Proofreaders: Gwen, LSL and Red
Surprise! Our first of two updates for today. 8D
Sharp shrills of
the ambulance, strangers wearing white coats and white hats shimmy across my
vision—it’s blurry again
as if there is a layer of white gauze over my eyes.
Am I still alive?
“Sun Le. Can you hear me? Sun Le?” A
doctor bends over and asks me.
Who? Sun Le? No. I’m not Sun Le. I’m Xiao
Yu.
“Can you see me, Sun Le? Try blinking your
eyes if you can.”
I am NOT Sun Le!
I want to shout it out: I AM NOT Sun Le!
I’m Xiao Yu who got pushed off the building!
That’s right. I fell from the seventh
floor and the loss of gravity made me faint. Thank goodness I did so I didn’t
have to watch as I hit the ground.
And then? Was I saved?
“Patient falling into coma. Prepare
sphygmometer!”
Where am I? It’s a fairly narrow, white
space. Unknown instruments and devices are dangling in front of me. Am I in an
ambulance? But my mind’s perfectly fine. Could it be…that my conscience has
been separated from my body?
“Kids these days. Jumping off seven
storeys like that. Don’t they think of their families at all?”
No. I was pushed off. I didn’t jump
myself. I didn’t-.
“Decreasing heart rate! Prepare FR2!”
“I think this kid’s an orphan. I mean, the
school didn’t mention any family when I asked them to notify his family, so all
the charges will be billed to the school.”
There seems to be two vastly different
conversations going on beside me. One consists of the doctor repeating stuff
like ‘BP,’ ‘pulse rate’ and ‘ECG’ as though it is the
end of the world while the other is a casual chat about some indistinguishable
topic. The topic seems to be me.
I’m not an orphan though. My parents might
be abroad but that doesn’t mean I don’t have family! I want to retort, to talk
back, but it’s as if I’ve been frozen. I won’t even budge, let alone talk.
“Patient has stopped breathing! Shock
now!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
My body jerks wildly along with the shocks
but I can’t feel a thing, no pins and needles from the electric current and no
feeling of a beating heart.
Is this really my body? Or maybe…I’m
already dead and my spirit is quietly watching as people try to resuscitate me?
“Sun Le! You’re still young! You’ve a long
way to go! Don’t give up!”
Boom! Boom!
I SAID I AM NOT SUN LE!
“Patient resuscitated!”
“BP on the rise!”
“Stop the defib!”
“This kid’s lucky. Normally a fall from
seven storeys means DRT.”
“He might just pull through.”
I might just pull through? I…I’m not dead?
Suddenly, my sensation rushes back to life
and bone-splitting pain shoots through my body. I can already feel the doctor’s
hands on my body, poking things in, rubbing and pressing. I gulp for air,
pulling in as much as I can.
I want to live! I don’t want to die! I
want to live!
“Pulse rate normal!”
“Sun Le! Hang in there! You’re gonna pull
through!”
Yes! I want to live! I don’t want to die!
No, I do not!
For a moment, I can’t tell who I am. Am I
Sun Le? Or am I Xiao Yu? This strong yearning for life, whose is it? Xiao Yu’s?
Or Sun Le’s?
The ambulance stops and the doctor and nurses rush me
to the operating room. I can feel my chances of survival increasing and so is
the possibility of making it out alive. I know I’m going to live. I’m not going
to die!
I’m so happy I could cry. God, thank you. Thank you
for giving me another chance. I will do the best to live my life and never let
it go to waste.
Who is the one repenting? Who is the one praying to
God? Is it Xiao Yu? Or is it Sun Le?
The door to the operating room has been opened.
Mask-wearing doctors start working, tossing away piece after piece of bloody
swabs. I listen carefully to the regular beeps from the ECG and feel joy from
the bottom of my heart.
“Dad! Can can’t wait any longer! He must undergo
surgery now!”
Who’s that talking?
“The university student that got brought in just now
is an orphan, right? No one would notice! What’re the chances of surviving a
seven-storey fall? No one would suspect a thing!”
What’re you saying?
“Dad! Can needs a kidney. He can’t wait another
second! That student’s blood type is a perfect match! We couldn’t have asked
for anything better! No one would ever know. No one would ever find out. We’ll
offer to pay for the cremation of his body on the hospital’s behalf afterwards.
Surely, the school would be glad to have us pay for it. That way our tracks
will be covered! Let’s not hesitate anymore!”
Wait a minute…. Who are you talking about?
This is the operating room. There are only the
surgeons’ muffled orders and the beeps of machines. Then whose emotional voice
was that? Where did it come from? Or should I say, who was making it audible to
me?
Suddenly, the door is opened and in comes a man
dressed in scrubs. He quietly speaks with the main surgeon. The surgeon
hesitates, the man says something else, and only then does the surgeon nod. The
man then leaves.
I instinctively feel a bit restless and scared. What
is this ominous feeling?
The world before my eyes starts spinning, brightening
and dimming. My eyelids feel heavier and heavier as if it’s filled with
lead.
I mustn’t sleep! I know I will never get
my eyes open again if I let them close now. But…what the hell is going on? Why
has it become like this?
I use all my efforts to open my eyes and my muscles
get so sore I start tearing up. The tears are blood red, however. My vision is
a coat of crimson. There’s red, and more red—a life’s worth of red.
And then, my eyes no longer feel leaden. I also
realise that the machine that indicates my vitals has long stopped beeping. The
people in the room leave one by one. The doctors have left. The nurses have
left.
But what about me? I’m
still waiting for you to resuscitate me.
A few other people walk in.
They’re dressed the
same as the doctors from earlier but I don’t feel one bit enthusiastic.
Instead, I feel freezing cold as if I’m in the Arctic.
“The director’s grandson needs a kidney. Quickly, now.
I don’t think he can wait any longer.”
I see them sticking a shiny scalpel into my body.
Desperately, I want to scream but I can’t make a sound.
“What do we do with the body?”
“I was told to cremate it ASAP.”
“Hold on. I have a classmate who was willing to purchase
a cornea at high above market price a couple days ago. This kid’s dead anyway—let’s not let it go to
waste.”
“You sneaky son of a bitch.”
“Hahaha, I could say the same about you!”
Who are they talking about so casually, so jokingly?
Who are they cutting up so carefully and precisely?
Is it…me?
But…I’m a person. A living human being. How could
they? How could they do such a thing? Nah…I must have misunderstood.
“Eh, screw it. Let’s just think of it as recycling.
Take him for all he’s got while he’s still 30-minutes fresh.”
“We’ll be saving the hospital so much budget that we
should ask the director for a bonus.”
“Go get a few more guys in here. I don’t want this to
go to waste ‘cause we were too slow.”
“On it.”
No. I want to live. Help. Someone come save me from
these crazy people.
“Now, won’t you look at that!”
They point at me and yelp in surprise.
“Why’s he crying? Isn’t he dead?”
“Stop scaring yourself. We’re doctors for god sakes.
Hurry up! I have a date with my girlfriend after this.”
Tears of hatred and injustice stream out the corner of
my eye. Drip. Drop. The heavens gave
me a second chance yet it has been taken away by these heartless people. They
never asked for my opinion, never asked for my consent, and just acted so
coldblooded and ignorantly as though they were merely squishing an ant.
I’ve been wiped out of existence just like that. No
one noticed anything. No one knows that I’ve been murdered. Not a soul knows.
Still, my body gets placed on the guillotine while my executioners laugh and joke
as they cut me apart piece by piece in exchange for dirty money.
Why? Do I not deserve to live anymore just because of
one heated decision I’ve made? Do I not deserve the respectful end of a human
being? Do I not have the right to choose just because I’m an orphan with no
background? So these strangers get to decide my fate?
No fair! Those are mine! Those are my body parts! I
don’t want to give them away! No!
Give it back! Give it all back! Give back what belongs
to me!
“GIVE ME!”
My heartrending wail finally
escapes my throat. I finally make it audible. I scream over and over with all
my strength.
“GIVE IT BACK!”
“Xiao Yu! Xiao Yu!”
I hear Yuan Fei yelling at me but I can’t stop my
screams.
I’ve restrained myself from screaming from the moment
the scalpel entered my body and watched helplessly with my eyes wide-open as
they dissected me. The terror, fury and resentment from every cut accumulated
in my chest to the point I could no longer withstand its weighted pressure on
me.
Finally, I can finally express all my suffering and
rage. A bottomless whirlpool of malice sucks my heart, mind and soul into it,
transforming all the bitterness and injustice into my final grudge: I will take
it back! Take it all back!
“Xiao Yu!”
Out of nowhere, my painful
shrieks get stuffed back inside my mouth and a smell belonging to Yuan Fei
envelops me. I cry and sob as I hold him tightly.
Suddenly, someone holds down my arm and I feel a
sting. A doctor is injecting me with tranquilizer but I start shrieking again
when I see the horrifying white coat.
It was people dressed like this who took my life away!
It’s them!
“Go away! Go away! Don’t touch me!”
“Xiao Yu! Calm down! I’m here!”
I keep fighting. Only when I go hoarse from screaming
and get too tired to struggle anymore do I relax. I start to see stars from
using up all my energy. I then notice that everyone has left, leaving only me
and Yuan Fei.
“Xiao Yu, I want you to look at me. Do you remember
who I am?”
There’s a hint of a sob in his voice. I look up at him
with great effort only to see a pair of blood shot eyes. I think he’s been
crying for a long time.
“Yuan Fei….” I say with my scratchy voice.
“Yes! It’s me! I thought you wouldn’t wake up again!”
I can’t tell if he wants to cry or smile. He caresses
my face with trembling fingers as though he is not sure if he’s actually
touching me or not.
“What happened?”
My mind only begins to clear up after letting out all
my anger. I’m alive. I haven’t been dissected. I’m Xiao Yu, not Sun Le.
“I wanna know what the hell happened too!”
He holds my hands tightly. “You suddenly disappeared
from the Dean’s Office. No one saw you leaving but you just vanished in thin
air. And then I heard you jumped off the lab building. I almost had a break
down! Thank god.... Thank god there was a mound of sand from the construction.
You weren’t seriously injured only ‘cause you hit a tree branch along the way,
and fell on the sand. But after we brought you to the hospital you didn’t wake
up. The doctors said your pulse was really erratic. You know what, your heart
had stopped once but your body jumped up all by itself before the doctor even
started preparing the defibrillator as if it shocked itself. Everyone was
gaping. And your heart started beating again soon after.”
So it wasn’t just a dream. I really did experience
the whole thing. Well, at least I did go through, spiritually, Sun Le’s
experience.
“Guess what, even the police were freaked out. I’m
sure they think we’re being haunted by something now. I’m not under
investigation anymore either. They’ve placed me under heavy protection instead
now. And you know…you’ve been unconscious for three whole days. And that’s how
long my heart’s been dead for.”
“Yuan Fei.”
Lightly, I touch his face as he watches me intently.
He bends down. “If you hadn’t woken up…I really don’t know what I’d do.”
He kisses me gently and licks at my lips. I crack up
my mouth to welcome him in. Carefully, he slides his tongue in and my heart
starts pounding sporadically, increasing with speed as our tongues entangle.
It’s not my first time kissing someone but it is the
first time I’ve felt a loss of breath. It’s not my first time kissing Yuan
Fei but it is the first time I’ve felt a solid connection with him. It turns
out that a kiss is such a wonderful thing. It’s as though nothing else in this
world is important as long as you can have this kiss for the rest of your life.
When our lips finally part
with reluctance, his cheeks have turned pink. I assume I’m not much better off.
We burst into sheepish chuckles at the same time after exchanging fixed stares.
He picks up my hand and places it on his lips.
“Let’s never be apart, okay?”
He asks earnestly.
I crack a smile but avoid
answering the question.
“Was he the one who pushed you
down?” He suddenly inquires.
I’m taken back by the quick
change—it’s as if he’s a different person.
Menace flashes in his once-loving eyes and pain shoots up my hand.
“Yuan Fei.” I call his
name.
Only then does he come
back around. He keeps apologizing after quickly releasing my hand.
I flash a light smile.
“I’m still alive, aren’t I? If he’d wanted to kill me I wouldn’t have woken up.
You know that.”
I see confusion slip
across his eyes. He was anxious and frightened because he had thought I’d die
for sure. He was overwhelmed with joy and reassurance because I have woken up.
Consequently, he is perplexed because he doesn’t understand why I have received
a miracle when no other has been able to escape the misfortunes. I, too, am
curious.
Perhaps, Sun Le did it
on purpose? He wanted me to live through the injustice and anger he had gone
through. He pushed me down but let a branch slow my fall and let me land right
on a mound of sand…because he didn’t want me to die?
However, I can’t figure
out one thing. Why did he have to show me his experiences? Why didn’t he kill
me?
He doesn’t have any
reason to be so generous to me. He did try to kill me once, so what made him
change his mind?
I get tired after a
short chat with Yuan Fei and he leaves after tucking me in. I don’t know for
how long I’ve slept when I get woken up by the nurse to take blood samples and
measure my blood pressure. I blink my eyes open a few times, mind still in a
daze, and take a scan around the room. It’s pitch black—it’s probably the
middle of the night. Then I drift back to sleep.
A while later, a crisp
sound resonates in my mind:
Drip-drop.
This takes me
completely off guard and I’m wide awake in an instant. People are especially
vulnerable when they’re sleeping and this almost makes my heart stop beating.
I shiver and pat my
chest. “If you didn’t want me to fall to my death, then why try to scare me to
death?” I gasp.
Perhaps the reason why
he let me live so many times is because he wants to drive me insane and not
just die an easy death.
“Do you really resent
me that much?” I mutter quietly to no one in particular, knowing there won’t be
an answer from it.
I don’t hear another
sound. I glance around curiously—a pitch black hospital room with no one else
in it. The darkness holds nothing strange either.
Could it be that I
imagined it? But how could I have imagined such a clear, distinct sound coming
from inside my head? Or maybe I’m just so afraid of it that it’s starting to
haunt me in my dreams as well.
I let out a deep breath
to calm my high-strung nerves and notice that my throat is parched. I climb up
with difficulty and reach for the water bottle on the bedside table but I come
into contact with a thick stack of something. Confused, I open the bedside
lamp. I gape at what I see: seven files neatly stacked together on the bedside
table. I’m certain, however, that there were no such things here when Yuan Fei
was here earlier in the day.
I crack a bitter smile.
It looks like it wasn’t my imagination after all.
I take the files over,
knowing I can’t run from it, and untie the thin string holding them together.
“Alright, I’ll take a
look if you insist I do….” I mumble to it, wherever it may be.
In the beginning, I had
been eager to know the answer but before I knew it, I had become too scared to
find out. The files had already become a petrifying solution in my eyes when it
had pushed me to retrieve them the first time. The answer made me scared beyond
description. So I turned a blind eye to them again and again, and yet it places
them in front of me again and again.
Why must I be the one to solve this?
If it were as I had thought—Sun Le is holding a
grudge from getting dumped by Yuan Fei—then why did he start
with the innocent others and not Yuan Fei first? And if he wanted to leave Yuan
Fei to the last why did he spare my life? More importantly, if what I had seen
during my comatose days after falling off the building was what Sun Le wanted
to show me, what would be the reason for it? He wanted justice? If so, why
would he want to kill us?
I open the first file; it belongs to Cubs. I take a
quick peek through his absence records, maybe because I had heard his name
being mentioned in my dream state. It appears that he took a month off because
he had a slow recovery from a surgery he had undergone in the summer.
I rummage through my
memories. I’ve noticed a row of scars of stitches under his ribs when we went
to take showers together. He had said it was from his surgery.
Drip-drop.
A faint vision materializes before my eyes after the
soft sound:
Cubs is lying on a bed in the intense care unit with
machines stuck all over his body. His mother is crying her eyes out by the bed
while his father is standing to the side in his white coat quietly wiping at
his tears. The next moment, a nurse comes running in saying there’s an
emergency patient and Mr. Jin follows her out of the room. The scene blurs and
I see Sun Le being wheeled in by a bunch of people to the surgery room. Then I
see the expression gradually changing on Mr. Jin’s face as he reads Sun Le’s
medical report in detail.
“Cubs’ kidney….”
I can’t help muttering out loud. So the reason for
every single thing…is this.
I put down the file and pick up Kong Linglin’s.
I recall Kong Linglin bragging to us one time that he
got in a huge car accident in the summer and that he was lucky to even make it
out alive—he used up two whole boxes of blood for
transfusion. He might have exaggerated more or less but the fact remains that
he had used large amounts of blood.
“Kong Linglin’s blood….”
I put the file down and pick up Mu Mu’s.
Last summer, he had surgery done too. He stayed in the
hospital for aftercare when school had started already and he was excused for
six weeks.
It was also that day, after Kong Linglin finished
bullshitting, that Mu Mu briefly went over how he went under the knife too. He
said he had bone marrow transplant because his weren’t functioning properly.
Apparently, it had taken a lot of effort to find a match.
“Mu Mu’s bone marrow….”
Xu Ping’s file is next.
I don’t even need to read this to have a good idea of
what it details. There was a fire at Xu Ping’s house and he got burned all over
his body so he had skin transplants done.
“Xu Ping’s skin….”
I pick up Wu Fan’s file and spot another similarity—a crucial one at that,
too—they were all Type A.
Consequently, I’m puzzled because I’m Type B and Yuan
Fei is Type O. Neither of us have hospital records. So in other words, we have
never had surgery performed on us. So is that the reason why we’ve constantly
brushed past the Reaper that Sun Le has brought upon us?
I stare at the file in hand. Wu Fan had severe
nearsightedness. In his own words, he had been in danger of losing sight
completely so he had surgery done.
Drip-drop.
Another vision appears
before my eyes along with the sound:
A woman is almost on her knees as she cries. “Doctor,
my son can’t go blind! He’s so close to graduating! Please help him! Please!”
She wails.
The doctor explains uncomfortably. “But there aren’t
many cornea donors out there and there are a lot of patients in line….”
The man who has been holding the woman up quietly
steps forward and discreetly slips a thick envelope loaded with money into the
doctor’s hand.
“Please! Our child’s future rests in your hands!”
A smile spreads on the doctor’s face. He scans around
him before lowering his voice. “The only way now is to buy it off of the black
market. I happen to know one cornea that matches your son’s blood type but it’s
in high demands....”
The man looks determined. “Money is not an issue!
Please, doctor, we’ll pay whatever is necessary!”
The smiling doctor pats the
man’s shoulder.
A breeze seems to blow across the misty vision before
me, the smile on the white-coated doctor’s face instantly warping into
something more menacing than any ghoul.
Drip-drop.
I understand now. I understand everything.
This ‘drip-drop’ is not from water dropping down but
rather the weak sound of teardrops made of aggrieved resentment hitting this
filthy, vile world. The spirits that cannot weep cry tears of blood that
hopelessly fall towards their unchangeable destiny. Weak but stunning, the
sound is overpowering and echoes in the mind.
Drip-drop.
I shudder. “You want your eye back? Is Chief the next
one?”
Drip-drop.
I roll off the bed without a second thought and fall
over the moment I hit the floor, my body aching as if it’s been crushed to
pieces. It reminds me that I have recently fallen off a seven storey
building.
“Don’t…kill anymore.”
Drip-drop.
“I’ll go get it back for
you…your eye…so…please, spare Chief.”
Drip-drop.
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Dairytea's comment: Will they survive?! Our next update for Drip-Drop will be the concluding chapter! While waiting, go read our 2nd release of the day. ;D
ayszhang's comment: I can't believe it! We're almost at the end of our journey~ (How are you so cheerful when Chief might lose his eye!!!) >u>
The Water Goes Drip-Drop - English Translation by ayszhang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
