Demon in Disguise

May She Rest In Peace

Qiang blows out air through her mouth, the cold night turning her breath into puffs of visible air. She couldn't go back to sleep so she decided to go out and take a walk. Qiang checks her phone, "Three o'clock."

She stuffs it back into her pocket and and blows warm air into her cold hands, she turns the corner of the sidewalk and stuffs her hands back into the pockets of her sweater. Her house is just down the block and around the corner, she shivers a bit and wonders why she chose to take a walk at three in the morning in mid-November. Halfway through the block and immersed in her thoughts, Qiang bumps into someone taking her by surprise. She knows every body in the neighborhood even if they did not know her and she didn't recognize this man, the dim streetlights offered little to no help. All she deciphered from his features were the shape of eyes, the curves of nose and his lips in the shadows. His body was thin with broad shoulders so she was guessing that he was a young man probably in his late twenties or early thirties, his real figure was hidden underneath the dark sweater he was wearing.

"I'm sorry, excuse me." She side steps him after a moment of staring into each other's eyes and walks away, not daring to look back. Something in his eyes made her uncomfortable, and he didn't smell pleasant it wasn't something she could pick up on but it made her queasy. She shrugs it off, probably Chen's cousins visiting from out of town. All that man does is stay home and play video games sometimes forgetting to wash himself before going out into the public. He makes her uncomfortable too, thinking that a man in his mid-twenties would know how to take better care of himself.

"He probably thought I was weird, I mean who goes out at three in the morning to take a walk?" She sniffs her sweater to make sure it didn't stink, he probably didn't want to make a move or say anything because her clothes or her breath smelled. She falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, forgetting about the stranger.

The next morning the sound of sirens passing from outside Qiang's window awakens her. "What is all that racket?" She opens her curtains to see her neighbors walking towards the noise with worried expressions. It has been a while since the police and ambulance have visited what could it be now? She dresses quickly and gives her cat Ai Hui some food before rushing to check up on the commotion. The ambulance and the police were parked outside of Mr. Wang's house.

"BiYu!" Mr. Wang shouts as the neighbors hold him back. He sobs in grief, finally giving up and covering his face with his hands. She spots Chen and wrinkles her nose but approaches him anyway, "Chen." He faces her, crust in his eyes and his curly hair unruly. "What happened?" she nods towards the house.

"Mr. Wang's daughter got murdered. He found her at six this morning with her throat sliced, blood everywhere." He puts his finger on his neck and makes a slicing motion.

She shivers internally, the stranger from last night appears in her mind and she knits her brows. Was it here that she met him? She honestly did not know where she saw him this morning, it could have been here or closer to the curb, it was too dark to tell. She turns around and tries to search her memories for a familiar object that could have marked her location. "Chen."

"Yes babe." He rubs the crust out of his eyes and smiles at her, "If I may add, you are looking rather ravishing today."

She rolls her eyes and takes a step away from him. "Did you have a relative or friend over last night?"

"Did you hear the sounds that the female in my house made or are you just asking?" He wiggles his brows at her.

She takes another step back, "You are disgusting."

He laughs, "I didn't have any females or friends or relatives over last night, why?"

She shakes her head, Chen has the loudest mouth. "Just wondering." She looks at the house as the paramedics carry the dead body of BiYu out. "May she rest in peace." She says quietly, staring at the white cloth draped over BiYu.

"What was that babe?" Chen cups his ear and leans into her.

She pushes him away, "Stay out of my personal space please and thank you."

He laughs obnoxiously, "Pretty girls shouldn't be here, it's not safe." He gives her a look that sends shivers down her spine in disgust. She wrinkles her nose and slowly turns around, walking away. She was done with Chen and mysteries today, she hopes that they find the culprit and send him to prison.

Ai Hui meows at her as she opens the door, Qiang smiles "I'm back Ai Hui." The stranger from last night was pricking the back of her head, but she couldn't quite decipher what it was. She frowns and shakes her head to get rid of him. Qiang is twenty-four years of age, living on her own and working part-time at a diner in town. Qiang turns the radio on and 'Never Grow Up' by Taylor Swift plays as she preps for a morning shower.

"Oh darling don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up." She sings as she turns on the water. "It could stay this simple, I won't let nobody hurt you, won't let no one break your heart..." She closes her eyes and thinks about her father, "And no one will desert you, just try to never grow up.." Qiang had been a really good student, working hard to make sure she got into a good college and chose a good career so that she could support her father. Her father died in the summer of her eighteenth birthday, she had lost all of her motivation the day after his funeral. The world had gone gray and Qiang dropped out of college due to depression. She is however a strong girl and picked up her broken pieces, slowly putting them back together. She moved out of her hometown to get away from the suffocating memories and moved here, where nobody knew about her or her past.

Qiang gets out of the warm shower as the song changes. She turns it off and puts on her work uniform just as her phone rings, "Hello?"

"Qiang, we will not be open today due to the murder of Wang BiYu." Her boss tells her through the telephone. "There never really has been a murder here before so everybody is hesitant to leave their homes."

"Okay, thank you for telling me." Qiang clicks her phone to end the call and throws it on the bed. Her cat walks in as she sits on her bed, "I guess you won't be home alone today Ai Hui." She sighs heavily, the death of BiYu brought back images of her father. She thought she had gotten over it, but the memories came in as fresh as the time when she saw him on his death bed six years ago. She sighs heavily one more time and looks out the window at the open gray sky, "The world must have gone gray for kind Mr. Wang. BiYu isn't here anymore."

Biyu was a kind girl, loving and caring, she was carefree and reckless often going out and coming back late into the night with her out-of-town friends. Despite being gone all the time she took good care of her father and Qiang admired her for that. Mr. Wang is a kind old man, he has a pretty garden at the back of the house that he tends to every day; watering the plants and replacing old ones. It was he that had given Ai Hui to Qiang, he had found Ai Hui lost in an alley way while walking back from grocery shopping and decided to give the kitten to her. Qiang and Mr. Wang were close acquaintances, Qiang helping him out whenever BiYu wasn't home. But now, BiYu will never come home, she isn't here anymore.

Qiang stands up, "I'm going to see Mr. Wang." She tells Ai Hui, her cat follows her to the door and meows as if asking to go too. "You want to go to?" Qiang looks at Ai Hui and frowns, "Alright, come on. Just don't cause any trouble and don't get too close to Chen."

Chen and Ai Hui never got along, Chen tried to make a move on Qiang once and got too close for Ai Hui's liking. It resulted in a lot of colorful words exploding from Chen's mouth and blood splattered over her carpet. Chen hates Ai Hui to this day.

Mr. Wang's front door was closed but Qiang could see people inside his living room, moving and talking to the old man. Qiang frowns, she had planned on talking to him alone. "I'll come back later tonight." She shrugs and tells Ai Hui to follow her. "Let's go to Ying Ai's flower shop, I need someone to talk to. You never reply and we don't speak the same language." Qiang looks at Ai Hui with a smile, the black and white cat just kept on walking not having a care for a thing in the world.