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Entry Five

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I left it at a cliffhanger, right? Or at least close enough to one. Good. A little suspense keeps ya on yer toes. What the fuck was that? I should tell you I have this bad habit of slipping into weird accents when I'm nervous or something. But anyway.

I don't remember the flight, or even how we got into Kathmandu. I remember the wandering, and the sun getting higher in the sky and then sinking lower and lower. I remember all of the stalls full of trinkets, the people, the people everywhere. We ate a stale loaf of bread from the discard pile of a bakery stall. My mom got tired, and started to stumble. 

We kept going for a little longer, until her crutch twisted underneath her and we collapsed into the street. As the sun set, we realized how underdressed we were. We made it into a doorway in the side of the wall, the bright green door peeling small flakes onto our curled bodies. I think my mom cried. Maybe she realized what we had done, that we were stranded in a place we couldn't speak the language or pay for food or clothes, and that we were probably going to die of the cold, two foreigners curled up in a doorway, so close but unable to get in.

But then the door opened. We fell inside, staring up at a disapproving man in green and brown robes. I don't think I screamed. I was too tired. My mom looked scared, but also too cold to really do anything about it. Why is it only now I realize that literally everything that has happened to me in my life was incredibly sketchy and I should have died, like, so many times. 

The man glanced behind him, then offered me a hand. I took it, and he hoisted me to my feet. He crouched down and then I had another one of those memory gaps that must frustrate you to no end. I'm sorry! I was six years old, do you really expect me to remember everything? Actually, was I seven? I don't know. But I remember the man seeing my mom's crutches propped up against the wall, and helping her into them and then to her feet, saying "I will help you. I am Wong."

The next memory I have was looking down the hallway, the steep stairs morphing into a long, thin hallway, slanting slowly up into the darkness. The man helped my mom up the long ramp, holding her up with one arm and the other one at his side, his calloused hand gently leading mine through the labyrinth of dark, twisty hallways. I feel like we must have been going for hours, right left right left back circle forward, turning and turning until I was dizzy. Just as I thought I wouldn't make it any further, we came into a brightly lit room

Actually, it wasn't that bright. The light was natural, coming through a papery looking ceiling and cutouts in the wall. And, all in all being much brighter than the dimly lit passageways we had just come through. There was a little wooden table in the room, and some couches and carpets. There was a man drinking tea and reading a book in the corner, and centered was a rough looking wooden chair. More of a throne, actually.

I suddenly noticed a figure sitting at the table, a bald woman in a yellow robe kinda like the man's. She caught my eye and beckoned to me, and so I sat across from her on a pillow on the floor. She poured me a cup of tea, and my mom sat down next to me, not particularly graceful if I do say so myself. The woman smiled at us, a sort of quiet, knowing smile.

"I see you've met Wong," she said, passing my mom a steaming cup. Wong pulled up a stool and sat at the woman's side. "I," she said, "am the Ancient One."  If my mom was confused by the strange introduction, she didn't show it. Her eyes were fixated on the small bowl of steaming dumplings on the table, and she looked at them wistfully. The bald lady noticed, and told my mom "Go, take them. They're for the two of you." We dug in, the rich, meaty dumplings disappearing within minutes. 

When the bowl was empty, we realized how rude we'd probably been. But the woman was just sitting there with a kind smile, and my mom teared up, and grabbed the woman's hand in hers. "Thank you, thank you so much," my mom said to the other woman. "I think," the other woman replied with a smile, "that I can help you." Cue the waterworks.

Ah fuck, they approacheth. Bye.

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End of entry.

Published May 15, 2019. 840 words. 

Bless your soul for reading this messy fic, I love y'all so much. Sorry for any mistakes, I rewrote this chapter like three times since I published it on Quotev.