by Dani Hoots
I heard my wife scream in panic, bringing me out of a dream filled with dust, blood, and fear. At first, I didn’t think it was real, just some kind of lingering memory of the dream I just had. After a few seconds, I realized it was real and that I had to make sure she was fine. Did Ming come back for revenge? No, jiangshi can’t come out during the day. It had to have been something else, although in the back of my mind I still feared the worst. I wouldn’t be able to handle it if something happened to her, it was the last thing I ever wanted. I quickly got up, and went down the stairs to find her standing in front of my painting.
“What is it, Meilin?” I asked, as she turned, showing a face struck with terror.
Hands trembling, she pointed at the painting. I looked at what it was.
And there, in my painting, was my brother as the jiangshi with red paint surrounding him, as if it were blood leaking from his mutilated corpse. I stared at it, not remembering it looking anything like that the night before. I remembered it being less traumatic, less... real.
“It’s your brother,” my wife exclaimed, still staring at the painting as if I had done something horrible, as if she knew what I had done. “Why does it look like him?”
Truly I didn’t have an answer. I hadn’t remembered it looking like that and I definitely didn’t remember using that much red. Had I done that? Had I really painted my brother? Had my conscience controlled what I was doing? I thought I had heard him last night, I guess it could have something to do with this. Maybe that is why I thought I had heard him, because I had painted him and everything was getting to my mind. I rubbed my face, hoping that last night’s rest would make all my problems go away now, that I wouldn’t let my subconscious take over my body. I would straighten this out and everything will be fine. I didn’t have to keep the painting and it was probably exactly what Mengyao wanted.
“It’s not him,” I dismissed her accusations, although they were true, more than she knew. “It’s a jiangshi and my brother is not a jiangshi.”
“But it looks exactly like him,” she whispered. It hurt for me to lie to her, to tell her she was seeing things, but I didn’t need her reminding me of the same thing I saw, my deceased brother.
“You are speaking nonsense, now go start breakfast and let me work on my painting in peace,” I gestured for her to hurry on. She did as I asked, but I couldn’t help but stare at the painting a moment longer, wondering how it had happened this way. How it could look so much like him without me noticing.
Deciding, though, that it was probably what Mengyao wanted, I kept working on it. He would take it off my hands soon enough, and his body already haunted my nightmares. Now they would haunt my dreams as well.
“This is looking excellent, keep at it,” Liang exclaimed as he came to check on my progress. “My master will be very pleased once he sees your finished work. It looks exactly how he wants it now, I’m glad to see you were able to make those changes. When do you expect it to be done?”
I examined the painting. It was still in the beginning stages, I still had to add quite an amount of detail before it was finished. It was my first attempt at such a type of painting, but I felt I was doing quite well. “Give me two more weeks and it should be done.”
He nodded. “Right so, I will be back in a week’s time to check on your progress. I will tell Mengyao the great news about the painting. He has yet to find a man to make him such an exquisite painting.”
He bowed and left me to return back to my work. I sighed as I looked back at the painting. It still seemed to appear as my brother no matter how hard I tried to change it. I had worked on his face for such a long period of time, yet it still looked the same. I kept the red below it, knowing it would please Mengyao, bringing out the dark element he wanted.
As I sat there staring at the painting, I heard the shop door open and close. I got up to greet whomever it was that just entered my shop.
“Hello?” I called out. There was no response. “Is anyone there?”
The sun had just set and I wondered who would come to my shop at such an hour. Maybe it was Liang, maybe he forgot something. There didn’t seem to be anyone in the shop, but I looked around some more.
After finding no trace of anyone, I dismissed it to be just the wind, or a replay of my nightmare, caused by my chronic insomnia over the past couple of weeks. The filter of rationality in my brain didn’t always work then, as well. I headed back to my studio, when I saw a figure standing in the doorway between where I was and the studio.
“Ming!” I exclaimed. There, in front of me, stood my brother. I couldn’t believe my eyes. His skin was a lighter blue than before, with dark crusted blood running down from the top of his head, where I had hit him with the rock. His clothes were matted with the same blood and covered in mud. He stared at me with dark eyes, red with evil. His arms stuck straight out at an awkward angle, as his body had begun to stiffen with death and his nails were growing into long, rake-like claws.
“You are a murderer, brother, now you must pay the price!” he called out to me. As he opened his mouth, I could see his decaying teeth, even more sharpened than the last time I’d seen him. He had been growing more and more into a a truly bewildering creature. He looked exactly like my painting, I couldn’t believe it. The blood, the color of his skin. I still wasn’t sure if he was a figment of my imagination or if he were real. I didn’t want to stay any longer to find out.
I turned around and ran out of the shop, but I could hear my brother hopping towards me, his body stiff-like with rigor mortis. Tha-thump. Tha-thump. Tha-thump.
My heart was racing as I looked quickly for somewhere to hide. I couldn’t find anything as everything had closed for the night. I hurried further away from my house, hoping I would find someone to help me.
“Please! Anyone, help!” I called out into the night. There was no response. Why was there no one there when I needed them! I felt as if the world had abandoned me to face my evil head on, that there was no longer anything that could help me. I could run back to the shop, but that was where Meilin was and I didn’t want to bring this evil to her. I had to get as far away from the shop as I could.
“Hui! You are a murderer!” my brother called as he hopped after me. I looked back to see that he was no longer in the street, but hoping from roof to roof, along the buildings I had dashed away from. He was gaining distance on me. “You murdered me and made it look like an accident! You will pay the price and misfortune will be cast upon you!”
I had nowhere to go, Rationally, I knew I should just face the consequences of what I had done, but fear seizing my body with panic kept me from doing that. I had to get away, I couldn’t leave my children fatherless, and leave Meilin alone to raise them. Sure she probably had enough money to hire someone to help her, or even marry someone that would take care of her better than I have. Marry someone who wouldn’t murder their brother for gold.
Running down the streets, I kept trying to get away from my brother but no matter how fast nor matter how far I ran, he was still behind me, hopping after. It would have looked strange, if not otherworldly to someone if they had seen this chase. Ming jumped from building to building, ground to ground, as if it were no problem. He was like a monkey or a squirrel, yet still a lot like himself in his movements. I didn’t know how he could have such strength in his movements, it had to have been something demonic.
Thoughts of things he could do to me ran through my head. Would he simply kill me? Or would he make me suffer like I had inadvertently done to him? Would he go after my wife afterwords? Or my children? No, I couldn’t let that happen, I could not let him do that to my children.
Rounding a corner, I found a group of men surrounding a fire. I felt relieved that I had finally found someone to help. I ran towards them. “Help me! Please!”
The men ran off as they saw the creature jumping from building to building behind me. As I turned back to face my brother, my brother landed right in front of me. The fire behind me lit up his whit
ened face, making him look even more dreadful than he had only moments earlier.
“You must pay the price, brother. You must die!”
“No! Ming, I am sorry, I am sorry I did this! It wasn’t my fault, if you had just been less lazy and more honorable, I would have never have done this to you. Can’t you see? You were a drunkard and a gambler. You were hurting my family, I had to make it stop!”
“You didn’t know me like you thought you did, brother! I was sobering up! I was going to move out with that money! I was going to start life anew! But you didn’t wait that long, you are more evil than I could have ever been!”
I shook my head. “No, it was a mistake, I know, but a mistake I would make again for my family’s sake!”
“And after I take care of you, I will go after them!”
“No!” I screamed as he started for me. He attacked me with his claws, scratching away at my arms. I had to fight back, I didn’t want to die, for I had both my wife and children to think about back at home. Dwelling on the futile hope of both my safety and theirs, I grabbed him by the arms and hurled him into the fire behind me.
My brother screamed as the fire covered every inch of him, destroying both his body and soul forever. I watched as he turned into ash, knowing now he could no longer hurt me. He reached out for me, his glowing eyes the last thing I could see before he completely disappeared into nothing. I felt the burden of my evil life lift then from my shoulders and I felt I could live in peace, knowing he could no longer hurt me.
I looked down at my arms. He only shredded my sleeves, getting a little cut on my arms. I was thankful for that. I wouldn’t have to worry about seeing a doctor, as it had been only a minor scratch. I could take care of it myself. Taking a deep breath, thinking my battle was finally over, I headed back to my shop.
I worked peacefully, once I was back at my shop. My wife noted how I no longer seemed worried and stressed, but rather seemed happy and more joyful compared with the last few weeks. And it was true, I felt a large burden be lifted off of me, as if destroying my brother’s body once and for all left me feeling as if nothing could stop me. I told her I must have had some kind of sickness, and that I was beginning to feel better. She was glad for it, and I was able to resume work on the painting and spend time with my family without the fear that my brother would try to seek revenge.
Days went by, and I began to notice something different about myself. Even though I no longer had worries, I began to feel dreary during the day and felt livelier at night. I figured it must have been because of my habit of staying up for the last few weeks. So, I stayed up during the night and began to rest during the daytime. Meilin didn’t want me to do such a thing, but I told her I didn’t feel right during the day and she finally stopped bothering me about it.
Mengyao’s servant Liang came to check on my progress one last time, before I would be done. I invited him in and he studied my painting carefully as he did the other two times.
“Yes, I believe it is going in the right direction. You are a great painter, Hui. I am glad my master has finally found someone whose art he enjoys, he had been searching for someone like you for such a long time.”
“Thank you, you are too kind,” I said. I felt my limbs start to ache. They had been sore for almost a week now, and I wasn’t sure as to why. I had taken a lot of turmeric, but it didn’t seem to help my joints at all. I probably would have to see a doctor after the painting was finished, and also get some much needed rest.
As I looked at Liang, I suddenly felt a curious urge come over me, imploring me to feast on his qi. I didn’t know what the longing meant, but as I raised my hands towards him, I noticed my skin was a lot lighter than normal, almost...
Like Ming’s.
It couldn’t be possible, I knew. It was strange that such a thing could happen. How could I be a jiangshi, wanting to feast on his qi so that I could be stronger in effect? And why did it take such a slow time to happen? Was it because I slowly died whereas Ming had been killed first? I pondered on these thoughts. Liang didn’t notice as I stood there, fighting with myself, wanting to kill him. He simply admired the painting.
“Although,” he said. “I don’t understand why my master is so interested in such a creature. It isn’t like they really exist or anything. He is a very superstitious man, but at least he pays well.”
I couldn’t hold myself back any longer. I went straight for his throat with my long sharp nails and cut his neck. Blood drained out of his body and I felt the qi enter my body, as I let it pour into my open mouth. It felt refreshing to drink his blood, as if having a meal after days of not eating.
As his blood covered my hands, it hit me. I had killed another man. I had killed a man that I hardly knew. And why did I do that? Because I had become a jiangshi. How was it possible? How did I become such a thing? Evil had truly taken over me.
I remembered. My brother had scratched me before his fated destruction. Was it possible to become a jiangshi with just a little scratch? I peered in the mirror to find no reflection of my self. So it was true, I had become what my brother had been. A monster. What I had always been.
The sound of a woman screaming caused me to spin around. I found my wife standing there, her eyes wide as she found me like this. I looked down at the body. There was nothing I could say that could make this better. I took one last look at her, her eyes stricken with fear, with remorse, and with shame that I could have done such a thing. It would be the last time I would see her face, and it would be a look of fear and disgust. I didn’t know what to say, I couldn’t do anything to explain, she wouldn’t understand and call me a monster. She would try to kill me, to protect our children, and I wouldn’t have blamed her. Quickly, I hopped out of the shop and disappeared into the darkness.
I never saw my wife, or my children, again. I always thought about going back and seeing how they were, but I feared I would be seen by them and I couldn’t bear to see the looks on their faces as they saw what I had become. A monster.
I don’t know if Mengyao ever received my painting, or if he ever found out about what had befallen his servant. I tried to stay clear of him, in case he wanted me dead. Although I didn’t want to be this creature any longer, neither did I want to die.
So I stayed in the darkness, hiding in the night as the city of San Francisco grew more and more as the years followed. I was amazed by how much changed and how much people began to forget the tales of creatures like me, even though I was still there, haunting those who traveled in the night so that I might live.
Over the years, I tried to blame others for my misfortune: my brother, the gold, my country for causing me to come to America. But I knew that there was only one person to blame for all that had happened. It was only one person’s decision that was at fault, it was only one person’s wrong doing, their evil, that had cause all this bad luck to fall upon my life.
And that person was me.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in writing and in this story. A special thank you to Desiree DeOrto and Justin Boyer for helping me edit and make this story so much stronger, Daniel Somerville for the amazing covers, and Marcy Rachel for formatting and getting the novella ready to publish. I also would like to thank my friends and cousin Earlene for helping me create this series and letting me bounce ideas back and forth with them. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents and my husband for always supporting me and helping me out when everything feels overwhelming. I love you all!
Dani Hoots is a graduate from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s in Anthropology who loves anything with a story. She travels around the west coast working at comic conventions and selling her stories and murder mystery party kits. Currently she lives in Arizona with her husband and two cats.
Check out her website
http://www.DaniHoots.com
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[1]
Craig Hoots 10.11.14 17:24
the health and spiritual properties of what?
[2]
Hoots 10.11.14 21:10
By the full moon and by the stars of the night, the wall shall be no more
[3]
10.11.14 14:52
10. November 2014 22:57
10. November 2014 22:57
by my will and by my life, these creatures shall turn into dust
Table of Contents
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