Secrets of the Sky Kingdom (tentative working title)

Chapter 1

By Rita H. Chen

“So, where would you and Naomi like to go today?” their mother asked as soon as everyone had seated themselves at the table for breakfast.  Their father had gone to work already, and him and his sister were using the last few glorious days of freedom before school started to get to know Applewood a little better.

What they had discovered about Applewood had appalled and charmed them at turns.  One of the appalling things was the town had no public transportation.  Either you had a car or you were relegated to a bike.  Walking was sadly out of the question as town developers had obviously thought it was their duty to take advantage of all the land available and had spaced everything as far apart as possible. Even his sister’s beloved Walmart, which had initially appeared to be so close to their home, had turned out to be a good 25-minute walk away.

As of now, their mother had control of their family’s only car – his father nobly offering to carpool with a colleague until they had time to buy another one – and she was currently playing chauffeur to her children.  The only problem was the town didn’t have much to offer so they were fast running out of places to actually drive to.

“Downtown” was made up of three blocks of little, family-run stores.  The stores, with their dated architecture, were charming, but besides “Downtown” Applewood consisted of nothing more than a library, a hospital, a shopping plaza, a small park, and a surprisingly unhealthy amount of fast food restaurants and coffee shops.

“How about-“ Naomi began in English.

“Please use Japanese,” their mother said immediately.  Miyoko was adamant about her children speaking only Japanese in the home, wanting them to absorb as much of her native language as possible.   Though Takeo had a fairly good command of the language, Naomi still continued to struggle with her sentences.

Naomi grimaced and tried again, “How about we visit that place Dad was talking about?  Uh, Port Ryder?”

“Port Rydin,” Takeo immediately corrected.

“Port Rydin,” his sister repeated with a withering look in his direction.  “I think Dad said it had a beach by the ocean?”

“Well, actually, Port Rydin is next to Lake Erie so the beach is really by a lake,” Takeo said.

His sister scowled at him.  “Stop doing that,” she snapped in English.

“Doing what?”

“Correcting me.  You’re ALWAYS correcting me.  It’s so flipping annoying!”

“What?  No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.  All. The. Time,” Naomi deliberately stressed the last three words for emphasis.  “You’re always trying to show everyone how smart you are!”

“What the hell?  I’m—“

“Takeo!  Naomi!  That’s enough.  Settle down,” their mother barked over their rising voices.

Both children immediately quieted down but not without some venomous glances in each other’s direction.  After a brief moment of silence, Naomi couldn’t help getting the last word in, “Know-it-all.”

Takeo rolled his eyes and decided to just ignore her.  It was hard to believe that they used to be best friends growing up.  Now the 3-year gap between them only served to emphasize what a brat his sister still was.

“Well, I think that the beach sounds like fun, Naomi,” their mother said in an attempt to try to restore the good will between her two sulking children.  “Let’s all do that today then.”

“I can’t, Mom,” Takeo said.  “Today’s the day I begin volunteering at the hospital.”  Last year, he had made the decision to become a doctor and now made it a point to volunteer at any medical-related facility he could.

“Oh, that’s right!”  Their mother looked thoughtful.  “I completely forgot about that.”

“What?” Naomi interjected.  “So we’ll need to stay in town because of my jerk of an older brother?”

“Naomi!”

“No worries, Mom.  I wanted to go to the library today anyway.  Why don’t you just leave me there and go to the beach with the little monster,” he ignored the glare and the indignant ‘Hey!’ from his sister, “and I’ll just hang out at the library.  I’ll walk to the hospital when it’s time for my shift.”

“Figures the nerd would rather spend his time in a library than a beach,” Naomi said snidely before their mother could reply.

“Naomi!”

“What?  So you’re saying you wanted me to go to the beach with you?” Takeo retorted.

“Eww!  Of course not!”

“So what the hell is your problem?”

His sister’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to think of a good response.  She finally settled with a “Nothing.  You’re just stupid!”

When Takeo only gave her a look, she turned away and made a big show of going back to her meal, giving her brother a not-so-subtle message that she didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Miyoko couldn’t help the exasperated sigh that escaped her lips as she looked from her son’s triumphant face to her daughter’s scowling countenance.  It was times like this where she wondered if her children would have grown up better behaved, or at least better at controlling their tempers, had they been raised in Japan instead of Canada.  “The library sounds like a nice idea, Takeo.  I’ll drive you there before we go then.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Takeo replied, and the trio finished their breakfast in what was now relative peace and quiet.

* * *

“What time is your shift over?” their mother asked as Takeo stepped out of the backseat of the car.  His sister sat in the passenger seat in front, still studiously ignoring him.

Poking his head back through the open car door, Takeo replied, “It should end at 4.”

“Okay, we’ll come pick you up then.  Wait for me at the entrance of the hospital.”

“Will do,” Takeo said with a nod.  “Have a good time!”

Slamming the car door shut, he gave his mother and his sister one last wave from outside of the car before making his way to the library’s entrance.

The library was small, square, and looked more like a private home than a public institution.  It was made of a combination of red brick and wood and the green-painted wooden frames of the window sills and shutters clashed with the scarlet of the brick, creating a rather garish effect.

Not minding the library’s appearance, he entered through one of the heavy metal doors leading into the foyer and did a quick cursory scan.  There were probably only a handful of people in the library besides himself.  Two people sat opposite each other at a long table flipping through magazines, while three people tapped away at the computer stations lined up against the wall.  Two employees sat behind the check-out counter to the right of the staircase while one grey-clad man had his back to Takeo as he perused the aisles of the – well, Takeo supposed it would be most accurate to call it the second floor.  However, the “second floor” was nothing more than an extended stair landing that took up only half the width of the ground floor.  Nothing surrounded the floor save for a single wooden banister that ran along the length of the floor and down the staircase.

Takeo, who had slight acrophobia, couldn’t help but shudder at the thought that only a flimsy piece of wood protected him from tumbling to the ground floor and turned away.  Distracting himself by examining the bookcases on his right instead, he found, to his pleasure, that there was a section in this library dedicated just to mysteries. As he was about to approach the bookcase that proudly announced that it was home to “FICTION – MYSTERY – A to Z,” he suddenly paused in his steps.

Something felt a little… off.   He couldn’t pinpoint what the feeling was exactly but it felt like cold water had suddenly flooded into his heart, causing a chill to spread throughout his entire chest.  He involuntarily shivered.

“Are you cold?”

Takeo spun around to see a teenage girl standing a few feet behind him, a stack of books in her arms.  The girl was Caucasian and tall, probably about half-a-head shorter than Takeo’s 5’8” frame.  One long, thick caramel-coloured bang obscured her left eye while the rest of her short, spiky hair was so vividly red that Takeo surmised that it couldn’t possibly be natural.  Several piercings ran up the shell of both ears and her right nostril was pierced with one single platinum stud.  She was dressed in a long white bohemian-style sundress that went to her ankles and sky blue bangles decorated both her thin wrists.

Takeo must have been staring for too long because the girl repeated again, “Are you cold?”

He caught himself and shook his head.  “No, I’m fine.”  When she didn’t immediately reply, he added for good measure, “Thanks for asking.”

The corners of the girl’s large brown eyes crinkled as she smiled.  “Well, let me know if you feel cold and I’ll be happy to turn the air conditioning down a notch.  Don’t feel like you have to suffer in silence, okay?”

Takeo knew that it was wrong to discriminate a person based on their looks but he couldn’t help feeling surprised that someone like her, who dressed like a hippie and looked like a punk, would be working in a place as conservative as a library.  Trying to keep his thoughts from showing on his face, he merely nodded again.  “Thanks…  I will.”

The girl’s smile widened.  Shifting the books so that they rested in the crook of her right arm, she extended her hand.  “By the way, you must be new in town.  I’m Liz.  I work part-time here.”

“Takeo,” he replied, briefly shaking her hand before letting go.  He was never that comfortable with physical contact.   “And yes, we just moved here.”

“From China?”

Takeo couldn’t help but flinch at her question.  He could hear that she had asked the question without any malicious intent but this marked the seventh time over the last two days that him and his family had been asked that particular question.  Though it didn’t come as a surprise that Applewood was a primarily Anglo-Saxon community, he hadn’t been quite prepared for how few visible minorities actually lived in the town.

The inquisitive looks they had been getting had upset Naomi the first night they had arrived but after their father had appeased her by saying, “I did see that they had initially looked at us because we’re Asian.  But they’re now staring because they can’t believe how beautiful you and your mother are.” Thanks to his father’s quick thinking (and Naomi’s vanity), she now announced proudly what Takeo said in reply to Liz, “No, not from China though I am half-Chinese, half-Japanese.   I was born in Madison.  That’s where we moved from.”

“Oh.” A look of shame suddenly crossed the girl’s face.  “I’m sorry I asked that.  That was rude.  I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Had he sounded offended?  Takeo made a note to watch his tone the next time he answered that particular question.  “I wasn’t offended.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, good!  You see, I only asked because I’m reading this great book on Chinese mythology so I wanted to see if-  What I meant was, I was excited to meet someone who’s so entwined-  well, entwined is maybe not the best word.  I mean, I’m just happy to meet someone who’s actually a part of the culture.  Because it’s a fascinating culture.”   Liz then paused and laughed a little awkwardly.  “I’m sorry.  This is coming out all wrong.  You know what I mean, right?”

Takeo found a genuine smile crossing his face.  “Yeah, I do.”

“Great.”  Liz let out another uncomfortable laugh, obviously still flustered at her perceived faux-pas.  “Well, I’ll be at the counter if you need anything.  Holler – well, actually don’t holler because we’re in a library – but come find me anytime, okay?”  Giving him a smile that was visibly more nervous than her previous one, she walked back to the counter.

Takeo watched her as she left.  He couldn’t help but find her embarrassment rather endearing and he decided to talk to her later so she would feel comfortable around him again.  She seemed like an interesting person.  He then headed into the mystery aisle, his previous feelings of unease completely forgotten.

* * *

“Were you able to find what you were looking for?” Liz asked two hours later when Takeo came to the check-out counter with two books in hand.

Takeo nodded. “You have a pretty good collection of books.  I’m impressed.”

“We try.  But it’s hard with the budget we have.  A lot of what we have is donated from people in the area.”  Liz took the books from Takeo, appraising them.  “Ah…  Agatha Christie.  You’re a mystery buff, I see.  Anything else you like besides mystery?”

“I like true crime but I didn’t see any on the shelves.”

“Oh, they’re upstairs.  We file them under non-fiction.” Liz gestured to the staircase on her right and Takeo turned his head in the same direction obligingly.  Though the position he was standing at obscured the second floor from full view, he was still able to make out the bottoms of bookcases and the grey pants and black shoes of the man from before.

He nodded to acknowledge that he had seen what she was referring to.  “Thanks for letting me know.  I’ll check them out next time.”

“You should!”

The two exchanged a smile and Takeo was glad to see that the girl was once again at ease around him.

“Well, let’s get you a library card so you can take these out.” Liz turned away to look at her computer.  “Phone number and address, please!”

While he was rattling off his contact details to Liz, Takeo suddenly felt the cold sensation from earlier.   Unsettled and uncomfortable, he pressed a hand over his heart as he tried to answer Liz’s last question as normally as possible.  “Yeah…  I’m going into grade 11.  Are you also going to Applewood High?”

“Yeah, I’m going into grade 12.  Just one more year of torture for me, thank God!”  She paused, happily oblivious to Takeo’s discomfort.  “Have you had the chance to meet anyone from school yet?”

“Uh…” Takeo thought briefly of the boy he had waved to on the first day.  “No, not really.”

“Well, you’re welcome to hang out with me and my friends if you want.”  She held out the books she had just checked out and their eyes met.  Takeo saw from her eyes and expression that she was being sincere.

“Thanks, I’ll do that.”  Unlike the first time, the chill in his chest and stomach wasn’t residing and he started to have a strong urge to leave the library as quickly as possible.  “Well, I’ll see you next Tuesday at school then,” he said as he took the books from the girl.

Liz nodded, still not noticing anything amiss. “See you then.”

Removing his hand from his chest long enough to give Liz one final wave, Takeo then turned away. As he was making his way to the entrance of the library, he spared a quick glance toward the second floor and froze.

The man in grey was staring at him.  Only Takeo now knew that the grey of the man’s clothing was the result of a drab jumpsuit – a uniform – worn by prisoners.  This former prisoner had obviously met his death through hanging as his neck was titled forward at such an unnatural angle that his chin touched his chest.  Despite the way his head hung, the ghost still managed to somehow keep his round, bulging eyes, that were of such a pale blue that they were practically colourless, fixed on him with a burning intensity that kept Takeo rooted to the spot.

The two continued their mutual staring game for a few seconds before the ghost asked in wonder, “You can see me, Boy?”

When Takeo continued staring in undisguised horror, the ghost then cackled in delight.  “You can see me!”  He laughed again, the sound shrill and almost maniacal before he began limping eagerly, his right leg twisted and flapping loosely behind him, toward the staircase.

The way the ghost’s head jiggled as he walked almost made Takeo want to throw up.  As the ghost’s lame right leg thumped against the stairs as he descended, he kept its eerie pale eyes fixed steadily on Takeo.  The ghost suddenly grinned, showing such an abundance of blackened teeth that Takeo nearly opened his mouth to scream before he realized that he was still in a public place and slammed a hand over his mouth.

For a second he didn’t know what he should do.  Then, a single thought seemed to break free:

Run, Takeo, run!

Whatever spell the ghost had over him ended right then and Takeo could finally feel his body moving into action again.  Breaking the gaze with the ghost, he spun away and willed his leaden feet to begin heading toward the exit.  Just act normal, Takeo, he told himself as he clutched the books in his hand tightly in an effort to calm himself down.  Pretend you don’t see anything.

“Wait a second, Boy!  Where do you think you’re going?” the ghost cried out behind him.  “Come back here!”

The thump-thump of the ghost’s foot pounded more loudly against the stairs behind him and Takeo knew that the ghost was trying to catch up to him. In response, he hastily pushed open the heavy metal door to the exit.

As he slipped outside, he heard the ghost somewhere behind him now shrieking, “Don’t you dare go, Boy!  You come back here!”

Slamming the door shut, Takeo didn’t look back as he began to run.

 On hiatus

Rita’s Musings:  It’s fascinating to think of how much my writing style has changed in the last 3 years.  I don’t think I can continue this even if I wanted to…