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The weather was dreadful for a date in the eyes of most. Windy, rainy, and with flashes of lightning breaking through the darkness at unpredictable intervals, it was the type of weather people would stay home for, nice and cozy.
However, the dinner reservation had been made weeks in advance, back when the weather had been a mystery, and they'd not gone on a single date alone since the arrival of their daughter — through no fault of her own, mind. Now, her brother was here, so they felt far more comfortable, and comforted, doing so.
And thus, with the promise that they'd leave while there was still light and return when the rain was nothing but drizzle, Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen left their children on their own for the night.
They were to do their schoolwork and go to bed at a reasonable hour, but anything else had not been specified.
So, of course, after schoolwork was taken care of, pizza was ordered, popcorn was put in the microwave, and two tall glasses were filled to the brim with coke. The siblings took their spoils to the couch, and their movie marathon began.
"Damn, it's really coming down. It's like the end of the world out there," Xue Yang observed, momentarily pulled away from the movie to watch the rain fall in sheets down the windowpane.
"The end of the world has fire, doofus," A-Qing retorted, taking a loud sip of her drink. "It's just a dumb storm."
"And how do you know there's no fire out there?" Xue Yang grinned. "Besides, that one story didn't have fire. The one with the boat, whatsitcalled."
A-Qing arched her brows at her brother in befuddlement. "Noah's ark? You couldn't remember Noah's fucking ark?"
"Yeah, I couldn't remember Noah's friggin' ark, you little shit," Xue Yang sneered. "You know how they'll get if they hear you say that."
"They won't," A-Qing beamed, sitting up prim and proper to complete the picture of a perfect little girl.
Xue Yang shook his head and chuckled. Best if his focus return to the movie; their parents had already called to inform them they'd arrived safely, so he had nothing to worry about. Thinking on it for longer was pointless.
The branches scratching at the window weren't enough to pull him away a second time, as the creepy cult on the screen was placing a baby on an altar, and this piqued his interest considerably.
"That's what we should've done with you," Xue Yang whispered to his sister, earning him a kick.
"Says the guy wearing this!" A-Qing reached over and tugged on her brother's glove, revealing a strip of scarred skin.
"That's what I mean!" Xue Yang laughed. "Never would've happened if I'd just put you on a stone slab."
Though she pouted for a moment as the baby wailed on-screen, taken into the arms of a terrifying entity, A-Qing quickly began to smack her brother in frustration.
Xue Yang responded with a light shove that knocked her on her back, sending some popcorn to the floor as her arm grazed the bowl.
"You're cleaning that up!" A-Qing huffed. "I'm-"
Thunk .
The sound was brief, but loud enough to be heard over the storm outside. Both siblings paused their scuffle and looked at each other, before looking around the room to see if anything had fallen.
All looked to be in order.
Xue Yang peered out behind the couch towards the dim kitchen, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary there either.
"Must've been upstairs," he murmured.
"It sounded closer than that," A-Qing whispered back.
As the wind whistled outside, the two sat still as can be, save for the slight sway brought on by A-Qing's fiercely beating heart.
If she stared too long at the darkness around them, she'd start to see shapes in it. Right now, it almost looked like someone was standing in the hall…
"Hey!" Xue Yang's voice brought A-Qing out of her trance with a jolt. "Monster! Come take my sister, she's super annoying!"
"That's not funny!" A-Qing roared, all fear now replaced with frustration. "They'll take you instead!"
"I don't taste good to monsters," Xue Yang grinned. "I got no meat on my bones, 'cause my fat little sister eats all my food!"
"Lying bitch!" A-Qing spat, hogging the popcorn bowl as she curled up on the couch. "Take this idiot, he's stinky and stupid! He can't do basic math!!"
"Take her, she'll feed you for a week!"
This could have gone on forever if lightning hadn't burst in the sky and bleached the room white. The rumble of thunder echoing outside caused the two to fall silent.
It was then they noticed they could no longer hear the TV.
"What a place to pause at, huh," Xue Yang sighed while sliding off the couch. "May as well get more drink."
The buffering icon spun round and round over the image of the creature, frozen at the start of what would've been a terrifying screech, its eight white eyes dotting its gray, flaking skin like pearls on sand.
A-Qing stared at it intently, surrendering her empty glass while blindly reaching for the last piece of pizza.
She didn't want to end up as food for this thing!
Xue Yang was considerably less affected, his heart rate having only spiked briefly at the flash of light. He made his way calmly through the dining room towards the kitchen, but realized with growing unease that the temperature appeared to be dropping the closer he got to it.
A tell-tale pitter patter confirmed his suspicion right as he set the glasses down on the counter. The small lights above it seemed to dim further, as if wanting to flicker or burn out.
He was more concerned with the rain drenching the floor, pouring in from an open window.
Just as he made his way over to close it, a cabinet slammed shut right behind him, causing him to whip around with his fists up.
"What was that?" A-Qing called out from the safety of the couch.
Xue Yang held his pose even though there was no one else with him.
"The fucking window was open," he replied with a grumble, eventually making his way back over to it to shut it. "Wasn't you, was it?"
"No, it was probably Baba," A-Qing answered through mouthfuls of popcorn.
Grabbing the mop from its resting spot in the kitchen closet, Xue Yang set out to fix up the floor.
A-Qing was right, Xiao Xingchen loved opening the windows to invite in fresh air and birdsong, but at the same time, he would've closed it if he knew it was going to storm. In the event he forgot, Song Lan would have caught it for him.
Yes, Song Lan would always make sure all windows were closed during a storm.
Right as he realized this, something small and round rolled along the hall in the darkness, making the faint sound of ceramic on wood. Cursing under his breath, Xue Yang gripped the mop and headed toward the hallway light, flicking it on without hesitation.
Nothing happened.
He clicked his tongue and wiggled the switch a few more times to no avail, his unease growing exponentially at the idea of being stuck in the darkness with who knows what.
They were on the second floor, and nothing had been tracking rainwater around the house by the looks of it, but he was certain there wasn't nearly enough breeze running through the space to roll things along the ground.
" Probably Baba, my ass," he mumbled to himself, only speaking up to say, "stay there. I'll be right back."
"What's going on?" A-Qing called out again, feeling fear slowly begin to creep its way back into her heart.
"Just stay there," Xue Yang repeated, brandishing the mop like a sword.
Whatever was in here, he was going to beat the shit out of it.
Setting foot into the hall, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He'd left his phone in his room, so unless the sky lit up again, he was out of a light source. Not that it mattered; he didn't need light to swing the mop around.
Now what the hell had been rolling around?
He felt along the floor until he found it, cold and spherical, clearly made of porcelain. He held it up close to his face and frowned, deeper and deeper, as he made out its details: round eyes, a small mouth, and a flat nose…
Bang bang bang.
The dining room cupboard was being slammed open and shut, open and shut, which caused A-Qing to shriek and reach around for the nearest blunt object.
"GE!" She cried out, though Xue Yang had already dropped the doll head and was rushing back towards her.
He didn't see anyone lurking in the shadows, but it's not like he stopped to check, either. Their parents' bedroom wardrobe was starting to bang about and all he could think of was getting A-Qing to relative safety.
Scooping her up in his arms, Xue Yang ran back into the hallway and rushed towards the front door.
"Go upstairs and tell miss Wang to call the cops," he instructed his sister while reaching for the doorknob. "I'll be right behind you, I just need to grab my phone-"
"I'm staying with you!" A-Qing protested, squeezing her arms around his shoulders. "No cops, you said!"
"It's different this time," Xue Yang rattled the doorknob to no avail. Of course those two would lock the door with them inside…
The banging had stopped, and A-Qing was clinging to him tighter, so Xue Yang sighed and backtracked, hurrying into her room and pushing her closet door open just as thunder clapped anew.
"Stay here and don't move," he instructed her after setting her down, voice hushed. "Don't make a sound. I'll be right back and we'll make a run for it."
"Fuck no," A-Qing whimpered as she clung to his arms. "I can help you find the keys!"
"I know where the keys are, I just need to grab my phone," Xue Yang insisted, painstakingly prying her hands away. "Two seconds, I promise. It'll just take two seconds."
A-Qing took a ragged breath and snuggled further into her scarf, reluctantly offering her brother a nod. She reached for one of her shoes and held it in front of herself.
"Good idea," Xue Yang managed a small smile.
He had no time to waste, so he darted out of her room and into his own, only half surprised to find his phone wasn't where he'd left it.
It only took him a few seconds of searching before deciding it wasn't worth it; they could just stay with miss Wang until their dads got back, and then he'd explain everything.
Now all he needed was the keys and they'd be good to go.
Just as lightning burned his retinas, a pair of hands seized him and unceremoniously threw him into the bathroom, where he turned around just a second too late to see the door shut in his face.
Fueled by adrenaline, he slammed his body into it, gripping the handle so tightly he thought it might break off. The door refused to yield, as if something were blocking it on the other side.
"Let me out, fucking son of a bitch!" He screamed, determined to splinter the wood if he had to. "I'm gonna rip your fucking head off!"
A-Qing could only make out muffled slams and voices, and was torn between following her brother's orders and going to investigate. After all, if there was some supernatural entity in the house, she needed to help him fight it off.
Her mind was made up when she heard her bedroom door open, alerting her to the fact Xue Yang was back to retrieve her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she slid her closet door open.
Xue Yang was not back.
Framed by the blinding light behind it stood a figure, tall and imposing, wearing a paper mask with three black circles drawn on in a poor imitation of a face. In its hand, lightly tapping against the floor, it held an almost comically long baseball bat.
A-Qing didn't hesitate to throw the shoe at its crotch and run.
She didn't care where the banging was coming from, she only cared about making it out of the house alive. Running to the front door in case Xue Yang had opened it, she caught a glimpse of the figure in her doorway.
Desperate rattling let her know the door remained locked. The second she saw the figure move, she bolted into the living room and made herself as small as possible behind the TV, still illuminated with the monster's face.
Where the hell was Xue Yang!?
She could hear the figure walking around and moving stuff about, hitting its baseball bat against the couch as it looked for her. Thunder and lightning had stopped meaning anything to her; if she was lucky, maybe they'd mask her breathing.
She closed her eyes tightly and threw her arms around her head, hoping to wake up in her bed with the sun shining brightly outside.
Had her brother abandoned her? Had he saved himself and offered her up to the monster, just like he'd said? She knew the burns on his hands were her fault, and he reminded her of it often enough, so what if he'd gotten sick and tired of her and taken this opportunity to finally get rid of her?
Her heartbeat was starting to scare her almost as much as her situation, so she slowly lowered her arms.
The rustling and tapping had stopped. All she could hear was the rain and the slight buzz of the TV. If Xue Yang truly had abandoned her, she couldn't just stay here and wait to be caught, and if the figure had left the room, she had to seize her moment and get back on her feet.
A-Qing took a deep, slow breath and opened her eyes.
Three dark circles stared back at her.
Xue Yang had never moved faster than he did when he heard his sister scream. He knocked the bathroom door clean off its hinges, as if there had never been anything holding it back after all.
It didn't matter. He had to keep moving.
The second he saw a figure leaning behind the TV, he vaulted over the couch and grabbed it by the back of the shirt, hurling it across the room so violently that it took out the coffee table in its wake.
The figure groaned as it hit the wall, but Xue Yang didn't give it a second of rest. He seized it by the throat and pinned it to the surface, squeezing his hands around its neck while it tried to push him away.
"Dude!"
A flashlight broke through the darkness of the living room, prompting Xue Yang to look behind himself.
A-Qing was still tucked behind the TV, but by the hallway stood a second figure, paper mask hanging from the hand shakily holding up the flashlight.
Whipping back around, Xue Yang snatched the mask off the person he was holding down and threw it to the side.
It was a boy from his class.
They both were.
"P-p-prank," the boy under his hands forced out, "it was j-just a prank…"
Xue Yang squeezed his neck harder as the other boy piped up. "W-we saw the weather forecast and snuck in when your parents left!"
Their dads hadn't locked them in at all. These boys had been planning this all week! They clearly hadn't counted on Xue Yang being so strong, since they were ignorant to his life prior to his adoption.
"W-we just wanted to rile you up, dude, nothin' big," the one under his hands pleaded.
Xue Yang wasn't a particularly popular kid. He had a tendency to rub people the wrong way and close himself off to them, and as a result his only friends were a boy who collected skulls and a boy who wore skirts. Thus, something like this wasn't too much of a surprise.
All the same…
"You can fuck with me as much as you want," he seethed, "but don't you ever. Ever fuck with my sister."
The boy swallowed and nodded after a moment. Xue Yang let him go, but not without throwing him into his friend. He watched as the two scrambled to get out of the apartment, tripping over each other — and the doll head.
"Write goodbye letters to your families, 'cause you're fucking dead on Monday!" He called after them.
He hadn't gotten suspended in a while, but he didn't intend to let the boys get away with this. He'd only let them go to avoid more trouble when his parents got home, but he anticipated a broken nose or two come Monday at the very least.
Sighing deeply, he ran a hand down his face before hastily making his way to the TV.
A-Qing slid out from behind it and wrapped her arms around her brother in a tight hug. She hid her face to his shoulder and took quick, shallow breaths as the two sat down.
"I thought you'd left me," she hiccuped.
Xue Yang pulled away just enough to let his forehead rest against hers, holding her shoulders securely.
"I would never, ever leave you," he spoke firmly. "Never."
A-Qing remembered the way Xue Yang had thrown their foster father the same way he'd thrown the boy, all those years ago. She remembered how his first words on this doorstep had been "I'm here to take my sister back". And while she didn't remember the day of the fire, she knew her brother had pulled her out of it despite only being eight years old.
She wasn't sure why she ever thought he'd leave her. Perhaps fear had gotten the best of her, and due to this lingering fear, she thought to ask in a small voice:
"Even though I messed up your hands?"
Xue Yang's heart sank to his stomach. He took A-Qing's face in those very hands and knocked their foreheads together again.
"You didn't mess up my hands," he said quietly. " I messed up my hands. And you know what?"
A-Qing shook her head slowly.
"I'd mess up my whole damn body if it meant keeping you safe."
Straightening out her scarf, Xue Yang moved to stand, only to find that A-Qing was still clinging to him, and quite a lot tighter at that. He wasn't sure if it was her who was shaking or himself.
He figured they could stay on the floor a little longer.
Explaining the state of the house to a very worried Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen had been uncomfortable at best. Xiao Xingchen was now convinced they should never go on a solo date again, and Song Lan was already looking up better alarm systems.
Xue Yang lied and said he didn't get a good look at the boys' faces when asked. He didn't want his parents handling this, not out of any sort of shame, but because he didn't want them getting in the way of his beatdown.
He'd make sure it wasn't bad enough to call social services, but he intended to give those boys a strong message. Something that made sure they wouldn't think to run and cry about it.
A-Qing shuffled up next to him on the couch, hot cocoa mug in her hands. He slid his arm around her shoulders and offered her a tired smile.
"There, that looks good as new, right?" Xiao Xingchen let his hammer rest on the ground, smiling proudly at the repaired coffee table.
Repaired was a generous word. The legs were very obviously crooked.
A-Qing and Xue Yang exchanged a look before chuckling to themselves.
"Oh, I'm never leaving this house again," Xiao Xingchen fretted. "What if you'd gotten hurt? What if I never got to hear you laugh again?"
"Baba…" A-Qing slipped off the couch and gave him a hug. "We're okay. Ge scared them off."
"I'm better than any guard dog," Xue Yang boasted, patting his own chest.
"Well, just in case you need a helping hand, I've contacted the home security crew. See if they can't give us anything better than what we have now," Song Lan spoke while handing Xue Yang his own mug.
Extra marshmallows.
Xiao Xingchen rubbed A-Qing's back and calmed himself down. Though, as a precaution, he still thought to add: "And A-Yang, please keep your phone on you at all times now."
"You bet," Xue Yang reached into his pocket to produce his phone, shaking it from side to side.
The boys had knocked it under the bed by accident. It hadn't been part of their master plan after all.
"First we tell them less screen time, now we tell them to never be without their phones," Song Lan shook his head while taking a seat on the floor beside his husband. "What bad parents we must be."
"The worst," A-Qing snickered, moving over to hug Song Lan now. "But wait. Phones? Plural?"
"We were going to wait until your birthday," Xiao Xingchen sighed, "but considering this special circumstance…"
"I'm getting my own phone?" A-Qing gawked.
"You act like you just won the lottery, meimei," Xue Yang teased her. "It's just a piece of plastic."
"Easy for you to say!" A-Qing stuck her tongue out and hugged both her parents close. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"You have to promise not to be glued to it all the time, though."
"I promise!"
The rain finally began to let up as the four continued to chat and laugh, even breaking out a board game to keep them busy until morning came. There was no way they'd be getting any sleep tonight, and with finicky power, they saw no point in trying to start another movie.
It wasn't until the first rays of sun made their way into the living room that A-Qing finally collapsed, not into Xiao Xingchen's lap, not into Song Lan's, but into her brother's, who was fighting sleep himself.
"Get some rest," Xiao Xingchen addressed him gently. "We can take her to bed."
Song Lan nodded and made a move to get up, but Xue Yang shook his head.
"No," he murmured, letting his eyes close. "We stay here. Together."
Exchanging a look, Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan nodded, only standing up to pull down the blinds and procure a few blankets and pillows.
And so, the four finally managed to sleep, two now on the couch, two on the living room floor. If anyone else were to attempt to scare them today, they'd quite simply dream through it all.