I'm Sometimes a Red Panda [Turning Red]

Introduction

The number one rule in Meilin Lee's family? Honor your parents. They are the supreme beings who gave you life, whose sweat and sacrifice put a roof over your head. The food on your plate like so much food- an epic amount of food. The least you can do in return with every single thing they asked. Some people might say  "Be careful. Honoring your parents sounds great but if you take it too far, well, you might forget to honor yourself."

Luckily, Meilin did not have that problem. She did her own thing and made up her own moves 24/365. She wore what she wanted, she said what she wanted, and did not hesitate to do spontaneous cartwheels and she felt so moved. Now that it was the year 2002 and she was 13, Meilin was officially an adult (at least, according to her Toronto Transit streetcar pass].

Mii was also different. She loves pop anime music and she loved honoring her parents. But sometimes she is at least a year younger than Meilin.  She was a pop star with long straight hair and a pinkish skirt of red panda patterns.

They are twin sisters who live in the temple of their home. Her purpose is that she believes that they are good spirits within her family but that did change until something happened.

On a cold rainy night, the courtyard was calm. The chime sway, lights spilled from the candles on the altar of the temple, where Sun Yee looked out from her tapestry hanging on the wall. A gust of wind snuff out the candles, and then there was darkness.

Rain began to patter against the window. As lightning flashed, Meilin stirred in her sleep.

She dreamed of the stone statues that guarded the temple. in her dream, they were based in an eerie red light. Lightning flashed again. the guardian's pandas' eyes glowed white. Then the statues exploded sending two columns of white light heavenward. Hundreds of red pandas toward the edges of the temple roof, like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

The moon glowed red.

Meilin turned in her bed clutching her pug, Wilfred, her favorite stuffed animal. Her dreams took a bizarre twist and turns. She dreams of sushi nigiri, slapping helplessly and pleading for her help. She dreams of a weird man-flowers blooming. More images flooded her dreams: photos of ancestors, a dead bird, a pair of shattered eyeglasses, a horse with a snake's tongue warm into pieces squirming on the ground. Last but not least above the temple altar, the two red panda sprites from Sun Yee's tapestry open their eyes. Their eyes glowed red as they leaped out of the tapestry, free at last.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"