News/Current Events/24.06.98/Tokyo, Japan: Two days following the disastrous opening of Hell's Gate in eastern Tokyo, the city remains in turmoil. No survivors have emerged from the stricken area, and despite a swift and overwhelming response from international aid organizations, rescue workers have been refused entry into what is are now being called the "restricted zones".
The Japanese and American governments are working closely together - some may say too closely - to understand this unprecedented event. Rumors of a similar occurrence in the Brazilian wilderness, at the point where the stars began to vanish exactly one week prior to the appearance of Hell's Gate, have neither been confirmed nor denied. The new star - which astronomers are calling "false" - over England adds yet another piece to this bizarre puzzle.
Meanwhile, friends and family of those trapped within Hell's Gate remain hopeful that the next days will yield answers to the fate of their loved ones.
"Xing, quit picking at your food," Mother scolded.
Xing sighed despondently, but didn't stop stabbing into her bowl with her spoon. "I want my bracelet," she muttered, slouching even further in her chair.
"I'm sure we'll find it when we go up for summer vacation," Tian assured her yet again. "The lake will still be there."
"What if a fish ate it?"
She sounded genuinely distressed; Tian quirked a smile at her. "Then Dad and I'll catch the fish. We'll eat him and get your bracelet back."
However, the joke didn't have the intended effect. Xing's eyes widened in horror. "Eat him? I don't want to hurt him just because he swallowed my bracelet. He probably thought it was a bug, it wasn't his fault!"
Mother set her spoon down with a clatter. "Honestly, Xing, you eat fish every week, and it never bothers you then!"
Xing just laid her head on the table and sniffled.
"If you're not going to eat, you can go to bed early."
Pouting, Xing pushed her chair back and left the kitchen. Mother sighed and rubbed her temple.
"Sorry," Tian said. He hadn't expected Xing to react like that; she'd been up and down ever since Friday night, when they'd watched the stars disappear.
Mother gave him a soft smile. "It's not your fault, sweetie." She stood and started clearing the table. "I hope she's not starting her moody teenager years early…here we were thinking that we'd get off easy with her. She loses half of her toys; what's so special about this one trinket?"
It sounded as if Mother were talking to herself, but Tian answered anyway. "She's had bad dreams ever since she lost it - she thinks that the bracelet was good luck, protecting her." Always the same dream - that she was the White Snake Lady swallowing the world and the stars. Probably because she'd lost it on the day that the stars had disappeared.
Mother frowned. "Is that it? Why haven't either of you said anything? I hope she isn't keeping you up at night."
Tian shrugged. "She sleeps better after I wake her up, and she falls asleep again." He'd hardly slept at all in the past four days; but he didn't know if it was because of Xing's nightmares, or because of the still-missing stars.
"Such a good big brother." Mother ruffled his hair, and laughed when he tried to flatten it again. "So," she said as she started on the dishes, "tell me about these girls that are coming to your wushu practice."
He did his best not to scowl. Was a little privacy too much to ask? "It was just Mi Song and her friend coming to see Jiang," he said. "And anyway, Na's family moved back to the country yesterday. They didn't think the city was safe anymore."
Song had given them the news that morning before school. Tian ignored the little ball of disappointment that had been sitting in his stomach all day. It wasn't as if they'd actually been friends. Still, moving away was stupid; the city seemed perfectly safe to him. You couldn't even tell that anything was different about the sky - during the day, at least. It was the mountains that no longer felt right. Even Father hadn't been comfortable out in the country with the stars blotted out; he'd brought the family back to Xi'an a day earlier than planned. Tian had been glad to come home.
"Oh? That's too bad."
Tian shrugged again. "Is Dad coming home early tonight?"
Mother spooned the last of the stew into Tian's bowl - she'd already set aside a portion for Father. "He'll be on the eight-thirty bus after class, so he'll be home normal time."
"Oh." Tian had been hoping that Father would cancel his evening class. Ever since Friday night when the stars had disappeared, all people had to be home by ten; all children had to be indoors by sundown, unless accompanied by an adult. It made getting home from wushu practice a little tricky, but he and Xing had arrived with plenty of time to spare today and yesterday. "That's not too late to set up the telescope, is it?"
A slight frown passed across Mother's face. "It's pretty late for a school night," she said, turning her back and starting the water for the dishes.
Tian wanted to argue that he'd stayed up stargazing on school nights plenty of times before, but the stiffness in Mother's posture stopped him. Ever since they'd gotten home from Zhangjiaping, his parents had both been acting as if there was nothing unusual going on - but only when Tian and Xing were around. Tian and his sister and cousins went to school as usual; their parents went to work; no one looked up to miss the moon or the stars. Mother wouldn't let him watch TV for news reports about the stars, but after bedtime last night he'd heard her turn on a news broadcast; the volume was turned down too low for him to make out much. Father had told him not to worry about the new sky - accept the world the way it is. But his eyes had crinkled worriedly when he'd said it.
"I heard something interesting on the news at lunch today. About the stars."
Tian looked up, surprised, to see Mother smiling at him. "About the stars? What?"
"One was seen over Europe last night."
He dropped his spoon, supper forgotten. "Which one? Only one? Will it be there tonight too?"
Mother shook her head. "I don't know. They said something about it possibly not being a real star, but the experts on the television thought that more would appear tonight too."
If the stars were visible over Europe, they should be able to see them in Xi'an. Not without a telescope though, because there were too many lights. And they'd be pretty hard to find, without knowing which ones and where to look for them. Maybe Mother had heard the coordinates on that news report. Tian was about to ask, when he remembered that he wouldn't be able to set up the telescope tonight.
Mother must have read his mind, because she said, "Don't worry; if the stars are really coming back, then there's no rush to see them. There's plenty of time." She wiped her hands on a dishrag, her smile brightening. "Hey, there's a new episode of The Water Margin on tonight - want to watch it with me?"
He smiled back, his own worry eased a great deal. "Sure."
~~~~o~~~~
Xing was asleep when Tian entered the bedroom later that night. He paused by her bed and listened carefully until he caught the soft rhythm of her breathing; she seemed peaceful now, at least. Quietly so as not to wake her, he changed into his pajamas - just a pair of shorts in this heat - and climbed into bed, kicking the top sheet off.
Instead of lying down right away, he scooted down to the end of his bed. If he leaned out the window and craned his neck, he could see a patch of sky. He'd never been able to see any stars from his window before, because of the lights of the city. He couldn't see any now. But he thought that he could feel their absence.
Or maybe it was just his imagination. He sighed, and flopped back onto his mattress.
Worst of all was that he had no one to talk to about it, that empty feeling that just wouldn't go away. His parents and teachers didn't want to discuss it, and pretended not to be bothered by it. He didn't want to frighten or upset Xing again: he'd tried talking to her last night, but the memory of her nightmare had brought her almost to tears, and she'd kept apologizing - for what, he hadn't been able to figure out. Jiao-tu's eyes would get big and scared if he brought up the subject with her; all Jiang could talk about was aliens.
Na would have understood, he was sure.
She'd left her address with Song to give to Tian; he'd tried to start a letter to her a couple of times last night, but everything that he wrote sounded stupid, and he'd thrown away his attempts. He was terrible at talking to girls, what made him think that writing to them would be any easier?
Thoughts of Na and the possibly of the stars returning were leaving him feeling restless. No matter how he tossed and turned, he didn't feel the least bit tired. He hadn't managed to get any other news out of Mother - had she told him about the new star just to cheer him up? Was it even true? Of course, Mother wouldn't ever lie to him - but that didn't mean that what she'd heard on the TV wasn't a lie.
He didn't hear the whimpering noises at first, lost in his own head as he was; then Xing gave a wordless cry and began thrashing violently in her sleep. Tian jumped out of bed and padded to her side - but as soon as he reached her, his hand stretched out to shake her shoulder, she suddenly relaxed, her whimpering gone. He paused, motionless above her, and waited; but she remained quietly curled up on her side. Her breathing was slow and even, her ribs rising and falling steadily.
He debated whether or not to wake her. It seemed that the nightmare had passed; if so, this was the first time without him having to bring her out of it. What if she was still dreaming, though? Should he leave her? The poster of Bai Suzhen above her bed seemed to glow a bit in the dim light; he shivered a little despite the heat in the room.
After an few minutes, he decided to let her be. Xing was sleeping more peacefully than he'd seen in a long time, and he didn't want to ruin that. With a tired yawn, he climbed back into his own bed.
He was just about to lie back when something outside caught his eye. Tian leaned out over the sill, angling his head. There: a bright point of light - it looked like a star! But it was half-hidden by the building next door, and he was getting a crick in his neck trying to see it.
He cast a worried glance at his sister, but she was still calmly asleep. There was a strip of light seeping through under the bedroom door; Mother was still up waiting for Father to come home.
Turning back to the window, Tian gripped the sides of the frame and climbed onto the sill. It was wide, and balancing on it was easy. An alleyway stretched out long and narrow below. Their apartment was on the third and top floor of the building; Mother would kill him if she saw him doing this, he knew, and he suppressed a twinge guilt.
From his perch on the sill, he twisted slightly so that he could reach the iron laundry pole above the window. Fortunately Mother had taken in the washing last night. Once, he'd tried this while the pole was draped in spare bedsheets and for one terrifying moment he had gotten tangled and almost lost his balance. Tian sucked in a big breath, then pulled himself up to chest-height on the pole, feet dangling above sill now. His bedroom window was tucked into a little alcove in the building, which gave him two walls to work with. Reaching his leg back, he found the groove in wall - a natural foothold. Then with an easy shifting of weight, the help of a sturdy rain gutter, and another groove, he was up and over the edge of the flat roof.
There was an entrance to the roof though the stairwell, which was how Father and Tian normally got up there to stargaze; but it wasn't as fun. Tian paused to stretch his arms overheard, feeling the pleasant ache of hard work in his muscles. He ran lightly to the far edge of the roof, then turned to look past the neighboring building, which towered over his own.
There it was.
For a moment he worried that it might be an airplane; but after a minute of watching, it neither moved nor blinked.
High above the horizon, glittering brightly: a star. He smiled in relief. The night wasn't quite as dark as it had seemed before. It was only one star, but who knew - maybe more would join it. Tian settled down on the roof, and waited.