MIDDLE GROUND

Chapter 4: UNDEFINED

Chapter
IV
Undefined

***

Wu Xie ran from the cafeteria and through the massive lobby, knocking into people along the way until he burst through the entryway and felt the sun beat down on his face. His breathing came out in harsh wheezes and he closed his eyes and forced himself to focus.

How had he gotten here? He could hear the sounds of people's feet against the smooth stone of the steps and the man at the podium announcing that the next person should step forward. He heard some people say they had never been so hungry and others talking about how they had never felt so full and satisfied. He pushed it all away and thought about arriving at the courthouse. What had he been doing before he came here?

"Wu Xie."

Dark lashes lifted slowly and Wu Xie turned his head in the direction of the sound. Sitting on the step was the dark-haired man from earlier. This time he sat with his elbows on his knees. When he saw he had Wu Xie's attention, he straightened and looked at him.

"Did you say something?" Wu Xie asked coolly, but inside he nearly cheered because someone was talking to him... even if it was this mysterious man.

"You don't belong here." Zhang Qi Ling said.

Wu Xie's hands fisted at his side in anger but his shoulders slumped in resignation and he stepped closer to the man before sitting down with a sigh. "Oddly, you're not the first person to say that to me."

"You're not alone." The dark-haired man leaned back onto the step above him and closed his eyes. "I arrived," the man's tone was flat, "Much like you, staring at this building and hungry. I tried to eat but," Wu Xie found himself locked in midnight black orbs, "As I'm sure you noticed, the food wasn't all that appealing." The dark brown haired man nodded his head in agreement. "I was then told I didn't belong here and I've been sitting on these steps ever since. Just sitting here, ignored by everyone." The black eyes became calculating and Wu Xie shifted uncomfortably under the gaze. "That is, until you."

"How long have you been here? Why haven't you left?" Wu Xie asked and his fingers ran over the smooth stone of the step.

"I don't know."

Wu Xie paled at the notion of being here alone for any amount of time before turning around and introducing. "My name is Wu Xie. And you are?"

"..."

"You don't seems to talked a lot... And you looked younger than me. In that case, I'll call you Xiao ge. How about that?" Wu Xie said grinning like his having a good day in this dreadful moment.

"Zhang Qi Ling." His tone was flat and dismissive and Zhang Qi Ling turned and looked at the passerby on the street.

"Since you've been here so long, Xiao ge, do you know what's going on?"

Zhang Qi Ling nodded his head curtly and Wu Xie felt the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "You know, you can talked right? Why can't you try it? Hm.." Wu Xie's voice trailed off and his smile slipped slightly when he was nudged aside by a woman with her eyes locked on the entrance. He shifted over saying 'excuse me' and looked back at Zhang Qi Ling.

"It's pointless to talk to them. They can't see you or hear you," Zhang Qi Ling said and then pointed to a bored-looking man walking on the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps. "That man can't hear you even if you yell at him."

"Then, let's try it out. Hey! Mister! Hey!" Wu Xie yelled at the man.

The gentleman slowed and his head tilted like he thought he heard something but then he just kept walking, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

Wu Xie stared for a moment. "So that guy didn't hear me... it doesn't mean that no one..."

Zhang Qi Ling stood and turned to the street and walking straight at the man in suit.

Wu Xie felt his heart speed up and his hands start to shake.

Zhang Qi Ling was trying to talk to the man but the man just ignored him, no one on the street even turned in his direction.

Zhang Qi Ling sat down once more, his shoulder slumped and looked at the shell-shocked young man. "Have you figured it out yet?"

Wu Xie opened his mouth and then it snapped shut when flashes of memory filled his mind. The sound of brakes locking and smell of burning rubber assaulted his senses, followed by the horrible sound of crushing metal and broken glass. "Am I... I'm dead."

Zhang Qi Ling shook his head and although apathy came to his face, his eyes just as sad and lost as Wu Xie's. "No, she is dead." He lifted his head in the direction of a young women in pony tail who Wu Xie thought was close to his own age. A smile graced his heart-shaped face and she moved right past the two men as though they weren't there. "And she will enter those doors, take her final meal, and stand in line to be judged."

Wu Xie's mind raced and he swallowed before saying, "So, I am alive."

"No, he's alive." Zhang Qi Ling pointed once more to the man in suit who leaned against the bus stop, his tie loose around his neck. "He's heading off to work or to his family. Continue to live his life."

"So, then..." Wu Xie whispered but the words froze with the breath in his throat when Zhang Qi Ling's deep black eyes met his own. They were hard, scared, hopeless...

"You... we... are undefined. Not alive and yet, not dead. And until you, I thought I was the only one." Zhang Qi Ling said and turned once more to the street.

***
To be continued...