As slow as anything slower than a snail, her eyes fluttered open. Her vision was blurry but her ears were sharp enough to hear birds chirping and the sound of the wind making the leaves of trees dance. Her eyes closed involuntarily as her vision cleared and the sun rays pierced through her eyes. It took a while before she got adjusted to the light and when she opened her eyes again, the environment which she found herself in was anything but familiar. She was on something very soft and she could barely feel her body. The windows were all open and she could see the trees and the singing birds. The orange colour of the sunset was also in view. Everything looked breathtaking and heaven-like. Was she in heaven?
She heard light footsteps in the room and her instincts began working. She could feel her heart racing and her mind telling her to stand up but she couldn't move. It was like she didn't have any other part of the body except her eyes and ears. She couldn't feel any other thing, she was numbed.
The owner of the footsteps soon appeared before her. As her eyes fell on the extremely handsome man standing above her, She couldn't help but conclude in her head that she was definitely in heaven. Only angels could be this handsome. The eyes staring back at her were a pure art of perfection, deep brown with a sparkling touch. His face was sculpted in the most irresistible way that made her want to reach out and caress it, but she felt limbless. His lips had curved up in a very perfect smile that she could see reached his eyes, then they began moving. She closed her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming and when she opened them and he was still there, her lips curved up in a smile of her own.
" You're awake" his voice sounded very soft and small, almost like a whisper or maybe it was just her imagining things in her half-conscious state.
" Am I in heaven?" She whispered back. She saw him smile again and then he shook his head.
" No! You can only be in heaven when you're dead and as you can see, you're very much alive" Mr Handsome said, his voice was calm like he was explaining something to a curious three year old. She did feel like one though.
" I'm alive?" She mumured and even she heard the displeasure in her voice.
" Yes you are" the calm and handsome man said again. " Do you remember anything?" he added.
Now he mentioned it, she tried to think and realised that her brain was blank. She didn't know where she was, how she got here. For a moment, she didn't even remember who she was.
" I can't remember anything" she said, her voice breaking at the end.
" It's okay Ah Cy. No need to be worried about that. You've been unconscious for days so it is expected"
" How did you know my name?" Ah Cy said, her instincts suddenly turning sharp. Her eyes were suddenly dark as she stared at the handsome man who didn't seem harmless at all.
" Hey! Relax. You think I'll have an unconscious lady in my house for over a week without knowing her name"
That wasn't enough explanation for her because she didn't stop glaring at him. He picked up something from a table beside where she lay and when he showed it to her, it was a chain with a shining silver pendant. The pendant was her name.
" I found this beside you so… I guessed it belonged to you… and I was right" he sai
Funny enough, Ah Cy didn't remember owning a chain as fancy as that. How come it had her name on it? As sudden as an earthquake, a sharp pain hit her in her head and her hands shot up to her head. So they were working afterall, she thought!
" Are you okay?"
" Well…no! My head! God, it's aching so bad" Ah Cy whined.
" You're probably thinking too much. Just relax"
Ah Cy took a deep breath and then she moved. She tried to wiggle her legs and that was when she began to feel them. She sat up on what she had now realized was a bed and rested on the headboard. All the while, Mr Handsome didn't take his eyes off her.
" Are you a doctor or something?" Ah Cy asked.
" Nope"
" Then who are you? And where the fuck am I?" Ah Cy snapped, a temper she didn't know she had rising in her.
" You have to relax"
" No! I want answers" she demanded. She heard him mumble a "fine" and then he picked up a nearby chair and sat beside her. His face suddenly became serious.
" My name is Jiu Ming. You're in Guilin" He said briefly, his eyes boring into Ah Cy.
" How did I get here?" Ah Cy persisted. She refused to be intimidated by his eyes.
" I found you unconscious at the shores of Yulong river. I don't know what happened to you but you weren't injured at all, not even one. You were just unconscious. For over a week now"
When Ah Cy said nothing, he added,
" Can you remember anything now?"
She could. She could remember everything but the memory only brought in more confusion cause she was supposed to be dead
Her hand went to her head again to support it cause it felt like it was going to fall off.
" How am I even alive? I'm supposed to be dead" she said, her teeth gritted in pain and in anger. She just couldn't understand it. There was no way she could have survived the accident, how was she alive?
" Why would you say that?"
" Cause I had driven myself over the fucking bridge and I had drowned. I had died" Ah Cy said.
" Well…you can't say that cause you're very much alive. Unless you believe in resurrection" he chuckled dryly.
" No! I know what I'm saying. I did die. And I had injuries, everywhere. The glass had pierced me in several places, how come there's none now?"
The more she tried to think, the more she got confused and the more the headache increased but she couldn't stop.
" And that chain, it isn't mine. I've never owned something as fancy as that, it looks way too expensive, it definitely isn't mine" Ah Cy continued.
" Ah Cy, you need to relax"
" Am I going crazy? It has to be that. The accident must have affected my brain and now I'm going insane, that must be it" Ah Cy rambled helplessly.
" You're not crazy, Ah Cy. You just need to calm down and we'll reason this out" Jiu Ming said, his eyes soft and filled with hidden affection. But Ah Cy would not fall for it, she could not. She was bound to be conscious and invulnerable after what she had been through.
" We? I don't even know who you are" She snapped.
" You're stressing yourself. Again, I'll say calm down…" Jiu Ming made to touch her as he spoke but she jerked backward and glared at him. When he saw the frightened look in her eyes, Jiu Ming smiled in a bid to calm her down.
" Why don't you rest? I'll leave you for now and when you're better, we can talk" He said and stood up. He went out and came back almost immediately with a glass in his hand.
" Here's some milk. It'll make you feel better" He said as he placed the glass on the table by her side
" If you need me, just say my name and I'll be here" he added. He gave her that warming smile again and walked gracefully out of the room.
Ah Cy pulled her knees to herself and hugged them tightly. Her brain was still spinning, like it was placed on a spinning wheel. She couldn't understand anything. What was going on? How was she alive? And her injuries, what happened to them? That chain, who did it belong to and why was it by her side? Who was this nice guy anyway? So many questions. Where was she going to get the answers?
Ah Cy sighed heavily as she shook her head and tried to stop thinking. The headache still wouldn't go away. She looked at the enticing glass of milk on the table and she couldn't stop herself from taking it. She gulped down the whole thing and it made her feel refreshed a bit. She took another deep breath and relaxed on the headboard.
Her eyes fell on the chain on the bedside table and a feeling she couldn't understand rose up in her. It was like she was being drawn to the chain and she couldn't understand it. Slowly, her hand reached out and she picked up the chain. The feeling skyrocketed making her shiver and drop the chain fearfully. Taking rapid deep breaths, she stared at the chain on the floor with fear in her eyes. Despite the fear she felt, she still felt drawn to the piece of silver on the floor. The more she stared at it, the more she was tempted to pick it up and the more she got scared to.
Eventually, she did pick it up and when she felt that shiver rising up in her, she held on tighter to the chain. She closed her eyes even more tighter waiting for what was next. The feeling rose up to her chest and settled there, flowing into every part of her body like osmosis. Her breath slowly got calm and she opened her eyes. She felt like she was floating but she was still on the bed. Slowly, she unraveled her fists to see the chain glowing in her hand. It didn't make her scared as before. Instead, it gave her an unexplainable peace.
Taking another deep breath, she closed her fist over the chain and held it to her chest. Her eyes were slowly closing, like she had no control over them. Her head suddenly felt light and she could barely feel her limbs anymore. She didn't realize when she fell quietly on the bed. She stared once more at the chain and then it was all darkness...