New World Order

New World Order

Match One: Christmas Eve Morning, Ordinary Life, and Warning:

You don’t belong here. Wake up!

-Ju-

Christmas will be coming up in a couple of days. I was happy to be home at last. Being in that awful house took so much out of all of us. Yao and I didn’t say a word as we drove home. We just kept our eyes forward on the dark road. What was there to say? We just wanted to go home.

We pulled into the driveway around one in the morning. Yao got out of the car first and I followed behind. We found the babysitter asleep in the living room. My husband and I didn’t wake her up. It would’ve been too late for her to go home anyway. I was about to shake her awake, but Yao put his hand on my shoulder. I turned to see him shaking his head. I didn’t argue. We just quietly walked down the hall.

Jing was sound asleep in his crib. My heart fluttered in my chest. I walked over and stood over my son. Yao didn’t stop me from picking him up. I didn’t know how long I held that baby, but it calmed me down. Yes. My son was the one thing that kept everything from falling apart around me.

“I missed you, sweetie,” I whispered over his little sleeping face. Yao came up behind us and stood over us. Nothing else mattered anymore that night. Once I put Jing back down in his crib, Yao and I went to bed.

This isn’t right!

The next morning was Christmas Eve. There wasn’t much planned today. Only thing I could think of was having a dinner with my clan. Other than that, there was nothing we needed to do. I was just happy to wake up to the quiet. Yao was already out of bed. That didn’t bother me for some reason. Let him be the one to get up and do things around the house at an early hour. I just rolled over and closed my eyes. A couple of more minutes wasn’t going to hurt anyone. Not like I had to be anywhere or anything.

Get up! Get up!

I think it was around eight or nine when I finally dragged myself out of bed. I didn’t bother to fully get dressed. Why bother? I didn’t have any plans of going anywhere, anyway. I stared at myself in the mirror. When did I start looking so tired? My eyes looked so dull, so hollowed out. I put my right hand on my cheek. There was no way I looked like this. Maybe it was the lighting. Yeah, that had to be it.

This isn’t right!

I found Yao in the kitchen fixing up some tea. He looked up when he heard me stop in the doorway.

“So you’re finally up,” he said.

“Uh-huh,” I said, nodding. Jing was already sitting in his highchair. I rubbed the back of my head.

“Are you okay?” my husband asked. I lifted my gaze at him.

“Hm?” I asked. Yao had that look of worry on his face. My heart sank. No… Don’t look at me like that. I couldn’t take it. There’s nothing wrong. Everything is fine. Everything is fine!

There is something wrong.

“Why?”

“You look so tired. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Yes.”

My husband didn’t say anything else. I pressed my lips together as I looked away.

Moments later, Yao and I sat at the table. I shoved some rice into my mouth as I kept my eyes down at my bowl. I glanced up to see Yao holding his cup to his mouth. Neither of us said a word.

“What time is dinner?” Yao asked. I looked up at him.

“Dinner with the clan tonight,” he said. “What time is that?” I sat back and thought about that.

“Six?”

“You aren’t sure?”

I think I answered him. However, I didn’t hear what I said. I knew that I had opened my mouth and said something. It sounded like static coming out of my mouth.

“I see,” Yao said.

“What?” I asked.

“What?” he asked back. I heard static between my ears. My vision cut out for a second as I felt like my head was underwater.

This is wrong. This is wrong!

“Ju? Ju?”

I quickly shook my head as my vision returned to normal and the static faded away. Yao frowned at me.

“Are you feeling okay? You’re not sick or anything?” He reached out and touched my forehead. I shoved him away.

“Stop.” I stood up from the table.

“Ju?” Yao asked.

“I’m going out for a bit.” I turned and walked out the front door. My husband called my name, but his voice sounded so distant.

I stood out in front of the house. I shivered as I rubbed on my right arm. I hadn’t thought much about it until now. Something didn’t feel right. I looked around at my yard. My yard? I took another look out in front of what was supposed to be my house. Everything looked like our home. Nothing seemed out of place. Yet, I couldn’t help but get that creeping feeling in my soul.

This is not your house!

I turned around again. There was nobody else out here. I was outside by myself. I debated going back inside. The static came back louder in my left ear. I gasped as I winced in pain. What… What is this? I thought I was going to faint. I took in a heavy breath.

I thought I was going to die.

You have to get out of here.

Huh?

“Ju!”

I looked around again. Yao stood in the doorway of the house. I lowered my hand from my ear.

“Oh, it’s you.”

My husband didn’t speak at first. I braced myself for him to ask if I was okay or not again. We’ve done this dance a few minutes ago. The answer was the same.

“Um… I almost forgot.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“You got a call from one of your partners this morning. I wrote down the message for you. I think you should give them a call.” Yao reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He held it out to me. I stared at him. Yao’s hand trembled with the paper. His eyes pleaded, “Please take this.” I walked over and did so without a word.

“Okay. Okay,” I said. “Thank you.” Yao turned and walked back into the house. I stood there, staring. At the time, I didn’t look at what the message said. I just shoved the paper in my pocket and walked back into the house.

Nothing happened for the rest of the day. I didn’t hear any static or voices for hours. I spent the day looking through my emails, taking care of the baby, helping Yao cook dinner, doing the chores, and getting caught up on work. Everything was quiet. Still, there was that thought in the back of my mind. It was that one little thing that I couldn’t ignore. If it was a person, I would feel it breathing down my neck as it stared at the back of my head, intently. I couldn’t put a name to it if I tried.

Something is not wrong here.

“Hey, what time is dinner again?” Yao asked from the kitchen.

“Six,” I said.

“You sure this time?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. Don’t forget to call that number I gave you.”

“Okay.” Suddenly, the phone rang. (Why we still have a landline, I have no idea. I kept meaning to chuck it, but other things got in the way.)

“I’ve got it.”

“Okay.” I heard Yao walking over to the phone and answering it. Wait, didn’t I have the landline disconnected a month ago? I took a moment to think about that. I thought I did. Yeah, it was after I graduated. We weren’t using it anymore. Everyone had my cell phone number now. When did we turn it back on?

“Hello,” I heard Yao say. Suddenly, his voice grew quiet.

“Oh. I see.” He was quiet before hanging up. What was that about? I turned around when I heard footsteps walking up to the doorway.

“I have to go out somewhere real quick,” Yao said. “It shouldn’t take too long.” I stared at him for a long second.

“Will you be back in time for dinner?” I asked.

“I should,” Yao said. He didn’t sound too convinced by his own words.

“Okay…” I said. My husband bowed before he backed out of the door. I turned back to my laptop as I heard him walking to the front door. I resumed typing as said door closed behind him.

This is not normal. Wake up!

I didn’t remember how far along I got with my work when the doorbell rang. (It all just blurred together these days. What time was it? I looked at the lower corner of my screen. 5:47 pm? It’s been that long? I shivered as I stared at the screen. It didn’t feel like it. The knocking on the door snapped my attention back into reality.

“Coming!” I pushed my chair away from my desk and walked out of my office.

Mei was the first one to arrive at my house. She came with her parents and her boyfriend.

“Hey!” I said with my arms out. “It’s so good to see you!” I walked forward and hugged Mei.

“How have you been?” she asked.

“I’m managing,” I said. “Come in.” I backed away to let them in. Mei, her boyfriend, and her parents walked into the house. I closed the door behind them.

Yao came back home sometime later. I waited for him by the front door.

“You’re late,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. My husband bowed his head.

“My mistake,” he said. “I got hung up. Everyone here already?”

“Yep,” I said. I moved aside to let him.

“Thank you so much,” he said. He followed me into the house, closing the door behind him.

Dinner started out fine for the most part. I sat at the head of the table, watching everyone else. It felt kind of surreal. I’ve done this many times before, but something felt off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. A hand rested on my arm. I turned to see Yao staring at me. He didn’t have to ask.

“I’m fine,” I whispered.

“Did you make the call yet?” Yao asked. I shook my head. I saw the desperation in his eyes. Why did he want me to make that call so desperately? I figured I would do that after dinner.

This can’t wait!

I jerked my head upward. Everyone was staring at me. Only… They looked wrong. Their eyes. Those weren’t eyes. Several pairs of black pits were staring back at me. Their large grins looked unnatural. Spread across their faces and getting wider. Static jumped up and down in my vision. I could’ve heard high-pitched laughing in the distance.

This is wrong! You shouldn’t be here! Grab Jing and run! Run!

The loud static shot through my left ear again. I think I was screaming out so loud that I could hear myself. Images blurred and became hazy as the sounds grew louder. The white noise ate away at the distorted vision in front of me.

Run!

“Ju! Ju!”

Someone smacked me on the arm. I turned my head. Yao looked at me, frowning.

“What?” I asked.

“Are you okay? You were staring off into space there for a moment,” he whispered in my ear. I shook my head.

“I don’t feel so good. Excuse me.” I got up from the table and walked out of the dining room.

“Is something wrong?” I heard Bik ask behind me. Yao said something to her in a hushed tone as the door closed behind me.

I had never seen the night be so dark out here before. The inky black hit me right in the face. It was like the world outside got swallowed up into a night that never planned to end. My legs felt shaky as I walked over to a chair and collapsed into it. I rubbed my forehead as the world felt like it was spinning. What the hell was going on?

You do not belong here! Run!

Another thought crossed my mind. Oh yeah, Yao really wanted me to call that number. Which business partner would be calling me this early in the morning? I reached into my pocket and pulled out the piece of paper. I was not expecting the message inside when I opened it up.

“I can feel it too.”