PSYCHO [COMPLETED]

Managing to stay

Lay wakes up in a very familiar room. The bedroom of his teenage bestfriend. The soft light of the moon slanting through the window. Everything is well furnished and renewed, totally different from how he saw a few moments back.

He hears a soft click as the doorknob turns..

..and the door slowly opens..

..revealing an old woman dressed in the fashions of 90s, her dark eyes fixed on Lay.

"Don't be afraid, I don't mean you any harm." she says in an affectionate voice.

"I'm okay. But who are you?"

"I'm afraid I don't have a proper answer to that. You must have at least a hundred questions right now.."

"Yeah, you could say that."

"And I'll do my best to answer to them. But I must ask that you be patient with me."

..she continues, "Because, even your existence here is arousing a hundred questions and fear on my mind. But I'll put that aside."

"Before I start with my questions, Hi, my name is Lay Zhang. I'm the china sheep. Can I call you grandma?"

"..w-well, I mean, okay."

"Grandma, where am I?"

"In your world, this house is a shadow of its former self."

"My world? So we're somewhere else?"

"I don't know, Lay. I've been trapped in here ever since I died. The rest of the world kept moving, and we just.. stayed here trapped, the same."

"Since you died? So you-"

"Your kind would call me a ghost.. and I suppose that's what I am. But I don't feel like a ghost."

"What do you feel like, then?"

"I feel the same as I did in life.. except it feels like something's missing, or like I've taken a wrong turn. I feel.. lost. Forgotten."

"Something missing, is that a particular human?"

"Well.. probably my nephew. I wonder why he is not here with me, or where he is right now."

"Why's he supposed to be here? Is he dead too?

"I knew so."

"Hmm.. do you know what had just happened to me a few minutes back?"

"Ah, about that.. it seems Yusi gave you a scare, and you fell and bumped your head."

"Who's Yusi?"

"Enough with your questions, now it's my turn to ask you questions."

"Okay?"

"To start with.. why are you here?"

Lay looks our across the ground where he used to play in teenage and suppress a shiver.

"It's.. just that-"

As he peer through the glass of the window, he notices a dark shape standing amidst the trees on the edge of the property..

"YOU AGAIN!" Lay screams.

The figure melts into the trees, leaving Lay looking out at a bare expanse.

The old woman moves to stand beside Lay.

"I think I understand. You were haunted in the past."

"Grandma, I need to learn more about you, about your world. Otherwise I-" Lay pauses reminiscing a trauma.

Again he continues, "Just let me stay here, please. I won't cause you trouble."

A frown creases her eyebrows.. and then she smiles slightly.

"Come with me."

"Where are we going?"