Jia Li's POV
I wake up exausted at noon on January 22nd. For a long time, I just lounge around in bed, trying to fall back into the warmth of sleep. I had a dream last night; to be more specific, it was more of a nightmare. Now that I'm conscious, I can't remember the specifics; all I recall is being scared. Hands grabbed at me, put me somewhere I didn't want to be. I kept screaming, trying to get away, but to no avail. That's when I woke up and instantly forgot most of it.
Someone knocks on my door, and it opens before I can approve their presence. It's my mom. "Did you just wake up?" she asks, laughing slightly.
"No," I respond indignantly. "Like, half an hour ago." I sit up and stretch, feeling my elbows crack with a gross yet satisfying pleasure.
"Well, you should get ready for the day." She walks in and yanks my curtains open, letting in the bright light. "Mei called; she's coming over sometime soon. And I have to go run some errands, so I'll need you to watch Fai for a while."
"Okay," I say through a yawn, wincing at the light too bright for my eyes. She leaves. I get up and shuffle down the hall to the bathroom. Fai, my three-year-old brother, has made a mess in the bathtub; little bits of cereal and milk float around in about ten centimeters of soapy water. I sigh and pull the plug. There's a small giggle behind me.
"Fai, did you make yourself breakfast again?" I ask, though the answer is obvious. He giggles again and runs to grab on to my leg. I get down on my knees and tickle him. "Did you? Huh? Did you?"
"Yes!" he shrieks through gales of playful laughter. "An' I took a bath by myself!"
"Wow," I praise, smoothing back his wet hair. "All by yourself? No help at all?"
"Li-li, I told you already!" he whines, lying across my lap.
I lean in close to him and take a deep breath through my nose. "I don't believe you. You smell bad."
"I do not!" he squawks indignantly.
"Okay, okay, fine," I laugh, poking his chubby cheek. Then I push him up and give him a nudge towards the door. "Go have Mom put on your show. It's my turn to take a bath."
He chirps, "Okay!" and runs out, yelling, "MOMMY!"
I close and lock the door before stripping off my shorts and T-shirt and hopping into the cleaner-than-before bathtub, and I turn on the shower head. The water is too cold for a few minutes, and then it's too hot. It takes a lot of adjusting to get the temperature right.
After washing my hair and body, I hop out, wringing out my hair over the sink. I wrap a towel around myself, pick up my pajamas, and walk to my room, where I change into a red blouse with a white skirt. Then I sit on my unmade bed and run a brush through the tangles of my long, black hair. Sometimes I wonder if I should get my hair cut; it falls down to my elbows. Once my hair is relatively knot-free, I twist it up into two pigtail buns.
Fai's sitting on the floor in front of the television, cramming dry cereal into his mouth. He doesn't even look up when I walk by, too involved in his cartoon. I fix myself some leftovers from last night for breakfast (lunch?).
The doorbell rings. My mom, who just walked up and is closest to the door, opens it. There stands my best friend, Mei. Her black-dyed-blonde, pixie-styled hair has a few new blue and purple streaks. Once again, she's wearing too much makeup. Her ever-present black jacket hangs over her band T-shirt and ripped jeans. "Hi, Mrs. Xing!" she greets my mom. After being ushered inside, she acknowedges me. I just smile at her, my mouth full of rice. Then she says hi to Fai, and he gets up to go cling to her leg, shrieking, "Mei!"
Mei laughs, and she somehow manages to make her way over to where I sit, while Fai cackles with delight and screeches, "Higher!" I pry off my brother and hold him on my lap with one arm, taking another bite of rice with my other. Fai struggles, and I end up putting him down; he runs back over to his overturned bowl of cereal, flops down on the carpet, and continues eating it.
Mei jumps right into a story about some guys she saw on the bus. Apparently, they weren't on the bus, she just saw them out the window. According to her, they were "So hot!" and only a few years older than us.
"Yeah, that's nice," I answer nonchalantly, finishing my meal and putting the dishes in the dishwasher.
"Too bad I'll never see them again," she says.
"Yep," I respond. "Too bad."
"Girls, I'm leaving," Mom calls. "I'll be gone for a while; got another marrige counseling meeting."
"Okay," I call back. It's kind of sad; because there are more men than woman in China, technically speaking, my mom could have chosen anyone she wanted, and he would have treated her right. But she chose my dad, who ended up cheating on her. Now, they're seperated. Still married, but not living together. It's not exactly a pleasant thing for anyone to go through, and sometimes I miss my father, choosing to think about the good times rather than the bad.
Mom leaves, and Mei and I talk for a while, occasionally checking up on Fai to make sure he hasn't accidentally changed the channel to something inappropiate. Then, she insists on putting makeup on me and doing my nails, girly things I don't normally care for. It makes her happy, so I put up with it.
Fai yells from across the room, asking me what a certain swear word means. We both look up to see that he switched to some action movie or something. Mei jumps up and clicks off the TV. "That's enough ot that!" she laughs, scooping Fai in her arms.
"Just in time, too," I note, looking at the clock. "It's someone's naptime!"
Fai wails that he will not take a nap, that he doesn't need one, that he's not tired. I take him from Mei, ignoring his thrashing and sharp fingernails, carrying him to his room, and I drop him on his bed. He's still chanting excuses, face screwed up and wet with indignant tears.
"What if I take a nap with you?" I offer. He stops crying and looks up at me through dark eyes.
"Fine," he grumbles, lying down reluctantly. Mei hovers in the doorway, looking amused and slightly bored, and she comes in and joins in on the group nap in Fai's small bed. Both of our legs hang extended over the edge.
Mei and I both feign unconsciousness until Fai stops fidgeting and falls asleep. Then, we get up and wander back to the living room, where Mei discusses boys and I try to listen and sketch in my sketchbook.
"See, this is why you don't have a boyfriend," she tells me, referring to how much time I spend with my drawings and how little I spend with humans.
I look up and fake a glare at her. Then, after we both laugh, "I don't really care. I don't need a boyfriend."
"That's what I thought until I met Shen!" she exclaims, texting someone on her phone. "Y'know, Enlai told me he likes you. He's pretty cute, don't you think?"
"Enlai?" I make a face. "He's obnoxious. If anything, I like Kang. He's smart, quiet, creative..."
Mei looks up at me with newfound interest. "Oh, so you have a crush on him?" she asks excitedly.
"What?!" I exclaim, laughing. "No, I said I prefer him to Enlai!"
"And then you listed what you like about him!"
"That doesn't mean anything!"
Both of us are giggling like little kids at the conversation. The laughter lasts for longer than necessary.
There's a sound like someone unlocking the front door. "Mom's home," I note. It's been three hours since she left. "That was quick, considering how long those meetings usually last." Mei nods. I sketch a few more lines on my drawing as the door swings open. "Hi, Mom. Fai's taking a nap, and Mei's still here."
"Obviously," she snorts from her place on the couch opposite, fingers flying with her texts.
I hear footsteps, but Mom hasn't responded. "Geez," I mutter. "The meeting was that bad?" Still no answer. "Mom?" I turn around.
Standing over me is an unfamiliar man with blond hair and piercing blue eyes, wearing a green jacket over a black T-shirt. I'm only able to think, This isn't my mom, when he puts a gloved hand over my mouth and starts to pull me over the back of the couch.
I let out a muffled scream and start fighting. I hear Mei's gasp of surprise and the man's grunt of pain as I manage to kick him between the legs. All of a sudden, there's a crash, glass spills over me, and the man's grasp on me slacks: Mei threw the lamp at him, and it hit him directly on the forehead.
I'm not hurt, so I give him another firm kick to the groin before breaking away, grabbing Mei's hand and the portable house phone, and run down the hall, making a beeline for Fai's room. He's not stunned for long, and I hear his loud, angry bellow and his loud footsteps chasing us.
We hurtle into Fai's room and slam the door shut, locking it. Almost immediately, I hear him pund his fists against the wood, hard enough to break it. "Barricade!" I shout at Mei, and I'm thankful when she gets what I'm trying to say. We grab Fai's dresser and push it in front of the door.
"Call the police!" Mei nearly screams at me. I fumble with the phone in my hand—this is the reason I grabbed it, I think. Fai wakes up with a sleepy, "What's goin' on, Li-li?" Mei gathers him up in her arms, and he throws his arms around her neck. "Those guys— they're the ones I saw on the bus!" she tells me hysterically.
I, for one, didn't notice how "So hot" the only guy I saw was, given the fact that he was trying to take me somewhere. I finish pressing the buttons with trembling fingers, and I hold the phone to my ear and back away, trying to block out the sound of Fai's scared crying, Mei's scared breathing, and the man's pounding on the door.
"Hello, what's your emergency?" the woman on the other end asks in a voice too calm for this situation.
"Th—there's someone in my house!" I shriek at her.
"Please calm down, Miss. Where are you?" I scream my address at her. "We'll have a few police officers there shortly. What's your name? Is anyone hurt?"
"My name's Jia Li Xing, and I'm here with my little brother Fai and my friend, Mei Huing. No one's hurt yet, but we're hiding in my brother's room, and he's going to break down the door!" I added the last part after the split-second realization which sends even more adrenaline to rush through my body.
The man's voice yells at us in a different language that I don't understand. I can't recognize it, either. But his message is clear—Get out of there before I come in. I back closer to Mei and Fai, phone still clutched at my ear. "He's going to break the door down. He's going to break the door down. He's going to break the door down," I realize I'm chanting.
"Please calm down, Jia Li," the woman on the other end soothes. "I'll stay on the line. Talk to me, Jia Li."
"Wh—what do you want me to say?" I manage, flinching as the man body slams on the door again.
"It doesn't matter. Just stay calm and collected."
"I think he's after you," Mei says quietly, eyes still locked on the door.
"Why?!" I hysterically ask. "I—I'm nothing special! I haven't done anything wrong! Wh—why would he be after me?!"
"I don't know." Her voice is flat and strangely calm. "But he went immediately for you. He barely even looked at me."
I'm not sure how to react to the information. The woman on the phone keeps reminding me to stay calm and to distract myself but I can't and all she can hear is my hysterical breathing and occasional whimpers or gasps as the door bangs in its frame and Fai only wants me to hold him so I have him crying into my shoulder with one arm and I hold the phone with my other and I can't think straight and please send someone to help!
There's a crash louder than the rest, and the door splinters and breaks. We all scream, Fai included, and we back up into the corner. Mei stands in front of me, blocking me from the man. She's right; there's another two men behind the blond man who grabbed me. "He's in the room, he's in the room!" I scream into the phone.
The blond man jumps over the debris and pulls out a hand gun. "Gun...," I whimper into the receiver. The only one making noise is Fai now, sobbing hysterically into my shoulder. I gently bounce him up and down, whispering, "Shhhh...Shhhhh..."
The man makes a gesture at Mei: he moves his hand side to side. It's a move gesture. He's trying to get to me. I whimper, and the lady on the phone reminds me again that help is on the way and to stay calm. Mei doesn't move.
When he makes the gesture again, and Mei still doesn't move, he makes a phone gesture and holds out his free hand. "He wants the phone," I inform the woman, and I'm surprised to hear the calmness in my voice that Mei had. I realize it's not because I'm at peace; it's numbness. My voice is numb.
"Give it to him," she encourages, and then she reminds me again that help will be here soon.
I shakily hold out the phone over Mei's shoulder. He advances to take it. Once it's in his hand, he hangs up and throws it on the floor, and he steps on it so it crunches under his boot. Then, because he's still within arm's length of me, he grabs Mei's shoulder and pushes her out of the way, flinging her into the arms of the second man I didn't notice— a man who looks vaguely Japanese, wearing a white sweatshirt with black jeans and a sword hilted at his side. He grabs her arms, and she struggles and cries out.
I hold on to Fai with both hands. The man orders something in his different language. "I don't understand you," I gasp, the numbness gone, emotion shaking my voice. He starts to take Fai away from me. "No!" I exclaim, turning slightly to protect my brother.
The man's lost his patience with me. His strong hands grab my shoulder and spin me back around, and he yanks Fai out of my reach. "Li-li!" he shrieks, swinging around his meaty fists. I scream again in protest, stretching for him. Cradling the fighting toddler with one arm, he clamps his other strong hand over my mouth, pushing me back against the wall simultaneously, and I fall silent and still, closing my eyes.
Where are the police sirens!? How come I can't hear them yet?!
The man lets go of my mouth, but he wraps his arm around my neck in a headlock, dragging me out of Fai's room, littered with bits of wood. The Japanese man brings Mei, who is still fighting claw and tooth. I only squirm a little because he's almost choking me. He takes us to the bathroom where Fai ate his breakfast, and he gently places my brother down on the floor. Fai runs up to me and clings to my leg.
The Japanese man brings Mei in, and he ties her hands together in front of her with duct tape, and then he pushes her down so she has to sit on the floor against the far wall. The blond man pries Fai off me and deposits him on Mei's lap. "Li-li!" he sobs.
"Stay with Mei, Fai," I manage.
"Jia Li, don't go with them!" Mei chokes out, wrapping her bound hands around Fai so he doesn't run to me again. She's starting to cry, which scares me more than anything these men can do. Mei never cries. She's the brave one, she's the one who protects me! Now, seeing her so vulnerable... It makes me want to cry, too.
"What choice do I have?" My voice is quieter than normal, trembling with fear. It crosses my mind that I should fight more, try harder to get away, stall until the police come, at the very least. I hear them now; it's a faint wail, but gradually getting louder.
The man yanks me out of the bathroom, and his Asian collegue shuts the door and puts a chair under then handle so, even in Mei tries to pound on the door, she'll be trapped. Until my mom comes home, at least.
How will Mom react to this? She'll walk in the door, and the broken glass on the floor will be the first thing she sees. The couch will be askew from when the man tried to pull me over it. She'll wander down the hall, and the rug will be upset because of our running, and whatever emotionally scarring memories from the counseling session with Dad will be gone from her mind. And then she'll see the door to Fai's room gone, completely splintered away, the broken fragments littered all over the floor, and she'll notice that neither I nor him are in there. Mei will have noticed her return by then, and she'll start making noise. Mom will let her out. Fai will cling to her leg until he is picked up, and Mei will explain what happened. Will she cry? Will she even care?
I'm only wearing socks over my feet, but the man doesn't stop to retrieve them before shoving me out the door and into the snow, even though they're sitting right there. Nothing to cover my arms but the short-sleeved shirt, I'm immediately cold and uncomfortable. I am led by my upper arm to a black van waiting in my driveway. Mei can see me from here. I know this because I can see her, pounding on the glass with her duct-taped hands, screaming her head off. None of the men acknowledge this except for the third man I didn't note. He's wearing a heavy coat and a knit hat, and he looks way too happy for this situation.
I am suddenly overcome with a repulsion to the van, and I try to stop walking so I won't have to get in it, but the blond man keeps pulling me and the snow stings my feet and ankles but I don't worry about that because I'm too scared to think about anything but staying away from the vehicle. The Japanese man unlocks the back of the van, and the blond pushes me in. I come to my senses and lunge for the closing doors, but they're shut and locked by the time my palms come in contact with the glass.
Where are the handles?! I think as I fumble my hands over the inside of the door. I can't stay in here. The men hop in the van; the blond driving, the unusually happy man in shotgun, and the Japanese man closest to me.
"What do you want with me?!" I demand, curling my hands into fists. They don't seem to understand me, but the Japanese man extends his arm out to me, something in his hand. It's my sketchbook, one charcoal pencil tucked into the spiral loop. I just look at him for a minute; I would much rather have my shoes and coat in this situation than my sketchbook.
"Who are you?" I ask, not even reaching for my book. "Where are we going?" The man doesn't answer. He doesn't give any signs that he understands. He comes closer, something in his other hand. It's a rag, or something. He must have it for a reason, and I scoot into the corner of the van, curling up into the smallest ball I can make myself.
The blond starts driving, fast and furious. I, without a seat belt, am tossed around the back of the van like a boat on the wave. After the first thirty seconds, I stop trying to right myself and just cover my head with my hands until he gains sufficient control of the vehicle. I end up practically nose-to-nose with the Japanese man.
Startled, I scramble back. The man reaches out and claps the rag over my mouth and nose, holding the back of my head so I can't jerk away. I'm forced to breath in the spirits on the cloth. I think he's trying to knock me out. It's too late for me to not pass out.
I crumple sideways, and the man removes his hands. I widen my eyes, trying desperately to keep them open, even though I don't have the strength to sit up.
The man, for some reason, starts touching my hair. Petting it. He's trying to make me feel better. I can't make him stop. My eyes close. I try to stay awake, but I can't.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
My head throbs when I finally start to drift back into consciousness. Blearily, I open my eyes. I stare at the white ceiling for a few minutes before sitting up with a small groan. There's a girl in the corner with short blond hair. "Mei? Mei, what—?" I stop with a gasp and scramble back, because I realize all of a sudden that this girl is not my friend. Now that I focus on her, she's taller, wears glasses, and her clothing style is nothing like Mei's punk rock style. I realize I'm wearing a coat and a pair of shoes that are not mine; they're camouflage, and both are about two sizes too big. The boots are laced tightly around my ankles though, so if I need to run, I don't think they'll fall off.
"Who are you?!" I demand with a shaky voice, still sitting stiffly where I woke. A bed. "Where am I?! What do you want?!" The girl takes a step forward, and I scuttle back and fall off the side of the bed. I hear her exclaim something in a concerned tone, but her words are nonsense to me. She comes forward, like she's asking if I'm okay, but I stand up and take steps back until my back is against a wall. The girl stops and takes a step back, showing me her palms.
"Um," she says. That's all I understand, and it's not even a word. She also seems confused, and that's all I know about her. After taking a moment to think, maybe on how to convey her message without understand a word of my language, she walks over to a door, and she shakes the handle. It doesn't open. That's what she's trying to say; she's a hostage here, too. She doesn't understand anything better than I do.
The girl walks back over to me. Pointing at herself, she says, "Issa." Or something like that. Maybe it's a word in her language; I wouldn't know. But it sounds like she's trying to introduce herself. I nod and repeat her nervously, "Issa. You're Issa." She smiles and nods, and then she gives a little wave at me. "I'm—I'm Jia Li," I tell her.
"Jia Li?" she repeats. I nod and lift the corners of my mouth a little to reward her. I don't really feel like smiling. I feel like I'm going to cry. Or maybe I'll just throw up. Maybe both.
"Um," Issa says again. I look up at her and try to make it seem like I'm not about to burst into tears. She hesitantly steps forward, and she hands me my sketchbook, asking something in English. I'm not sure what she said, but I accept my book and quickly flip through the pages. None of them are damaged in any way, which relieves me. I don't know why it does, considering the circumstances, but it does.
I sit down on the bed and hug my sketchbook to my chest. My breathing is quick and short, and after a moment, I feel myself start crying. Embarrassed, I cover my face with my hand and lean forward, trying to breathe and comprehend just exactly what's happened to me. How's Fai? How's Mei? What are they doing right now? What about Mom? Dad? Why aren't they here with me? I need them. I don't know what to do. I don't know where I am. I'm scared to death, and I need to go home.
Issa gently puts her hand on my shoulder. I jump and look at her, and her expression is sympathetic. Now that I think about it, this girl's probably been through the same thing as I have. She's been here longer than me. Maybe she's been here for months, no company but the three men. And she seems perfectly fine. Yeah, she seems scared and confused, but she's a lot more relaxed.
Impulsively, I hug the taller girl. She doesn't seem to mind; in fact, she returns the embrace, rubbing circles into my back comfortingly. For a few minutes, I sob hysterically into Issa's shoulder. She's very supporting, stroking my hair and patting my back and talking soothingly to me in her language.
I finally stop and dry my eyes, pulling away. "Thank you," I murmur at her. Her face lights up and she repeats me enthusiastically. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she chirps triumphantly. That may be the only phrase in Chinese that she knows, and she's very proud of herself for that.
I give a small, breathy laugh and nod. She nods, too, and she says thank you again, and then, for the next few hours, the two of us just sit around in the fairly spacious room in which we're locked, not knowing what exactly to try to communicate about.