Dance with Me! [YiZhan Mystery FF]✔️

-22- Black bat

-22- Black bat

Zhan has already been with his parents for a week and is recovering at their home. He has been feeling much better since he has been able to sleep again, for three days without chemical help and he has certainly gained three kilograms thanks to his mother's good food.

When he called his chief editor on Monday and asked him about a vacation, he told him that his article was one of the top commented and most read in the internet since the newspaper went online. Zhan, however, did not care. He needed to get away from it all for now.

On Tuesday he went for a long walk in the morning. His parents live close to a forest and he walked through it for hours, just like he had done many times in his childhood. And just when he was on his way back, he met an old woman in the forest. She was sitting on a tree stump and talking to herself, as Zhan thought.

But when Zhan came closer and the woman turned to the side for a moment, Zhan saw who she was talking to. A pitch black big bat hanging from her shoulder. Zhan immediately got goose bumps when he saw the big bat spread its wings and made a high-pitched chirp. The old woman giggled and said, "It's all right, I've noticed our guest already." And stroked the eerie creature.

The old one turned in Zhan's direction, smiled and said: "Don't be afraid, come closer. She's harmless, and for me she'll replace my eyes."

"A bat? I guess it can see as much as you can. How can it replace your eyes?" Zhan asked confusedly.

"Well, I didn't say she sees for me. Just that it replaces my eyes. I mean look at me, I'm an old blind woman who can't hear so well either. But I can still hear her call, or in this case, her warning, very well."

"Then shouldn't you say she's replacing your missing senses?"

"Ha, you see? You're quite right, I should say that in the future."

"But how does anyone ever think of training a bat for this?" Zhan wanted to know.

"Oh, I didn't train it. Quite the contrary. When she suddenly showed up at my house a few years ago, I panicked. She was clinging to my shoulder and I had to ask my son to remove it. She clung on to me so tightly that she lost one of her claws when my son tore it off my shoulder. She hissed and tried to bite my son again and again. He wrapped her up in a blanket and took her to the shelter, but they wouldn't take her, so we went to the zoo and they rejected her too. We dropped her off at a beautiful lake with lots of fruit trees, but she was back two days later and tried to get in through our windows. We kept dropping her off somewhere else, but she came back every time and at some point I just let her stay and she started warning me whenever anyone came near me."

"Like a guard dog?"

"Yes, young man, like a guard dog. Only she scares people a lot more than a guard dog. A little girl once said she had never seen anything scarier than this bat. Completely black, big, and when it spreads its wings, it's said to be even scarier. I even believe it. I was afraid too, and I couldn't even see it. But now he is dear to me and my most loyal companion."

"I see." Zhan replied and sat down next to the old woman. The bat hissed at him for a moment and then slowly crawled over to him. Zhan almost shook with disgust when her wing touched his hand. It crawled up to Zhan's shoulder and looked deep into his eyes. He had probably never experienced anything scarier.

As the bat wandered restlessly from shoulder to shoulder of Zhan, repeatedly scratching his back with its claws, the old woman said: "It senses your restlessness. She's very nervous, so you must have a lot on your mind that's bothering and worrying you, right?"

"Yes, in a way, I do."

"Would you like to tell me about it? Maybe I can help you."

"I don't know how you can help me, but I'd like to tell you." So Zhan started telling her about Yibo, his lost soul, and that he cared about him. But also about his insecurity about whether he might have missed anything in his research.

For almost an hour the old woman had listened to Zhan's story and worries. And then she said, "You don't have to worry. You will find out everything at the right time. And you will see him again when the time comes. Remember, time passes differently for lost souls. For you, it's been over a week since you last saw him. It may seem like a few hours to him."

"How do you know such things?" Asked Zhan.

"I am old and know many things young man."

"I wish I had a user manual that explained step by step how to use my skills and what steps I need to take to achieve my desired goal."

The old one laughed and said: "Yes, that would be nice. But there is no manual for such things. You have to learn them. Normally a medium learns this very early from a shaman. So if you want to learn to use your gift properly, you should find a shaman who can train you."

"Yeah, let me see if I can find a shaman around here who will take care of me." Said Zhan, and then said goodbye to the old woman.

When he arrived at his parents' house, he told them about his walk and meeting the old woman and her pitch black bat. When Zhan's mother looked at and frowned at him, he asked her what was wrong and she said, "ZhanZhan, I know that old woman. No matter where she went, the bat was with her. But ZhanZhan, this woman died two years ago while walking in the woods."

"That can't be. I spoke to her earlier and her bat even crawled on my shoulder."

"I'm just telling you what I know. Two years ago, hikers in the forest found her body and hanging on her shoulder was the bat, but it, too, was dead. Maybe it was her spirit."

Zhan took off his shirt and showed his mother the tracks from the bat's claws. "I told you it crawled on my shoulder and I sat next to the old woman. I accidentally even touched a piece of her coat."

"So you could really feel her? You know what that means?"

"No, Mom, what does it mean?"

"Your abilities are growing. You really need to talk to your grandmother." Said his mother, and only an hour later his mother brought him to his grandmother.

And like every time, she waited for him in the driveway. She smiled and when she touched him she nodded. "Your mother is right, your abilities are growing. You are now not only able to communicate with lost souls but also with ghosts. And, amazingly enough, you can touch them." Then she looked past Zhan and asked Zhan, "Where is he? Isn't he back yet?"

Zhan shook his head. And after he, his mother and his grandmother went into the house, he told her about his meet with the old woman in the forest and about her bat. His grandmother looked at the tracks of the claws and explained to him that she had never heard anything like it, that even in death an animal remains connected to its human being. But she also said that after all, there are many things that no one can explain until today.

"She told me that I need a shaman to train me. Is that true?" Asked Zhan.

"Yes, it would be better. Especially because of your abilities. You must learn to use them properly. But I can't think of any shaman who's qualified to do that right now. But I promise you I'll find someone."

The three of them talked for two more hours over tea and a cake, before Zhan fell asleep on the sofa of his grandmother's house. An hour later, he woke up and went back home with his mother. Before that, his grandmother told him to spend a few more days resting with his family. And while driving to his parents' house, Zhan couldn't stop thinking about the dream he had when he fell asleep at his grandmother's house.