Light Against Shadows

Chapter 7

When Yunlan arrived, there were two other people in the backseats of his car.
Wei looked at them feeling rather uncomfortable under their curious stares.

Yunlan introduced them. "Officer Chu: the big one who looks as grumpy as he is. Officer Hong: she looks like a girl but don't make her angry or she'll bite your head off."

"You're making me angry right now!"

Yunlan laughed but Wei thought that the laughter was off place, she wasn't joking, she really looked mad. Maybe Yunlan shouldn't have said that she 'looked' like a girl.

Chu snickered at them, then turned his attention on Wei. "And who are you?"

Yunlan hurried to introduce him as well. "This is Wei, his intuition has my utmost admiration, he helped me twice already and I hope he can help us find the child."

"Really?" Hong's tone clearly told Wei that she wasn't happy about that. "You mean that the whole police force can't do it, we can't do it, but he can?"

To look at her face now Wei should have turned around, so he didn't, but he was sure that her expression was not kind.

The hostility in her voice made him shiver.

"That's exactly what I mean," Yunlan said without even the hint of a smile, he was being dead serious and she frowned, then her face twisted in jealousy.

"So tell us about yourself then, about your special abilities that make you so much better than us."

Wei almost regretted being in that car, he had to picture in his mind the image of a scared little child to remind him why he had to stay there and bear with that woman.

"No we can't... shush, we'll talk later," Wei murmured as low as he could, but she had noticed his lips moving.

"What did you say? Care to share with us your wisdom?"

Suddenly Yunlan moved to the side of the road and hit the breaks as hard as he could. He turned his body around to look her in the eyes. "What's up with you tonight Hong? You asked to come with me, I guessed you wanted to help save a little boy but all you're doing is pissing me off. Shut your mouth or you're out."

She paled, she hadn't expected that. She had volunteered indeed, like she always did because she wanted to get closer to him, but her smile had faded a little when he had also brought Chu along, actually asking for Chu to join them while he had simply granted her permission, and now he was talking so highly of this man, she couldn't stand it.

Wei dared to take a peek through the passenger's mirror, but regretted it immediately. She was looking at him with open hostility.

She didn't say another word though, Yunlan started the car again and they reached the park that it was almost dark.

Yunlan showed him the place. "This is where the kid was playing, we clearly saw him walk that way, unfortunately it's in the opposite direction of the city, nobody saw him after he left the park."

Wei looked around. "Yes, we... we should look around, he can be anywhere... yeah, maybe he tried to climb a tree or he got lost, we should look anywhere..."

"Oh the wise words we never expected. How could we think of that by ourselves, looking around for the child!"

Yunlan shot Hong a deadly glare, but Wei let it go, he didn't want to pick a fight with her. He didn't know why she had a problem with him, maybe he was hurting her professional pride being there, it meant that she wasn't enough help... whatever it was, he didn't care.

He was there for a reason, a very specific seven-year-old reason.

He stretched his limbs as if tired, raising his arms above his head, and she muttered, "Tired already and hasn't done anything yet," but her voice was very low this time and she quickly walked away joining the search party.

Yunlan and Chu were also looking around for any clue the child might have left behind, but Yunlan's eyes often drifted to Wei. He truly believed he could help, he didn't know why or how but he felt it inside him.

It made no reason whatsoever, but Yunlan was convinced that their best chance of finding this kid alive was trusting Wei.

And Yunlan did trust him.

Maybe because he had helped him that night when nobody would have known or thought bad of him if he had just walked away, or maybe because he saved the girl's life, he didn't know why but at the moment he didn't care.

He saw Wei stretch his arms then move slowly around as if he was waiting for something.

Something that apparently didn't happen.

Wei frowned. "Nothing?... did you look everywhere? Maybe he fell asleep and is hidden by the tall grass over there... you did, what about the trees... ok ok he isn't here." His shoulders fell, he was really tired now, but mostly disappointed. He had really hoped they might find him.

He hadn't been able to help after all.

He thought of a little child alone, lost who knows where, maybe fallen into someone's hands... he thought back of when he was a child, he got lost himself once. He was walking with his parents, playing secretly with his friends when he had felt so tired he had decided to go home.

He hadn't known back then of the after-effect of playing with his 'friends', so he had tired too much and didn't want to keep walking. He had murmured "Going home, tired," but his voice had been so low his parents hadn't heard him.

He had simply turned on his heels and walked away from them.

He had been only six years old and he hadn't recognized his home when he walked by it. His 'friends' didn't want him to keep walking but he wanted to reach home so he did. He was so tired, he kept walking forward away from his home while they kept telling him that he had to turn around. At some point he felt too exhausted that he simply sat down where he was, falling asleep.

His parents became desperate for him that day until they finally found him and carried him home. Sleepily, he told them that his 'friends' told him to turn around, starting his parents' phobia.
But they hadn't tried to lure him away, they wanted to help him.

Wei's thoughts lingered in his mind, what if this child had been lured away? What if he hadn't walked aimlessly but with someone's guide?
He felt chills down his spine, he had to watch that recording.