Light Against Shadows

Chapter 8

Yunlan came closer.
"Did you find anything? Any... intuition?"

Wei replied with a weak smile.
"Sorry, I wasn't of much help."

Chu and Hong were back without better news. They didn't find anything but Yunlan rather expected as much, the place had been searched before by other officers while they looked for people who might have seen something.

Chu had his usual deadpan expression on, but Hong stared at Wei.
"No boy? I thought you were here to do some kind of miracle."

Yunlan was about to shut her up, but Wei preceded him.
"I'm sorry," he said bowing his head. "I really hoped I could help."

He turned towards Yunlan.
"Maybe I could get something from the cameras video, could you send it to me?"

There was a hopeful, almost pleading tone in his voice, and Yunlan wished he could comply but rules were rules.

"We already watched that, there's nothing there." Hong snapped irritably, but Yunlan ignored her.

"I can't give it to you, but you can watch it at the station. Come with us," he said and then he lead the way back to the car.

Wei wasn't enthusiastic about entering a place where there would be more people around, and not just because he worried there might be more with Hong's attitude.

He never had much of a social life, and he wasn't eager for people to learn more about him. He knew how it would end.

He thought again of the child, he had no other choice, he could either abandon him or follow Yunlan at the station.

The ride back was silent. Yunlan stopped the car in front of a big building with a blue signboard out front and urged them to go in.

The place was much less crowded than Wei had feared, and he followed him to his desk without making eye contact with anyone.

He was promptly showed the video of a child playing by himself in the park.
Wei leaned closer to catch every detail and Yunlan scooted aside to give him more space.

Wei was troubled, was there really nothing he could do for him? His eyes watched as the small boy played in the park, there was no audio but he could see that the child was talking and yet no presence was there.

He shouldn't have let his imagination run wild, even as a child he had never met anyone who could see them or hear them. For a second he had thought there might be someone like him out there, that he wasn't the only one, but he had been wrong.

He had wondered if the child walked away to play with a ghost like he did when he was little, but there was nothing there, the child was simply playing make-believe by himself.

There were other children in the park, little Yang was probably just shy.

Yunlan watched him closely. He had seen the video already and there was nothing there for him so he focused his attention on Wei.

What was about this man that intrigued him so much? Sure he was a mystery and it was Yunlan's nature to solve them, but every person can be considered peculiar in their own way.

He studied his face, the short hair, the big glasses, everything about him seemed constructed to give out an anonymous aura, but the eyes behind the lenses told him there was much more to him.

There was a light in there that was like a glimpse into a complex, rich soul, and right that instant that light flickered raising Yunlan's interest ten-fold, had he found something?

He leaned closer. "What did you see?"

Wei was watching the video intently when he noticed a shadow that shouldn't have been there. The sun was kissing the boy's face, so the shadows ought to be behind him, not in front of him.

That was definitely not a normal shadow, and Wei shivered.

He kept his eyes glued to the screen while the Shadow moved by itself and into the boy. Little Yang began to move forward and kept walking, but his movements weren't natural, they were controlled by the entity that was now draining his strength leading him who knows where.

"We looked the wrong way, he didn't choose to go wherever he went, he was lead against his will," he murmured.

Yunlan was rather getting used to the fact that he never understood a thing of what was going on whenever Wei was involved, so he didn't waste time with useless questions and went straight to the point.

"Do you know where he might be? Can you find him?"

Little Yang disappeared from the security camera's field of view and Wei turned to answer Yunlan's question, finding himself some three inches from the other's face.

"I... I am not sure, but I would like to try
again if... if that's possible."

"Of course." Their faces were so close a murmur was enough. "You can try anything you want."

Yunlan should address his own thoughts and feelings one of these days, because he was starting to creep himself out. What was that? If anyone heard him right now they might even think that he was flirting. He really ought to get a grip on himself.

It was a matter of only a few seconds, but they settled deep. The physical closeness, the warm breath caused by every word, the eyes fighting to remain still and not fall lower, this was not the time to dwell on that but it left something into both their hearts.

Now they had a job to do though, a child to find, so Yunlan jumped up and called for all available officers to go with him and bring lights.

Another ride towards the park, again silent like when they came back but this time there was a new hope urging them on.

When they arrived, two more police cars stopped and the place was soon light up by all those police officers with their lights.

Yunlan and Wei walked ahead into the lighted area. Wei paid them no attention and seemed to be talking by himself when he muttered, "It's not the case of where a child would go, we must find the Shadow's energy. Use mine, take all you need, find the energy and we'll find the child..."

He stopped suddenly and knelt down. He put one hand on the ground fusing his energy with the earth's, raised his head and his other arm and Yunlan thought he saw his clothes move, as if by the wind, but there was no wind where he was, merely two meters on the left.

The wind seemed to envelop Wei for a few seconds while he whispered, "Come to me, I need your help."

Yunlan moved closer but couldn't feel anything.
"I'm here," he said and helped him stand up.

"I don't suppose you've got any food on you, huh?" Wei said with a smirk and Yunlan frowned.

"I should really start to bring supplies along whenever I see you, why the hell don't you?"

Wei chuckled. "Yeah, I should do that."

Yunlan turned around raising his voice. "Anyone got any food?"

They all exchanged weird glances, but Wei touched his arm. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Wei began to move and Yunlan assisted his movements with a strong grip on his arm and shoulder, indeed worried already.