Fiction: Group 5
When the store was finally tidied up, I picked up a green jade and bought it. I have no idea why,
but a friend told me it helps with the “ghost”. I only call it a ghost, but it is possibly more. It could be an
alien, or a demon, or anything else. Whatever it was, it’s the reason why this jewelry and precious items
store is now closed and filled up with Bloomberg news reporters. I was
tired
of the mischief caused by the
figure.
Martin followed me back to my house, and I put the jade from the store by the fan controls in the
living space. Martin sat down and I went to the kitchen to cook dinner. I thought I heard the words “Haru
the Fool” distinctly.
“Martin, did you just call me a…” I asked, trying not to be stern.
“I didn’t say anything, but I heard someone say ‘Haru the Fool!’ next to the fan controls loudly. Whatever
that is, it must be angry that you’re trying to get rid of it,” replied Martin. He looked at the wrought iron
front door outside. I looked too. It was open.
“Wait a minute,” I told Martin, as I walked out the balcony (the doors were open as the drilling has
stopped) and closed the door and locked it. This, by the way was the only house on the street. The street
was full of stores, and it was miraculous to find a vacant house in the middle of the city in Hong Kong. It
had only vacated a few days after I moved here, so I didn’t spend that long at Vega Suites.
We ate dinner together. I am single, so I am usually on my own when I eat. Martin noticed the
small China Flag under the painting of the white pigeon. It fell to the floor. We approached it. I carefully
picked it up by the plastic pole. I picked up this charming decoration many times, when I bought it, when I
got it out from the car, when I was deciding where to put it and I moved it to one side many times. When I
was cleaning the wooden shelf it was on. This time, it felt cold. It started to vibrate, the way an appliance
would when it was connected to AC power.
“Haru!” Martin yelped. “Haru there’s…”
I looked to my right to see a door- identical to most of the other doors in the house- cherry with an
antique brass finish knob. It was getting hot. When I looked up, I noticed that the ceiling fan above me was
gone. The others were still hanging, spinning merrily. Now, I just saw wires coming from the junction box
that luckily weren’t touching, as this would cause short-circuit. I looked over to the controls, and luckily,
the control to the fan that was here was turned off before that darn thing took it down. I also noticed that
the jade I put next to the controls was gone.
Martin and I postponed the dinner and walked through the door which led us to a large river. I
saw buildings behind me and on the other side of the river. I asked Martin if he was seeing the same thing.
He said yes and that we were at the edge of the Pearl River. We were in Guangzhou. Far away in the
distance, I saw a bridge, and behind that, there were more buildings. I had absolutely no idea why we were
here in the first place- I live in the delta of the river, but I don’t know why that figure decided to bring us
here. I was getting impatient.
We decided to walk a good 100 meters or so to try and find the fan that was somehow brought to
this place. We didn’t find it. What we did find however was a door. We saw many doors on the way, but
this door, once again was just like my door, and it was standing by itself, not attached to any building or so.
It was weird, but no one noticed us, or the door. Martin turned the brass knob…
We went in and found ourselves in the same place, but this time, there were no people. The cars
and buses, too, were gone. I held Martin’s hand and felt that it was cold. I asked him if my hand was also
cold, and he said, “Yes, you are on.”
“I don’t get it,” I replied.
Martin made whirring sounds and moved his hands up and down, like the vane of an air-conditioner.
“I still don’t get it,” I replied.
Martin showed me a picture of a Carrier air-conditioner on his phone, which was one of the ones in my
house. This guy is always prepared to make fun of me, in a nice way though.
“OK, let’s be serious now,” I laughed.
Ceiling fans and air-conditioners have one thing in common- they both cool people. I wondered
if that’s why the figure suddenly became obsessed with these appliances, if it knew my last name from the
beginning. For whatever reason, while we were walking side by side, admiring the elegance of the Pearl
River and the buildings of the delta on both sides, and how so many cities can fit into one delta, the images
of all sorts of ceiling fans came to my mind. Modern ones, classic ones, industrial ones, like the ones that I
have. I saw every single detail. I saw the unique-looking blades and sleek lights of modern ceiling fans, the
curved aluminum or steel blades of the powerful industrial ceiling fans and the wood blades, often with cane
