Demons and Sugar

Chapter 3

Xuan was walking through a forest path, but it was not the same one he walked with Hon. It was a totally different forest, and actually, this Xuan was quite different too.

It wasn't the current Xuan, but him from 10 years ago. Although he was just a small child, he walked alone. There seemed to be no one anywhere close to him.

He walked slowly and carefully watched his every step. Suddenly, he stopped.

He crouched down and picked something up. It was a beautiful green leaf, it's edges perfectly cut, it looked like it was from a picture.

Little Xuan smiled and with this leaf in his hand he walked forward again.

Although this leaf was beautiful, it wasn't any rare to find it here. He was in the forest, of course there were many leaves.

But this one landed in front of him, so he picked it up. There was no big deal about it, but he thought of it as of something special that was just for him.

And so he walked further and further, when he finally reached some village. It wasn't the city from before and it's style was completely different from it. It was a village where Xuan used to live.

He ran straight to the certain house without knocking and yelled:

„Mother! Brother got bitten by a snake!" Although he was picking up leaves just some time ago, he looked worried now.

A woman in an elegant white hanfu ran out of one room and rushed to Xuan. „Where is he now?" she asked calmly and after Xuan pointed in the direction, she took him into her arms and ran to her other son.

After a while of running, Xuan stopped her and pointed in another direction. Soon they arrived to where a boy little older from Xuan was sitting.

He was sitting under some big apple tree and held his hand, loudly gasping for air.

Xuan's mother put him down and came to the other boy. She started bandaging his swollen hand and talked to him:

„Ming, sweetie, what happened?"

„It's all Xuan's fault! I wanted to go for a walk with him but his misfortune caused this!" he cried.

Xuan just stood there, stunned, holding his tears.

„Don't say that. He surely didn't lure that snake here. Just calm down now, I'll carry you home." Their mother said and picked Ming up.

Ming suddenly screamed from pain, closed his eyes and landed his head on his mother's shoulder.

„Xuan, you'll have to get home by yourself. I can't carry both of you." She said and Xuan just nodded.

And as his mother ran home, he tried to catch up, but with his small legs he wasn't able to. So he started to slowly walk home, all alone again.

One step, another, and the other didn't land. He fell down, but there wasn't the expected earth, only the deep sea of darkness. He was spinning in it for a while.

He soon landed on his feet, but this time he was dressed in black and stood in front of a small coffin.

He hadn't realised what happened, but soon he remembered and fell down on his knees, tears falling down his face.

He remembered that they couldn't find a cure for that poison in time, and soon Ming's entire body swole and he let out his last breath, surrounded by everyone dear to him and Xuan.

„I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It was my misfortune! It should've been me who was bitten!" he said through tears. He tried to wipe them out but new ones kept falling down.