Chapter 8 The Mysterious Girl

"The old man paused and stopped for a moment before he went on with his tale, 'Despite feeling astonished, I paid little care to it. I'm an old man. I might have been seeing things or hallucinating. After completing my purchases, I saw my wife leaving the house, her eyes straight ahead as if in a trance as she continued walking, ignoring me even though I asked her where was she going. But she just kept on walking and walking. I tried calling her, but she continued ignoring me, so I rushed forth and pulled her back. Strangely, she seemed to have more strength that she usually had, sending me into a tumbling fall with just a swing of her arm. Therefore I could only follow behind to see what's happening.

" 'We continued walking until she stopped and began stretching her arms and grotesquely flailing her legs that I felt so horrified. Not knowing what to do, I called my son with my phone, and it did not take long for my son and his wife to come. My daughter-in-law is usually close to my wife, being the one to calm my wife down whenever she's upset. But this time, my daughter-in-law called and pleaded to her; still, she turned a deaf ear to us. Finally, we forced her into the car and drove back home. But when we're reaching home, she suddenly regained her consciousness as if waking up from a dream and asked us about what happened.

" 'When we got home that night, my wife began complaining of sores. But that was understandable. How can one of our age move so vigorously and furiously without injuring ourselves? We went to a few doctors, but still, her condition was not cured. One day, my daughter-in-law suggested that we stay with them for a while. The building that we lived in might be haunted, she guessed. And so we moved to our son's high-rise apartment. But all was fine until the fourth day when her seizures returned. Moving to and fro from my son's apartment and downstairs instead made everything worst. Hence, we could only move back home.'

"Then I asked the old man, 'Is there anything strange or peculiar that occurs each time she experiences a fit?' and the old man replied, 'Oddly, she only experiences seizures in the afternoon. Whenever her seizures began, she starts to eat; shoving everything she could into her mouth. If only you could hear the sounds that she made when she's gnawing on carrots. The eerie sound sends goosebumps down my spine. And after she finishes eating, she would leave the house and go somewhere to dance...' 'Is there anything else you'd like to add?" I asked again, and the old man barked, 'Yes!' He took a swig off his cup and continued, 'Sometime later, I remembered about the encounter with the young girl, and I began thinking if the young girl, who shared the same appearance as my wife when she was young, had anything to do with the illness of my wife. I then hid myself at the spot where I first met her and waited for her. True enough, the young girl appeared again. Only this time, I did not have a closer look at her for fear of being discovered if I got too close. Still, the behavior of the young girl seemed vaguely familiar to me! Hence I drove my car to the house of my deceased in-laws and found a picture of my wife with the help of her brother; a picture of her which closely resembled the mysterious little girl. I used a camera to take a picture of the photo and went to a shop to have it enlarged and printed. When I showed it to my wife, she laughed and said, "This was a picture of me when I was young! Colored photographs were very rare then, and it was my aunt who paid a shop to have the picture taken for me after we came to the city! The clothes I was wearing then were bought by my aunt for me too. It looks fashionable then, although it looks silly today, ha ha ha ha!"

" 'I felt myself shaking suddenly. She was an orphan who had lost her family in an earthquake when she was fifteen. It was an uncle from her mother's side who had taken care of her. I had never heard her mentioning of any aunt! Moreover, she grew up in the city, yet she just told me that she came to the city to have her picture taken! But I must have been a fool to not look further into the matter. The following day, I drove to the spot where I saw the little girl. I stayed in my car with the picture I had taken, watching closely at everyone who passed by, and behold! That was my wife! It was my wife when she was young! She looked exactly the same as she was in the picture, having the same hairstyle and clothing! I was so close to collapsing! How could this be possible? Did she have a daughter outside of my knowledge? But the girl looked fourteen to fifteen of age! My son would have been ten when she was born! But my wife and I were so close then that it would be impossible for her to have a daughter without me knowing! Hence I went back and spoke to her about it when she was wide-awake. But even she could not give me an answer, in spite of her astonishment. I was losing my mind then.'

"Then I said to the old couple, 'Since you came to me for help, I'd expect that you tell me the entire truth. Lying to me will not help remedy this problem.' The old man swore that everything he said was the truth, that he had not been lying! I immediately thrust a finger at the patient and barked, 'You're not Fen! You're Ling!' This stunned the old man who could not understand what was happening, screaming, 'What Ling? We've been together for almost our entire lives! This is my wife, Dong Xuefen!' But I paid no heed to the old man and kept my gaze still trained upon the old lady. She shuddered before she crumbled into tears. I paused for a moment and heaved a breath before I continued softly, 'I will not fully blame you for thieving the identity of others. The non-agricultural registered permanent residence in those days came with many benefits and perks. But isn't it fair that you should have helped with making proper arrangements in regards to the remains of the one whose identity you have stolen?' The patient, now weeping as she spoke, then confessed, 'I did come back to the site of the incident with my brother! But we could not find her body!' 'The team in charge of collecting bodies had disposed of her body, so it's not your fault,' replied my father, 'but for forty years! Forty long years and yet you had offered her nothing for all the years you've been using her identity! Do you know how pitiful she was, wandering alone, penniless and destitute for all these years! Do you know how much hardships and torments she had had to endure?' 'I was young then,' the old lady gasped, 'and I was hardly superstitious then, believing that joss papers were merely a consolation to ourselves without actual uses... Moreover, I did not know where she was buried; therefore I paid no mind to it!' I sighed and said again, 'If she had remained sane, she would never have possessed you. The fact that you have not encountered this in the past is the very proof of this. But she has lost a part of her soul, hence her odd behavior now. But even if she's sane, she would still hardly be blamed for trying to get a glimpse of the life she should have had!' The old man muttered suddenly, 'I understand now... T-this...'

"But I cut him off and told him, 'Let me tell you the entire story! There was a pair of cousins back in 1976 who looked so alike that even their family and relatives would often mistake them for one another. They shared a very similar appearance, and were of the same age; although one was slightly younger by a few months to the other. However, one of them was a farmer's daughter, who had agricultural registered permanent residence while the other lived in the city and had non-agricultural one.

" 'The girls were very close. The younger girl, the daughter of a farmer, looked up to her older cousin and emulated later in every way; hairstyle, appearance, everything. One day, the younger girl, Leng, went to visit her cousin in the city during her school holidays. Due to the scarcity of space, their relatives used his connections in nearby construction company and arranged a temporary home for them to stay together. These were temporary housing units with asbestos tile on the roof. The structures were erected using bricks and concrete was not used to strengthen the structures properly. It was in the summer; hence the children did not feel cold. They stayed together, talking happily into the night.

" 'But suddenly, there was an earthquake. Knowing that the temporary house was about to collapse, they panicked and wore each other’s clothes and tried to escape. The temporary units were close to higher buildings and apartments. There was a huge flow of people that tried to evacuate from the area of the buildings, and both cousins were lost in the ensuing chaos. When morning finally came, the younger girl searched in vain for her older cousin. Fearing for the safety of her family, she traced her way back to the countryside. But when she had reached home, her father scolded her for leaving her cousin sister alone, saying, "How could you have run away alone! You have left her there! She's your age, and her parents might have also perished in the mishap! She might even be injured..."

" 'Hence the girl's father called for his son who rode on his bicycle into the city to look for the older girl and her family, only for his efforts to remain equally fruitless. Later then, they received news that some bodies were recovered in the incident. Three days later, the son of the farmer went again into the city, this time with the little girl, Ling. Finally, they found the older girl, although she was long dead. They fell to the ground, weeping, as some friendly neighbors came over to console them for their loss. But the young girl was wearing her older cousin's clothes; hence, everyone thought that it was the younger girl who had died in the earthquake. The little girl, Ling, was crying so badly that she could barely answer. Not being able to retrieve the body, the brother and sister returned to the countryside. But when they came back with a rickshaw to transport the body, the remains of the older cousin had been disposed of as an unnamed cadaver. This allowed the scheming old farmer to concoct a plan: from this day forth, Ling would become Fen, since everyone that believed it so. They would inform everyone that Fen's parents had lost their lives in the earthquake and Fen would then be taken in by her uncle. Ling would still be able to address her parents as father and mother while being able to enjoy the perks and benefits from Fen's non-agricultural registered permanent residence. Ling would then continue studying in the countryside until she finished her education and moved to the city to fill Fen's parents' shoes, as a worker, thanks to the Fen's parents' factory policy. Not long after that, she fell in love with you and married you where you both lived together until today!

" 'This would have been fine under common circumstances. But for reasons unknown, Fen did not experience rebirth after her death. For forty years, her spirit roamed the vicinity of Tangshan until an accident caused her to lose part of her soul. Unable to control herself, she wandered back to the place where she died and inadvertently possessed Ling's body. She was part of the school's basketball team before she died and used to train after taking two classes every afternoon. With her house was near to her school, Fen used to go home after her classes ended to eat before she returned to the school for her training. This is why during your wife's seizures, she would first eat ravenously. The sound that she emitted when she eats is because of Fen's unfamiliarity with Ling's body and physique. After her meal, she would then go back to school and train. The weird and peculiar actions that you observed, about your wife stretching her arms and throwing her limbs around; those are exercises! Same as before, Fen could not control Ling's body well; therefore her actions seemed odd to you! The shamans and witch doctors have failed to drive her away because Fen could not respond to their calls due to the impaired condition of her soul... Hence your current predicament...' "