-7- Accident victim?

Zhan had been sure his grandmother had a good advice for him on how to act now that he knows Luna Li is the culprit and sent him the ghost. But all his grandmother had to say was, just stay out of her way and some day her interest in you will end and so the ghost should also stop following you.

Zhan was not really satisfied with this statement of his grandmother. Especially not because he didn't know what Luna Li was still capable of. If she sent him a ghost to watch over him around the clock, what else could she do?

The following day, after talking to his grandmother, he had gone to the country for an interview and met a designer who liked to retire to his little country house to gather new ideas and rest. The interview lasted an hour and Zhan found it increasingly boring and uninteresting, as the designer only talked about his preference for special fabrics and didn't want to talk about anything else. How he should make an article out of it was still completely unclear to him.

On his way back he discovered a river and followed it for a while until it ended at a waterfall. Zhan parked his car on the quiet country road and walked as close to the waterfall as he could. At some point, the sound of the flowing water was so loud that he could barely understand his own thoughts. Still he enjoyed the moment and just stayed there for a while, even though he didn't really know what brought him there.

About an hour later he was on his way back to his car when he noticed something shiny. He went to the spot and found a bracelet lying on the floor. The bracelet had a pendant that said "For W.Y."

The lock of the bracelet was broken, so it was obvious that the owner had lost it and was perhaps looking for it for a long time. So he put it in his pocket and took it with him. At the next village he stopped at a small police station and showed the bracelet to the officer. "I found it in the tall grass by the waterfall. I wanted to return it in case the owner was looking for it." Zhan explained.

The officer looked at the engraving on the pendant and sighed. "I think I know the owner. And if he is, he probably hasn't even noticed it's missing."

"Why not? It's got his initials on it. So it seems to have some meaning."

"Yes, it certainly does. What I mean is, the owner of this bracelet couldn't have been looking for it because he's been missing for over a year."

Zhan stared at the officer. "Missing?"

"Yes, unfortunately. He rode his motorcycle out again that night. He and his parents had a fight again and he just ran outside and rode off. When he didn't come home all night, his parents got worried and went looking for him. But all they found was his motorcycle, which was very damaged. Wang Yibo, the young man's name, was missing. Together with several volunteers we searched the area where his motorcycle was found. Even helicopters and sniffer dogs were used, but he was never found."

"That's terrible." Zhan replied.

"Yes, the parents are still looking for him every day." The officer explained.

Zhan got goose bumps at the thought of a young man disappearing after what appeared to be an accident. Injured and perhaps disoriented, he must have been wandering around and could be who knows where. If he should still be alive at all.

When Zhan was still writing reports about accidents, he often had to talk to family members. And each time it was hard for him to see the worried or suffering family members. Tears were running down their eyes, they were trembling all over their bodies and often found it difficult to talk.

Since the officer gave the bracelet back to Zhan and asked him to bring the bracelet to Wang Yibo's family himself, Zhan decided to spend one night in the village and then visit the young man's parents. The officer had told Zhan that Wang Yibo was only 19 years old when he disappeared. And even though he no longer wrote about traffic accidents, he thought that maybe there was a hidden story here, just waiting to be told.

After spending the night in a small, cozy inn, Zhan made his way to the address the police officer had given him. It was only two streets away, in this very small village.

Nervously he rang the doorbell and a good-looking woman in her forties opened the door. She had deep circles under her eyes, but they didn't take anything away from her beauty. "Yes? What do you want?" She asked quietly.

"Um, my name is Xiao Zhan. Yesterday, I was driving along the country roads by the waterfall, taking a break, and my eyes fell on something shiny." Explained Zhan and pulled the silver bracelet out of his jacket pocket to show her.

She recognized the bracelet immediately and with trembling hands and tears in her eyes, she carefully took it out of Zhan's hand and held it as if it was fragile. She asked Zhan to come into the house and he accepted the invitation.

In the house itself it was dark. Here and there a candle was burning. On the walls, as Zhan could halfway see, there must have been many pictures hanging once. A few pictures were still on a shelf, but it was too dark to see anything on them.

"Sorry, my husband can't stand bright light, his eyes are very sensitive since he had an operation on them four years ago. The surgery was supposed to help him, but it only made things worse. And now we're doomed to sit in the dark all day. Sometimes even the light from the candles hurts him." She explained to Zhan.

"I understand." Zhan said.

In a corner on a chair, something stirred. Zhan was so startled that he thought his heart would stop beating. It was Mr. Wang sitting there, shielding his eyes from the candlelight.

Mrs. Wang went to him and showed him the bracelet. "The young man brought it to us. He found it yesterday, near the waterfall." She explained it to her husband.

"That's where our Yibo had his accident. We suspect someone hit him and ran away. Yibo must have woken up and tried to get home. Maybe he was confused or unable to come home. Maybe he was going to wait for us by the waterfall. It was his favorite place since he was a little boy. The police think that maybe he fell into the water and drifted away." Mr. Wang explained, crying.

"And no one saw anything?" Asked Zhan. He had seen the deserted street yesterday, but maybe someone came by chance.

"Here? It's a miracle anyone ever comes this way. There's nothing here but a few small villages and a lot of land. Only a few people come here. And if they do, it's certainly not at night." Said Mrs. Wang

"I see..." Was the only thing Zhan could say.

He was very sorry for their deep sorrow and although he felt uncomfortable, something stopped him from saying goodbye and leaving. It was like someone was stopping him from moving. He just stood there and stared into the dark room.

"How old are you, if I may ask?" Mrs. Wang asked.

"I am 24 years old." Zhan replied.

"Our son is 4 years younger than you. I bet he would have liked you. You know, he confessed to us early on that he was gay. We were shocked at first, but his big brother always said it didn't matter who he loved, the main thing was that he is happy. And that's how we saw it at one point. Unfortunately, he never found anyone to fall in love with. He only told us once when he came from Beijing that he saw a man he liked very much. But he didn't have the courage to talk to him." Explained Mrs. Wang.

"This is really sad. Maybe he is still alive. Maybe someone found him and took him to a hospital. He may have lost his memory." Said Zhan. He didn't want Wang Yibo dead. Not a young man who is loved so much by his family.

Of course, he saw it that way with every accident victim. But somehow he wanted Wang Yibo to live and return to his family.

When the front door opened and a young man, maybe two or three years older than Zhan, came into the house, Zhan immediately assumed that he must be the big brother of Wang Yibo. The young man introduced himself to Zhan as Wang Hai Kuan.

Zhan looked at his wristwatch after they all stood in silence in the living room. Out of respect for Mr. Wang's eye disease, he avoided checking the time on his mobile phone. It was very difficult for him to see that it was almost 10 am and Zhan should have been on his way back to Beijing half an hour ago.

He said goodbye to the family and Mrs. Wang brought him to the door. But before she let Zhan go, she pressed the bracelet into his hand and said, "I want to give it to you. I know you did not know my son and yet I think he would like it if you got it. Please keep it and think of him from time to time. Who knows, maybe you are right and he still lives. And if he really does come home one day and asks for his bracelet, I will send him to you." She said that after Zhan gave her his business card.

All the way back to Beijing, Zhan was thinking about Wang Yibo. And before he went to work, he stopped at a jeweler's to get the lock on the bracelet fixed. It took only ten minutes and was even thoroughly cleaned and polished, and the jeweler put it around Zhan's wrist after he paid for it.

Zhan didn't know why, but he liked the idea of wearing this bracelet. It would remind him of that day and to pray for the Wang's from time to time, so that their son might return to them one day.