A/N: Welcome, my readers, to chapter 3 of "Life is Abominable". As promised, no more filler chapters like those last two chapters were. Now, we're going to get to meet more characters, specifically, the characters from "Abominable" and find out how they're going to fit into this story. So, how about we get right into it then, huh? Enjoy!
Previously on Life is Abominable...
Max and Chloe, excited to embark on their vacation to China, have packed everything they needed and boarded a Red Eye flight to the country they seek to explore. Max's vision of the fight between the monster and the armed men on the bridge continues while asleep on the flight and finally sees the monster up close before the vision abruptly ended. Chloe looked slightly troubled at the description of one particular person Max saw in the second half of her vision, a woman with red hair and glasses with teardrop shaped lenses. The two can only keep wondering what these new visions will mean as their destination is getting closer and closer...
Shanghai, China. 7:54 AM
The flight had just landed, and Max and Chloe were waiting in the baggage carousel area to collect their luggage. Chloe had just gotten her bags, and was keeping an eye out for Max's. Six minutes would pass until she spotted them and scooped both of them up before walking over to Max who was peacefully sitting on a bench, waiting for Chloe to come back.
"Yo, Mad Max! I got your bags" Chloe called out, which caught the brown-haired girl's attention. She gave a little smile as she stood up and took her bags from Chloe.
"Thanks. You didn't tell me we'd be landing in Shanghai though" Max thanked before changing the subject.
"I thought this would actually be a good first stop. We'll stay here for a couple of days before we decide on our next destination" Chloe told her.
"Sounds like a plan. And you found a good hotel too?" asked Max.
"Yup, sure did. Once we get there I'm going to request a room on the fifteenth floor, and we'll have a balcony with an incredible view of the city. Perfect opportunity for some pictures too" Chloe said to her. The two then stepped out of the airport entrance together and smiled at how peaceful the city looked so early in the morning. Not very many cars were in the streets, and only a few people were walking around up and down the sidewalks too. Max then looked as Chloe inhaled a large breath before exhaling.
"You smell that, Max? That's the smell of adventure just calling out our names. Begging for us to explore every part of this beautiful city!" Chloe said with her hands on her hips, speaking in a hefty voice that only old-school cartoon superheroes would normally speak in. Max just snickered, rolled her eyes and shook her head at her friend's corny statement.
"Alright then, Captain Adventure, what's first on the agenda?" Max asked.
"I'm glad you ask, my dear Maximus. We must find The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, and drop off our luggage before we continue on our magnificent journey!" Chloe continued in her corny superhero voice before both of their stomachs growled in unison at the same time.
"But first, breakfast" Chloe said, using her real voice this time before the two broke down laughing.
"Yeah, we really gotta get some food into us before we can look for our hotel" Max agreed. The two then crossed the street and began looking around for somewhere good to eat before looking around for their hotel.
"I can't believe they have McDonald's here in China" said Max as she walked, half-eaten Sausage Egg McMuffin in her hand.
"We got lucky this time, Max. But we're going to have to look around for other places to eat while we're here. Mickey D's isn't the only option" Chloe said as she still had hash brown in her mouth.
"I know, I know. I'm just happy that we found it just as we were about to give up and just eat at the hotel once we found it" Max said.
"Yeah, I'm glad we found it too. Let's see if we can get to our hotel now" Chloe said before she took the rest of her food into her mouth, crumbled up the trash and tossed into a trashcan sitting on the edge of the sidewalk. The two then continued to walk before coming across an alleyway, they noticed a young girl who looked to be in her teenage years trying to pick up newspapers off the ground. The girl had short black hair, and brown eyes and was dressed in a red tee shirt with a pair of headphones on the front, a pair of faded blue short shorts with dark gray leggings, black converse high-tops and red and green striped socks raised up to the middle of her shins.
"Oh, great" the girl growled to herself as she was struggling to pick the papers up into a brown leather back that had a broken strap. Max couldn't help but feel bad as she watched the stressed out girl pick up her newspapers, so she dropped her bags on the ground and slowly walked up to her before kneeling down and picking a paper up and handing it to the girl.
"Here" Max simply said with a warm and caring smile. The girl took it and placed it back in the bag with the other papers.
"Thank you. I'm kinda in a hurry though" said the girl as she tried to lift the bag, which proved to be heavier then expected now that all the newspapers were back inside. Max turned to Chloe and gave her a look that told the blue haired girl "We have to help this poor girl out". Chloe nodded in agreement before placing her bags next to Max's.
"I know you don't know us but, what if we helped you?" Max politely offered. The girl looked to them with a shocked expression on her face.
"You're really willing to help me?" asked the girl.
"Of course I am. It's the right thing to do, and you look like you could really use it" Max replied as she held her hand out.
"You'd best take her offer. Max here's the most dependable person I know. You can always count on her for help" Chloe told her. The girl was silent for a while but then she nodded and handed Chloe and Max all the newspapers she had in the bag.
"Can you deliver the rest of these for me then, please?" asked the girl.
"Sure, just say where you need them taken" Max told her. She then stood up and pointed down the street.
"I just need to deliver half of the rest of those stores until it gets to the end of the block. Same thing with the other side of the street" explained the young girl.
"Alright, we'll get it done in a jiffy. Just stay there and we'll take care of everything, promise" Max said before the two left to do the girl's errand. Max then turned to Chloe who had about seven newspapers in her arms.
"I know, we're supposed to be on vacation but I couldn't just let her keep going with that broken bag she had" said Max, feeling guilty that she was stalling on their walk to the hotel. Expecting an annoyed or disappointed reaction from her, Chloe instead surprised her by doing the exact opposite and smiled while she spoke.
"Don't even worry about it. It's sweet that you wanted to that for her" Max smiled when Chloe said that.
"So, how about I'll take the buildings across the street and you just drop off the papers for this block?" Chloe suggested.
"Perfect. I'll see you then" Max said before walking away so Chloe could walk across the street. there were about seven stores and since Max had seven newspapers, it was the perfect amount needed. Max calmly walked past each one and placed a paper right in front of the door before moving onto the next one. One of them was a simple fruit stand, so Max set their paper next to the table where the cash register was before placing the next paper on the front doorstep of a cafe. After she dropped off the rest of the papers, Max turned around and walked back in the direction to the alley where the girl was.
"Hey Max. So, you got those papers successfully delivered?" Chloe asked as she finished crossing the street to get back to where they last saw each other.
"Oh yeah. All of them got a newspaper" Max replied with a nod.
"Hella yes! Now let's go talk to that girl and tell her we got the job done" said Chloe. The two then walked down the alley again. Their bags were still there and the girl was leaning against the wall, watching over them.
"Hey, we got all those papers delivered for you" Max gently told the girl. This made her smile and approach them with something to say.
"Thank you so much for your help. My name's Yi by the way" she said, introducing herself.
"I'm Max, Max Caulfield. And this is my friend, Chloe Price. We're visiting here from America" Max said.
"Good to meet ya, Yi. Happy to help out" Chloe piped in.
"It's nice to meet you both too. It's actually not too often I meet American tourists here. You staying at a hotel?" asked Yi.
"Yes, actually. We're staying at the Landmark Mandarin Oriental for a while" Chloe explained, which made Yi wince.
"Ooh. That's a really expensive hotel. I'm talking, super expensive. Only the rich can afford to stay there" warned Yi. This did make Max and Chloe a bit concerned that they'd end up spending a lot of money, so much they they wouldn't have enough to fly back to Los Angeles.
"Well, we don't know where else we're gonna stay" Max said.
"How about this? Follow me and I'll let you guys stay with me and my family. That way you won't get ripped off and I can show you around after you finish unpacking. Sound cool?" asked Yi. Max was a bit hesitant at first, but she knew Yi's offer was very kind and also the cheapest option possible.
"Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Yi. That's very kind of you" replied Max.
"Totally. It's hella rad you'd do this for us" Chloe added with a nod.
"No problem. I just need to pick up my pay from the guy I was delivering those papers for and then I'll take you there" said Yi. The two picked their bags back up and began to follow their new friend down the street to their next destination.
After following Yi to pick up her payment for delivering the newspapers, and dropping off the broken bag she was given to by the office, Max and Chloe began following her to where she lived. They didn't mind walking a bit longer, it gave them more time to take in the sights of Hong Kong. While they were walking, Max decided to start a new conversation with Yi to break the silence.
"So, Yi. Is delivering papers just a summer job or do you do it full time?" asked Max.
"Oh, I don't deliver newspapers. I go around doing various odd jobs for money" explained Yi.
"That's pretty cool. Doing different things every day must be an exciting things for you, huh?" Chloe asked.
"You can say that. I'm just trying to make as much money as I can" Yi told the blue haired girl.
"Why? What do you need it for? Something important?" asked Max.
"Well, yes actually. It's actually something really big. I'll show you when we get there" Yi told them as she kept leading her new American friends down the street. Eventually, after a turn of the corner, they were finally at Yi's apartment building. It looked like a pretty basic architectural design, nothing fancy but it still looked like a nice cozy little place to live. Max, Chloe, and Yi made their way to the elevator and rode it all the way to the eighteenth floor. Once they arrived on the specified floor, Max and Chloe were lead by Yi to the last apartment at the end of the hall on the left.
"Here we are, you guys. Home sweet home. My mom should still be at work but I know for a fact that Nai Nai's home" Yi said as she reached into her front right pocket for the key to the door.
"Nai Nai?" Chloe asked with a bit of an amused smirk on her face.
"Yeah, it's what I call my grandma" Yi answered simply before she unlocked the door. Once the three got inside, they were greeted by an older woman who appeared to be in her late thirties sitting on the couch wearing a pink shirt under a purple cardigan and black pants, and a short elderly woman wearing a purple tracksuit with green zigzags on the front working in the kitchen.
"I'm home!" Yi called out as she shut the door behind her. Both women had their eyes on the three girls who had just entered their abode.
"Back so soon?" the much younger woman asked.
"And who are these people?" the elderly one added.
"Mom, hey. I thought you were at work" Yi pointed out.
"I was. But the building had a gas leak. So work's cancelled until tomorrow. So, who are these nice looking girls you brought home?" asked Yi's mother. After taking in a deep breath, she began to answer the question.
"Mom, Nai Nai, these are my new friends. We met earlier this morning" Yi explained. Max then stepped forward to introduce herself, bowing as she did so. She remembered that bowing was the preferred greeting in much of Asia instead of shaking hands, so she made sure to bow to everyone she met instead of using common American greetings.
"My name is Maxine Caulfield, but my friends and family call me 'Max' for short" Max said politely. Chloe bowed too as she introduced herself.
"I'm Chloe Price. Max has been my best friend since we were kids" said Chloe. Nai Nai then approached Chloe and stared at her with a confused look on her face and with her head tilted to the side.
"What did you do to your hair?" Nai Nai asked, which made Yi and her mother gasp and widen their eyes.
"Oh, I dyed it" answered Chloe simply.
"Do you hate your mother?" asked Nai Nai. The question shocked Chloe so much that now HER eyes were widened. Chloe's mother, Joyce was now paralyzed from the waist down because of the storm that destroyed Arcadia Bay, causing her to lose her job as a waitress at the Two Whales Diner. Chloe was still upset at what happened, and didn't take any smack talk about her lightly. But, before a fist fight between Nai Nai and Chloe could begin, Yi intervened and spoke up as she stood in between the two of them.
"Okay, Nai Nai. I think that's a little too on the personal side to be asking someone you just met" she said nervously with a nervous smile on her face to match how she was feeling right now.
"I apologize for my mother" Yi's mother apologized.
"It's no trouble. That's just a sore spot for Chloe" Max said.
"But, if you don't mind me asking... why did my daughter ask you to stay with us?" asked Yi's mother.
"We're visiting from Los Angeles, California. And we were going to stay at a hotel, but your daughter told us how expensive the hotel we chose was. She then offered to let us stay here so that we wouldn't lose most of our money" Max explained.
"Well, it was very nice of her. And you're welcome to stay with us for as long as you need to until you head back home" Yi's mother told them with a warm smile and welcoming voice.
"Thank you so much. We are grateful" Max replied.
"Yi, can you show Max and Chloe to the guest room please?" asked her mother.
"Sure thing" Yi said as she took one of Max's bag's and one of Chloe's before leading them right down the hall and opened the third door to the right. The room was quaint, but comfy. It had a large queen-sized bed, a bathroom with a shower, and a dresser with a TV resting on top of it.
"Wow, this is such a nice room. Thank you, Yi" Max said as she walked inside first and set her luggage by the bed, and Chloe soon did the same before lying down on the large mattress.
"Ahh, this is comfy. I never thought I could miss how a bed felt so much" Chloe said in exaggeration while staring up at the ceiling.
"No problem you guys. I'm happy you like it" Yi replied with a smile. Max then took out her old school-bag which contained her Polaroid and all the film she brought from her luggage and placed it over her shoulder.
"So, now that we got the whole luggage thing out of the way, you still wanna show us around?" asked Chloe.
"I'm up for it. Oh, you still want to see what I need all that money I get paid from all my odd jobs for?" Yi asked. The two just nodded in reply before following Yi across the hall into her bedroom. As soon as they were inside, Yi locked her door and then opened up the window before climbing out and onto some scaffolding. Max and Chloe carefully followed her as she climbed up the scaffolding past the nineteenth and twentieth floors, and up onto the roof of the apartment building. The view was beautiful, and they could see all the way out to the ocean.
"Dang, Yi. This has to be the best view we've ever seen" Chloe said before she noticed Max take the Polaroid Spectra that used to belong to her father, William out of her bag and took a picture of the beautiful view. After a snap, the camera spit out a photo, which Max took into her fingers and shook to help it develop faster. Yi watched in awe while Max took the photo and approached them slowly.
"No way. Is that really an old school instant film camera?" asked Yi in amazement.
"Yeah. I know a lot of people take pictures on their phones or fancy digital cameras these days. But me, I like to keep it original. Not to mention I've been a huge fan of instant film since I was a little girl" Max explained while she handed Yi the photo she just took and saw how beautiful it turned out once it had fully developed.
"That is so cool. I didn't think these old things still existed" Yi commented while still staring into the photograph.
"Yeah. I was told you can buy restored and refurbished ones off the internet, but the film is so figgin expensive these days. Luckily though, I can afford it. I bought a lot of it just for this trip" said Max. Yi then handed Max her photo back before running over to a small makeshift fort that sat right next to the maintenance door that lead back down to the lower levels of the building.
"So, what was it you wanted to show us again?" asked Chloe as she and Max slowly approached the little fort behind Yi.
"This" Yi simply said before she pushed the blanket door aside to reveal a large map of Asia with several photographs of various beautiful locations across the country. They then watched as Yi took out a violin case and opened it to reveal a beautiful mahogany finished violin with a photo of Yi with an older looking man pinned to the case's interior.
"This was my dad's violin. He used to play it for me every night" Yi explained as she took the violin out and held it up to show it to Max and Chloe.
"That's really sweet. But something tells me your dad's no longer around to play huh?" asked Max. Yi got a sad look on her face after Max's question.
"You're right. He passed away not too long ago. But before he died he always told me how much he wanted to take me to these places. Dad always wanted me to travel the world. After he died I promised I'd get myself to these places he told me about someday" Yi told them. Max examined the photos, they were of various historical landmarks across Asia ranging from the Siuchan region, the Gobi Desert, the Yellow River, and something that looked similar to a gigantic Buddha statue in the middle of some grassy mountains.
"Wow, these look so far away. How do you plan on getting there?" Max asked as she looked into the photos, careful not to stare too deep that she could travel back in time to when the photos were taken.
"I'm not really sure. But regardless, I know I'll get there. For my dad" Yi calmly told them. The two American girls thought it was sweet how much she wanted to do this for her deceased father and fulfill his dying wish. The sound of helicopters caught their attention, and Max looked above her to see four large black Helicopters carrying a large metal storage case that would usually be carried on board a cargo ship and flying further away until they stopped and began hovering over what appeared to be an armored compound. Max thought this looked a little suspicious.
"Why wouldn't they just carry whatever it is they're carrying by boat?" Chloe asked out loud. Yi's only reply was a shrug. Max got an odd feeling inside her nerves when she stared at the hovering aircraft, almost like she knew what was being carried inside that box. She then took out her Polaroid and took a photo of the helicopters hovering over the compound, making sure to get the top part of the building into the picture as much as possible. After the camera spit the photo out, Max shook it to make it develop faster and she stared at the bottom of it.
"Yi, do you have any idea what this place is?" Max asked as she turned to the Chinese teen and showed the photo to her.
"No. Never seen it before" replied Yi. Max then looked to Chloe.
"Chloe, call me crazy, but... I wanna go find this place" Max told her.
"What? Why?" asked Chloe, confused as to why this place caught her interest.
"I got this feeling, this... familiar feeling when I first saw that box. I feel like if I go there and find out what it is, I'll get more answers as to what's causing my visions" explained the brown-haired girl.
"You really think whatever's in there is causing your visions? The one with the giant monster?" Chloe asked. Max nodded in reply.
"Alright. We'll leave right now then. If it'll help you figure out what your visions mean, we'll go there" Chloe told her, making Max smile. This is something Max loved about her, always looking for adventure and new ways to get in trouble, especially if it involved her best friend. The two then looked to Yi and began to speak to her.
"Hey, Yi? Can we postpone that tour for tomorrow? Max and I have some things we wanna do first before then" Chloe asked.
"No problem. I got other things to do anyways. Tomorrow's fine" Yi agreed with a smile before she climbed down the scaffolding and went back inside her room. Max and Chloe eventually followed right behind her. Now, they were going to get their answers.
A/N: Chapter 3 is completed! Oh yeah! Now we finally got to meet Yi! Not to mention getting a little bit closer to finding out where Max's visions are coming from. That's going to be all in the next update, and it's going to awesome. Please review, thanks!