As a photographer, Sun Bao worked an odd variety of jobs to make ends meet. He’d worked at a chain photography studio, trying to get families together to capture the ‘perfect moment’ for a christmas card. He had done crime scene photography, witnessing things gristly, heartbreaking, and with enough dead bodies to turn him off meat all together. Wildlife photography had been fine, save for the fact he was allergic to bees, and one outing landed him in the emergency room.
In any case, Sun Bao had always known his fate would be found in the lens of a camera. So, on a chilly evening during a charity event to save historic works of art, he was tasked with taking candid photos of the festivities for the charity’s website. While he meandered around, trying to remain unseen by the crowd, he spotted a girl through the lens of his camera.
She was beautiful and quite tall, with long hair styled so it was sleek and shiny. Her eyes turned, locking on the lens right as Sun took the picture. For a moment there was stillness between them, like two deer caught in headlights. She smiled, then he smiled.
“You weren’t supposed to look!” he teased.
“I certainly hope you won’t be using that.” She touched her soft cheek, and Sun could see the red paint on her nails. “I’ve never been one for cameras.”
“I find that hard to believe.” Sun was instantly smitten. “I could send you a copy for approval, if you’d like?”
The woman smirked. “Very sneaky, Mr. Photographer. You’d best give me your card. I think it’ll be better if I find you.”
Sun handed her his business card, but he wouldn’t know her name until some time had passed. He received an email with an inquiry for a job to take pictures at a wedding. After accepting the job, Sun was asked to come by the venue so he could take engagement photos for the invitations.
Usually, these things took place at a church, a garden, or some other location with beautiful scenery. Sun ended up at an old hotel that appeared to be crumbling from the outside. The old grotesques and gargoyles lining the walls were faded beyond recognition, and there was no sign of paint on the walls.
The doors nearly screamed on their hinges as they were opened. But rather than a ghost or demon shambling out, it was her; the beautiful girl from the charity. She waved as Sun approached, a joyous smile on her face. “They’re not here yet,” she said of the couple-to-be. “So why not come in and scout some places?”
Sun smiled, forgetting how creepy and dilapidated the place appeared. “So it isn’t your wedding?”
“Goodness, no,” she chuckled. She extended her hand. “I’m Mari Qiangwei. It’s my brother, James, who is getting married.”
Sun couldn’t stop smiling as he followed Mari’s tall, beautiful pear-shaped figure. She showed him around the old hotel, which must have been grand in its heyday. Now it looked like the sort of place you’d go to die rather than have a wedding.
“My family has owned this place for generations,” Mari said. “This is the Wild Rose. The ballroom is just over here. It’s where the main ceremony will be taking place.”
The once-vivid red carpets were now stained and browning. The embellished wallpaper was peeling away from the walls, and the ghosts of odors past wafted by on their merry way. The ballroom wasn’t as grand as Sam had pictured, either. It was quite narrow, and the marble floor had seen better days.
“Our parents are giving my brother this place as a wedding present,” Mari said.
Sun was taking a few shots to check the lighting, and how the dingy room photographed in general. “What does he plan to do with it?” To Sun, it felt like a cruel joke. He would rather receive a crisp five-dollar bill than this crumbling nightmare.
“He’ll do what our family has done for generations - run it.” Mari watched Sun with a keen eye before approaching him. “It’s not operational right now. But James’ fiance is quite wealthy and wants to invest in something with him. They can’t have children, so...” She stopped herself, as if realizing this was something too intimate to share with a strange photographer.
“Will you be helping them?” Sun asked out of curiosity. “I mean, with the hotel and all.”
Mari looked at him, her soft eyes darting over his face before she gave him a soft smile. “I’m hoping to do some traveling before I come back here.”
“Where would you want to go?”
Mari scrunched up her face in thought. “Anywhere really,” she answered with a shrug. “Where would you want to go?”
Sun had traveled to many places, but there had always been one he wanted to visit just to see where it would lead him. “Probably China,” he answered. “I’ve never been, and I would like to find my family there.”
Mari’s brow knit together. “What do you mean?”
Sun sighed and gave a soft smile out to hide his own uncertainty. “You don’t wanna hear my sob story. You’ve got your own plate, I have mine.”
Mari stepped closer to him. “How about we talk over dinner?”
Sun looked at her with surprise. Mari’s cheeks were flushed and she was fidgeting in place. “After this shoot is done. How about you and I go have dinner somewhere and talk about our plates?”
It was the first of many dates with Mari. Sun told her how he was adopted. Mari revealed her family was struggling and relying heavily on her brother’s marriage. There was also a lot riding on Mari to find a rich and successful husband, a pressure she didn’t quite appreciate.
“My family has some very strange traditions,” Mari told him. “My brother and I are practically all that’s left, aside from my mom and uncle.” She always seemed nervous when discussing her family. Sun had noticed, when introducing her to his family, that she seemed to attach more to them. He had barely met her family, aside from her brother, whom he had to do business with.
“My family has always hosted these strange dinners. My mother makes it a point to invite as many people as possible, but right now, things are so hard.”
“What’s going on?” Sun asked, out of concern. “Tell me. Maybe I can help?”
Mari struggled to tell the story. She wanted to share her odd family’s quirks and passions, but for so long, she had felt they were something that should never be revealed. “It’s the hotel. If we can get it fixed, I feel like my mom will be able to relax a little. It’s been our family’s means of living for so long. I don’t think she knows much else besides her roses.”
Sun kissed Mari and she smiled. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you as much as I can. Perhaps one night we can host one of those dinners for your mother.”
“No!” An expression Sun had never seen before came over Mari. She looked possessed, almost on fire. As she settled and realized how her voice had changed, she shook her head. “My mother is very particular. She would not appreciate help that way. I’m warning you now, stay away from those dinners - even if she invites you.” She shuddered. “They’re very strange.”
Sun was a bit unnerved, and rather than have any sort of confrontation, he decided it was best to listen to Mari and agree. But already, his curiosity was piqued.
Between then and the wedding, Mari and Sun were building a relationship, and were falling in love. Already, they had been intimate, and Mari had been staying with Sun often, especially as the wedding drew near.
When the wedding day arrived, it was a bleak affair. Most of the attendees were smiling, but the atmosphere of the Wild Rose made everything feel like some sort of experimental play. Some of the faces in the crowd appeared ghastly and gaunt. Of Mari’s family, there was only her mother and uncle. Both stood at the very back of the ballroom, wearing black clothing that seemed better fit for a funeral than a wedding. The groom barely smiled at all, which Sun tried to reason as nerves.
“Why does this feel like a death more than a beginning?” Sun whispered to Mari as they were going to the reception. Mari seemed like the only bright spot to him. She had been crying through the wedding, although that was nothing Sun hadn’t seen before.
After the wedding, Mari revealed to Sun that she had purchased them tickets to China. They would go for a vacation, while also trying to hunt down Sun’s birth family. Sun was overjoyed that Mari made the effort to do this for him. They would document their entire trip, detailing every moment as well as the search for Sun’s origins.
The search took them to shady places, and some felt extremely dangerous. But even when Sun was losing hope, Mari was ever enthusiastic. And the blog they were keeping about the trip was slowly growing in popularity. Each day, there were more and more visitors on their page. Mari’s highly detailed accounts, coupled with Sun’s photographs, were getting attention from some very high places. The investigation led them to lots of dead ends, but eventually the popularity of their blog helped them gain leads.
But soon, Sun came to the realization that what was most important on this trip hadn’t been finding where he came from. Through it all, what stuck out the most to him was everything Mari had done, and was willing to do to help him.
Sun proposed to Mari, and she accepted.
Once they returned home, Mari moved in with Sun right away, despite some evident reluctance from her family. Mari kept updating the blog and answering questions from their followers. Then she came to Sun with remarkable news. A publisher wanted to turn their trip into a book!
Sun and Mari worked hard to update and edit the upcoming book. Once published, they went on tour to promote it. The book grew in popularity, and was optioned for a movie. Overnight, Sun and Mari had become a massive success. They were offered several more book deals, including one about the history of the Qiangwei family. It was at this suggestion that Mari shut down. She refused, and even started to get angry. In order to calm her down, Sun suggested they do a book about their upcoming wedding, and how the Qiangwei family was going to expand. Sun was going to take Mari’s name.
In the midst of all this, Mari’s brother, James, and his wife were having problems. Remodeling the Wild Rose was taking a toll on them, but James’ wife seemed to be going through something of her own. Mari often got calls from James in absolute hysterics. Throughout them she could hear his wife in the background, screaming and wailing.
While Sun and Mari were helping to write the script for the movie based on their book, Mari got a call that brought her to tears. James’ wife had died. They immediately went home to help with the funeral, and to take care of James and the family. Sun and Mari decided to cancel their wedding, and instead get married at the courthouse. Despite all this, Sun was happy. He didn’t care about the wedding. He just wanted to remain with Mari as long as he could.
Their success brought them a lot of job opportunities and income. They were often kept away on business, but Mari made time to visit her family back home. Everything was going smoothly, so much so that Sun and Mari had begun planning on having a baby.
“One last trip home,” Mari said. “Then we will get serious about having a baby.”
“I don’t understand why your family has never come to visit us once,” Sun sighed. “What about when the baby comes? We can’t take it back and forth on a plane so much.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Mari said vaguely. “You know how they are.”
No, he didn’t. Sun had barely spoken to his in-laws. They didn’t like him at all when he and Mari first started dating, and through all their successes, they had only been in contact with Mari. They had reacted with stern and condescending aloofness to the idea of their nuptials.
After Mari departed, Sun worked on turning the empty office into a nursery for the baby. He cleaned everything out, and was in the process of painting the walls when his phone rang. He thought it was Mari, but when he answered, it was her mother on the other end.
“Sun,” she said in a clipped, serious tone. “I have some bad news.”
Her next words caused Sun to drop the full bucket of paint on the ground, and fall on his knees into the puddle. Mari was dead. There had been an accident, and Mari’s neck was broken. Sun could barely register the words, but his grief was instant and all-consuming.
James came to pick up Sun and take him to the funeral. By that point, Sun had locked himself away, not taking anything in except for Mari’s coffin. He saw nothing else, and heard nothing throughout the funeral. He had to be led around by James or his mother-in-law, Fei. They refused the calls of his parents and sister, who were trying to talk to Sun and take him home. But Fei insisted he was home, and well-taken care of.
“Mari would want him here,” Sun heard Fei tell them in a saccharine tone. “I’m sure Sun will feel better being around the things and places Mari loved.”
For a while, Sun barely ate or slept. He stopped bathing as well. His grief had sunk him into a depression in which nothing mattered, and nothing came through. James and Fei took Sun to a hospital to recover. He stayed there for months.
Placed on medication and given regular therapy, Sun was given a camera to take pictures around the hospital. He was able to see the world again through a lens, but without the camera, it was hard to take anything in. Even as he got better, the camera became his safety blanket. As long as he had it, he felt safe to return home, or at least into the care of James and Fei.
“You’re a Qiangwei now,” Fei said. “You will stay with us. It’s what Mari would have wanted, and don’t you want to make her spirit happy?”
Sun was frozen by Fei’s words. “Yes, of course,” he answered listlessly.
Sun was taken back to the Wild Rose, which he noticed looked different now than before. Looking through his camera, the place looked completely opposite from what he remembered. Before, it has been an old, decaying building sagging under its own weight. Now it looked new. It was painted red, and the statues had distinct faces where before they had been worn away. Inside the carpets were clean and vivid red, the embellished wallpaper clung tightly to the walls, and no seams could be seen. The air smelled of disinfectant and luxurious perfumes.
Sun was given a room on the family floor where James and Fei lived, with Fei’s brother, Bo. There was also a supposed cousin, who refused to leave their room. Fei or Bo delivered meals to their door, as well as whatever supplies they sent for.
Sun spent most of his time in his room or wandering the grounds. He was never sure whether the hotel had guests or not. He wasn’t even sure if he had seen an employee beyond the few Qiangweis that lived there. All he knew, he saw through his camera lens. He would take pictures, sending them to Mari’s email address. He would write her long letters, expressing his love, his guilt, and his continuing dreams for them that could no longer be.
One afternoon, Sun was outside taking photographs of the countless rose bushes around the hotel. Fei tended to them religiously, and got angry if anyone plucked even one blossom. There were signs all around warning to not touch the roses, to not stand too close to them, and not even to water them without permission. Sun hated these roses. Daily he dreamed of ripping them from the ground and starting a bonfire with their remains. He took pictures of them, printing them out and tearing them up before burning them in the trash can on the veranda.
He had been arguing with Fei lately. She was insistent that she take over his finances. Sun had let his sister handle them while he was in the hospital. Fei argued that because Sun was a Qiangwei now, a Qiangwei should take care of him. Sun hadn’t even seen his sister since he came to the Wild Rose. Fei thought it best he had no visitors until he was ‘completely better’, something Sun argued might never happen.
“You are so selfish. Mari would want me to take care of you!” Fei didn’t seem to blink at the mention of her child. In fact, it didn’t seem like she wanted to mourn at all. She used Mari for everything against Sun, and it usually worked. Sun would kowtow to her commands, but on the inside, his anger was festering.
That afternoon, as he wandered through the garden and entertained more fantasies of destroying Fei’s precious roses, he reached out to pluck one. Instantly a wasp appeared and stung his hand. Sun panicked. He had to get back to the hotel for his epipen. His hand was already starting to swell, and it was becoming hard to breathe. He was trying his hardest to reach the hotel when he passed the well house. The ground opened under him, wood splintered, and he went tumbling through the dark air.
He landed with a horrible thud. He still couldn’t breathe, and he was in agony from the fall. Sun wondered if he was going to die there as he gazed up at the sunlight above him. He rolled his head to the side, gasping what might be his final breaths. There was a scattering of dead roses all around him. Some were dried and turning to dust, others were rotting, and some were new, maybe even seconds old. His vision was growing dim and blurry, but he could see something in the shadows. There were shelves, full of round objects.
As Sun was beginning to lose consciousness, someone stood over him. Someone with a red silk robe with long white hair that draped down their chest. They reached down and placed a palm over Sun’s swollen throat. “I will save you,” they said, in a voice like a hollow wind. “But you will serve me.”
Sun’s lashes fluttered. As his vision swam, he saw a vision of a headless woman standing behind the first figure. The headless woman came up to him and knelt by his side, stroking his face and slapping away the hand of the other. “You get away from him!” she cried. She turned back to Sun, cupping his swelling face in her hand. “Oh, my poor Sun. what has happened to you?”
“He’s dying, of course. Good thing he isn’t like you. He might have a chance.”
The headless ghost turned towards the other again. “I remained to protect him!”
“And you’ve done such a wonderful job at it.” the other snarled sarcastically. “Now, it’s my turn.”
“No, no. Please, no. You can’t! Don’t touch him! Don’t!”
The headless woman was pushed aside as the white-haired figure placed their hand on Sun’s throat again. Their long fingers curled around it, then moved up to caress his jaw. They tugged open his lips, and a white mist spilled out, pooling along the ground. The headless woman quickly shooed the mist away, making it dissipate from Sun’s body. The swelling in his face subsided and he took in a long, ragged breath.
“He’s breathing!” the headless woman gasped excitedly, clutching her hands where her mouth would be.
The white-haired figure grabbed Sun up. “I’ll take him to the surface. Now that the door has been broken, I can finally see outside.”
The headless woman took hold of them. “No! It is my job to keep you down here! I am your shackles!”
The white-haired figure turned to laugh in her face. “You can do that. You can keep me down here, but then you keep him here as well.”
The headless woman’s grip began to loosen.
“He will see what lies down here come morning.”
The headless woman let go of him, and the white-haired figure’s laugh vibrated through the empty chamber. “He will still be mine,” they said. “You cannot change that.”
“I’ll pull you back each time you attempt to reach him!” she growled. “You will not find freedom!”
The white-haired figure chuckled. “You can try.”
Sun awoke to the taste of ash on his tongue and the smell of decay in the air. As he rose, he found himself lying in the garden. It was early morning. The sky was painted pink and purple and the moon was slowly sinking, paling in the sun. He sat up, dusting himself off before checking his hand, where the wasp stung him. His fingers were still swollen, but he had somehow survived the night.
He entered the hotel to find James standing behind the front desk. James was pale and thin, with dark circles around his eyes. His sleek black hair and face looked immobile, but when he saw Sun, he unfroze in surprise.
“Where were you?” James rushed out from behind the desk to approach him. “We’ve been looking for hours!”
Sun furrowed his brow. “I was in the garden. Did you not see me?” He kept his hand down, not wanting James to see it.
“I looked there myself,” James insisted. “I saw nothing in the garden last night!”
Sun just shook his head and went upstairs to his room. Once he was inside and had locked the door behind him, he looked at his camera. He scanned the pictures, seeing the ones of the roses he took before he passed out. After those were several files of nothing but black. He went through each one, counting them. There were at least fifteen. But then he started seeing something in them. It was faint, but it looked like there was a face in the blackness. With each passing file, it became a little more vivid.
“Do you see me, Sun?” The voice whispered in his ear like a trickle of cold water. It sent shivers through him as it flowed down his back. The chill crept into his bones, and he remained frozen as the face on the camera became much more vivid. It was skeletal, with pincers. Golden eyes began to glow, and Sun dropped his camera.
A long, spindly hand picked up the camera and handed it back to Sun.
“You dropped this.”
When Sun Bao was little, he used to love ghost stories. His grandmother would oblige his taste for the gruesome by telling him all matters of horrible tales. His parents absolutely hated it, but Sun loved his grandmother, and his grandmother loved him.
“Before your grandfather and I came here, we used to live in a small house in the middle of the forest. We would see all sorts of things there. When your grandfather went to chop wood, he had to be careful of the Yaoguai that sniffed around our home.”
“The Yaoguai were monsters, right, Grandma?” Sun would ask, always eager to hear her description of the creatures.
His grandmother would smile. “Oh yes, dreadful things. Always trying to get into the house. But your grandfather was strong and knew how to handle them. Some tried to make deals with your grandfather, since he was such a strong and honorable man. They would offer him power, money, good fortune, whatever they could think of.”
“Why?” Sun asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
“To corrupt him and spread their power,” his grandmother said. “Most humans can’t see the Yaoguai, so all they can do is annoy or frighten them. But when a human can see a Yaoguai, that means that human has a special power. If the Yaoguai can make a bond with that human, they can spread their influence in our world.”
“But Grandpa never did it, did he?” Sun asked with worry.
His grandmother smiled and stroked the top of his head. “Never, little Sun. Your grandfather was wise. Which is why I am telling you this now. You never know if you have that power until you actually see something. So be careful. If you see Yaoguai, pretend they are not there, or they will never leave you alone.”
Sun kept his grandmother’s words close to his heart while he was young. But as he grew and matured, he took the stories as fairy tales. He forgot his grandmother’s warnings. And when he was faced with a Yaoguai, he said this instead:
“Who are you?”
Sun shakily took back his camera. “What are you?”
“Is that really the question you want to ask when I am standing right here?” The figure scoffed, tilting his head to the side. The pincers on either side of his jowls clicked and rubbed together. The mouth behind the pincers was black and filled with sharp, yellowed teeth.
“What are you?,” the figure repeated with high-pitched mockery. “I am a thing with feelings, understand? After I saved your life, I would think you would be more grateful.”
Sun clutched his camera. “Down in that chamber...” His voice drifted off as he remembered falling. There had been roses scattered all about him, and a wall full of strange objects he couldn’t make out in the darkness.
The Yaoguai laid his hand on his chest. “Wasn’t it lucky you fell into my crypt? Imagine if the old bitch had found you like that? She’s been itching to get her hands on you, hasn’t she?” He snorted as he laughed.
“Fei?” Sun scowled. “Does she know you’re down there?”
The Yaoguai rolled his eyes. “Does she ever. If she knew I was up here with you, she’d have your head under the axe next.”
Sun’s frown continued to deepen as the Yaoguai spoke. “I don’t get it.”
“I’m not surprised. Fei isn’t exactly the informative type.” The Yaoguai sneered. “She likes her little secrets.” He shook his head and looked about the room. Under his robes, something buzzed loudly.
“Am I dreaming?” Sun held his head in his hands.
“If you were, would you be dreaming this?” The Yaoguai snorted. “No. No. You’re awake, you silly boy.” He picked up a book from the dresser - a copy of the one Mari and Sun had written together. A wicked scowl crossed his face, and he chucked the book across the room. “Sun Qiangwei - or is it Sun Bao? Which do you prefer?”
Sun stepped away from the bed. The figure before him was tall, with a curve to his spine that made them hunch over. His white hair fell down over his strange face, and two long antennae jutted from the top of his skull. For a moment, Sun’s grandmother’s words came back to him. He remembered her stories about his grandfather in the woods, and how the Yaoguai tried to make deals with him.
“I think you should get out of here, whoever you are.” He pointed to the door. “Maybe I’m dreaming. Maybe you’re a figment of my imagination. Lord knows I’ve seen a lot of ugly things lately, but nothing like you.”
“You live with Fei. She’s much worse than me. But then again, there is nothing like me.” The Yaoguai gave a flourish of his hands. Something buzzed again under his robes.
“But who are you?” Sun snapped. “I don’t plan to make any sort of deals with a Yaoguai! I’m no fool. I have a lot to be haunted by, but not by you.”
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down there, friend.” The Yaoguai stepped closer. “I am here to offer you a chance to take back what has been stolen from you.”
Sun’s breath shuddered as he pictured Mari. But he could hear his grandmother whispering in his ear. “Don’t make deals with Yaoguai. That is what they want.”
“You can’t possibly give that back to me. You’re either lying or manipulating me.” He shook his head. “Or both.”
The Yaoguai extended his hand to Sun. “I can’t exactly bring her back, of course. But I can help you see her again. I can also give you the power to take care of this ghastly family of yours.”
“The Qiangweis?” Sun whispered. “But who are you?” He was growing frustrated with the lack of answers. Over the last months, he had received few or none at all. No one would tell him any details of the accident that took Mari’s life. No one would tell him why he had to stay in the Wild Rose. No one would tell him why he had to keep on living while his Mari could not. He wanted to lash out. He wanted to burn that rose garden to the ground and ruin the soil.
“I am Zhanglang,” the Yaoguai said calmly. “And the Qiangwei family is my enemy as well.” His black lips curled back from his sharp teeth. “They keep me trapped here. All I need is a little help from you.”
Sun glared at Zhanglang, wanting him gone and banished from his presence. “I have no help to give, you got it? I’ll thank you for saving my life, but perhaps I didn’t want to be saved. Now get out!”
Zhanglang just smiled. “Then why were you running back to the hotel?”
Sun was silent.
“Why were you racing back towards the hotel? Back to where help could be given? Did you really want to die, Sun? Because those are not the actions of a man who longs to die.”
Sun continued to try and ignore Zhanglang.
“Pretend you don’t notice me. That’s fine. But I am here, and I exist! And I know how badly you want to make that pain go away.” He approached Sun, standing tall over him. “This hotel and the people in it all are against you, and you can feel it. Can’t you?”
He touched the top of Sun’s head. Sun jerked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“A hotel full of rooms, and yet there are no guests?” Zhanglang asked. “What is really going on here? Did your beloved ever tell you?” He looked into Sun’s eyes. “She never allows you into the dining hall, does she? She barely lets you off the grounds at all.”
Sun shook his head. “How do you know all this?”
“Because she has done it before, and she will do it again as long as she possibly can. Fei is not what you think she is. You need to protect yourself, Sun.” Zhanglang offered his hand again. “Let me be your guardian, and together you and I can destroy this awful family.”
Sun hesitantly looked at Zhanglang’s hairy palm. Then he glanced back into his golden eyes. What would it hurt? he thought. Whatever he was, whoever he was, perhaps Zhanglang could help quell the pain that was growing deep in Sun’s heart. He lifted his hand.
The headless woman ran into the room, but Sun didn’t react to her presence. He couldn’t see her, but she saw everything. She saw Zhanglang’s offered hand, and Sun lifting his own to take it. She screamed in horror, and Zhanglang tore his hand away, causing Sun to step away from him again.
The headless woman lunged towards Zhanglang. “I told you to stay away from him!”she screamed as she took hold of him. “You’re going back where you belong!”
Zhanglang jerked forward, and seemed ready to topple over. He shook the headless woman off, but she clawed at him again. She grabbed hold, squeezing tight around his wrist.
“You will go back to the chambers where you belong!” she shrieked.
“I’ll be back! You can’t stop me! I’ll get my way!” Zhanglang laughed as they started to fade pulled under by the headless woman. They sank into the floor like a person into quicksand, and grinned up at Sun. “Don’t trust a Qiangwei, Sun! Don’t trust a single one!” Then he was pulled under, vanishing from the room all together.
Sun sat back down on the bed and clutched his head between his hands. The headless woman cautiously approached. She touched the top of his head, then sat down beside him and smoothed her hand down his back.
“I’m so sorry I have to leave you alone here, Sun,” she whispered to him. “I’m so sorry you’re trapped here when you feel so broken.” She placed her hand over his. “I wish you could see me right now, so you could understand.”
A shiver went down Sun’s back, and he got up to go into the bathroom. The headless woman followed after him, watching him from the doorway as he splashed water upon his face. “I never wanted you to come here. I thought I could keep you safe.” She clutched her hands over her chest.
“Mari,” Sun croaked.
She started in alarm, stretching her hands towards Sun. He just looked in the mirror with the same dour expression as always. “I’m sorry I have so much hate in my heart, Mari.”
Mari dropped her hands and held them to her chest. “It’s okay, Sun.”
Sun gripped the sides of the sink and dropped his head. “I want this pain to go away. I don’t want this hate anymore.” Tears began to stream from his eyes. “I just want to live with you again. I can’t stand it anymore.”
Mari stood beside him, placing her palm against the mirror so it left an imprint. As Sun raised his head, he saw the handprint on the mirror and placed his hand beside it, trying to see if it was his own. But the print could fit into his palm, the same way Mari’s hand would. He splashed water onto the mirror and stormed away from it.
Mari wished she had a head on her shoulders, so she could weep for the man she loved.
As Sun went to get something to eat from the kitchen, he crossed Fei and Bo standing in the hallway. They were facing one another, but they turned in sync as Sun approached. Sun froze. He’d always had an irrational fear of his mother-in-law, especially now, when he was in such a vulnerable state. He hated her, but he needed her, and it was chewing him up inside.
“Sun,” Fei finally said. “James told me the state you were in when you came back. What happened to you?”
Sun kept his hand against his side. It was still partially swollen from the wasp sting. “I fell asleep in the garden, that’s all.”
Her sharp eyes narrowed at him before she looked away from him again. “You need to be careful. Dangerous things lurk out there in the garden.”
Sun’s breath went cold in his chest. “I see.” He remembered the chamber he fell into. It had been full of roses in all states of decay. He turned to leave, wanting to escape Fei and Bo’s unblinking eyes.
“Wait, Sun.” Fei called after him.
Sun froze in his tracks and turned around again. “Yes?”
“I mean it. Stay out of the garden. There is nothing for you there, and I’ve noticed some of my roses have been bruised. If you were responsible, don’t you think Mari would be disappointed in you?”
That awful chill poured down Sun’s spine. He shook his head. “She would.” His voice cracked.
“Good. Then stay out.” Fei turned back to her brother, and the two vanished around the corner.
Over the next few days, Sun kept track of the family’s whereabouts. He figured out their schedules, their routines, and when he thought he had them down, he decided to wander the hotel. He took his camera with him as he combed through the rooms. He started by taking pictures of the doors, before he tested the knobs to see if he could open them. Each one was locked. There were no occupants in the hotel.
He studied the photographs he took of the doors, finding that they looked different from what he saw with his own eyes. He hadn’t trusted his eyes since Mari passed, but his camera showed him everything clearly. In the photos, the doors looked old. The wood had dents and water damage, and the numbers were sometimes missing or rusted. It was like when he saw the hotel the first time with Mari.
Sun eventually learned that James had a skeleton key that unlocked every single door of the hotel, kept it under the front desk in a lockbox. Every couple of days he would leave the front desk for a few hours as he dealt with things elsewhere in the building - doing maintenance in the basement, or assisting his mother with something.
But these tasks took time, which allowed Sun an opening to take the key. He was able to break the lock on the box, and he snapped photos from behind the desk. Then he made a pressing of the key so he could duplicate it later.
“What are you doing, Sun?”
Sun looked up, terrified he had been found out, when he saw Zhanglang sitting in the lobby.
“You’re back.” Sun was relieved, but frightened all at the same. “What for?”
Zhanglang spread his arms. “Where else could I possibly go?” He grinned at Sun. “Besides, you need me. You just don’t know it yet. What are you doing, Sun?”
Sun shook his head. “I’m looking for something.”
“Well, then, look no further!” Zhanglang stood from his seat and approached Sun. “I have everything you’re looking for, and more.”
“I can’t trust you. For all I know, I’m losing my mind, and you’re part of a horrible spiral.” He gnashed his teeth together. “I would prefer you leave me alone.”
Zhanglang looked down at the key. “What are you hoping to find, Sun? Answers? Problems? Or are you looking for an excuse?” He placed his hand under Sun’s chin. “I can give you comfort. I can make life safe for you again.”
Sun looked into Zhanglang’s eyes. “How can I believe you?”
Zhanglang gently caressed Sun’s cheeks. “What have you got to lose, Sun?” He mockingly waved his hands at the dilapidated lobby. “All this? Only an arsonist would want this place, don’t you think?
A scream through the lobby, but Sun didn’t hear it. When Zhanglang grew still, Sun pulled away and placed the key back into the box.
Zhanglang turned to see Mari floating down from the glass windows above. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Excuse me for a moment. Keep going about your business.” He stepped away from the front desk, and Mari landed before him on the red carpet, fists clenched as she angrily threw herself at him. She pushed him to the ground, fighting him as he dissolved back into the earth again.
As Sun rose from behind the counter, he saw that Zhanglang was gone. He looked around, tucking the imprint of the key away. “Any more of this nonsense, and I’m really going to fall off the deep end.”
That evening, Sun made a key from the imprint. The following afternoon, when he knew Fei and Bo would be gone and while James remained at the front desk, he went to the floor below his room taking the key to test on the doors. He took a deep breath as he slid the key into a lock, and slowly he twisted. The lock squeaked and turned, and the door opened up.
Inside, the room was empty. There was a neatly-made bed against the wall that looked untouched, a couple of art prints hanging on the wall, a wardrobe. All in all, it looked like a sparse hotel room. Sun took a picture, and what he saw through the lens caused him to run from the room. He slammed the door shut, locking it tight before bolting back up to his room.
He locked himself inside and sat behind the door, hugging his knees. The room he left behind had looked normal, but the camera showed him a scene that was far from normal. There were creatures all over, climbing on the walls, clawing at the floor. Their bodies were raw and bloody as if they had no skin, and they left crimson tracks and smudges everywhere they went. Their mouths gaped, dripping blood, pus, and spittle as they screamed.
Were they in all the rooms, Sun wondered? Was that who the hotel was for? He shuddered as he cowered behind the door. It had been just one room. But the hotel had dozens of them. Who knew what else was lurking behind each door? Were there worse things? Oh god, Sun hoped there wasn’t anything worse than that.
He looked back at the files on his camera. Once again, the photos he had taken were completely black. But looking through the lens he had seen that gruesome, awful display. Each black file had slight shadows in them, hidden images within the void that showed the room he remembered.
Sun decided that if this was what waited beneath the surface of the hotel, and if Fei was purposefully hiding it, then he wanted to leave. He was packing what few things he had left to his name when there was a knock at his door. “Who is it?” he asked.
“It’s me, Sun,” Fei said from the other side. “Let me in, please. I need to have a talk with you.” Her stern yet emotionless voice sent shivers down his spine.
He stuck his bag into the closet to hide it, then let Fei into his room. She walked in, her posture stiff and hands on her hips. She looked about the room, already suspicious of her son-in-law, and turned to cast her sharp eyes upon him. “James said he heard doors slamming earlier.” She walked further into the room, pulling back the curtains on the windows to look outside. “What were you doing?”
Sun’s insides were like writhing snakes. They twisted and knotted then pressed into his throat, threatening to come out with fangs exposed.
“What makes you think it was me?” Sun asked.
Fei didn’t look away from the window. “Come now, Sun. We both know the answer. So stop being a child and just come out and say it.”
Sun remained quiet.
Fei sighed heavily. “I grow more and more worried about you each day, Sun. I have you here because I want to take care of you, because Mari would want me to take care of you.” She absently stroked the curtain, and Sun slowly lifted his camera to look at her through the lens. Through the camera, everything was the same, except for Fei’s hand. Her nails were long and black. Her skin was ashen and stretched tight against the bone, showing every nook and cranny of her hand.
“Mari would want me to have what I want,” Sun said calmly as he lowered his camera. “Fei, I appreciate what you have done for me,” he lied. “But I want to go home. I want to see my sister and my father.”
Fei tilted her chin up. “They are not your blood like we are, Sun.”
Sun heard something move behind him in the hallway. He turned to look, but saw nothing there, although the wall across from the door looked wet.
Sun furrowed his brow. “You’re not my blood.”
Fei turned, her stare as cold as ice. “As soon as you married my daughter, you became our blood. You are Qiangwei deep into your bones, Sun.” Her fingers curled around the curtains. “You belong with us more than you ever belonged anywhere else.”
Sun’s blood was pounding furiously through his veins, and he could hear it humming in his ears and throbbing in his fingertips. He slowly took a breath, careful not to make a sound. It felt to him like his entire chest was rattling. The more Fei’s cold, dark stare penetrated him, the more it felt as if his bones might come loose at any moment.
“You are Qiangwei! You are family!” Fei snarled at him.
There was a rumbling behind Sun, and something scampered into the room, moving around Sun’s feet to Fei. As soon as Sun could see it properly, his screams caught in his throat. He felt nauseous. The cowering creature on the floor that clutched to Fei’s ankles looked like it had once been human. Its hair was matted in places and balding in others. Limp, unkempt locks fell over a long, narrow face with bulging black eyes. The creature’s back was hunched, and there was a bulbous mass across its shoulders.
Fei placed her hand on the creature’s head. “This is your cousin, Bai.”
Bai looked at Sun, then buried their face in Fei’s skirts. Sun couldn’t talk. He couldn’t breathe, he just watched.
Fei walked over to him, with Bai following close behind her, holding the hem of her skirts. “Unpack that bag, Sun.” She placed her hand on his arm. “Get dressed and join your family for dinner.”
Bai started shrieking with laughter, seemingly excited for dinner. Fei’s eyes slid up to Sun, while her fingers coiled ever tighter around his arm. “In the dining hall. Do not be late.” Fei left the room, with Bai at her heels, closing the door silently behind her.
Sun looked through the lens of his camera again, and saw that the curtains were shredded where Fei had been touching them. He lowered his camera again, setting it aside as he took his bag from his closet. He set the bag on his bed and looked through his few belongings. He had never been invited to dinner before. He had always gone to get food for himself or it had been delivered to him. He had been warned not to go to the dining room by Fei before. So why now?
“I can go with you,” a voice whispered in his ear.
Sun closed his eyes as Zhanglang wrapped their hairy arms around him. The embrace felt warm and strong. He leaned back into Zhanglang’s chest as his pincers grazed against his ear.
“Let me be your dinner guest.” Zhanglang ran a hand down Sun’s chest. “I will show you the truth without your camera lens.”
Sun kept his eyes closed, feeling only the warm embrace he longed for. Zhanglang’s spindly hands rubbed down his chest and back up, coiling around his chin and cheek to turn his head. “How can I trust you?” Sun asked again.
“It’s me or Fei,” Zhanglang growled. “Make your choice, Sun.”
Sun wanted to make the pain go away, being with Fei only made it more palpable. He took hold of Zhanglang’s wrists. “Please...” he whispered. “Help me.”
“No!” Mari’s voice echoed through the room. “Stop it!”
Zhanglang forced her back with a grin. “He belongs to me now. You and those roses no longer have any hold on me.”
Mari was the child of her mother’s second marriage. Her brother James, from the first, never quite warmed up to the idea of having a sister, let alone a second father. Mari never knew much about her mother’s first husband, but believed he died when he accidentally fell from one of the top stories of the hotel. When she was still quite young, her own father met a similar fate after a tree in the garden collapsed on him. Mari could not recall his funeral, even though her mother insisted they had one.
Growing up in the old hotel, Mari grew accustomed to several things. She memorized the layout of the hotel and found that every so often it changed inexplicably. She had also gotten used to the residents of the hotel; new, old, and other. She could walk by a room and have an understanding of who was inside. She was never aware there was anything strange about it until she grew up.
Unlike James, Mari was adamant about going to college. After reading about it in a book, she so badly wanted to go. Her mother always tried to squelch the idea because, in her words, Mari had a guaranteed career when she grew up. This never stopped Mari, though. She managed to save up money and went to college for exactly one year. She was called home when her aunt tragically passed away.
By then, Mari knew enough about the real world to realize the hotel and her family were much stranger, even scarier than she had originally assumed. Mari assumed the role of guardian for her family, not because they needed protection, but because she felt that the world needed to be protected from them. There were things gathered in the hotel that didn’t need to get out. Not to mention what her mother kept in the garden.
Fei Qiangwei had once been in love with a Yaoguai named Zhanglang. Mari had heard the story directly from her mother once, when Fei was drunk. She described the affair in detail, and how she gave birth to a child even before James. Eventually, the romance turned sour and Fei imprisoned Zhanglang on the hotel grounds, using him as a beacon for all the spirits that now resided within the hotel.
Mari was never sure how her mother kept a Yaoguai trapped until she died. Once she did, she knew the secret - her mother’s roses, imbued with her own magic, along with the decapitated heads of many of the Qiangwei family. These included James’ father, her father, aunts, uncles, cousins, and most recently, James’ wife and Mari herself. The headless spirit of each ancestor was another link in the chain that kept Zhanglang tethered to Fei’s malicious intent. Mari, as the newest link, kept him shackled.
Now, the chain was broken. Each link was scattered to the winds. With the bond that Zhanglang had formed with Sun, he was free, and his anger was strong.
Mari had tried to stop it, but she was too late to save her husband. When Zhanglang banished her, she found herself in a graveyard miles from the hotel. As she rose from the ground, she looked around to see other spirits, lost and confused. The headless ones that had come with her were now wandering, begging for their heads.
As Mari gathered herself, she could see the lights of the hotel in the distance. “Please Sun, please,” she prayed, hands clasped above her empty neck. “Stay strong.”
She felt a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around she saw an old woman standing there. “Who are you?”
The old woman smiled. “Give me your hand, young lady.”
Mari extended her palm, and the old woman placed a cockroach there. “What is this?”
“A way to save Sun,” she said. “Crush it before the Yaoguai, and you will have a small window of opportunity to overpower him.”
Mari clutched the insect close to her chest. “Thank you. But who are you?”
The old woman chuckled and nodded her head. “I am Sun’s grandmother. Someone who loved him as much as you do.” She faded away as she spoke, turning to dust in the breeze and blowing away into the night.
Mari instantly raced back towards the hotel, careful to keep the cockroach in her hand.
Back at the Wild Rose, Sun was coming into the dining hall. He had never been there before, but what he saw chilled him to the bone. All around the table were grotesque and frightening specters, their mouths wide open as they shoveled food from the table into their gaping maws. Bai was bouncing around the table, snatching up morsels and screaming at the slobbering specters.
James, Fei, and Bo sat at the head of the table, watching as Sun as he entered. Fei glared harshly at him, rising from her seat to fetch him closer. Her sharp fingers dug into his wrist as she dragged him to the table. “I told you not to be late!” She forced him into a chair. “Now stay there!” She shoved a plate before him and served him.
“You know I don’t eat meat,” Sun said calmly.
“You’re a Qiangwei. You do.” Fei grabbed a piece of meat with her bare fingers and started to force it to his lips. “Try it.”
Sun kept his mouth shut.
“Try it,” Fei’s voice dropped to a hissing growl.
Sun glared at her.
“Eat it!” Fei started to smash it into his mouth when her wrist was captured. She looked up to see Zhanglang standing over her.
“Fei, my darling,” Zhanglang hissed. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
Fei smiled and started to laugh. She looked at Sun and shook her head. “Oh, you stupid, stupid boy.”
Zhanglang grabbed Fei’s neck and, with a simple twist, he snapped it. Fei crumpled to the ground as James and Bo screamed. Bai clapped his hands from the other side of the room. The specters swarmed close, clambering on top of Fei and feasting on her flesh. “Now this is a party!” Zhanglang laughed triumphantly.
Sun closed his eyes to avoid looking at the pile of writhing bodies feasting on Fei. He hadn’t meant for that fate to befall her, but it was apparent that Zhanglang did. He watched as Bai came up to greet his other parent, slowly taking on a shape more like Zhanglang than the one he had worn with Fei. A shiny carapace and wings sprouted, from his back and his hair grew out thicker from his head.
After his transformation, Bai started chasing Bo and James around with some of the other spirits in the hotel. The two men locked themselves in the kitchen, while the creatures clawed and screamed at the door, covering it in bloody prints.
Zhanglang sat down beside Sun, putting his arm around him. He propped his feet on the table as he reveled in the chaos around them. The walls in the hotel were warping, becoming flesh-like and oozing. What appeared to be dark blood dribbled down from the seams, and more of the horrible monsters writhed from the pulsating walls.
Sun was beginning to realize to an unsettling degree that he had traded one monster for another. At least with Fei, he could only see this world through the lens of his camera. With Zhanglang, his vision was horribly, painfully clear. He just wanted to go home, and that had clouded his mind so much he didn’t see Zhanglang’s deal for what it was. He wanted to escape Fei, but he ended up with much the same.
Outside the hotel, Mari had run up to discover writhing, dripping vines surrounding the entire grounds, creating a barrier like a spiderweb. She couldn’t get through them no matter what she tried. Headless and desperate, Mari wandered around the entire property, hoping to find a way to get in. She wasn’t the only one. A crowd of headless bodies were wandering around as well, trying to find the heads that Fei had taken.
“Oh, this is all hopeless,” Mari lamented. She looked at the cockroach in her palm. “I have to get to Sun somehow.”
As she approached the garden, she noticed that part of the fleshy webbing was thinner near the roses. Wiggling her hand through, she was able to grab hold of a rose bush. Out of curiosity, she yanked back, pulling the rose bush with her so it brushed against the sinewy strands. The strands recoiled and shrank away from the rose bush with a shrieking noise. With a gasp of triumph, Mari was able to slip through and fall into the garden.
She stumbled, falling and dropping the cockroach that Sun’s grandmother had given her. It skittered away, running fast as Mari gave chase. It fell into the crypt, and Mari floated in after it. As she landed inside, she saw a peculiar shape standing before the shelf of heads.
“Mother?” Mari asked.
The spirit turned, haggard and hunched, her long hair falling and dragging across the floor. She reached out, pointing at Mari. Her hand shook, and her finger was knobby.
It was hard to feel sorry for her mother’s passing. In fact, it had been a relief. It had been Mari’s mother who killed her, such was her desire to keep Zhanglang under her control and to keep the spirits from inhabiting the hotel. Their greed made her richer, and better able to manipulate the poor fools who fell into her traps.
Mari looked down and saw the cockroach on one of the rotting roses. She picked it up and held it close again. Her mother continued to point at her, eyes hollow and mouth slowly falling open.
“I can forgive what you did to me, but I will not forgive what you have done to my Sun.” Mari kept her voice low and even. She regarded the empty space where her mother’s face should be. “I’m going to go save him now. You can stay here for as long as you like.” Mari floated back towards the surface, and all the while, her mother pointed in disapproval.
Mari was stunned by the changes to her old home as she walked inside. The walls were wet slabs of meat oozing who knows what. The floor pulsed and buckled, so she tucked her knees up and floated over it. All around, the horrible, greedy spectres her mother loved so much were running amok.
Mari decided to look into the kitchen before going to the dining hall. As she moved through the walls, she found her brother and uncle hiding in a corner. She wondered if they could see her, but she doubted they would acknowledge her. She moved on, through the door that led into the dining hall. There, she saw the discordance of all the creatures in the hotel running wild. They were gulping down food and fighting over it. They were running across the walls and ceiling, screaming and dripping.
As Mari floated into the room, she saw Zhanglang with his arms around Sun. Anger grew inside her, but she knew she couldn’t hold on to it, or she would have no chance against Zhanglang. She approached quietly, but Zhanglang still noticed her. He stood while Bai watched from the back with curiosity.
Sun looked up from the table, seeing Mari but not recognizing who she was. Mari could see that he was in pain, crying silently as the terror went on around him. Her resolve had always been set, but seeing him, she was more determined than ever.
“Headless thing, be gone! We do not have your head here,” Zhanglang said mockingly. “You’d best go back out to the gardens.”
Sun’s brow furrowed for a moment. Zhanglang laughed, placing his hand on Sun’s head. “Ignore them, dear Sun, and continue enjoying the evening. I will get rid of this one.”
“Don’t touch him!” Mari howled. “I warned you not to touch him ever!”
Zhanglang snapped his fingers. “Bai, take care of them.”
Bai stood there, looking at his parent and then back at Mari. He stood hesitantly, cowering like he had done at Fei’s skirts for so long. Mari had been kind to him. He could remember that. Mari had been small and sweet, often sneaking him sweets under his locked door. He had been a secret most of her life, but she treated him like an imaginary friend behind that locked door.
“Come now, Bai,” Zhanglang said through clenched teeth.
Bai was torn between his parent and his sister. He skittered on all limbs towards Mari, but as he approached her, he took hold of the hem of her skirt and clutched it tight. Tears filled Bai’s bulging eyes, and he wept.
Zhanglang approached. Mari tried to move forward, but Bai held her back. She looked up as Zhanglang stood before her.
Mari held out the cockroach in her palm, and saw the expression on Zhanglang’s face change. She was ready to crush it when there was a cry of pain from the table. Both of them turned to see Sun taking a knife to his wrist. “Sun!” Mari screamed.
“You idiot!” Zhanglang rushed towards him, ripping the knife from his hand. “If you die, where does that leave me?”
Mari crushed the cockroach, and from inside its shell a beautiful, bright luna moth fluttered out. It rose from her palm and into the air, the light around it growing and growing until it was blinding. Zhanglang screamed as the moth’s light intensified, encompassing the room and swallowing it up.
Sun hung suspended in the light. The blood from his wrist trickled up into the air, forming bright beads of red glass. He looked up, and saw nothing but light. Then he saw the moth floating down towards him. He stretched out his hand, and it was embraced. Fingers laced with his, and he saw Mari. She floated above him on moth’s wings, with a large smile on her face. Her long hair was soft white, and her skin was like the glow of the moon. The wings on her back were bright green and fluttered gently.
Sun smiled at the sight of her face, and closed his eyes as they met for a kiss. Mari’s fingers slipped around his wrist, healing the cut he’d made.
“Can I go with you now?” Sun whimpered.
Mari wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a tight embrace. “I would rather you didn’t.” She cupped his face between her hands. “I know it’s hard, and I know you are hurting. I never should have stayed, Sun.” She pressed her forehead to his. “I was selfish and wanted to live my life with you. But I should have continued to guard my family.”
“Please!” Sun cried. “I can’t… I can’t go on in a world without you.”
“There is so much more than me in it,” she said. “You have your family still, and you can depend on them.”
Tears flowed from Sun’s eyes as he took Mari into his arms again. He buried his face in her shoulder and wept uncontrollably. Mari held him tight, kissing his face and hair. She stroked her hands down his back.
Sun woke to hear a buzzing noise. He half expected to see Zhanglang, but the more he came to, the more the buzz became beeping and chattering, the sound of a busy hospital. He looked around, and only saw glow at first before the hospital room came into focus. He saw his father asleep in a chair, and his sister pacing back and forth as she whispered into a phone.
Sun woke to the loving welcome of his family. For the first time in a long time, he felt an overwhelming relief.
“We got the call last night,” his sister said. “The police told us they were taking you to the emergency room.”
“What happened?” Sun looked between their faces, overwhelmed by their presence.
“That awful hotel collapsed,” his father said. “It just… they can’t explain it. The whole place just imploded and sank into the ground. You were the only one who survived.”
“They said they found you outside in the rose garden.” His sister continued. “We’re going to take you home as soon as the doctors give their okay.” She hesitated as she gave him a concerned look. “Do you remember anything?”
Sun remembered Mari, the beautiful moth he had seen. He remembered embracing Zhanglang and seeing Fei die. He could see the light above him from the bottom of the crypt, and once again, he could remember Mari’s smiling face.
Sun closed his eyes and shook his head. “No,” he lied. “I don’t remember anything about last night.”
“Well, It’s a miracle you’re still here,” his sister sighed. “Not to worry. We’re going to take care of you until you can get out on your own again.”
Sun relaxed back into the bed and nodded. “Thank you.”
The days went by in a blur, alternately slow and fast. Sun was sitting on the porch of his childhood home when it finally dawned on him he was really home. He looked out over the yard, seeing the sidewalk laid out beyond the sea of green grass. He stood, watching the black asphalt go on and on through the sleepy neighborhood. More houses had sprung up since he was last there, but the air was the same. The feeling was the same.
He smiled and settled back down in the chair when the door opened. His father came out, bringing him a drink and sitting beside him to talk.
The days started to separate after that. He could recognize a new one from the old. His sister kept him on a schedule, making sure he took his medication on time, ate his meals, and kept his room tidy. She took him for his doctor’s appointments, and helped him get a new camera. It was lucky he never gave Fei permission to handle his finances.
Slowly, Sun started going out on his own. He wandered around his old neighborhood, and took a job at the local photography studio where he got his first start. He updated the blog that he and Mari had kept together. He put up photos that had not been published, mostly ones of Mari. He started writing about his recovery and his depression. He talked about the normal things, and left the other parts out. He was not sure how he could explain Zhanglang to anyone.
One evening, as he sat on the porch, going over files in his camera, a luna moth came and settled on the light. It sat there, wings slowly moving before stilling in the glow. Sun smiled at it, and as he extended his hand, the moth fluttered down into his palm. Its legs tickled as it moved from his hand and to the scar on his wrist.
“Hello, Mari,” Sun croaked softly. “I’m glad you came for a visit.”