No sooner had I got on the bus heading back home from school than I understood the seriousness of the matter.
There was a strange crack stretching at the west sky under the setting sun. It was a long black line accompanied with two shorter black lines at either side of it. It looked as if there was a small crack on the sky. Nevertheless, the weirdest thing was that the black line extended to the setting sun, so the whole picture of the sky looked like a crack on a painting with the sun as its main theme.
I took my hand and waved it a few times in front of my eyes to see if it was a black line sticking on my hair or my eyelashes. Honestly, it was hard to guess the distance of this small line from me. It just hung on the sky, not moving an inch no matter how the wind blows it, and just somehow got there, even though it didn't really have any effect on your life.
"Hey! Can you see it?"
I lightly pushed the girl beside me. She was a female student of 160 centimetres with a ponytail. On her adorable face were limpid big eyes, long eyelashes, and a delicate nose. I thought if any boy were to stand in my position, they would become elated for standing near this beautiful girl.
There was only one problem: she was my sister.
"See what?"
My sister, with her head lowered to memorise English words, sulkily lifted up her head. Honestly, even though we study in the same school, we would avoid each other on the road back home if we could. There wasn't a special reason for this: we just simply want to be with our classmates. After all, we had talked about everything we need to after living with each other in the same house for so many years. So meeting her today was a rare occasion.
"That's it! Look closely. There's a crack on the sun!"
I pointed to the sun outside the window, but the scene stayed only for two seconds for the bus had travelled into a hustling street, and a high-rise building blocked the sun.
My sister didn't even want to respond to me and kept her head low, memorising English words.
I heaved a sigh and turned my head. I spotted a few male students spying at my sister. This was not uncommon, as this sister of mine, two years younger than me, had inherited the beauty and the white skin that my mother had at her youth—of course limited to her youth. If our school were to choose a few beauty queens, my sister would be the first, if not the third at the worst. It was only her bad attitude—at least to her sister, that is—that was inversely proportional to her beauty.
Be that as it may, our relationship when we were small was very close, like usual siblings. My sister had also once said that she wanted to marry her big brother when she grew up. However, when she was a bit older, I, her brother, had gradually become her sandbags for punches and kicks. To be honest, it was also hard for me to imagine that the little girl who always walk behind me and cry all the time was now a beautiful young girl with ponytails and a glamorous appearance.
Nevertheless, talking back to the topic where we had left off, what was going on with the crack? I looked behind me, but the oil lamp genie that came out from the toilet wasn't at my side now, for I thoughtlessly made a wish: "I'm so thirsty. I want something to drink." And after Ammonia gave me a cup of white gourd tea, he used up off his stamina and disappeared. I would have to to rub the toilet next time I go to the washroom for him to reappear.
Alas! If he was still here, I could at least ask him what was this all about.
Although that crack didn't seem to have any influence on the world, I couldn't help looking at it, especially when the sun was gradually setting and hiding itself beneath the roofs of a row of houses, the crack still stayed at its original position, as if there was a piece of glass floating in the sky.
"Why would anyone not notice such a strange thing?"
I scratched my head, and it occurred to me that it wasn't really that unnatural. From the view of most people, this wouldn't affect their normal lives. They may expect the media or the news to make a special report for it. Or even they may speculate that their eyes were deceiving them.
I suddenly began to regret making a dumb wish that made Ammonia to disappear. After all, today was Friday, and I would most likely not go to school in the following two days to 'scrub the toilet'. Perhaps letting that guy to stay at my side would make my weekend a bit more fun.
Toilet v1 p39.jpg
—
My home was close to the school, so I arrived to the station I needed to get off in less than twenty minutes' bus drive. I took my schoolbag, got off the bus and walked into an alley with my sister.
"Hey, you really can't see the crack in the sky?"
I couldn't hold myself from asking.
My sister furrowed her brow, lifted her head, looking at the direction my finger was pointing.
"Now you mention it...there's really a black line there."
She blinked her big eyes covered with long eyelashes, and stretched her hand to scratch her forehead a few times, much like what I did before on the bus.
Seeing her reaction, I said excitedly, "Yeah! It has been hanging there from just then."
"Oh."
"Oh? That's it?"
"That's it. What else could it be?" my sister seemed uninterested.
"Don't you think this is serious? It could be a space-time rift!"
A multitude of frightening scenes streamed into my mind: invasion of aliens, opening of the door that leads to another world, faults in experiments that scientists had made which produced a small black hole that would lead to armageddon...
"Bro, you've read too much manga." my sister picked up her pace to allude the message "walking with this guy is so embarrassing'. Then she continued, "It isn't a big deal. It won't be part of an exam. Moreover, things in sci-fi novels and fairy tails don't exist. By the same rule, there won't be any oil lamp genie in your real lives no matter how hard we rub an oil lamp."
"Is it so?"
I scratched my head, feeling helpless. I was unsure whether rubbing an oil lamp could call forth a lamp genie, but rubbing a toilet sure would.
But my sister was right about something—if this was as serious I had been thinking it was, wouldn't it be reported in the news? Nevertheless, perhaps there were already too many eccentricities in our lives that we had become used to seeing them.
When I was still running wild with my imagination, my sister and I had already arrived home.
Before I stepped into the house, I turned my head back to have a glance at the crack in the sky.
"If it was really serious, wouldn't it be reported in the news?"
I said to myself as I closed the door.
After that, it was reported in the news.
When we were having dinner, my father turned on the television. The anchor of the news report reported the news with a quick tone, "...Some citizens are claiming that there are strange cracks in their homes. The strangest thing is that these cracks float in mid-air! A reporter inquired the construction companies and they said these cracks have nothing to do with their construction work."
On the screen, a housewife with her face blurred led a reporter in front of a window in the living room. The maximized shot revealed a crack of fifteen to sixteen centimetres in length on the piece of glass.
"It's only a broken piece of glass!"
My sister couldn't help saying in front of the television.
The housewife pushed the window to a side, and a strange thing occurred: the crack didn't move along with the window and remained at its original floating position.
"Holy, this is too strange!"
My sister quickly amended her comment.
"Beside this resident, the reporter had also interviewed some other residents nearby, and discovered that these residents also had similar cracks that 'float in mid-air'. When the reporter inquired the neighbourhood magistrate there, he said that there were an increasing number of residents telling them this event since last night. There were also cracks in parks of small districts, some even in far skies."
After the reporter had finished saying that, the camera switched to the setting sun on the sky, and there was a vague black line in front of the red burning sun.
"Look! That's it!" I cried excitedly. My mum said while she bit her chopsticks, "This is so strange."
My sister picked up the remote control and switched to other channels, finding out other channels were also broadcasting this event. According to their report, these 'cracks' spread around everywhere like an infectious disease. However, these cracks weren't large and no one and no buildings had been hurt and damaged respectively. As such, the reporters didn't really report it with a sense of nervousness; instead, they took it as something funny.
"Look! I told you long ago!" though I tried to accentuate, no one in my family seemed to care.
"What a strange thing. Who knows what that is."
My sister turned off the television, took care of the dishes on the table with the family, and returned to her room. My mother and father went to the bedroom and the working room respectively.
"Ah..."
I looked at the blank kitchen, feeling dismayed. This was obviously a strange thing, yet why did everyone take it as something funny? Was it something so trivial that wouldn't leave a mark once it had passed?
"Forget it." I heaved a sigh and returned to my room to seriously investigate the reference books that were embedded with mangas,
—
And so, from Friday night to the weekdays, I lived like usual: watched the television for half of the afternoon, did two hours of exam papers which still left me at the first page, and played basketball in the evening. The world continued to rotate normally as if nothing had ever happened and no one felt something had gone wrong.
But the phenomenon above only stayed until Saturday night. That night every channel was broadcasting the same event.
"Yes. I'm now at the place where the car accident took place...hello passenger, do you remember what happened during the accident?" In the news report, the female reporter brought the microphone in front of a passenger who was still panicking.
"I don't really know what happened. It...was as if the car suddenly hit on something, and everyone was thrown forward...but there is nothing in front of the car!' the passenger with a swollen forehead said, gasping heavily.
"We are very sure that our car has passed the normal regulations and has no safety problems! The driver also had enough rest!" the head of the transport company declared.
"How strange. It was like I hit on a transparent wall: I can't get through no matter how I try..." the driver lying on the stretcher said in a weak voice.
"According to the reporters' investigation and the police's inspection, we have found a floating crack at the accident site."
The screen changed to the reporter, who was pointing at a small black line. When the reporter put the microphone to the black line, the microphone stopped as if it hit something, and made a colliding sound 'dong'.
"The reporter has found out by the microphone that this crack isn't a virtual image, so whenever something moves in front of it, it will be blocked by the crack...this should be the reason of the car accident."
"That's so scary..." my father showed terribly nervous to the news.
"How many other similar cracks will there be on the road? If a car meets some of these cracks on the highway, who knows what havoc will it wreck up...or perhaps if this crack appears in the aeroplane runway or in the flight track of the planes, who knows how serious will the threat posed to the passengers on board be?"
That being said, the screen changed to a passenger plane flying mid-air.
This car accident stirred up an extremely large turmoil for no one was certain they could abstain from meeting such cracks on the road they are driving on. When something becomes relevant to one's safety and interest, it wouldn't be taken as 'funny' anymore.
"Haha! I said this was serious! Look!" I said it in my heart, but as soon as I have read the eccentric atmosphere, I became silent.
"Be careful when driving in these few days," my other turned her head and said to my father worriedly.
Dad furrowed his brow and replied, "But...however careful I can be, I wouldn't be able to look out for the black lines on the road!"
"Then take the bus for a few days until these things go away."
For some unknown reason, whenever something big happens in the world, everything just believes that it will vanish or disappear after a while, and they would return to their ordinary lives.
"Taking the bus is just the same!" My sister said while wolfing down a pork rib. "Who knows when will a bus bump into that weird stuff? On top of that, a bus is even larger and taller than a normal car. Wouldn't it even be easier to bump into that?"
"Well then. I'll just have to stay close to the car in front and travel at a low speed," my father was still worried, "At least places where other cars can successfully pass through are safe."
After listening to what my father had said, my mother turned to remind my sister and I, "It isn't just dangerous for your father. You and your brother also take the bus to go to school. You should consider riding the bicycle or walking to school in these few days."
Having hearing that, I quickly turned gloomy. What this meant was that I have to wake up half an hour to an hour earlier. My mother was that kind of person who had to take action of things she thought was right.
Compared to my father who was easy to become nervous and anxious, my mother was always at ease, or in other words, living 'in elegance'. Even if my sister and I quarrelled for a toy when we were small, and when my father was trying to reconcile us in a flurry, she would always stand at a corner and watching us like watching a good play, covering her mouth and lightly smiling. However, once she took something serious, she would definitely take the measures she think was right, without any possibility of changing her mind.
The news report also included a declaration to the members of the public by a government spokesperson in the press conference: "The local government in every province has decided to gather an everyday road inspection team, which would search for cracks everywhere around the main roads and install safety or dangerous signs on relevant roads...especially in railways where inspection will be done from head to toe."
"Doesn't it sound better now?" My sister returned to her room after saying that. Honestly, I didn't really sense a feeling of surprise in her.
"Really."
I then also returned to my room, but before I entered the door, I hit something off guard.
Dong! I fell on the floor, experiencing intense pain in my forehead.
"What is this..." I lifted my head to find out that there was...a crack in my room!
Like the one reported in the news, it was ten centimetres in length, a bit distorted, and floating in front of the door of my room at a height similar to mine. Though it was hard to spot if I didn't look close at it. Furthermore, it was extremely hard. No matter whether I hit it, knock it, or push it, it still didn't move an inch—maybe I could even hang things with it!
"How awful. This problem is expanding."
Still worried, I dodged the crack and walked into my room while holding my painful forehead.
Having been tortured by such things, I didn't have the mood to do revision—though I still wouldn't have the mood even if it didn't happen. And so I lied on the bed and gazed at the crack at the door, beginning to go deep in my thoughts.
What actually was this? To be frank, if this was an anime, or a novel, and I'm the protagonist in the story, then perhaps I could say this was the omen of armageddon. And the world we are living in was like an eggshell beginning to show cracks, about to shed and collapse.
Yet, I wasn't a character in a novel! I was a living person, and I was very certain of this. Things that only happen in novels would not occur in reality! Like what my sister had said, rubbing an oil lamp in real life wouldn't evoke genies...Eh?
Thinking of genies, I jumped up from my bed abruptly. Perhaps this had something to do with it? After all, the 'crack phenomenon' occurred after I got the 'oil lamp genie'. Then maybe I had to go to school to call forth the lamp...eh...the toilet genie. Even if there was no relevance, I could maybe make a wish to put an end to his phenomenon.
Right! And also that promotional leaflet Mr. Yang gave me! That promotional leaflet of that Geography Club!
I hurried out of the room, almost bumping into that crack, ran into the bathing room, searched for the crumpled promotional leaflet, which was still in the pocket of my uniform thrown in the washing basket.
Everything written on it was still the same.
Welcome to the Geography Club.
You can enhance your geography knowledge and improve your geography grades with your friends here that also love to learn geography as much as you do.
This club is directed by WenMing Yang. Time: from Monday to Friday every lunch recess and Saturday PM 12:00.
"Time of the club: from Monday to Friday every lunch recess and Saturday PM 12:00..."
Reading aloud the words written on it, I quickly discovered something awkward.
"Saturday PM 12:00? Isn't that midnight?"
I couldn't help crying out loud, "What a nerve! Who would go to school to participate in club activities at this time? It must be some idiot who made a mistake in printing."
It had to be mistake in printing, right? If I took it like this, things would become much more simple, right? However...would it actually be that it wasn't a printing fault, and there was really a club activity at this time?
I reread the promotional leaflet from head to toe a few times in detail, but I couldn't find anything else wrong. If PM 12:00 was print wrong, then what was the correct time? Would it be noon on Saturday? Was it simply a mistake with AM and PM in the time? This made more sense.
"Yeah! It must be noon on Saturday!"
I almost laughed at my own ridiculous thought.
"I remember that some clubs, like the orchestra club, have practices on Saturday. There must be many more clubs having activities in school on Saturday! Though noon is the time for lunch and isn't arranged too well, but at least it sounds much more probable than midnight..."
I walked back to my room while crumpling the promotional leaflet into a ball anew and threw it into a rubbish bin. I stretched my body, lied on my bed, and used my own invented 'sleep learning method' to study.
However, the promotional leaflet and the 'PM 12:00' typing fault was still running on in my mind, and I couldn't forget them.
I rolled back and forth on the bed, trying hard to sleep. My mind was full of strange things that happened the past two days: cracks, a car accident, the oil lamp, the misprinted promotional leaflet...Were it not of the previous incidents, the misprinted promotional leaflet would have not caught my attention. It was like a hole in a funnel. When a multitude of unreasonable things gathered at one point, you would reach another world once you get past the point—a world that could link up all those unreasonable phenomena.
The minute hand of the clock hung on my wall pointed between eleven and twelve. Though idiotic, I knew if I don't solve this problem, I couldn't sleep tonight!
So I quietly crawled out of bed, wore my clothes, picked up the promotional leaflet in the rubbish bin, which was so crumpled it couldn't be more crumpled anymore, and softened my steps as I walked out of the door from the living room.
"Let it be that I'm cheated then!"
I took my bicycle and rode it through the arcade. Honestly, this was my first time riding a bicycle this late—with the school as my destination!
—
It felt extremely uncanny. It wasn't just the aberrant feeling of riding a bicycle to school at night, nor was it the excitement stimulated by 'the act of going against of rule' when slipping away at midnight, nor was it merely the uncanny of seeing only a few cars in a busy road at the day and flickering faulty street lights