Mei Jiu dared not speak again. She closed her eyes but tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

She stared at the canopy until exhaustion overwhelmed her. As she began to drift off, a strange emotion gradually engulfed her like a rising tide.

Lightning flashed, illuminating a youthful face – a girl’s.

The girl was beautiful, with naturally fair skin and striking features. She had long black hair, clear black and white eyes, and long eyelashes like the delicate petals of a silk tree, casting shadows under her eyes.

A woman in a beige dress frantically rummaged through the room, haphazardly stuffing things into a suitcase by the bed. Her hair was long, but patches of baldness showed due to illness. Her pale, bluish face was lifeless, like a corpse.

She pulled two thin booklets from the bottom of a cabinet. Her skeletal hands clutched them tightly, shaking with excitement. She stumbled back to the bed and embraced the little girl. “An, we can go home soon. Back to China. Look, I got passports. We’ll see your grandmother soon.”

Her nose began to bleed, a ghastly sight on her pale face. She wiped it carelessly. “She’s a good person. She’ll love you very much.”

The girl gently pushed her away and said sternly, “Mom, why don’t you tell people you’re not using drugs? Dad did this to you. He used you to test drugs!”

“An, I’ve tried, but the public won’t believe it.” The woman slumped against the bed, her eyes vacant. “He’s been injecting me with morphine since I revealed this a year ago. An, he’s insane… Promise me you’ll stay away from him…”

“Mom, what’s wrong?” The girl jumped off the bed in panic, wiping the blood from her mother’s eyes. “I’ll call an ambulance!”

I quickly dialed emergency services and gave their address.

“Mom, hang on. They’re coming soon.” The barefoot girl crouched beside the woman, clutching the phone and sobbing, her thin body shaking.

The woman struggled to lift her hand, pressing the passport into the girl’s. “An, promise me you’ll go back to China.”

An shook her head desperately. Her mother seemed to use all her strength to grip the passport and her daughter’s cold hand. “An, leave. Now. Please!”

Her mother’s eyes were blurred with blood, unfocused, yet gazing intently in her direction. She murmured, “Promise me.”

“I promise, I promise,” An nodded repeatedly.

She sighed in relief. “Daughter, I’m sorry.”

Sorry for not being able to watch you grow up.

Sorry for not lasting long enough to send you away.

Sorry for leaving you alone to face an unknown future…

“Mom!”

A heart-wrenching cry mixed with thunderclaps and the patter of heavy rain, faintly accompanied by the sound of an ambulance.

Lightning lit up the room. The woman’s skeletal body was wrapped in her loose dress, her exposed limbs like dry twigs. She leaned against the bed, her gaunt, pale face covered in blood from her nose, her eyes clouded with blood, and her thin, messy hair scattered over her body.

She slowly inched forward, resting her head on her mother’s chest, trying to hold onto the fading warmth.

She didn’t wail, but her tears flowed as heavily as the rain outside until her body went numb and her mind became foggy.

The paramedics who burst in pulled her away. She struggled desperately, “Sancho did this to my mother! It was him! He’s the murderer!”

The doctor confirmed the woman’s death. Everyone looked at her with shocked and pitying eyes.

At that moment, I thought someone had finally taken her side, and finally believed the truth. However, a month later, doctors and police told her: “We’re sorry, but we must inform you that Ms. Mei overdosed on morphine. Her mental state…”

The scene faded, replaced by another night.

It was extremely quiet.

An’s thin figure increasingly resembled her mother’s. With a determined expression, she loaded a gun and kicked open the master bedroom door.

The man on the bed woke with a start, looking angrily towards the door. Seeing the thin girl pointing a gun at him, his expression changed. “An, what are you doing?”

“How can you sleep peacefully in this bed!” An stared at him coldly.

“Listen, I’m also heartbroken about Mei’s death, but it was her own doing…”

Bang! His words were cut short by a gunshot that hit the bedside lamp. “Drop the act! I know everything! Go to the police station and confess now, or I’ll kill you. Don’t think I won’t shoot!”

The man tried to assert his fatherly authority. “An, I’m your father. How can you do this?”

“With a beast like you as a father, how could I be any better? Go to the police station now!” An’s eyes were bloodshot, her mother’s death etched deeply in her mind, waking her from nightmares every night.

“An, calm down. Take a deep breath.” The man got out of bed, slowly approaching her, trying to calm her down.

“Stay where you are.” She nervously stepped back.

The man, seemingly confident An wouldn’t shoot, suddenly rushed at her, tackling her in the hallway.

“Bang!”

A muffled sound. An’s eyes widened, feeling a warm flow on her chest. The smell of blood filled the air.

Mei Jiu suddenly opened her eyes, seeing the gentle morning sunlight entering the room.

Her breath caught before she started panting rapidly. She tried to sit up but found her temples throbbing and her body drained of energy. She felt as if she’d just been pulled from a bath, her hair and clothes clinging to her skin.

“An Jiu,” Mei Jiu called out shakily.

Silence answered her again.

“Were those… your parents?” Mei Jiu asked tentatively.

“Mm,” An Jiu finally responded.

From the dream’s dialogue, Mei Jiu could guess the general course of events: An Jiu’s father had used her mother to test drugs but told others she was using drugs, ultimately causing her death. An Jiu witnessed this entire process and, unable to seek justice through official channels, couldn’t move past it. She tried to force her father to turn himself in at gunpoint, but accidentally killed him in the struggle.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Mei Jiu said, feeling more sympathy than fear for An Jiu after learning this. “It was just an accident.”

An Jiu scoffed, her voice a bit hoarse. “I had killing intent. I’ve never avoided my own mistakes.”

It wasn’t the bloodiest or most horrifying scene she’d ever witnessed, but it affected her for life.

Mei Jiu felt ashamed. Compared to An Jiu, her sorrows and grievances seemed laughable.

“I’m not good with words and don’t know how to comfort you, but… you still exist in this world. Even heaven is compensating you,” Mei Jiu said.

An Jiu laughed, “Ha, enough. Are you sure heaven isn’t punishing me for my countless killings by forcing me to choose such an idiot as a host?”

Her words were still sarcastic, but the open laughter was unlike her usual cold chuckle.

Mei Jiu said resignedly, “It’s good that you can see it that way.”

“I couldn’t before, but since meeting you, I’ve gradually come to terms with it,” An Jiu said.

Mei Jiu said embarrassedly, “I’m just a cowardly person with no experience.”

An Jiu snorted, “At least you’re self-aware. Not bad. Now that I can tolerate your bottomless stupidity, what can’t I endure!”