A gentle brush at the abdomen, making effort to scarcely inhale, a strong stingy metal smell invaded her nose together with an unbearable pain she sensed. What’s going on?

She felt something drained out rapidly, from her body. Before she figured it out, a surge from stomach upturned to rush out along the throat like a pool of acid. Giving her no time to surprise, the red liquor poured down her mouth, dyed her teeth and colored the originally ashen lips. Coughing and hardly breathing, it told her it was real, she was dying. A weak twinge of gladness first filled her up, then a laden and ongoing sorrow, just like a requiem. She found it hard to turn her head but she did it eventually.

The ground beneath her already covered in a dull red, as if someone carelessly dropped a bottle of wine. The white color of her coat gradually replaced, her favourite pink top stained an ugly color, dark and gloomy - she didn’t like it. She had imagined how it’d be like when death came, even she was so close to it once, she didn’t feel or experience that particular moment. She got the pains, the sadness and fear even so she knew it’s still different. That moment - when you die - would be unique.

It was tiring to raise a finger, her limbs had become heavy rigid unmoving wood pieces. Not letting her eyelids closed had used most of her energy, her breath slowed and turned flatter. Soon her vision blurred, tears dropped washed the blood streaks on her face, mixed together into a pink hue.

Her hair messy and cascaded around her, soaked in the viscose blood. It hurt, tears rushed out from her eyes out of physical reaction nevertheless she didn’t want to cry. Warmth lost as if absorbed by the ground, was she become what she felt from her sisters at that time, cold as ice and dried out?

There seemed to be someone with her, she was smiling to them even blood continued to gush with the smallest movement of her mouth. They were holding her head up and hugging her, she could sense the itch as his hair rubbed against her neck. She heard the shaking lips part and exhaled one last word: “Fin…..Finally.”

Her vision was masked next, she knew that was what she longed for and how her ending should be. It was as if she was a prophet that dreamed her destiny, it was inevitable.

A pair of amber eyes filled with liquids opened, and the tears not able to be held glided along the curvature of her face. It was another nightmare but very different. It was so pathetic and full of sorrow, yet when she closed her eyes, it felt so true.

She sat up and buried her wet face into her hands, arms, shoulders and even her whole body were quivering with fear. She disliked dreams about death and blood, they made the accident more lively in her memory. Colors, smells and touch, it seemed like she lived that moment again and again.

She shook her head in her hands in great denial, messing up her hair. The dream revealed her secret wish and threw it to her face - all what she wanted to hide. A complex emotion flooded out, she tried to swallow it down to no avail.

It broke out and she wailed like a three years old. She opened her mouth wide and big, fingers grasped the sheet beneath her. It alarmed the beast. Her throat hurt but she didn’t halt. The call to the hunter was ignored which drew to his concern - she seldom not giving reaction to him. His hunter cried often, but never like that since they met. The messages from her were super chaotic and non-comprehending, he felt like drinking a mysterious liquor with assorted ingredients yet can’t distinguish them. The Nian had an illusion what in front of him was a baby.

A baby cries when it fears because it’s too weak to protect itself. A baby cries for everything it can’t figure out a solution, like thirst, hunger and also pain. As it doesn’t know how to tackle that, it cries. An adult knows how to deal with those problems so it cries to ask for their help. In front of the Nian - the hunter unable to stop wailing - he felt similarities.

As if she wanted to push something out of her, her voice was loud and desperate. There was nothing in her mind but the sense of bitterness and grief overwhelmed. He tried to catch her attention with words but she gave no reply. Gradually he gave up. A long while later ,the sound grew smaller,her eyes swollen and hurt to blink. The tears didn’t bring the sadness away, she left her bed and climbed back with a bag of candies.

Quietly opened it with sniffs and then - she stuffed the candies into her mouth while tears ran down her face again. It was strawberry flavoured. She didn’t stop until both of her cheeks popped up like balloons and began chewing. The beast was shocked and completely clueless of her sudden action, he yelled at her having a feeling it was abnormal. She swallowed the batch and finally willing to talk, “It’s sweet, so-so I am fine.” Her hand successively dug into the bag and grabbed a fist of candies out to stuff into mouth.

All the sugar sweetened her tooth but she continued like a robot given command. Inevitably, she threw up and was forced to stop.

Luckily she covered her mouth in advance and coerced herself to swallow the candies down. She acted like a person starved for a long duration but it was wholly lunatic. He noted that her hands were shaking when they clawed the candies, she wasn’t enjoying at all.

Who would eat candies with such a painful face?

“It doesn’t work…..Why it tastes sour and salty? …..It must be expired.” She mumbled and her lips shivered, “Why? It should be fine. Why?” - like always. She swept the bag off the bed and punched the bed with a bounce, then began to cry again.

She cried until she became exhausted, “Somebody…..help me…...Sis - I miss you - help me please…….somebody can save me…..” Murmured with a weak rough dying voice, she allowed her tears drop onto the bedsheet.