist says?” I looked down at my hands and gave a helpless laugh.

She chuckled as well. I think she was glad that I had calmed down.

“Do you believe me? I’m a ghost, Kiu-Wai. I need you to do something for me before I can pass on.” She said.

“Do I have a choice?”

“I suppose not.” She smiled again. “So will you listen to my favor? See if you’ll do it for me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

She slapped my shoulder and it felt so real. Could she really be a ghost?

“Okay, okay.”

She sat back on the bench again and laid her hands in her lap again. She looked up at the sky.

“I want you to go and visit Kent. I want you to talk to him.”

“Why can’t you go to him yourself?” I asked.

“I can’t get through to him. He can’t see me. He’s too clouded by guilt.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Not at the extreme level of him. I’ve been watching him for the past few months… He doesn’t drink and eat as he’s supposed to. He goes to work, he does what he does but… At home, he does nothing but sit and stare at a spot on the wall…”

“Well serves him right! He’s never gone out before anyways.” I scowled.

“When did you become so bitter, Kiu-Wai?” She asked, glancing over at me with a wonderment that had rhetorical written all over it. “Will you go to him?”

“And do what? What would I say to him?”

“I need you to tell him that my death…wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.”

“But the previous incident? Your relationship with him was rocky, Mei-Ling! Of course he’ll think it’s his fault!”

“It was an accident! The events just folded out that way…the paparazzi is strange in its workings like that…”

“What makes you think he’ll believe me?” I snorted.

“I don’t know if he will…but, I just can’t let him go on like this.”

“What really happened between you two?” I turned my head to look directly at her.

“A petty fight is all. I was certain that we could simply talk and it would be done with.”

“But there was a gas leak…”

She nodded. “There was a faulty pipe going through my apartment, I didn’t know that it was a gas leak and it was too late when I thought to get out of there. I fell unconscious and woke up standing outside the building with a line of police cars in the street.” Mei-Ling looked across the park, and sunlight warmed her features. She couldn’t be dead. “It was an accident, Kiu Wai. I need you convince Kent of that…. and perhaps yourself as well.”

I sat quietly, the first time since she appeared on the bench and stared at her. Her expression was mellow, sad yet peaceful. The expression of a fate accepted. At that point I didn’t know what I was to do. To believe in sanity, or in Mei-Ling?

Ghost or not, it was still Mei-Ling.

“We’ve missed you, Mei.” I managed to get out, despite the ache in my chest and the pain in my throat. “All of us, we’re not the same without you.”

Mei-Ling nodded hesitantly. “I’m sorry for that. I wish I knew how to fix it, Kiu Wai.”

“Come back to us.” I pleaded. She would laugh at me for my sentimentality, but it was the truth and the most important wish of all my wishes. No more cars, no more big promotions, no more fan girls. Mei-Ling was more important than all of those.

I heard a sniffle and a slight sigh of exhaustion. Mei-Ling was crying in earnest and was trying to stop crying in earnest. It was then that I realized I had never, for a second that I knew her, had I’ve seen her shed tears over anything. Not over a stressful day in production, not over Ken, not anything.

Mei-Ling was a woman of strength and independence, but before me now was a strong, independent woman crying over someone so undeserving.

Do I mean Kent or myself? I don’t know; but I do know one thing.

Even the strongest and the most independent woman need a shoulder from time to time.

Forgetting the real world around us, I pulled her close into a hug and she felt so real, so heavy and weighed down. These are not what ghosts were described to be like. They were supposed to be paled, almost white with big piercing eyes. Her sniffling was loud due to the fact that her face was shoved right into my shoulder and mine into her hair that smelled of Mei-Ling and gasoline.

We stayed like that for what felt like hours until she slowly pulled away like she always did with her head hanging low, and I noticed that she was not solely responsible for all the tears. “See? Come back so I can act all macho again instead of filling in for you.” I gasped wiping away the tears from my face with my palm.

She let out a chuckle or a sad laugh, I couldn’t tell but she looked up and she smiled, really smiled despite the tears.

“Thank you.” I heard her say.

I don’t remember if I made a clear-cut decision to agree to her favor, but it didn’t matter because I wouldn’t have been able to say no to such a face.







“So are you satisfied?” I asked as I tried to break the long pregnant silence. After the day I spoke with Mei-Ling on the park bench, I went to see Kent at his apartment, talk man-to-man with him, and used every technique in existence and a few crack ideas I made up on the spot to convince him to start living again, just as Mei-Ling wanted him to, what all of us wanted him to.

He asked why I was doing what I was doing and I could only answer with a two-syllable name. ‘Mei-Ling,’ I said and I was sure he knew what I meant. And it seemed that the content look on Mei-Ling’s face right now was a sign that Kent understood.

“Thank you again, Kiu Wai. I trust that he’ll be fine from now on….”

“And what about you? Will be just fine?” I asked staring at her out of the corner of my eyes. She didn’t look at him; rather she continued to stare at the empty space in the apartment stairwell.

“I don’t have to be fine. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll ever be fine.” She sighed, “But as long as you all are fine and well then I’ll be just fine knowing that I won’t be fine because I know that you guys are fine.”

“….I’m sorry, what was that?”

She laughed, and I laughed because she laughed. It almost felt like things were back to normal again. Almost.

“I have to be going soon, Kiu Wai.”

“What? What do you mean?” I knew what was she meant, but I had hoped, in the very deepest part of my mind that she would be able to stay. I had hoped she would be able to stay for me and only me. I didn’t mention it because I had hoped. But hope was such a risky feeling.

Wait, since when did I become so poetic?

“I can’t stay so long in your world---“

“This is your world, too.”

She smiled, “Yes, but not anymore. Not rightly my world anyways. If I stay too long, the line between me and you will fade and my connection with you and everyone in this world can never be re-opened.”

“So you can come back from time to time?”

“I can.” So there was still hope she wouldn’t completely be gone. “But I won’t. I don’t want you all, you, Kent, Yat Wah, and the others to dwell so long on my death, and my existence even in ghost-form, Kiu Wai. You all have to live your lives without being weighed down by a ghost with no home, no purpose but to wander.”

“Stop thinking yourself as a burden, Mei-Ling. You never posed a problem by simply being there.”

“Really? And what about these past four months? You haven’t been doing anything productive, Kiu Wai. Lounging around your house, sneaking around the city like a criminal because of me.”

“Because you weren’t there.” I gritted. I couldn’t concentrate because you were gone. I thought you were gone; don’t misunderstand.

“I don’t understand.”

“We love you, Mei-Ling.” I stated, mechanically. I brushed a hand against her cheek, slowly brushing away the hair covering her ear. “I love you.”

My heart was on my sleeve, in my eyes and it showed the barest emotion that I felt in that moment hoping, that risky hoping that she would know what I truly meant.

She looked at me, her eyes clouded and I couldn’t see what she was feeling or how she was going to react. That was what I loved about her eyes; they were mysterious and unpredictable as the night sky.

Where did all this poetic stuff come from?!

Mei-Ling turned to look ahead again, breaking the little contact we had. “When Kent and I started drifting apart, I felt like a failure. I was afraid that maybe, we were drifting because of me. Perhaps I was bad at relationships or I had taken him for granted… After I died, I knew that I didn’t love him, like a person I could spend the rest of my life with. He was my friend, possibly my best friend---after you and Yat Wah, of course.” At her hastened addition, I nodded my satisfaction to her correction. “A part of me wanted, perhaps, for Kent and I to end so that I wouldn’t feel so guilty when I started having feelings for you.”

I stayed silent, thinking that maybe, I misunderstood while hoping that I didn’t.

“I wanted to believe that it wasn’t wrong, that I was one of those women to cheat or lie. I want to believe that I’m still not one of those women.”

“You aren’t one of those women.” I said, turning her face to look at me again. “You are much too kind-hearted.”

I watched as her eyes started to flood with tears, but they never overflowed. They stayed, stationed to her eyes and she wouldn’t let them go.

She was reforming her strong, independent woman image again.

Mei-Ling snapped away once more as a white dove suddenly flapped up the stairs clumsily and landed on the railing next to us. That was strange. How did it get in the building?

“I need to leave. I’m overstaying my welcome.” Mei-Ling said, her voice seemed stiffen and pungent.

“Is that bird giving you the evil eye?” Hey, that bird is freaky, okay?

“In fact, it is.” Mei-Ling stood up, and as a reflex, I did the same. She took steps down to the landing, and looked up at me. “Have a good life, Kiu Wai. I’ll be watching.”

“I’ll make sure to blow a raspberry to the sky from time to time.” I said, grinning. I didn’t know why it was so easy for me to joke at our parting. I’m sure it was just my hopes again---hoping that she wouldn’t be gone forever.

“And Kiu Wai?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you, too.”

The dove flapped its wings wildly as it took flight.

They both disappeared. For good.





THE END
+++++++++++++++++++++

Thoughts? Comments? Perspectives? Post 'em in the feedback thread!

[tln]

Dear Kitoky - this is so sad. You managed to do the ususual and weave in "our" thoughts through MKW's eyes. It is very sad to see what or how a person who is close to YML dealt with her death. It is very interesting to read your use of psychiatry/psychology and the supernatural in your story. Very unique approach! Besides being an avid MB fan, thank you for weaving in Kent's point of view too. I think sometimes I forget that he must have felt awful with YML's death too. No matter whehter he loved her, I am sure no one wishes evil liek that on another person he loves or onced love. It is all very sad.

How did you feel after you completed this story? Was it cathartic for you?