The Yaoguai: Part One (rough draft)

As a photographer, Sun Bao, had worked an odd variety of jobs to make ends meet. He’d worked at a chain photography studio, trying to get families together in order to capture the ‘perfect moment’ for a christmas card. He had done crime scene photography, having seen things grisly, heartbreaking, and enough slabs of dead bodies to turn him off meat all together. Wildlife photography had been fine, save for the fact he was allergic to bees and one outing had him in the emergency room.

In any case, Sun Bao had always known his fate would be found in the lens of a camera. So, on a rather chilled evening during a charity event to save historic works of art, he was tasked with taking candid photos of the festivities for the charity’s website. While he meandered around, trying to remain unseen by the crowd, he spotted a girl through the lens of his camera.

She was beautiful, quite tall too, and with long hair that was styled so it was sleek and shiny. Her eyes turned, locking on the lens right as Sun took the picture. For a moment it was stillness, like two deers caught in headlights. She then smiled, then he smiled.

“You weren’t supposed to look!” He teased.

“I certainly hope you won’t be using that.” She touches her soft cheek and Sun could see the red paint on her nails. “I’ve never been one for cameras.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Sun was instantly smitten. “I could send you a copy for approval, if you’d like?”

She smirked. “Very sneaky, Mr. Photographer. You best give me your card, I think it will be better if I find you.”

Sun handed her his business card, but he wouldn’t know her name until some time had passed. He later received an email with an inquiry for a job to take pictures at a wedding. After accepting the job, Sun was asked to come by the venue so that he could take engagement photos for the invitations.

Usually, these things took place at a church, maybe a garden, or some other location with beautiful scenery. Sun ended up at an old hotel, one that appeared to be crumbling from the outside. The old grotesques and gargoyles on the building were faded beyond recognition and there was no sign of paint on the walls. 

The doors nearly screamed as they were opened, and rather than a ghost or demon shambling out, it was her; the beautiful girl from the charity. She waved as Sun approached, a joyous smile on her face.

“They’re not here yet,” she said of the couple to be. “So why not come in and scout some places?”

Sun smiled, forgetting how creepy and dilapidated the place appeared. “So it isn’t your wedding?”

“Goodness no,” she chuckled. She then extended her hand. “I’m Mari Qiangwei, it’s my brother, James, who is getting married.”

Sun couldn’t stop smiling. Mari was beautiful, tall, with a pear-shaped figure. She showed him around the old hotel, which must have been grand once in its heyday, but now, it looked like the sort of place you’d go to die rather than have a wedding.

“My family has owned this place for generations,” she says of the shambling tower. “This is the Wild Rose. The ballroom is just over here, where the main ceremony will be taking place.”

The once vivid red carpets were now stained and browning. The embellished wallpaper was peeling away from the walls while the ghost of odors past wafted by on their merry way. The ballroom wasn’t as grand as Sam had pictured either. It was quite narrow and the marble floor had seen better days. 

“Our parents are giving my brother this place as a wedding present,” Mari said.

Sun was taking a few shots to check the lighting and how the dingy room photographs in general. “What does he plan to do with it?” To Sun, it felt like a cruel joke. He would rather receive a crisp five dollar bill than this crumbling nightmare. 

“He’ll do what our family has done for generations, run it.” Mari watched Sun with a keen eye before approaching him. “It’s not operational right now. But James’ fiance is quite wealthy and wants to invest in something with him. They can’t have children so-” She stopped herself as if realizing she was sharing things too intimate with just a stranger photographer.

“Will you be helping them?” Sun asked out of curiosity. “I mean, with the hotel and all.”

Mari looked at him, her soft eyes darting over his face before she gave him a soft smile. “I’m hoping to do some traveling before I come back here.”

“Where would you want to go?”

Mari scrunched up her face in thought. “Anywhere really,” she answered with a shrug. “Where would you want to go?” 

Sun had traveled to many places, but there was always one he wanted to visit, just to see where it would lead him. “Probably China,” he answered. “I’ve never been, and I would like to find my family there.”

Mari’s brow knit together. “What do you mean?”

Sun sighed and let a soft smile out to hide his own uncertainty. “You don’t wanna hear my sob story. You’ve got your own plate, I have mine.”

Mari stepped closer to him. “What about over dinner?”

Sun looked at her with surprise. 

Mari’s cheeks were flushed and she was fidgeting in place. “After this shoot is done. How about you and I go have dinner somewhere and talk about our plates?” 

It was the first of many dates with Mari. Sun told her how he was adopted. Mari revealed her family was struggling and heavily relying on her brother’s marriage. There was also a lot riding on Mari to find a rich and successful husband, a goal she didn’t quite appreciate. 

“My family has some very strange traditions,” Mari told him. “Not to mention my brother and I are practically all that’s left aside from my mom and uncle.” She always seemed nervous when discussing her family. Sun had noticed, when introducing her to his family, she seemed to attach more to them. He had barely met her family, aside from her brother, whom he had to do business with.

“My family has always hosted these strange dinners. My mother makes it a point to only invite as many people as possible, but right now, things are so hard.”

“What’s going on?” Sun asked, out of concern for the girl he was falling for. “Tell me, maybe I can help?”

Mari struggled with telling him. She wanted to share her odd family’s quirks and passions, but for so long, she had felt it was something that should never be revealed. “Just the hotel,” it was a truth but part of a much bigger lie. “If we can get it fixed, I feel like my mom will be able to relax a little. It’s been our family’s means of living for so long, I don’t think she knows much else besides her roses.”

Sun kissed Mari and she smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you as much as I can. Perhaps one night we can host one of those dinners for your mother.”

“No!” A look Sun had never seen before came over Mari. She looked possessed, almost on fire. As she settled and realized how her voice had changed, she shook her head. 

“My mother is very particular,” Mari warned. “She would not appreciate help that way. I’m warning you now, stay away from those dinners, even if she invites you.” She shudders. “They’re very strange.”

Sun was a bit unnerved by what just happened, and rather than have any sort of confrontation, he decided it was best to listen to Mari and agree. Although, his curiosity was piqued. 

Between then and the wedding, Mari and Sun were building a relationship, and were falling in love. Already, they had been intimate, and Mari had been staying with Sun often, especially as the wedding drew nearer. 

Once the wedding arrived, it felt like such a bleak affair. The faces were happy, most of them, but the atmosphere of the Wild Rose made everything feel like some sort of experimental play. Some of the faces in the crowd appeared ghastly and gaunt. Of Mari’s family, there was only her mother and uncle. Both stood at the very back of the ballroom, wearing black clothing that seemed better fit for a funeral than a wedding.

“Why does this feel like a death more than a beginning?” Sun whispered to Mari as they started to go to the reception.

Mari seemed like the only bright spot, she had been crying through the wedding, although that was nothing Sun hadn’t seen before.

The groom barely smiled at all, which Sun tried to reason as nerves. 

After the wedding, Mari revealed as a surprise to Sun that she had purchased them tickets to China. The two of them would go for vacation, while also trying to hunt down Sun’s birth family. Sun was overjoyed that Mari took the effort to do this for him.

Together, the two decided to document their entire trip, detailing every moment of their trip, as well as the search for Sun’s origins. Their search took them to shady places, some felt extremely dangerous. Even when Sun was losing hope, Mari was ever enthusiastic.

Meanwhile, the blog they were keeping about the trip was slowly growing in popularity. Each day, there were more and more visitors on their page. Mari’s high detailed accounts, coupled with Sun’s photographs were getting attention from some very high places. 

Their investigation led them to lots of dead ends and misses, but eventually the popularity of their blog helped them gain leads on where to go. But soon, Sun came to the realization that what was most important on this trip hadn’t been finding where he came from. Through it all, what had stuck out the most to him was everything Mari had done and was willing to do to help him.

Sun proposed to Mari, and she accepted. 

Once they returned home, Mari moved in with Sun right away, despite some evident reluctance from her family. Mari kept updating the blog and answering questions from their followers. Then, she came to Sun with remarkable news. A publisher was wanting to turn their trip into a book!

Sun and Mari worked hard to update and edit the upcoming book. Once published, they went on tour together to promote it. The book grew in popularity and it was optioned for a movie. Overnight, Sun and Mari had become a massive success. They were offered several more book deals, including one about the history of the Qiangwei family. It was at this suggestion that Mari shut down. She refused and even started to get angry at the suggestion. In order to calm her down, Sun suggested they do a book about the wedding and how the Qiangwei family was going to expand, as Sun was going to take Mari’s name.

In the midst of all this, Mari’s brother, James, and his wife were having problems. While remodeling the Wild Rose was taking a toll on them, James’ wife seemed to be going through something of her own. Mari often got calls from James in absolute hysterics while she could hear his wife in the background, screaming or wailing. 

While Sun and Mari were away, helping to write the script for the movie based on their book, Mari got a call that broke her down into tears. James’ wife had died. They instantly went home to help with the funeral and to take care of James and the family. 

Sun and Mari also decided to cancel their wedding, and instead get married at the courthouse. Despite all this, Sun was happy, he didn’t care about the wedding, he just wanted to remain with Mari as long as he could.

Their success brought them in a lot of job opportunities and income. They were often kept away and busy, but Mari often made time to go and visit her family back home. Everything was going smoothly, so much so that Sun and Mari had begun planning on having a baby.

“One last trip home,” she said. “Then, we will get serious about having a baby.”

“I don’t understand why your family has never come to visit us once,” Sun sighed. “What about when the baby comes? We can’t take it back and forth on a plane so much.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Mari was vague on the subject. “You know how they are.”

No, he didn’t. Sun had barely spoken to his in-laws. They didn’t like him at all when he and Mari first started dating, and during all their success, they had only been in contact with Mari. Not to mention how they reacted with stern and condescending aloofness to their nuptials. 

After Mari had left, Sun was working on turning the empty office into a nursery for the baby. He cleaned everything out and was painting the walls when his phone rang. He thought it was Mari, but when he answered, it was her mother on the other end.

“Sun,” she said in that clipped, serious tone of her’s. “I have some bad news.”

What was said next caused Sun to drop the full bucket of paint on the ground. He sat with his knees in it as his mother-in-law explained to him that Mari was dead. There had been an accident and Mari’s neck was broken. It was hard for Sun to take anything in, the grief was instant and all consuming. 

James came to pick up Sun and take him to the funeral, even then, it was as if Sun had locked himself away. He was existing but he was not taking anything in except for Mari’s coffin. He saw nothing, he heard nothing that entire funeral. He had to be led around by James or his mother-in-law, Fei. They kept him from his parents and sister, who tried everything to talk to Sun and take him home. But Fei insisted he was home and he was well taken care of.

“Mari would want him here,” Fei replied, putting on a scarrinely sweet tone. “I’m sure Sun will feel better being around the things and places Mari loved.”

For a while, Sun barely ate or slept. He stopped bathing as well. His grief had sunk him into a depression where nothing mattered, nothing came through. James and Fei took Sun to a hospital to recover. He stayed there for months, working through his mental break and depression.

Placed on medication and given regular therapy, Sun was given a camera to take pictures around the hospital. He was able to see the world again through the lens, but without the camera, it was hard to take anything in. Even as he got better, the camera became his safety blanket, his protector. As long as he had it, he felt safe to return home, or at least, into the care of James and Fei.

“You’re a Qiangwei now,” Fei said. “You will stay with us. It’s what Mari would have wanted, and don’t you want to make her spirit happy?”

Sun was frozen, taken by the words Fei was saying to him. “Yes, of course,” he answered emptily. 

Sun was taken back to the Wild Rose, which, he noticed, looked different now than before. Looking through his camera, the place looked completely opposite from what he remembered. Before, it has been an old, decaying place sagging under its own weight. Now, the place looked new. The building was painted red and all the statues had faces and expressions that had been worn away. Inside, the carpets were clean and vivid red, the embellished wallpaper clung tight to the walls and no seams could be seen. The air smelled of disinfectant and luxurious perfumes. 

Sun was given a room on the family floor where James and Fei lived, as well as Fei’s brother, Bo. There was also a supposed cousin who refused to leave their room, so Fei or Bo delivered meals to their door, as well as whatever supplies they sent for.

Sun spent most of his time in his room or out wandering the grounds.  He was never sure if the hotel had guests or not. He wasn’t even sure if he had seen an employee beyond the few Qiangwei’s that lived there. All he knew, he saw through his camera lens. He would take pictures, sending them to Mari’s email address. He would write her long letters, expressing his love for her, his guilt, and his continuing dreams for them that could no longer be. 

One afternoon while outside, Sun was taking photographs of the countless rose bushes around the hotel. Fei tended to them religiously, growing angry should anyone pluck one. There were signs all around warning to not touch the roses, to not stand too close to them, not even to water them without permission. 

Sun hated these roses, daily he dreamed of ripping them up from the ground and starting a bonfire with their remains. He took pictures of them, printing them out and then ripping them before burning them in his trash can on his porch.

He had been arguing with Fei lately as she was insistent that she take over his finances for him. Sun had let his sister take over, a decision made while he was in the hospital. Fei argued that because Sun was a Qiangwei now, a Qiangwei should take care of him. Sun hadn’t even seen his sister since he came to the Wild Rose, Fei thought it best he had no visitors until he was ‘completely better’. Something Sun said might never happened again.

“You are so selfish, Mari would want me to take care of you!” Fei didn’t seem to blink at the mention of her child. In fact, it didn’t seem like she wanted to mourn at all. She used Mari for everything against Sun, and it usually worked.

Sun had grown to resent Fei, he would kowtow to her commands, but on the inside, his anger at her was festering. 

So that afternoon, as he once again imagined destroying Fei’s precious roses, he reached out to pluck one when a wasp came out and stung his hand. Horribly allergic, Sun knew he had to get back to the hotel for his epipen. His hand was already starting to swell, it was becoming hard to breathe. He was trying his hardest to reach the hotel when he passed the well house. The ground opened up from under him, wood splintered and shattered and he went tumbling through the dark air. 

He landed with a horrible thud below. He still couldn’t breathe and he was in agony from the fall. Sun wondered if he was going to die there as he gazed up at the light above him. He rolled his head to the side, gasping what might be his final breaths. He saw a scattering of dead roses all over the ground, some were dried and turning to dust, others were rotting, and some were new, maybe even seconds old. His vision was growing dim and blurry, but he could see something in the shadows. There were shelves it looked like, full of things that were round. 

As Sun was beginning to lose consciousness, something stood over him. They were wearing a red silk robe with long white hair that draped down their chest. They reached down towards Sun, placing their palm over his swollen throat.

“I will save you,” they said, in a voice like hollow wind. “But you will serve me.”

Sun’s lashes fluttered and, before he completely passed out, he saw a vision of a headless woman standing behind the other. 

As Sun lost consciousness, the headless woman came up to him and knelt down by his side. She stroked his face and slapped away the hand of the other. 

“You get away from him!” She cried. She turned back to Sun, cupping his swelling face in her hand. “Oh, my poor Sun, what has happened to you?”

“He’s dying, of course. Good thing he isn’t like you. He might have a chance.”

The headless ghost turned towards the other again. “I remained to protect him!”

“And you’ve done such a wonderful job at it.” The other snarled sarcastically. “Now, it is my turn.”

“No, no, please no. You can’t! Don’t touch him! Don’t!” The headless woman was pushed aside as the other placed their hand on Sun’s throat again. Their long fingers curled around then moved upwards. Their fingers caressed around his jaw, then tugged open his lips as a white mist spilled out. It fell along the ground in pools. 

The headless woman quickly shooed the mist away, making it dissipate and leave Sun’s body. The swelling in his face subsided and he took in a long, ragged breath. 

“He’s breathing!” The headless woman gasped excitedly, clutching her hands where her mouth would be. 

The other grabbed Sun up. “I’ll take him to the surface, now that the door has been broken, I can finally see outside.”

The headless woman took hold of them. “No! It is my job to keep you down here! I am your shackles!”

The other turned to laugh in her face. “You can do that, you can keep me down here, but then you keep him here as well.”

The headless woman’s grip began to lose strength.

“He will see what lies down here come morning.”

The headless woman let go of him and the other’s laugh vibrated around the empty chamber. “He will still be mine,” they said. “You cannot change that.” 

“I’ll pull you back each time you attempt to reach him!” She growled. “You will not find freedom!”

The other chuckled. “You can try.”

Sun awoke to the taste of ash on his tongue and the smell of decay in the air. As he rose, he found himself laying in the garden. It was early morning and the sky was painted pink and purple while the moon slowly sank at the bidding of the sun.

He sat up, dusting himself off and then checking his hand where the wasp had stung him. His fingers were still swollen, but he had somehow survived the night. He went inside the hotel, seeing James standing behind the front desk.

James was pale and thin, with dark circles around his eyes. His sleek, black hair and face looked like they never moved, but when he saw Sun, he looked genuinely surprised. 

“Where were you?” James rushed out from behind the desk to approach him. “We’ve been looking for hours!”

Sun furrowed his brow. “I was in the garden. Did you not see me?” He kept his hand down, not wanting James to see it. 

“I looked there myself,” James insisted. “I saw nothing in the garden last night!”

Sun just shook his head and went upstairs towards his room. Once he was inside and locked the door behind him, he looked at his camera. He scanned through the pictures, seeing the ones of the roses he took before he passed out. He then saw several files of nothing but black. He went through each one, counting them. There were at least fifteen, but then, he started seeing something in them. It was faint, but it looked like there was a face in the black. With each passing file, it became a little more vivid. 

“Do you see me, Sun?” The voice that whispered in his ear was like cold water. It sent shivers through him as it flowed down his back. The chill crept into his bones and he remained frozen as the face on the camera became much more vivid. It was skeletal with pincers. Golden eyes began to glow so Sun dropped his camera.

A long spindly hand picked up the camera and handed it back to Sun. 

“You dropped this.”