That girl, trailing long water stains, was here tonight, too.
"I... wind thom water..." Her voice sounded slurrier than yesterday, some of the syllables not even coming out right.
It felt like her lips had been stitched together.
I poured her water, and the girl unexpectedly uttered a thank you.
"You're welcome." I replied, looking straight at her out of politeness. It was the first time I got a proper look at her face.
She was a neat-looking young girl, just fourteen or fifteen years old. Her long hair was wet like kelp clinging to her cheeks and neck. The girl's eyebrows and eyes were both slightly drooping in shape; although she was expressionless, she had already revealed some bitterness in her eyes.
I couldn't help but start fantasizing about what had happened to her.
Had she run away from home after a fight with her parents and found nowhere else to go? Or was she bullied? ...
"Sanks." She murmured.
"It's… …"
The girl had no teeth in her mouth!
The impact of the scene was overwhelming, forcing me to cut off the words rigidly.
Instead of teeth, her sockets were full of tiny holes that wouldn't close up. Her gums were incomplete, and it looked like her teeth had been violently ripped out.
In a single glance, I saw all of that! But I wished with all my heart that I had seen nothing. So I composed myself and started wiping the glasses on the bar, pretending to be busy with my work.
"Look..." the girl suddenly reached out and touched me.
Her skin smelled fishy from the rain.
She cocked her head and stared at me, grinning deliberately, showing me once again her sinewy, broken oral cavity.
I was left with the feeling of game coming face-to-face with its predator. The lamb knew what the lion wanted to do, it just didn't know how the lion would strike in this momentary standoff.
In this high-intensity confrontation, I felt as if a circle of abnormal gravity had formed around us.
I couldn't move, I couldn't make a sound, I didn't even dare to blink when I cried... …
Thankfully, nothing happened in the end.
The girl left quietly, as usual, without touching a sip of the water in her glass.
As soon as she left I fell to the floor on shaky legs, gasping for air ceaselessly.
Just before closing the store, Vivi made a surprise visit.
"Today I don't work so I hang out with my friends in this neighborhood. I didn't expect the rain to suddenly turn heavy, and now I can get nowhere!" She sat down at the bar with a grimace on her face, right next to the seat the creepy girl always sat at.
"I'm closing soon, how are you going to get back?"
"What else can I do? I'll have to have my boyfriend pick me up later..." With that, she reached for the glass of water on the bar.
I hadn't gotten over what had just happened and forgot to clean it up. Vivi drank it all so fast before I could stop her!
"What? It's just a glass of water...she didn't even touch it, so it's just as well I drank it without wasting it!" She handed me the cup, leaving a pink lipstick mark on the brim.
"Besides, there are often customers who order food but don't finish it, I don't believe you haven't stolen their leftovers!"
Looking at her childish smiling face, I felt speechless, but deep inside there's still vague unease in my heart.
"Elin, I see that you don't have much energy lately, did the cook bully you again?"
Seeing that I didn't say anything, she became more certain. "This old scum, ugly as a turtle, lazy and lecherous all day long! I should put a curse on him!"
Vivi pulled out two sheets of cash from her pocket. She drew a crooked turtle on one of them, and a smiley face on the other.
"Alright, I'll take this old turtle, and from now on I'll put it in my shoe and step on it every day! The other one is for you... the smiley face represents me, and I will protect you if anyone bullies you again."
********
Last night I had a very long dream.
I dreamed I was in a dark, narrow place where I couldn't find an exit. I wanted to get out of here, but every step I took made me sink lower. The filthy slime was clinging to me like a million rotten arms, trying to drag me into the abyss. I opened my mouth to cry out for help! ...and that's when I realized there was not a single tooth in my mouth.
I woke up in the morning feeling heavy and showing signs of a fever. So I called and took half a day off from work.
"Splat splat..."
There seemed to be the sound of drops of water constantly falling.
Groggy, I got up from my bed to check the window, and only went back to sleep after making sure there was no leak. However, when I woke up, I saw a large puddle of water seeping into my bedroom from somewhere.
As I watched it flow toward the foot of my bed, I felt inexplicably uneasy.
Invasion. I don't know why the word just jumped out of my head.
Thus, I simply repositioned my bed.
Originally, my bed was parallel to the closet on the left, with the end of the bed facing the only window in the bedroom. Now I turned it sideways and placed it close to the window, distancing myself from the water on the floor. I lay flat on my back and could see the sky outside.
That's not so bad. I couldn't help but regret that I hadn't moved my bed here earlier.
It was 2 in the afternoon when I got to the restaurant, but the sky was overcast and rainy, and the daylight was as good as seven or eight in the evening.
The owner and the cook were coming out of the basement carrying large bags.
"Elin, you're here..." He greeted me out of breath.
"Larry, what are these things? ..."
"Ugh, rain is trouble! Made my business bad, and I lost a lot of stuff."
It turns out that it rained heavily last night, and water kept accumulating in the basement, causing the drainpipes to clog up again.
"I'll come and help too." Saying that, I was going to take the garbage bag from him, but he shook his head and refused.
"Girl don't touch these! I'm afraid it's going to gross you out... didn't the big rat that drowned earlier scare you enough? You don't want to know what we found down there this time."
"Toad's eggs!" The cook shook the garbage bag in his hand.
I could practically hear the pearly eggs sliding through the mucous membranes.
Okay. I took a deep breath and step aside.
If the toad's or frog—whatever—eggs are still here, then what were the things that swam down to the sewage yesterday?
What the heck is hiding in this restaurant?
When Vivi came to the evening shift, her eyes were puffy and clearly showed signs of crying. I asked her what was wrong.
"I slipped walking this morning... and fell..." She slurred her speech a bit.
"God, did you hurt yourself anywhere?!"
She opened her mouth reluctantly.
One of her incisors was missing.
********
It was a very windy day, with gusts of rain battering the windows. I looked up and out every now and then, and it always sounded like someone was crying out for help in the rain.
"So annoying, these teeth." Vivi looked much more haggard than yesterday.
"Does it still hurt?"
She looked at me and hesitantly opened her mouth.
" Look..." The missing incisor was quite noticeable, but what was more noticeable was her gums.
It was an unhealthy color, like rotting tuna, and when you got close you could even see the texture of the flesh peeling away in layers. Vivi pressed her tongue against the teeth on the right side, and I could visibly see several of them wiggling.
"Oh my God!" I covered my mouth in a fit of retching.
"I think I need to go to the hospital."
"It was just a fall, how did this happen?!"
"I don't know, I haven't even had a cavity since I was a kid..." She wiped her mouth with a piece of paper, which immediately showed a light trail of blood.
"Why don't you go to the hospital now, I'll take your place!"
"No, I'm here anyway, I'll go tomorrow."
Vivi went to the kitchen and brought up some food, but within a few bites her teeth started to hurt again. She picked up a glass of water and took a sip, not realizing that even the irritation from the warm water was too much to bear.
"Hiss-" She spat the water back into the cup. The water in the cup immediately turned somewhat yellow.
Those bloody clots that she spat out along the way languidly sank to the bottom of the cup.
It was time for the shift to be handed over, and despite my repeated persuasion, Vivi still insisted on staying behind to work.
"Elin, you don't have to worry about me!"
"But... ..."
"Are you afraid that girl will come again tonight?" Her eyes darted around.
To be honest, I had a feeling it had something to do with that strange girl.
It's just that I didn't understand exactly how she did it, and why she did it... …and in some moment, I thought that we were most likely dealing with some kind of situation that could not be deciphered by common sense.
"Don't worry, it doesn't matter if she comes or not, I'm always very lucky! I'm not scared of her." After hearing what I said, Vivi still expressed no concern. Instead, she spoke of the money with the smiley face she drew.
"It has my mark on it, remember to carry it with you, in case you really encounter anything...it will protect you just like me!"
Later on, whenever I remembered the conversation I had with Vivi that night, I felt regretful.
If I had stayed back, maybe she would still have a chance of survival.
********
The way home that night was incredibly difficult.
High winds swept up from all directions, tracing their own shapes under the dense drizzle. The streaks of rain swirled one by one, appearing suddenly beside one's body and disappearing at the blink of an eye.
Almost there! Just turn into the intersection ahead and walk a short distance and I'll be home.
I've never missed that little shabby shack so much, I thought, and I couldn't help but speed up my pace.
"Pat… Pop… Splat-pat… …Pat… Pop…"
What's that?
How come there are same beats at regular intervals in such a messy rainstorm?
I looked back, but there was nothing else on the street except a row of parked cars.
Am I the only one still roaming the streets in this kind of weather… Right?
I mentally warned myself not to get carried away, yet the sound continued.
Pat... Pop… Splat-Pat… …with every few steps I felt the sound getting closer and closer to me, like it was chasing me.
I would have run if I could have, but the rainstorm was like a giant fishing net holding me under water, and every step forward was a desperate struggle for me. My clothes were already soaked through, and they were so hard and heavy from all the water they had absorbed that I could hardly breathe. I felt like I was walking in a half-dry concrete pit.
Finally, I had to stop and crouch down on the side of the road to take a break.
The sound of the rain became more and more noisy, and the scene in front of me seemed to be falsely concealed by fog. I felt that everything in the world was muddled and melted together by this heavy rain.
Only that sound was still so clear! ...Splat-pat... ... Pat... Pop… Splat——
"Pat!" Out of the rain suddenly jumped two almost identical people.
They were dressed from head to toe in aqua-colored jumpsuits with nothing to shield them from the rain. The two had slender physiques, like two lean hounds. Although the wind and rain were coming down hard, they easily managed to stand still on the ground with an unbiased stance.
"Pop..." The duo jumped forward neatly, "Splat-pat..." They circled around in place with their hands above their heads.
Pat...Pop ... Splat-pat... …the second group emerged from the rain as well.
The same movements, the same rhythm, neatly and eerily.
Next came the third group, the fourth... I unconsciously ducked behind a car, catatonic and afraid to make a sound.
What the hell are they doing?
At that moment, I heard a bell ringing in the wind. The clear tone was like the sound of two porcelain vases colliding together. Through the layers of rain and fog, the tinkling was stretched out, extending a series of melodious echoes.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed that someone else was chanting along.
I felt extremely ominous, but I was unable to resist peeking through the gap. The rain poured over my head momentarily, and I was frozen to the point where my whole body was shivering.
The first group out of those two had spun around and disappeared into the rain ahead of them. I cautiously inclined my head to see that the people coming out behind me were no longer dancing around. They were pulling on two long ropes, following the pace of the group ahead of them, taking one step and stopping for a moment. Those who appeared further back were also pulling ropes, stepping calmly and slowly in the same rhythm.
The ropes stretched on behind them all the way, as if they had no end.
My head was numb from the rain and my judgment gradually blurred. Without paying attention, the keys I held in my hands fell to the ground with a distinctive noise.
The bell ringing and singing stopped immediately.
Although there was still the sound of rain, the scene was unusually silent.
I looked up warily, only to see them all standing still in place.
They had found me.
********
There was a muffled roar of thunder in the distance, and as if to echo it, the rain became heavier on our side. I didn't dare to blink, letting the rainwater flow into my eyes.
A few seconds later, the bell rang again, and the procession continued on as if nothing had happened.
Their silhouettes became obscure.
When a fierce wind blew, I vaguely saw it rolling into a bundle with rainwater and passing through the middle of the parade, and then slithering straight up into the sky.
The long ropes in those men's hands were also blown away with the wind. Two dark shadows followed the downpour, traveling with the wind, and finally disappeared into the sky.
When I came back to my senses, everything was gone.
Just like a hallucination, the long queue was also blown away by the wind.
Impotent to give it a second thought, I crawled back to my house like a zombie.
During the night, it was still raining heavily and there were occasional flashes of lightning. I lay on my bed with the window at my back and was about to fall asleep until I saw the water seeping in from all four corners of the room.
Rain is so annoying! Just as I was about to get up to clean, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, and the night was suddenly as bright as the day!
That was how I realized a row of shadows fell through the window onto the floor of my room.
Those people, I wonder since when, stood neatly outside my place.