Chapter 14 (1/2)

Cry Me A Sad River - Episode Two – Part 14

14

There are some things between human beings that separate them from each other, these things can draw a deep crevice between one another, after the rain, it becomes a river and can never be crossed again.

If the surface of the river becomes enshrouded in heavy fog……

Just like the first time Qi Ming’s wet dream stained his underwear when he was fourteen, he had shoved his pants beneath his pillow after getting up that morning before leaving for school. When he reached home in the evening, he took the pants from that morning to the toilet. Encountering his mother, his face had flushed slightly.

His mother looked at him holding his pants and reached for it out of habit. Surprisingly, Qi Ming refused.

“Why are you was.h.i.+ng pants, don’t I always wash it for you, are you possessed today, dumb boy,” His mother reached for it again, “Give it to me and you can go and read your books.”

Qi Ming turned, his face feeling as if it was burning, “No, I’ll wash it myself.” He moved his way around his mother and went into the toilet before locking the door.

His mother stood outside the door, listening to the spluttering of the tap before smiling knowingly.

Qi Ming walked out from the toilet, shaking off the water on his hand, just as he was wiping his hands on a towel, his mother stood in the hallway looking at him with a smile on her face, “Dumb boy, of course mother knows.”

A sudden uncomfortable feeling seeped into his heart from his blood vessels, like drinking overly sweet sugared water, so sweet that it hurts the throat. Like having a mosquito bite in the throat.

“No, I’ll be reading my books.” Qi Ming touched his face- it was uncomfortably warm.

“Oh yo, why are you being shy with your mother. Next time I’ll still wash it. Be good. You’re becoming a young man, haha.”

Qi Ming closed the door to his room and fell onto his bed before tugging the blanket over his head.

His mother’s voice on the phone outside the door is high-pitched and clear.

“Hey, Qi Fangcheng, your baby boy is becoming an adult, haha, let me tell you……”

Qi Ming laid on his bed, with the covers over his head, he reached out to the light switch on his wall, he turned it on and off, on and off. The light couldn’t pa.s.s through the blanket; only a faint glow flickered over his eyelids.

As if his head was covered with a layer of grey membrane, one that resembled the colour of dusk in the longtang, coupled with the heaty smell of cooking, it stifled his heart.

A few days later, one morning when he was heading out for school, his mother was chatting with a few other middle-aged women outside their door. Qi Ming tugged on his backpack and squeezed past them and told his mother that he was heading to school in a low voice.

Two steps later and Qi Ming could hear the conversation from behind him unfurling in his ears.

“Heard that your son, oh~ heh heh.” Disturbing laughter.