Chapter 13
THE COLD, HARD FLOOR woke Chenchen up. At first, she didn’t know what was going on; she only remembered that she’d been going home with an older girl from the photography class. The girl’s home had been so close to the youth center—just around the corner from the park. It was kind of bare-looking, but it was at least clean.
The phone connection hadn’t been good—something about the wires—but the other girl had told her confidently that all they had to do was unplug it and plug it back in. She’d even brought Chenchen a cold drink. Chenchen drank the mango juice through her straw, feeling like she was causing this older girl too much trouble. Then, just as she was wondering whether to suggest they just go back to the center, she began to feel like her soul was being sucked out of her body. She lost control of her limbs and swayed a few times, then completely lost consciousness.
Now, Chenchen’s braid felt loose. She was covered in dirt, and her limbs were tied together. It felt like someone had roughly dragged her across the floor; her skin had been scraped raw in a bunch of places, and the sores burned painfully. The tape over her mouth had an unpleasant rubbery taste. She struggled to curl up, inching backward as far as possible.
Only a few steps away, Su Luozhan was staring down at her!
Su Luozhan tilted her head. One long, thin finger twirled a lock of hair falling from her temple. Her icy eyes could have belonged to a dangerous, cold-blooded animal.
She pursed her lips and then smiled at Chenchen. “You’re so annoying.”
Chenchen shuddered violently.
“I hate stupid little girls like you who just follow people around,” Su Luozhan continued. “You’re all scheming bitches. At this age, you have adults to take you everywhere and you get everything you want, just because you know how to act cute. You think of yourself as a kid, as if the entire world revolves around you.” As Su Luozhan spoke, she bent over and took a machete with a curved blade out of the shoe cabinet. The large metal object was a little too heavy for her skinny hand, and it made a scraping noise as she dragged it against the old wooden cabinet.
Chenchen started to struggle frantically against her bonds. With her mouth sealed, she could only make tiny, weak noises, like those of a small animal. Her face went red from exertion, and she did everything she could to wriggle free of the ropes.
Su Luozhan suddenly snapped. “If he won’t come, I can do it myself!”
She raised the blade and rushed at Chenchen.
A terrified human probably had unlimited potential. Chenchen didn’t know where she found the strength at that moment, but despite being tied up, she got her feet on the ground. The blade was in front of her before she could fully stand up, though, so Chenchen threw herself forward, her eyes screwed shut. She managed to escape from just under Su Luozhan’s blade—but in the process, she knocked into the coffee table headfirst.
Blood trickled down her forehead. Her head spun from the impact, putting her off-balance. All she wanted to do was cry, but she knew that wouldn’t help. She rested her shoulder on the coffee table for leverage and tried to stand up again.
Su Luozhan had swung too forcefully, and her machete was now stuck in a wooden cupboard in the corner. Even with a mighty pull, she wasn’t able to pull out the rather heavy blade. Enraged, Su Luozhan rushed Chenchen and grabbed her hair from behind, pulling. That forced Chenchen to bend backward, feeling like her scalp was about to be torn off. The tears constantly streaming down her face made the edges of the tape over her mouth peel up.
She was like a little lamb awaiting slaughter. But that only made the other party more eager to hurt her, and Su Luozhan slapped her across the face. This utterly shocked Chenchen, who had never been hit before in her life.
“Bitch!” said Su Luozhan. “You’re just a bitch!”
The influence of TV and other media had now made the word “bitch” commonplace in junior high and even upper elementary school. There were always some children who matured slightly earlier and liked to keep such colorful adult words in rotation—even if they still behaved like petulant, ice-pop-eating little kids at home.
Su Luozhan shoved Chenchen into the coffee table. Chenchen’s back took most of the impact. From the yellowing photos underneath the crystal tabletop, the dead smiled mysteriously up at the two living girls. At that point, the fierce struggle finally defeated the tear-soaked tape over Chenchen’s mouth, and she immediately screamed, “Help me!”
This first attempt was feeble and hoarse, but Chenchen quickly got used to speaking again. Her voice grew louder: “Help me! Help me!”
As she cried out, Su Luozhan froze. She had thought that something was missing earlier—this hadn’t been exhilarating enough. Now she knew what that was: screaming. Chenchen’s cries excited her; she was like a child who’d just received a present. Looking at Chenchen in surprised delight, she lifted a leg and stomped down on Chenchen’s exposed fingers, which were splayed on the floor.
Once she was experiencing a certain amount of pain, Chenchen could no longer cry out. She gasped soundlessly, her mouth open wide.
“Scream,” Su Luozhan taunted. “How come you stopped?”
Chenchen sobbed so hard that she couldn’t breathe. Mustering all the energy she had left, she squeezed out a few words. “Su…jiejie…I r-really like…and admire you… You…”
Su Luozhan’s face had been impassive, but when Chenchen said “admire,” she hesitated for a moment. The hand reaching out to yank Chenchen’s hair again stopped in midair as Su Luozhan stared at the other girl with big, round eyes.
Just then, someone hammered on the door, and a man’s gruff voice demanded, “What’s with all the noise?! A man’s trying to sleep!”
Both girls shivered in unison.
“Open up, or I’m calling the cops!” the man continued angrily. “Watching horror films in the middle of the night, huh? You think you’re the only one who lives here, screaming like that?”
Su Luozhan clamped a hand over Chenchen’s mouth. She grabbed a few napkins from a box, rolled them up, and stuffed them between Chenchen’s teeth, then took a deep breath. “Sorry, Uncle.” She’d assumed a soft voice, her face impassive. “My parents aren’t home, so I can’t open the door for a stranger. I’ll turn the volume down.”