Blood and Roses

Chapter-2

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Blood and Roses
Chapter-2

WeiZhou fist pumped the air as the ball went through the basket smoothly. The other players clapped, some patted his back, some rubbed his head. And all of them cheered. It was a good game.

It was his 21st birthday and his friends decided to have an impromptu basketball game in the evening. The plan was to grab some beers after taking a dip in the adjacent pool. The group clamoured as they left the court.

“Damn, the ball!” One of the boys exclaimed as he realized that they had forgotten to bring the ball with them. WeiZhou was behind them, tying his shoelaces.

“I’ll go get it, you guys go on,” he offered.

The group hollered in affirmation, asked him to hurry up  and went ahead.

Damn these laces. He was never good at tying them. Couldn’t untie once he tied them and vice versa. Damnit. He just shoved the laces into the shoe and got up. He had to take them off soon anyway.

His steps faltered at the entrance of the court. Someone was inside. A lone figure; a tall guy with a baseball cap on his head bouncing the ball. When did he come to the court? It wasn’t even five minutes their group left. Maybe this guy was waiting all along and they didn’t notice?... WeiZhou walked towards him slowly.

“Erm…excuse me?”

The guy turned around. One of the lights were directly behind the man, making it difficult for WeiZhou to see his face clearly and that cap was casting shadows over the upper half too, but still it felt like this man was quite handsome.

And he was standing there, looking at him with the ball in his hand.

“Umm…the ball,” WeiZhou gestured at it, “it’s, um, ours actually.”

“Oh, yes, yes, of course, take it.” The man came near him and held it in front of him, “I apologize for thinking that I could have it for some time.”
WeiZhou’s head gave a spin, as if his whole being felt tumbling down from high above.

That voice…that voice…

“Happy Birthday, Zhou.”

The wispy breath touched the side of WeiZhou’s face as the man uttered those words while passing by him.
And he just stood there, rooted to the spot. Mind running thousands of miles, tracing the last ring of that voice…

“Zhou…”

“…sleep now…”

“…never left you…”

“…nothing but a forgotten dream…”

The ball which he didn’t even remember taking, fell from his hands.

“I…remember.”

“I won’t remind you.”

“I remember.”

“…on your birthday…”

“I remember!”

WeiZhou cried out and whirled back only to find an empty court.

He ran.

He didn’t know where the man went, didn’t know where he should look. All he knew was that he had to find him. Had to. Had to. And so he ran. He shot out of the playground and into the road, the man wasn’t there. He ran to the right, he wasn’t there. To the left, he wasn’t there either. All the while he kept muttering “I remember…I remember.”