Feeling a deep yearning for tranquility, Wei Jun found himself seated on the soft, golden sands of the beach, a haven away from the turmoil of his home life. The gentle sea breeze wrapped around him like a comforting embrace, carrying the warm scent of salt and adventure. As he gazed at the shimmering waves that danced playfully under the sun's golden rays, he could almost hear their soothing whispers, inviting him to let go of his worries and simply be. The warm wind tousled his hair and brushed against his skin, providing a sense of coziness that contrasted sharply with the chaos he had left behind. In that moment of solitude, surrounded by the beauty of nature, Wei Jun could feel his restless spirit beginning to calm.
When a deep, menacing male voice echoed through the silence, cutting sharply as it bellowed, "STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!!!" The weight of the words hung heavily in the air, each repetition reverberating with an intensity that demanded attention.
Wei Jun felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he recognized the betrayal he had inflicted upon his friend and crafted a lie to shield his mother from the truth."What have I done?" Wei Jun muttered to himself, the weight of the situation pressing heavily on his chest. He clenched his fists, desperately trying to convince himself that it wasn't his fault. "It was his fault, not mine. He should have been more careful," he reasoned, replaying the incident. The images flashed before him like a relentless slideshow, igniting a flicker of hope that perhaps he wasn't to blame. As the realization began to sink in, he wrestled with the guilt that threatened to consume him, wanting to believe that circumstances beyond his control had led them here.
But how much ever he tried, he failed in changing his thought.
In a moment of this thought, Wei Jun caught a glimpse of another man wearing a blue hoodie some distance away from him, he felt something strange, "Why does he look familiar?". Walking towards that man, warm and cozy wind brushed through Wei Jun's silky black hair.
As Wei Jun approached the man in the blue hoodie, his heart pounded with an inexplicable sense of foreboding. The figure stood at the edge of the shoreline, facing the endless expanse of sea, his back to Wei Jun. There was something eerily familiar about the man, but Wei Jun couldn't quite place it.
"Do I know you?" Wei Jun called out, his voice barely rising above the sound of the waves.
The man turned slightly but said nothing, raising an arm to point toward a distant cluster of rocks along the beach. Wei Jun followed his gaze, squinting against the bright sunlight as he tried to make out what was there. But when he looked back, the man in the blue hoodie was gone, vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. Wei Jun's heart skipped a beat, and he took a step back, looking around the empty beach in confusion.
A chill crawled up his spine, unsettling him in a way he couldn't shake off. He realized that now he had nowhere to go except home so he took a deep breath, brushed the sand off his clothes, and began the long walk home along a narrow, winding path that led through the forest edge. The air had turned cooler as the sun dipped lower, casting an amber glow over the landscape. Shadows danced across the trees, and the chirping of birds echoed in the stillness, contrasting sharply with the tension brewing inside him.
His thoughts drifted back to the encounter by the sea. The man's silence, his strange familiarity, and the disappearing act—each detail replayed in Wei Jun's mind, haunting him. A weight pressed on his chest, as if something unfinished lingered, hidden in the mystery of the stranger's gaze.
As he neared his neighborhood, the sky was beginning to deepen into twilight, casting long, eerie shadows across the empty street. Wei Jun's house was just a few blocks away, and he quickened his pace, eager to put the strange events of the day behind him.
But as he rounded the corner, he froze.
Under the flickering light of a streetlamp stood a figure in a red hoodie. The man's stance was familiar, his presence unmistakable. Wei Jun's heart hammered in his chest as the man slowly looked up, revealing only a faint glint of his eyes under the shadow of the hood.
Wei Jun took a step back, fear flooding his veins as the stranger raised his arm. There was a metallic flash, and before Wei Jun could react, the sharp crack of a gunshot echoed through the quiet street. Pain exploded through his body as the bullet tore into him, and he staggered backward, his vision blurring as he crumpled to the ground.
As he lay on the cold pavement, gasping for breath, the deep, menacing voice from the beach echoed in his mind, louder than ever. "Stupid… stupid… stupid…" The words pulsed through him, each repetition an accusation, a reminder of the choices he had made and the lies he had told.
Struggling to hold onto consciousness, Wei Jun's thoughts swirled in a haze of guilt and regret. The betrayal of his friend, the lie he had told his mother—they all played before him like fragments of a life he could no longer hold together. His strength waned, his breaths shallow and labored as darkness closed in, swallowing him whole.