Sock Puppets : Liu Yangyang

Chapter 17: Daisies and Thrushes anew

December 2021

N E Y Z A 

I have an undying love for snow. Yangyang told me that it didn't snow where I used to live. Must have been a dreary place.

I traipsed merrily to his apartment, bag in one hand and the end of my pinstriped red and white scarf in the other. 

Most of the students at college had gone home for the holidays, and I was about to go to mine tomorrow. 

I had just celebrated my birthday with Jaehyun, Lucas, and Jaza. Yangyang politely declined to join the party but had invited me over to his place for a surprise which was also to be another hint for me. 

As I pondered on what it was, I stumbled over a stray rock. A strong hand grasped my arm. 

'Careful there,' a feminine voice spoke. I looked up to see the owner. 

She was charming, to say the least. She was tall and well-built, like a panther. She had short, straight maroon hair. Her hazel eyes glowed with alluringly. She carried an aura of trust. Of happiness. 

'Follow me.' she said. On impulse, I did. She made me want to obey her every whim. 

'Where are we going?'

She laughed, and my gut tightened. There was something so very wrong with that laugh. So very... malicious. 

'Oh, my dear.' She tsked. The world spun, the scene rapidly shifting. In a trice, we were in a vast meadow, in the center of which lay a pond. The dense green grass was long and jagged, and I fell to it as my legs gave way. 

'Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.' The woman's voice was laced with venom. She crouched down to meet my eyes. 'Wonder why you fell for it so quickly?' she asked, lifting my chin with one finger. 'Pain wears a mask, my naive little girl.'

'I... I know you,' I spluttered. My vision was bleary. 

She snorted. 'Yes. Yes. I'm the reason for all of your troubles.'

My mind inadvertently launched itself back fifteen years. It was crystal clear. 

Seventh birthday. Saphyr's sudden passing away. Death took her away. 

'Yangyang. Death,' I gasped. Pain's expression soured. 

'Death,' she spat rancorously. 'You can thank him for this mess. If he didn't do what he did to me, you wouldn't have had to suffer. Shame.'

'What-' Shame. She had said this very word to me, that day. I don't want you to suffer, but it is necessary. 

A bolt of pure, unaltered agony erupted in my body. Everything ached. The exertion on my tolerance was slowly taking a toll on me. 

'Leave.' The word was said with manifest authority. Pain stopped for a split second. 

'Why are you here?' She asked, eyes blazing.

'Are you deaf? Leave.' With what little strength I had left, I turned to look at Yangyang. He was levitating, eyes radiating a lethal dominance. For the first time since I had met him, he looked like Death. 'And don't touch my girl.'

Pain scoffed, eyes widening in disbelief. 'Your girl? The last time I checked, I was your girl. We were special!' she wailed. 

'This is our battle. Stay the hell away from her.'

'Is she all you care about? What happened to us?'

'I'll tell you what happened to us,' Yangyang shot back, enraged. 'What happened to us was that I got tired of you, your lies, your manipulation. Don't take it out on her. She did nothing.'

'Indeed,' Pain giggled viciously. 'She did nothing. Wouldn't it be amusing to torment her? The innocent are always the most fun to hurt.'

Out of nowhere, a leopard began to materialize, snarling viciously. It had an arrow stuck in its neck. A flock of bald eagles, all of which had no wings, glided down from the sky. A python with no head slithered next to me. With a start, I realized they were all dead. 

'This is only, like, 0.0000001% of what I can do, and you know it. You cannot die, but you can be tortured. So get out of here, you despicable excuse for a Spirit,' Yangyang said, giving a sweet smile. The leopard growled, the python tensed and the eagles formed a triangular shape, ready to attack at his command. 

Pain's eyes flitted between him and me. 'This isn't over, sweetie,' she told me, before vanishing. 

The army of animals immediately disintegrated, and so did my torment, as Yangyang flew down to me. The sky cleared, and the sun peeped out, checking if it was safe to enter. With a 'snap', a chrysanthemum appeared in his hand. 'You remember,' he noted, catching the recognition in my eyes. 

'I do, Mister Death.' He flinched. 

'Do you... remember what I told you that day?'

'Yes. And I don't forgive you.'

'Ah. That's fine. That's okay.'

'I don't forgive you because there's nothing to forgive you for.' I smiled, caressing his face. 'I understand now. Thank you for trusting me.' I took the chrysanthemum, placing it softly on the ground. 

Then I pulled him into a long, passionate kiss, right there in the meadow with the daisies and thrushes.