𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙞𝙨𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘼 𝙎𝙬𝙖𝙣 | TGCF

◦༻ 2...The Old Lady and The Swan

     Did I fall into a twenty year coma?

     Was I kidnapped and thrown onto a beach?

     Am I having a nightmare or a lucid dream?

      Y/n's train of thoughts was going off the rails at an alarming speed. Wherever he was, it was not good at all.

     Suddenly Y/n felt a light tap on his shoulder, and the quiet crack of a wrist under skin.

     He turned around to see an elderly women, dressed in old run-down robes. She was leaning on a cane with one hand behind her back and the other resting on the wooden cane. She had a head scarf covering her hair but an ever so bright white smile. Wrapped around her body was a faded and raggedy red dress with a old looking brown belt that was snagged at its ends.

     Despite all this, the outfit actually looked quite comfortable and moveable. It was an old lady after all, so Y/n tried his best not to judge.

     "Are you okay boy? You're soaking wet." She asked in a worried tone. Y/n frowned slightly.

That's when it clicked for Y/n, in all the worse ways possible.

     She was speaking in fluent mandarin, and Y/n could in fact understand everything.

     Y/n stayed silent for a moment, at least trying to take everything in, before saying in response.

     "Uhm.. I woke up on the beach..." He was also speaking fluent mandarin!

     Since when did I know mandarin? I only took like one class when I was six because my parents forced me for extra credit!

     The old lady chuckled and pointed a boney finger to a cute little cottage that was within a bamboo forest just off the coast of the beach. Y/n couldn't help but wonder how he didn't notice the forest before.

     "Let me take you in boy, I'll get you fixed up."

     This lady was too nice to refuse, and Y/n could really be fixed up right now. And have a cigarette, that would be good too.

     Y/n followed the old lady to her house and noticed that it really did look like an ancient Chinese house. The roof was curved and outside had red lanterns with Chinese symbols that Y/n didn't understand.

     So I can speak mandarin but can't read it?

     Where's the logic?!

     Well, I just appeared here in these clothes out of nowhere so— where's the logic in anything?!

     The old lady opened the door to a humbly decorated room. On one side was an old looking kitchen, the wood walls peeling from...scratch marks?

     The other side had a cheap but expensive looking bed with silk curtains draped around it. And at the bedside was a basket with many different colors of yarn and two visibly used wooden needles.

     In the middle of the room was a short table, that nearly touched the ground, with a dirty white mat as the seat. In the center was a glass jar with a single white flower inside. Seeing the flower, an image of the old man seemed to creep into Y/n's mind.

     "Do you want to become a swan?"

     Y/n felt his body go still and stiff.

     Why am I thinking about what's going on?! I should be running for my life trying to find a way out of here!

     I should be trying to wake up!

     I want to go home.

     Someone bring me home!