She lifts her chin, finding a stubbled face and a pair of weary, sunken eyes before her.
The man's collar is stained yellow with neck grease. As he crouches, his grimy underwear peeks out from his slouchy pants.
One hand scratches an ankle to a foot jammed in a loose and tattered flip-flop.
An-an Lee: Sifu?!
Demi-Divine Chen: Looks like all that spirit money I burned was for nothing. I didn't expect you to be so ... full of life.
His deep, dark eye sockets are like pits, the blood vessels in his eyes like spiderwebs.
Demi-Divine Chen: Why can't you just give me some peace, kiddo?
He pulls out a chair and sits across from her, as though preparing for an interrogation.
His gaze pierces through her, like he's searching for the answer to destiny's final riddle.
Demi-Divine Chen: I've already left everything behind. Can't you just let me get on with my life? Can't you show a little mercy?
He rips off his toupee, revealing the balding head beneath it.
Demi-Divine Chen: I ain't had a good night's sleep for years. My yang's all faded—a nonstop "spiritual possession" ... The doctors say my kidneys are failing, like I'm some old geezer already.
Demi-Divine Chen: And now, here you are, still working against me. You followed me all the way to Chinatown just so you could nab my little slice of the pie?!
Demi-Divine Chen: Why do you have to outdo me in everything? Yeah, I've done wrong, and yeah, I created this karma, but don't you think I've been through enough?
Demi-Divine Chen: Haven't I already paid the price?!
Demi-Divine Chen: Why is it that you could climb out of that well I could never even climb into? Why is it that you can do all the things I had to fight so hard for, and all without breaking a sweat?
An-an Lee: But, Sifu, there wasn't really anything in the well.
He chuckles quietly.
Demi-Divine Chen: You know where 13 Holy Exorcism Techniques came from, An-an?
Demi-Divine Chen: Thirteen people. Thirteen Taoist brothers died at the bottom of that well, all for the sake of earning a living as exorcists.
Demi-Divine Chen: You say there's nothing in that well. You think their deaths, and mine, are nothing but a joke, right?
Demi-Divine Chen: For years, I've lived in fear, never once enjoying a single moment of peace.
The knife clutched in Chen's hand quivers.
Demi-Divine Chen: Every night, a little more of my hair falls out. Exorcism is all I have left.
Demi-Divine Chen: That blind fool told me you're my calamity, but all you needed to do was ring the bell, and I would've finally had peace. Peace from all this fear.
Demi-Divine Chen: Then, seeing you come out of that well without so much as a scratch, I couldn't stand it. "Why?" I thought, "Why is this happening to me?!"
Demi-Divine Chen: How could someone like you just step over the bodies of my brothers like that and tell me how easy it all was?
Demi-Divine Chen: Why does a little kid like you get to surpass me? Is this really my destiny?
An-an Lee: But ...
An-an, her arms bound, looks bewildered.
An-an Lee: Sifu, if something's hard to do, does that make it something to be proud of?
An-an Lee: Just because I got out of the well doesn't mean I have to look all sad and gloomy. I'm not gonna do that!
Demi-Divine Chen: An-an, you're more ghoulish than any ghost out there. You're not even human.
An-an Lee: I don't care how many people didn't make it out of your well. It has nothing to do with me.
An-an Lee: I'm just trying to get paid. I'm not gonna walk around like I'm some big deal.
An-an Lee: I don't have any big dreams, and all that "may the peace be with us" crap? Not interested.
An-an Lee: I don't wanna bother with learning Kung Fu or whatever. I'm just gonna take the easiest, happiest, and most fun road.
An-an Lee: Sifu, you keep saying that you've never been down to the bottom of the well, but I think you've got it wrong.
She shakes her head, slipping her hands through the rope.
Lily peeks out from behind her, its tongue sticking out.
Lily: $%^@&(*^%
Chen recoils in terror, his chair tilting back and sending him crashing to the ground. The knife slips out of his hand and slides to An-an's feet.
Demi-Divine Chen: What the ...?!
An-an gets up, stretching lazily.
An-an Lee: Turns out, I still prefer exorcisms, and I'm not a fan of making enemies. Tsk, tsk, Sifu. Why'd you have to make this so hard?
An-an Lee: Ghosts—those balls of energy—they don't explain why they do what they do. It's just that when people die, their spirits stay frozen in that moment.
An-an Lee: sigh Pesky spirits, they don't care about right or wrong.
An-an Lee: Sifu, you think you've never been to the bottom of the well, but you've been down there all this time, haven't you?
An-an Lee: Your fear is "fear" itself. From the moment you decided not to go down into the well, it took root in your heart.
An-an Lee: You always call me your calamity, but when I was busy clearing your karma for you, you were the one who ran away.
Her expression turns somber.
Demi-Divine Chen: You're full of it! I-I don't believe you. I don't believe a word of it! You think I'm stupid?
This new information and his lingering sense of morality make him hesitate.
Demi-Divine Chen: You're gonna help me with my calamity? Hahaha, even ghosts wouldn't believe that, An-an!
An-an Lee: From the very start, it was your fear that made all this happen.
An-an Lee: But I can't be bothered to explain, Sifu. I don't get your fear, just like I'll never understand why I should feel guilty for doing the things I do so easily.
She scratches her head in frustration. This is already more than she's willing to deal with.
An-an Lee: So, all I know for sure is you've gotten this far.
An-an Lee: If you're really suffering, if you're really struggling ...
She sends the knife flying toward him with a kick.
An-an Lee: Sifu, you've always wanted to get rid of me, right? You think I'm your calamity and that me being around is the reason why things aren't working out for you.
An-an Lee: I'm your fear, aren't I?
He can't deny it. He picks up the knife.
An-an Lee: Well then, go ahead, take me out. Don't chicken out now, Sifu.
An-an Lee: Don't fall for those grand speeches and empty gestures. Don't be scared anymore.
An-an Lee: People will always talk about what's right and wrong, but if you don't listen to them, you don't have to worry about it.
An-an Lee: I'm not one of those psychology geeks at Laplace. I don't understand what you're going through, and I can't feel what you're feeling. So get rid of me.
An-an Lee: Or are you gonna keep running? Are my words gonna make you hesitate again? If you do, I'll call the Foundation to come catch you. I am a model citizen after all, hahaha!
An-an Lee: You can't make a cow drink water if it refuses to lower its head.
Her eyes flash with a sudden intensity.
An-an Lee: Don't try to make up with your so-called idea of justice, Sifu.
An-an Lee: Just keep doing your thing.
He is momentarily stunned, then sighs, realizing how light the knife feels in his hand.
Demi-Divine Chen: Heh, you really are one strange kid.
Demi-Divine Chen: Still ...
Demi-Divine Chen: You've done me a solid.
He digs the blade into his palm, blood trickling between his fingers.
It falls onto the yellow talismans placed on the ground.
An-an Lee: More soul summoning, Sifu? So old-school. Don't worry. I'll catch a couple of them—might be just enough to cover the electricity bill for the fridge!
Demi-Divine Chen: cough
He falls to his knees, his hand clasped to his mouth, but a grayish-green slime forces its way out through his fingers nonetheless.
An-an Lee: No, that wasn't a soul summoning. Soul guidance?! Sifu, keep doing this and you'll shorten your life!
Her panic makes her hesitate.
Demi-Divine Chen: Heh heh.
He wipes the slime from his mouth without the slightest sign of hesitation.
Demi-Divine Chen: You ready, kiddo?
An-an Lee: Sifu, you already had it all figured out, huh? In too deep to back out now?
An-an Lee: panting
She lets out a deep breath.
Then, a wide, carefree smile forms on her face, just as it did the first time he saw her.
An-an Lee: Action!
An-an Lee: Neo-Science Exorcism Office, action!
COMBAT