If it really was an abandoned baby, then someone must have abandoned it.
People began to whisper and guess towards who could do such a thing. "It was probably a deadbeat father from another village!" was the most common rumor. "No women gave birth recently! We'd have known the mother!" Said most.
The village head pulled Zhao Jie, Shang Haoming and I aside during the flag ceremony halfway through the week and addressed the school as a whole, making an example of the three of us for the rest of the students. "These three miscreants went looking for trouble and did a terrible thing to a lost soul! Let them be the example of what not to do when you're outside of school!" His voice echoed through the new speaker system and squeaked annoyingly. Zhao Jie, Shang Haoming, and I stood red faced in front of the school body. "Go for wool and come home shorn." I whispered to Zhao Jie, daring the Village Head's reprimand.
We agreed amongst ourselves that there was one party who deserved the blame, Ku Tou. If he hadn't told us about the ghost, we never would've gone looking. Not to mention the fact that he ran away with Chou Dan right when the trouble started.
We found him on the playground that Wednesday and my blood ran hot.
Ku Tou saw us walking towards him, specifically Shang Haoming who loomed over everyone else, and he started pleading, "It's the three heroes! Hey! Forgive me! I made a mistake, okay? You can't blame me! You guys had those special treasure things! There were only three! If I'd gone with you I woulda' wound up dead for sure!"
Shang Haoming put a very heavy hand on the shorter Ku Tou's shoulder. With a very peevish grunt, he leaned down and thumped his forehead onto Ku Tou's. It made a hollow 'thunk' sound. "You know what's going on. Come with us to the police station and tell them that we're not lying!" His teeth were bared mere centimeters from the smaller boy's face. "I'll not go down for something I didn't do."
Ku Tou's eyes widened in mock innocence. "I didn't see anything myself, remember? How can I attest to your honesty? Do you want me to lie?"
Zhao Jie's anger tipped past his mild manners and he pushed Shang Haoming aside. "Bull shit! You heard the cries! Tell them that the mountains are full of ghosts!"
Ku Tou shook his head sadly, "I'm sure there were ghosts before, but I haven't heard anything lately! Even this morning, nobody heard nothing on the way in. Maybe they're all gone! And if I say they're still around nobody would trust me!" His mouth quivered in a fake frown. He raked a hand through his black hair in a 'woe-is-me' gesture.
A bolt of panic spiked through me and I poked a finger into his chest. "There's no crying?" I looked to Zhao Jie, "Maybe the red ghost left the mountain. Where would it go?"
"Would it come here?" He asked, eyes widening.
I shook my head, not wanting to get into on the playground.
"What I can do…" Ku Tou started, "Is help you guys get that high and mighty rep back!" He grinned his mischievous smile. "Come on."
We looked at each other and nodded, following Ku Tou across the yard.
"You're lucky we like you." I told him. He only smiled.
He marched us over to the playground attendant and told her, "We'd like to volunteer to help clean up the playground after recess!" He cocked a thumb back at the three of us.
The teacher smiled at us and chimed praise at our sweet intentions. The next day we did the same thing and were praised in front of the whole class for being such good citizens.
Life returned to normal for a bit. We continued to go to school and work on our reputations. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, except for one thing.
During class each day, right around two in the afternoon during arithmetic, that nauseous feeling overtook me. The first day it happened an image of the decomposing baby flitting across my mind and I knew I was going to be sick. My brain focused on the bones protruding from the baby's neck as I lunged from my seat and ran to the bathroom.
The next day when it happened again the teacher asked if I was sick and told me to speak with my father about bringing in medicine.
The intruding thoughts continued to invade like thieves, even coming unbidden at bedtime. I started to worry all the time that I'd open my eyes and the rotting creature would be there waiting at the foot of my bed. I took to carrying the little compass and Tong Mei, alongside my jade amulet for protection. This helped a little.
Three days later the nausea stopped. There weren't any signs or rumors about ghosts and I thought that maybe it'd gone to another village, or maybe it disappeared completely. I hoped to myself that it was done bothering people.
Master Liu popped into my mind every now and again, nagging at me that something was still going on. "You're tied to this." He would say. "It's your destiny." Then I would think about the baby and the nausea would return.
Time turned and winter came upon us. The school arranged for longer play times and we spent hours making snowmen and having snowball fights. Having Shang Haoming on our team was always an advantage as he was the biggest in our class, but Ku Tou was freaky sly and could organize an ambush among the best of them.
One of our frequent opponents was a girl squad led by You Xiaoqing. She was stubborn as ever and never gave up. Under her organized leadership, the girls attacked with wild intensity. When we lost, we lost tremendously.
After one particular devastation all four of us were exhausted and soaked through, You Xiaoqing came into the classroom with several girls brandishing dangerous looks. I raised my hands and immediately surrendered.
You Xiaoqing tucked her hair behind her ears and said, "I 'm not here for revenge. Something happened."
"What?" I asked, thinking that her snowball squad had claimed another victory.
"Xiao Yong, one of the villagers was enchanted yesterday." You Xiaoqing said.
"Can't stay away from the ghosts can ya'?" I asked, smiling at her. Her grave expression flattened my attempt. "Okay, who, how, and what do you mean?"
Ku Tou chimed in from across the room where he was warming his hands at the heater, "What did it look like?" He sounded almost nonchalant.
You Xiaoqing shot an annoyed glance at him, "Her name is Wang Chunmei. She works in the clothing store, at the grocer stall, and she's got great taste." Now it was You Xiaoqing's turn to smile. I looked at Ku Tou in confusion. What do clothes have to do with anything?
Ku Tou read my expression, "This isn't about fashion. Tell me how she looked. How do you know she was enchanted?" His nonchalance had faded away. I thought he might be remembering Bing's look on the mountain.
"Well," You Xiaoqing started, pursing her lips at us. "She took a doll into work and started roaming the aisles cackling and weeping like a crazy person. When they tried to console her she ran out the door and rushed into the road. She might've died if her aunt didn't stop her."
"Why didn't I hear about any of this?" I asked, trying not to sound offended.
You Xiaoqing shrugged and said, "I heard from my mom last night. It went down yesterday afternoon. I guess it didn't make the morning news."
"How is she now?"
"I don't know. The last I heard is that they locked her up at the store manager's house because she pulled a knife. Story is that somebody tried to take the doll from her and she didn't like that. I think his name was Shuang Lin."
The story lined up in my head. A doll, a baby, a little red ghost, are they related? Did the spirit we saw in the broken baby infect Wang Chunmei?
"Do you know where Shuang Lin's house is?" I asked You Xiaoqing, "Can you lead the way for us to visit Wang Chunmei? I need to see what she looks like."
You Xiaoqing nodded, her lips once again pursed and serious. "Yeah. I want to see too, but it was dark last night and I got scared. I can lead the way after school."
I turned to Zhao Jie who was sitting on a desk behind me and wringing out his gloves pretending not to listen, "You should go with us."
"Why?" He said, looking like he'd bitten into a rotten pear. "I don't want to see her. I need to go home. If we get in trouble again my dad will beat me into next week."
I chewed on this for a moment and then looked up in thought. "Okay, that's fine." Silence. "But…" More silence. "If you don't come with us, I won't let you borrow any treasures next time a ghost comes around. Don't forget what Master Liu said. This is our destiny!" I grinned and made efforts to examine my nails.
Zhao Jie sat in silence, eyes wide. Shang Haoming, sitting next to him, shared the expression. "What the hell are you up to? Is it the baby?"
I hissed a whisper at him, "We can finish this!"
You Xiaoqing cut in, "Did you guys really see something up in the mountains?"
I looked at her with all of the mock-hurt I could muster. "Well you don't think we made it up do you?"
You Xiaoqing shook her head, "I guess not. You are pretty good at running away from ghosts."
The boys started to laugh, but I was already deep in thought. How are we going to get rid of this thing?
You Xioaqing met Zhao Jie and I after school. She retold the story and even gave a mock cackle when it came up. "…So they locked her up, still with the doll and the knife." She finished.
"Let's go. Where's Shang Haoming?" I asked Zhao Jie.
"Under lock and key." Zhao Jie told me. "His dad stays late on Thursdays, so he stays with him. And Ku Tou high tailed it over the mountain."
"Sounds just like him. Oh well. We can fill them in tomorrow." I nudged Zhou Jie and waved my hands in an 'after-you' gesture to You Xiaoqing.
Shuang Lin's house wasn't far from the school. Nothing was really, the new buildings stood out above the surrounding old ones like Legos in a sand box. We spent ten minutes walking in silence. Shuang Lin's family opened a groceries stall outside the clothing store and had done very well for themselves. Their home was decorated with bright red bricks that seemed to shine in the winter sunlight.
As we approached the doorway I heard a woman shouting in the yard. "You can't take away my baby!" Screamed the voice, "I'll kill you!"
You Xiaoqing's eyes widened, "That's Wang Chunmei!" She said in a low voice. "We buy groceries from her every week! That's definitely her!"
Wang Chunmei cried out again, "You're not even real! You can't have my baby!"
"Who's she talking to?" I asked You Xiaoqing and Zhao Jie.
A new voice responded, one that I'd heard before, and a chill ran down my body.