No. 6

CHAPTER 1 - A Prayer Yonder

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I can't... see.... Don't... come... near me....

Good fortune, then,
To make me blest, or cursed'st among men!
- The Merchant of Venice Act II Scene I 

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Shion.

She tried to call to him. But her voice would not come out. Her tongue would not move. Her arms and legs were heavy as if they had been bound in shackles, and she could not get them free. Shion didn't turn around. His back, clad in a white shirt, moved further and further away. Around them was darkness. An inky black darkness spread out all around. There was not even the smallest ray of light.

Shion, wait. You can't go.

Turn around. Come back home. Don't go any further.

The darkness shifted. It bristled slimily and reared like something alive, and swallowed the retreating white back whole.

Shion!

A shriek tore through her throat. Terror turned into vicious pain as it raced through her whole body. She tried to leap into the darkness after Shion, but her body would still not move. She couldn't take a single step forward.

Someone―someone help me. Stop him.

"Karan."

"Ma'am!"

She heard voices. Someone was holding her hand. She was shaken lightly.

"Karan, can you hear me? Can you hear my voice?"

"Ma'am, wake up!"

The voices had strength. The darkness was brushed away from her eyes, and her vision lightened into a dim haze.

Oh―I hear you. I do hear you.

Karan opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, like there was a veil being draped over it. Two hazy faces―one of a tan man and one of a girl―were peering into her face. But they were fleeting. She felt like if she blinked, they would ripple and shimmer, and disappear.

She could smell bread. Butter rolls, with ample butter kneaded into the dough. Come evening, Lost Town residents would flock to Karan's bakery for her affordable and delicious breads: labourers, after a long day's toil; hungry students; children with loose change in their fists―for these poor customers, she had set the oven to finish baking at 5 o'clock sharp. It looked like the outdated oven had functioned properly―the dozen or so butter rolls were finished and ready.

For Karan, the aroma of baking bread was the aroma of life itself. The savoury smell, now long familiar to her nose, yanked Karan energetically back into the real world.

The veil was thrown off. The outline of two faces flew clearly into her vision.

"Lili... Yoming..."

"Looks like you've come to," Yoming heaved a relieved sigh. Thank goodness, his lips moved. "Can you get up? You don't have to force yourself."

"Yes―I'm... I'm fine."

Yoming supported her while she raised her upper body. She had been lying on an old sofa in a corner of her workspace.

"I... went unconscious..."

"Yeah," Yoming said. "Behind the display case there, you just kind of crumpled to the ground. I was so startled. My heart's still going a mile a minute."

Yoming flashed a relieved smile. Karan tried to smile back, but her cheeks were stiff, and didn't move the way she wanted them to.

"Ma'am!" Lili threw herself at Karan and clung to her neck. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "Ma'am, you're okay, right? You're okay now?"