| Fan Fiction |
by magnolia_sara
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At a distant place where trees are surrounded, a black house stands lonely there inside the forest. This place has been desolate for twenty years; until recently, it is brought back to life by its owner.
Several dungeons are located inside the house below ground level. Boxes of illegal drugs are stacked inside them. Around fifteen men are counting off the number of bags of marijuana and put them neatly into empty boxes.
Right above the dungeons are luxury rooms. Inside one of them, Eric Tsang is sitting comfortably on his massage chair. His adopted son William is practicing his skills of flying daggers.
Pinned to the wall are pictures of the Lam Family. They are the targets of William’s daggers practice.
His face is still covered with his mask despite being alone with his adopted father. His uncovered eyes shadow the hatred in his heart. He picks up a dagger and throws it wildly toward the wall. The dagger hits the picture of Charmaine and punctures through her “heart”.
Eric looks sideways toward the wall and claps. He says, “Nice job son!”
William sits down and gulps down from his cup of coffee. At this time, the TV is broadcasting the press conference. As William sees Charmaine appear on screen, his eyes flicker with evilness. He wonders, “How come she is out there? Should she be in jail?”
Eric asks, “Is she that Charmaine Lam?”
William answers menacingly, “Yes. I don’t know why she is not in jail.” He turns off the TV and says, “Don’t worry Pa. I know additional ways to torture this family.” He grins devilishly to himself.
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Julian pushes open the back door of the hospital and sticks his head out to see if any reporter is around. He sees that it is cleared, so he waves Charmaine to walk out with him.
They have just visited David in his sickbed.
Julian turns around and yawns. He hasn’t slept the previous night as he was running errands for the old man.
Charmaine sees the tired look on Julian’s face. She looks down and says, “I heard that you have found the old man. Thanks a lot!”
Julian grins and replies, “As long as you are saved, I can risk my life for you.”
Charmaine looks into his eyes and says to herself, “If only he is not my brother, perhaps.....” She looks away and says, “I am planning to quit my job.”
Julian knits his brows as he hears her decision, but he nods in agreement and says, “I think that is best for you.” He pauses and asks, “Have you told him?”
She shakes her head and replies, “You are the first one to know.” She turns around and says, “See you later. Bye.” She disappears down the alley........
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She runs into the cemetery and shouts, “Sum Bak (old man)! Sum Bak!”
A woman answers her, “Hi! You are looking for Sum Bak? He has his day off today. Do you want to leave him any message?”
“Oh, I see. I just want to thank him. I’ll come back later. Thanks.” Charmaine ambles out the graveyard......
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Mary (Myolie and Michael’s Mom) lights a match and throws it into the metal bucket. The papers inside the bucket begin to light up in flames. She says, “Charmaine, walk across the bucket then the bad luck will be gone from you.”
Charmaine looks down at the flames-filled bucket and gives in, “Alright.” She steps across the bucket.
“There you go. Come in and help me prepare dinner.” Mary holds Charmaine’s hand and pulls her into the house. Melvin, her husband, covers the bucket with sand to extinguish the fire.
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“Can we talk?” Charmaine asks Michael as the Ma family finishes their dinner.
Michael nods and says, “Let’s go down to the park to talk privately.”
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Charmaine tightens her jacket around her as a strong wind blows across the park. It is getting cooler at night especially with November approaching.
She takes a seat at a bench while Michael sits next to her. Michael asks, “So what do you want to talk about?”
She reaches into her pocket and takes out an envelope. She hands it to him and says, “This is my resignation letter, Ma Sir.”
He looks at Charmaine’s face, then to the envelope in her hand. He asks, “Are you serious?”
Charmaine nods determinedly and says, “Police woman wasn’t what I want to become in the first place. If it wasn’t for my aunt, I wouldn’t even take that job. Secondly, I don’t want to cause anymore trouble to the police force, especially to you. It is lucky that they don’t have any evidence to charge me as Bird of the Night, but I am still one no matter what. So quitting is the best way.”
Michael bites his lips and says, “I am going to miss you.”
Charmaine pats his shoulder and says, “We are still good friends and neighbors. You can still see me everyday.”
He asks disappointedly, “We are only....friends?”
Charmaine puts the letter on top of his lap. She stands up and says plainly, “Don’t waste time on me anymore please.”
The letter drops to the ground as Michael shoots up from the bench. He turns Charmaine around to face him. He looks straight into her eyes and says, “It is not wasting time. It is worth.”
Charmaine takes his hands off her shoulder and says, “I know that this will hurt you, but I don’t want to lie to you. My heart is really small. It is only big enough to hold one person.”
“And that person is Julian Lam, right? But he is your brother!” Michael says with traces of anger in his voice.
She says, “I don’t care if he is my brother or not, but I am not going to fall in love ever again.” She smiles and says encouragingly, “There are plenty of girls in the world. You should not give up on the entire forest because of one tree.”
Michael looks at Charmaine earnestly. He sighs as he understands that no one can change her mind. He holds her hands and begs, “Can I at least hug you for once?”
Charmaine shakes her head and says, “I know that you are going to say that I am mean, but I just don’t want you to get another hope from me.” She puts her hands around Michael’s shoulder and says, “We are good buddies. Is that enough?”
Michael finally smiles and says, “Yeah, best buddies. Better than nothing.” He bents down to pick up the envelope. He says, “I accept your resignation. So, any future plans?”
She nods and says, “Social worker at the Blue River Hospital. I just phoned the nurse management over there and they said I can go to work starting tomorrow. I have volunteered over there before when I was still in school. The Head Nurse knows me pretty well, and she welcomes me to work over there.”
“So you have everything planned. Guess that I don’t need to worry about you.” Michael says.
Charmaine nods happily. She turns around and catches the sight of the newly built playground. She pushes Michael and says, “Come and play the seesaw with me. I haven’t played it in years.”
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[Next Morning]
Charmaine looks up to the blue building. She hasn’t been here for five years.
She notices that the painting is beginning to come off from the wall while some of the pillars are deteriorating. This hospital is showing its old age through its appearance.
Charmaine steps inside the hospital as the door slides open. She goes up to the reception and says, “Hi Ms. Kong, how are you?”
The woman looks up from her work, and her eyes widen as she sees Charmaine. She stands up and says, “Long time no see.”
“Yup, five years.” Charmaine replies as she beams.
“I know. Lydia has told me that we should expect you to come today. We are all elated as we heard the news from her.” Ms. Kong says.
“So where’s Nurse Lydia?” Charmaine asks.
“She should be in the lounge. Go fetch her!” Ms. Kong says excitedly.
Charmaine nods joyfully and says, “See you later then!”
This place hasn’t changed much after Charmaine’s leaving, so she can locate the lounge really quickly. As she enters the room, she immediately sees the Head Nurse, Lydia Shum. She shouts, “Nurse Lydia!”
Lydia turns around from the water machine and sees Charmaine standing near the door. She smiles and gestures Charmaine to come closer to her. She pats Charmaine’s head and says, “Child, you are finally here.”
Charmaine hugs this chubby woman and says, “Miss you lot.” She pulls away and says, “Nurse Lydia, you look younger and prettier.”
Lydia chuckles and says, “No. You are the one that look prettier. I saw the news about your family. Is there anything I can help you?”
Charmaine shakes her head and says, “We are fine. Thanks anyway. So I guess my work is still the same, right?”
“Yes.” Lydia says. She looks at her watch and says, “Got to hurry up now. See you later.”
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Charmaine first goes up to the fifth floor to help the elders. She helps them massage and listens to their stories.
Next, she goes to third floor to play with the sick children. She reads stories to them and helps the nurses to persuade the children to drink those bitter medicines. The children love this adorable “Dai Jie Jie”.
During lunch time, she gets down to the ground level where the cafeteria is located. As she finishes her lunch, she sees a young man buying a cup of coffee from the cashier. She says, “Doctor Ng, just a cup of coffee for lunch?”
Raymond turns around and sees Charmaine. A surprise look expresses on his face. He says, “Hi. How come you are here?”
“I am working in here from now on. Nice to meet you.” Charmaine shakes her hands with Raymond.
Raymond asks, “And what’s your job?”
She grins and answers, “My job is to make the residents in this hospital to live happily during their stay.”
“Nice.” Raymond takes the coffee from the cashier and says quickly, “I have an operation coming up in thirty minutes. Chat later.” He walks off hurriedly.
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Charmaine promenades out to the garden. She breathes in the fresh air as she stretches her arms.
Some patients are excising their wounded legs as they circle around the garden using the help of the nurses. Charmaine smiles at them as they walk pass her.
She begins to walk around the garden as well. Birds are chirping joyously in this beautiful afternoon.
She stops at her track as she sees a colorful paper on the ground. She picks it up and examines it. She can tell that it is an unsuccessful try of an origami lucky star.
She looks up and sees a girl aged around twenty four sitting on her wheelchair not faraway from her.
She approaches the girl and sees that assorted pieces of long paper are on the girl’s lap. Charmaine gives her back the lucky star and says, “You dropped this. Here you go.”
The girl looks up. Her face is pale-white and expressionless. She looks at Charmaine indifferently and takes the star back. She wheels herself away from Charmaine.
Charmaine stands there confusedly as she studies the crippled girl. As a nurse walks near Charmaine, she asks the nurse, “Do you know that girl over there?” She points with her finger.
The nurse nods and replies, “Her name is Michelle Ye. She always wants to be alone. She knows how to talk but never wants to talk to anyone besides to her relative. She is....kind of weird to me.”
Charmaine thanks the nurse for the information. She stares at Michelle, and an idea comes to her mind...........................