Fiction: Group 3
“Your mother…” Lu’s attention immediately came to its full at the mention of his own mother, “she was
poisoned, and the contaminated food of the River Delta…”
Those words fell from Fei’s lips like vapor, but landed into Lu’s stomach as shards of glass. Before Lu could
even register the blood that drained from his face, he was already running, his feet pounding on the green
terrain, heart hammering in his chest, and what he saw next tore his remaining forlorn hope into crumbled
shreds into despair.
He couldn’t bring himself to believe the sprawled figure on his own doorstep was his own mother.
“Lu… I’m sorry…” that figure said in a wistful voice, “I failed to be a responsible mother…” The icy hand
that touched Lu didn’t even feel humane, freezing, like a corpse’s depleted from blood. The lifeless limb
weakly caressed his face, the once rosy red lips now formed a forced cracked smile. “Promise…” her breath
seemed to come in uneven gasps, “Promise me to be a good man… Protect our home, our Pearl River
Del…”
The hand went limp as it fell onto the body’s side, lifeless. Lu stared at the figure that was supposed to be his
mother, her arms that had once brought him warmth and protection with her embraces were now scattered
limply like a rag doll thrown onto the ground, her once beautiful complexion was now drained from its
usual color. All these adding to the bluish lips of hers seemed unreal to Lu. Something that had once been so
powerfully alive did not seem logical to disappear so quickly.
The shock was too sudden, hitting Lu like waves of realization, as the poor boy dropped to his knees, his
agonizing wails echoing in the house, not even noticing Fei inch closer to him, hearing the words that left
his mouth at that moment of misery.
“I promise.”
****
“I knew I failed her.” The atrocious memory was still clearly embodied into his mind; he remembered every
detail, every emotion that racked through his frail body that day. “Every day… the same nightmare. It was
as though I was seeing everything in black and white.”
Fei’s brown eyes searched Lu’s dark ones, the maroon orbs swirling with a mixture of compensation and
suspicion, but still, Fei smiled, once again placing his hand on Lu’s, trying to ease his suffering.
“Ten years… what kind of monster had I become? Can I even become human again?”
“Sometimes… it’s hard to leave what you’ve always been through… but then, sometimes it brings you
things you otherwise had never dreamt of…”
Lu looked back into Fei’s warm stare, his aura of felicity has returned, surrounding him, his smile mending
the torn shreds of despair back into the little chunk of hope that still lies deep in that devastated broken heart
of his. He gathered the pile of paperwork on his desk, handing them to Fei. And for the first time in ten
years, Lu smiled.
“I’m sure this information would aid in the research of the government finding the cure for the disease.”
Fei gratefully took the papers and placed them against his chest, a wide smile growing on his lips, tears
seemed to be glistening from his own orbs, tears of relief; tears of joy.
“Some things were worth the risk after all.”
