"Yong often plays with a few Thai kids outside, and he finds all sorts of things laying around, dropped, lost or abandoned in the streets. Do you think this could be the cause?" Li's wife asked. I told her to bring everything Yong had brought home so we could look at them one by one.
Li came out of Yong's room with a bag of items and dumped them on the table. I could not hold my laughter as I counted them all, "A small stone, a plastic ball, a hard paper piece, what is all this stuff? A Used lighter...wait. What is this?" I picked out a small red bag and peeked inside. It was a necklace with an ellipse pendant, made from baked clay, around the size of a matchbox. There were some strange things mounted on it, like a small white plastic bead, an iron nail, a chunk of white cloth, and a tiny metal bell.
I flipped over the pendant and looked at a black and white picture adhered to the back. It was faded and worn, but I could make out a beautiful young woman who was wearing a white headdress, but she was not smiling like a bride should be, rather she had a look in her eye like something was weighing on her mind.
"What is this?" I asked as the Li couple leaned closer.
"A necklace? It has a picture of a wife on it, so it must have been worn by her husband!" Li said.
"I think so too. The husband put the wife's picture in a pendant and wore it everyday. I heard foreigners like this kind of stuff." Li's wife added.
"Was this necklace covered in red cloth when Yong brought it home?" I inquired.
"Yes, I remember asking Yong where he got it. He said he was playing by the road when it caught the corner of his eye. I remember thinking it was a bit eerie, so I took it off him and put it in this bag one day when I saw it sitting on top of his dresser. It has been there ever since," Li said.
I immediately reached for the phone my cousin gave me and took a picture of this pendant's front and back and sent it to Fang Gang. Ten minutes later, Fang Gang called me back, slurring even more than before. He said, "I don...have time to look….at the picture. You….you should go...and talk with the...the boy and try to get words out of him, and see what is the...the cause. If there is a yinling, they usually come out at...midnight.."
"Yinling? What is a yinling?" I asked, but got no reply. Then a thunderous snoring resonated out of the phone. I sighed, and hung up.
I thought maybe my cousin would know more, so I called him as well. He thanked me right away for what I had done already, telling me, "Li and I had some history going back. During the Cultural Revolution we were in the same production team in the old country. I was seventeen back then and always hungry. He gave me food a few times when I was starving. Now he is living very poorly, so I want to do what I can to help him. Do whatever you need to and I will cover the costs. If you can, take as little money as possible, I will pay for whatever amount you lost out of your time."
I couldn't really say no, so I turned to Li. "Can I spend some time with Yong? Oh. I have an idea. How about this Mr.Li: Your wife will sleep on the sofa tonight. You and I will sleep in the bedroom with Yong. I want to spend sometime around Midnight to see if Yong will talk to me."
The Li couple were very grateful, and nodded in appreciation. "Thank you very much Mr. Tian. I heard from Mr. Wu that there are people in Thailand that can cure these… evil diseases, but their services cost a lot of money. I don't mean to try to be insulting but, how much would you want for your assistance…" Li said humbly.
I told him that he does not need to worry about the cost until we find out what is going on. The most important thing was that his son was safe. That night, I took the extra precaution and sat in a chair instead of sleeping like Li. Li lied down at the edge of the bed. Since he was fast asleep, I took the stuffing out of Yong's mouth. Li said, "Whenever he would go crazy it is usually after nine pm, and you are right, the strangest behaviour is at midnight."
"We should untie him," I ordered. "We are two big strong gentlemen and he is just a kid, there's nothing to be scared of. Have your wife lock the door from outside and take away any dangerous object." I said.
Li obeyed and Yong awoke screaming as the bonds fell away. "Don't worry Yong, Uncle Tian wants to spend time with you tonight. Please promise me that you won't be naughty." I said as Yong nodded with tears in his eyes.
As the night progressed, the room got quiet again. The chair I sat on was made from bamboo and made my neck ache. I slouched down to get comfortable on the hard chair.
I must have dozed off. I don't know what time it was, but I felt a presence. I popped open my eyes and saw a short, white figure of a woman standing in front of me. I tried to climb out of the chair, but my contorted back raged with pain. I couldn't get up. Then I heard a voice, feminine, frustrated, and pleading.
"Why, why does it have to be today?"
"Why, why does it have to be today?"
"Why, why does it have to be today?"
She repeated this over ten times. Shocked and disoriented, I tried to get up, but my body was frozen as she walked out of my line of view behind me. I couldn't see or hear her. My hands shook and cold sweat ran down my forehead. I had the urge to run, to get away as fast as I could, but my hands and feet were stubborn blocks of ice. A voice sounded again from behind me,
"Why did you take me here? Help me!"
"Why did you take me here? Help me!"
"Why did you take me here? Help me!"
Again and again she pleaded. I strained my neck to try and catch a glimpse of the voice, but I was stuck like an icicle on a frozen awning. My teeth began to chatter and my head spun. Stop! I wanted this to stop! What was this demon doing to me?
As suddenly as this episode began, it ended. When the woman finished her circle around my back, it was no longer a white woman, but a young warm child. It was Yong, dressed in the same bridal headdress I had seen adhered to the back of the amulet. He looked deep into my eyes and leaned so close that our faces almost touched. They were not the eyes of a child. I shook violently, unsure if I was burning or freezing. As I began to hyperventilate, I focused on Yong's slow, deep, repetitive breaths. He opened his mouth to speak, and a cool draft brushed my face as that same feminine voice pulsed from his childlike face:
"Not here! Take me home!"
"Not here! Take me home!"
"Not here! Take me home!"
My heart pumped as if pushing sleet through my frigid veins, yet still I could not move a finger. He inched closer, and closer, and closer until his nose pushed up against mine, and then, like the sudden blast of a block heater on a cold day, he stopped, turned and walked directly to his bed, pulled the blankets over himself, and the room quietly snapped to life. I heard the delicate rustle of a breeze outside, the swaying of trees, the hum of a fan and the soft hush of Li's breathing to my side. I could move! I was no longer cold, in fact I was quite warm. I looked down at my soaked clothes and clammy hands.
I stood up and shuffled toward the bed, as if getting used to a body which I had lost for a long time and only recently found. Li was fast asleep and Yong lay flat beside him. Yong didn't move but his eyes were open, staring straight at the ceiling. I lurched back, bumping into a bureau with a resounding thud that shocked Li awake. I wondered if Yong if were dead, but his head shifted slightly and he looked at me. Li sat up, stammering, "What-what happened?"
"I… I… You should check up on Yong and see how he is doing."
Li climbed quickly up and fumbled for the light switch. When he turned back to the bed he saw Yong, eyes closed, fast asleep, breathing a calm steady rhythm. "He seems so quiet tonight. Maybe it was a peaceful night for him. This is unusual." Li said. My heart was still lightly fluttering, and my face was cold and damp, but warming quickly. I just wanted to bolt out of the room. I asked Li if I could switch places with his wife for the rest of the night and then went into the living room. I rested on a stool with my back to the wall, keeping a light on and pointed at Yong's door all night long.
At some point I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up early the next morning at around five o'clock. Li's wife got up shortly after and made us breakfast. My head felt like it had been smacked with an icepick. I didn't tell the family what I saw, but I offered, "Supernatural problems need supernatural solutions. I cannot confirm that Yong is having a supernatural disease, but I want to meet with an associate, Fang Gang today. He is the best I know at these sorts of .. issues. You should stay at home and wait until I get more information, if you can." I said to the couple and they nodded.
Breakfast was simple, rice porridge with a small plate of preserved vegetables and stir-fried bamboo shoots. It was a very simple meal by any standard, and it reminded me again of the financial situation this family was in. Yong sat across from me at the breakfast table, sneaking questioning glances towards me. Nothing seemed to be wrong as if he had no recollection of the insane events of night. But I couldn't get the image of the boy in a bridal gown, pleading with a woman's voice, and pressing his face into mine out of my thawing mind.
After I drove out of the ghetto to track down Fang Gang, I had a sudden desire for more food. I felt insatiated, starving even, and the simple meal with the Li's had done little to help. I pulled into Tom Yum Goong, a restaurant known for its hot spicy food. I ordered plate after plate. "How Spicy?" the waiter asked. "Hot", I replied. "Very Very Hot". Suddenly my phone rang. It was Fang Gang. I answered, barely able to speak with my mouth burning. Before I could finish my mumble-mouthed greeting, Fang Gang screamed into my ear, "Where did you get this amulet in this photo!? Stay the fuck away from it!"