Demon in Disguise

Zhang Yixing

"Hello Qiang." Mr. Wang steps back, inviting her into his house. "What brings you here."

"Um... I was thinking... Could I go into her room?" She asks. After much thinking Qiang decided to go into BiYu's room herself and look for clues of her death. It was just a sudden need to help in uncovering the mysteries of BiYu's closed-off murder.

"Go ahead." He gestures for her to go up the stairs. "Is there something in there?"

"Have the detectives found a suspect yet? Or anything for that matter." She walks up the stairs and opens BiYu's door.

"No. They haven't found anything yet." Mr. Wang's voice is full of sorrow and disappointment. "He is a skilled killer, I wouldn't be surprised either."

"He?" She frowns and looks back at him. "You know the murderer of Bi- of her?" The question didn't make sense but she wasn't sure if Mr. Wang was still coping with her death or not. Qiang tried to refrain from saying BiYu's name.

"It's the son of that damned man for sure. There couldn't be anybody else. The detectives questioned all her friends, they said they didn't know anything, but that doesn't fool me. I'm sure it's that devious son."

"Do you mind me asking what the name of the son is?"

"Yixing. Zhang Yixing." The old man spits out with disgust.

"I'll leave you to search the room. Tell me if you need help." Mr. Wang slowly shuffles away.

"Okay, thank you." Qiang closes the door, slipping on a pair of gloves. She combs through the room and BiYu's belongings meticulously. The bloody sheets were replaced with new ones, everything is the same as when BiYu was still alive. Nothing has been altered at all. "I'm guessing your father doesn't come in here." Qiang mutters to the room.

She opens each book on the shelf, flipping through and blowing dust off. The desk where she assumed BiYu placed her laptop had some notebooks, a pink jar with pens and pencils and a little music box.

Qiang opens the notebooks, carefully flipping through each page. "Zhang Yixing. Zhang Yixing. Zhang Yixing."

She sets the last notebook down and carefully stacks them like how they were before. She takes the music box in her hand, it's small, about the size of her hand. Qiang opens it, a little purple unicorn pops out. "Oh." She makes a small noise of surprise. She slowly twists the handle at the side of the delicate music box. Tinkling music begins to play, the purple unicorn twirling in unison to the lilting sound. Qiang turns the box side to side, inspecting the lid and the little unicorn. "Maybe the song means something." Qiang takes out her phone and records the playing music. Turning it upside down, Qiang notices initials carved at the bottom of the music box. "Z, Y, X and W, B, Y... Zhang Yixing and Wang BiYu." She takes a picture of the bottom of the music box. After closing it and setting it back on the desk, she takes a picture of the music box too.

"Now... La Closete." She says in Spanish. Qiang had taken Spanish for two years in junior high. It's a miracle she even remembers anything.

She opens the three drawer set in the closet. BiYu's clothes are still in there, folded neatly like how she left it. Qiang takes out each piece of clothing and carefully inspects them. She sniffs the clothing not at all thinking it awkward or creepy. "Huh?" She sniffs again. "Why does this smell familiar..." The smell of BiYu's clothing doesn't smell like Mr. Wang's detergent. It triggers a nostalgic feeling but she can't quite put her finger on it. She sniffs the other clothes, a handful had the nostalgic scent but the rest had BiYu's own perfume lingering on them. Qiang knows this because BiYu had given her a perfume bottle for Christmas a few years ago. She had told Qiang that she uses the same scent.