A Lovely Girl Turning into a Rat

“Why am I here?” Dong Ci became a ghost. She looked at her own body lying on the bed with her head swathed in bandages, her eyes bulging and her muscles stiff. Luo Nan, looking drawn and wan, pressed his cheek against the back of her hand. Just then, the door opened and a doctor came in with a bottle of colorless transparent liquid in his hand. He walked to the bedside, handed the bottle to Luo Nan and said, “You are her husband, right? The patient is unable to blink, so her eyes will be dry. Remember to moisten her eyes with the cotton swabs every half an hour. Anyway, you’d better hire a special nurse to take care of her at night.”

Luo Nan, who had stayed awake all night, asked in a low, hoarse voice, “Doctor, is it possible for her to survive?”

“Wait, maybe miracles will happen to her. We will give her infusions to sustain her life in the following days.” The doctor tapped Luo Nan on the shoulder and comforted, “I wish she will wake up. You can try to speak about her past to arouse her desire to live.”

With that the doctor left. There were only Luo Nan and Dong Ci in the ward. She had been vivacious and lively before, but now she lay very quietly in bed looking particularly frail as if she was going to die at any time.

Luo Nan picked up a cotton swab and immersed it in the liquid in the bottle, and then gently dabbed at Dong Ci’s bulging eyes. The artificial tears immediately filled her eyes and rolled down her face.

“I should have been the one to die. I should have gone to pick you up, then you wouldn’t have involved in the car accident…” Luo Nan burst into tears, and bright, shiny droplets rolled down his cheeks like pearls from a broken string. He quietly cried for his lover as his heart ached. But crying was useless. He had no power to bring the dying back to life.

The rays of the setting sun shone slantwise through the window onto the floor. As darkness fell outside, the yellow leaves on the ground were picked up by the autumn wind and whirling in the air. Dong Ci’s ghost quietly drifted out of the ward and was blown away by the wind like the fallen leaves.

“I have to go. I know you don’t want to stay alone in the hospital…” Luo Nan murmured choking on his tears, staring at Dong Ci with loving eyes. “Do you know how important you are to me? Without you by my side, I can’t sleep… Please wake up and go home with me. Honey, do you hear me?”

Dong Ci was still motionless.

She was now in what was described as a vegetative state, without being able to react to anything at all.

A nurse walked into the ward and said, “Mr. Luo, you can go home for a rest. I’ll take care of her.”

“All right, thank you. I’ll come back tomorrow afternoon.”

Luo Nan reluctantly let go of Dong Ci’s hand, which was warm because he had wrapped her hand in his warm palms for a long time. But soon after he left, her hand became cold again.

Dong Ci floated towards the temple in which she had burned incense and prayed to Buddhas before. The Buddhist abbot stood at the temple gate and waved at her.

“Am I dead? Can you see me?’ Dong Ci shouted, “Tell me where I should go.”

The abbot put his palms together and said, “You gave me a pair of shoes in your previous life. In return for your kindness, I will show you the way.”

Dong Ci sobbed, “I don’t want to die.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“Don’t worry. You are fated not to die.” The abbot handed her a small bulging bag and continued, “I wish you all the best. Remember, no pain, no gain. You must give to get. My last advice: don’t cling to the memories of the previous life. Amitabha!”

The Buddhist abbot walked into the temple and closed the temple gate behind him. Dong Ci couldn’t be allowed in. Two dim figures came towards her from the distance. They both wore tall hats. One of them was dressed in white from head to toe, and the other all in black.

“Black Emissary and White Emissary?!” Dong Ci yelled and started trembling with fear.

“You innocent ghost, follow us.” White Emissary carried an iron chain in his hand.

She was followed by three female ghosts and a little boy ghost. Dong Ci asked White Emissary, “Why are they following me?”

“They must have done something bad to you in the previous life and been punished by the King of Hell. So they have been waiting for you to be a ghost. They want you to intercede with the King of Hell for them so that they can be reincarnated at an early date. Otherwise, they have to exist as ghosts for forty-nine centuries before they will be allowed to be reincarnated in new bodies,” White Emissary explained. “But I don’t know the details of what happened between you and them. There are so many ghosts in the world. There are so many similar things.”

“There are so many ghosts in the world, but only you two come to the human’s world to catch them. How can you take on so much work?” Dong Ci asked curiously. Now she didn’t care about the four ghosts behind her. When she was alive, she was not afraid of them. Now that she became a ghost, she had no reason to fear them at all.

White Emissary replied, “We don’t have to be responsible for every ghost. Some ghosts can find the way to the gate of Hell themselves, such as your friend, Chai Wenxiu, and that drunk driver. Some evil persons will completely disappear after death. Some good persons, who have done many good deeds, will go to heaven directly after death. Furthermore, there are thousands of emissaries in charge of the work of catching ghosts besides us.”

Dong Ci nodded, “Oh, I see. Not every ghost of the dead needs to be taken to the nether world. And you two have many helpers.”

“You are so smart. Anyway, we have to go now.” White Emissary stretched out his arm in a gesture of moving on.

In front of them was a cave. The ghosts walked into the entrance one after another. The ground was very muddy. Dong Ci moved forward with difficulty as if in the swamp. The cave was very dark. With no light, she had to follow her nose. Black Emissary and White Emissary were silent.

The King of Hell was easy to please, but imps were really hard to deal with. No matter in the human’s world or the nether world, there were many underlings threatening others on the strength of their masters’ power.

Chen Qi waited for a phone call from Dong Ci all the day, but she didn’t call him. He phoned her but failed to reach her. ‘She made a date with me. Why did she stand me up?’ he thought to himself, as a wave of pain welled up in his heart.

Sometimes people would break their promises. If a person died or became a vegetable, she would be unable to keep the appointment. The human vegetables lived a happy life. Most unhappy people had a good memory and always took everything to heart. Chen Qi was unhappy, no matter before or after he got Dong Ci. The root of his unhappiness was that he refused to let her go. So he called Chai Wenxiu, but couldn’t get through too.

The next day he went to Starlight International Travel Agency and inquired about them. Then he knew that Chai Wenxiu was dead and Dong Ci became a vegetable.

In the evening, he went to the hospital to visit Dong Ci. He stood quietly beside her bed staring at her with sad eyes. The nurse asked, “What’s your relationship with Miss Dong? You’ve come too late.”

“She is my friend.” With that Chen Qi walked out and closed the door behind him.