29 - Return to normality

It's been a month since we returned to Beijing and our lives are starting to get back to normal. I am back to work as a security guard and Zhan is pursuing his work as a graphic designer. We still have nightmares often and are trapped in them again in the dark cave where the creatures hunt us.

We now have psychological help to process what we have experienced. Let's see if it brings something.

Zhan and I have decided to officially move in together. I'm only with him now anyway and haven't spent a single night in my apartment since we got back. We have also been looking at a nice three room apartment that we might want to rent. It would be closer to our work and also closer to our families.

Our parents call us every day to ask how we are doing. We spent the last weekend with Zhan's family. I still can't believe what a sensitive and caring man Zhan's father is. Anyone who just looks at him on the outside would definitely not think he is. Zhan's mother is a petite woman. She is the opposite of her outside. Now I finally understand what Zhan meant when he said that on the day he was born, his parents switched roles.

From the looks of it, Zhan's parents are going to get divorced soon. Even though things are going well between them right now, Zhan's father can't forgive her for cheating on him. And both of them also admitted that they don't love each other anymore. Zhan believes that things went downhill for the two of them when his sister died.

The weekend before last, Zhan and I spent at my parents' house. There he finally met my mother. Until then, they had already talked on the phone several times.

My mother was very excited and looking forward to meeting Zhan. When we arrived at my parents' house, she was already standing in the doorway waiting for us. She hugged Zhan in greeting and mothered him all weekend. She told me that I have good taste and she is absolutely thrilled with Zhan.

My father is blown away by Zhan's abilities. We told him about it. Over and over again he let Zhan tell him his feelings and every now and then he also asked him if Zhan could sense what he was thinking about. It's like Zhan was his new favorite toy. At the same time, he also welcomed Zhan into our family.

My father and Zhan's father have even become friends and are already talking about Zhan and I getting married. We are still a long way from that, but it is nice to see that the two men get along so well. Somehow, my father is also adopting a bit of Zhan's father's behaviors. He always calls me his BoBo now.

I guess my brother has been lucky in his misfortune. Because before May and Rin left to follow us on our trip, they sent my brother the money they had promised. He paid us all back for our travel expenses and a little extra, and he used the rest to buy a small apartment for himself and Cheng in Shanghai.

The two of them have been living in Shanghai for a week. At first Cheng's father didn't want to let him go because we were in danger because of my brother. But finally he gave in and said he couldn't come between their love.

What was strange was that as soon as we returned, my brother was completely back to his old self and there was no sign of the Hai Kuan we met in the woods.

Meng Yao and Leni turned their backs on my brother for the time being. They both said they accepted his apology, but the forgiving would take a while.

Leni is going back to her daily routine. Meng Yao wants to be transferred overseas by his company.

We are also in contact with André, we talk on the phone sometimes. He is doing well. He said that after he returned and all the pressure came off of him, he just cried for almost a week. He has decided to study again. And his choice was medicine. He wants to be a doctor, which I think suits him very well.

Missy is currently in psychological treatment in an institution. Her past and what she has experienced has made her so upset that her parents thought it would be better for her to be under psychological care while she recovers.

Yanli actually dared to confess her feelings to the love of her life. After all, it was her wish that she get the chance to do so. It just went a little differently than she had expected. A few days after her return, he came to visit her. He hugged her, gave her a kiss and said he was very happy that she was doing well. Then he confessed his feelings to her. The two of them are now in a relationship and Yanli, thanks to him, is processing what she experienced very well.

All we know about Han is that he is in prison and will stay there until the trial. Rumor says that he admitted what his plans were and that he himself witnessed how other "witnesses" were silenced by employees of the Crane Institute.

During the search of the Crane Institute, no bodies were found. Only lots of blood. It was said that the soldiers were able to find and kill 43 adult specimens of Hyper Sapien. It is suspected that there are many more. There is a talk that soon there will be a large-scale search in the forest. In addition, they want to use the access from the Crane Institute, station 4 where we were, to search the cave meter by meter to find and eliminate all Hyper Sapien.

A very capable team of journalists took it upon themselves to find out everything they could about the Crane Institute and their investors. For example, they found out that the Crane Institute was once a government-supported and financed institution, which served to conduct research into the human psyche. But also to develop new drugs, with which it should be possible to influence humans psychologically.

So it was used for researching whether it would be possible to be able to carry out a psychological war and to win it.

The creatures were discovered by chance during this research. And of course they also wanted to research them. They probably had the hope to be able to train the creatures somehow, in order to be able to use these as weapon.

They are said to have captured several of the Hyper Sapien for research purposes. They locked them in cages in the basement and watched them there and tried to train them. But since they managed to break out again and again and killed doctors and patients several times in the process, they abandoned this plan.

The institute was eventually shut down when the government cut off their funding. A group of private investors is said to have bought up everything a few years ago and planned to rebuild facility A and put facility B back into operation. Well, and we would then have become their first test objects.

Yesterday we were told by our lawyers that a lawsuit against the Crane Institute and all the investors would probably take years before it comes to a court hearing. Their lawyers would do anything to buy as much time as possible. And the chance of winning in court is minimal.

So they suggested that we accept a settlement offer from them. Each of us would get a large amount of money as compensation and they would also pay money to the victims of the families.

Zhan and I were against accepting the settlement offer and wanted to see them all in court. But, our lawyers and also those of the others, advised us to take the money and not go to court. On Monday, we will have to announce our decision in this regard.

If we could at least assume that these assholes will lose more than a little money, this decision would not be so hard for us.

Yes, even Zhan and I realize what it means to insist on a trial. After all, we would have to be prepared for the fact that this could take many years, devour money that we don't even have and then lead to a 90% verdict, which would be negative for us.

And then we would not only sit on a high mountain from debts of lawyer and court costs, but go out completely empty and wasted years with it, to wait for a judgement, which does not turn out in our favor.

Zhan and I are also concerned with another question at the moment. Will they really kill all the creatures? Or will they perhaps secretly take a few of them away to be placed somewhere else in another secret research facility to try what the Crane Institute failed to do?

Since our return, Zhan and I have only slept with the light on. Every few days, when we can't sleep at night because thoughts keep us awake or we've had nightmares again, we read my diary together. And the more often we read it, the more often we ask ourselves the questions: "Why didn't we notice this? Why didn't we realize then what was wrong? Why did we believe that?"

And then we also keep talking about the village of Crane, where my brother, Meng Yao, Leni and I spent our first night, and the three of them forced on themselves this disgusting breakfast because they didn't want to be rude and then got sick afterwards.

We found out afterwards that there really is no one left in Crane. All just burned down and abandoned buildings so far and wide no hostel. How can that be? We even have the booking confirmation for our rooms. One of the police officers asked us again and again if we had seen a computer somewhere, because it was impossible without it. The answer was always no. There was not even electricity there!

The police didn't believe a word we said about Crane. They even went there and looked around. But there was nothing there. They took pictures and sent them to the police station in Beijing, they showed them to me, my brother and the other two. And we couldn't find anything ourselves that matched this hostel.

I remember exactly how the police officer looked at me when I said that we were there, though. He said to me in a more than a scornful tone, "So I guess we're supposed to believe in ghosts now or what?"

I asked him what it had to do with what happened in the forest, the cave and the institute anyway. Then the police officer looked at me angrily and said, "We're just trying to trace the exact course of events. And if you're lying about Crane, I wonder what else you're lying about. Maybe you killed the Romanians and then blamed it on the creatures."

My brother got angry and replied, "When the Romanians died, we weren't even there. They went off by themselves and were leaving the cave when Han still hadn't returned after a few hours."

"You may not have been there. But your friend from Poland, this André, he was there when the Romanians died. He testified himself, the flashlight lights went out and they were attacked." Said the police officer.

"So, that doesn't mean he killed the four men single-handedly, even more so when they were much stronger than he was." Replied Meng Yao.

"Only, there's no one to witness that, is there? Just like no one can testify that Rin and May were really killed by their own family." Replied the police officer.

I scowled at him and asked, "Could it be that just like Han, you're paid by the Crane Institute to protect those assholes? Because otherwise, I just can't understand why you're trying to accuse us of being murderers! None of us did anything to anyone. André even helped the injured! We are the victims and not the ones from the Crane Institute!"

Another police officer came and took his colleague away. We could see the two of them discussing. Again and again the other police officer pointed at us and gestured wildly with his hands. He kept poking his finger against his colleague's chest.

A few minutes later, the other police officer came to us, apologized to us for his colleague's behavior, and then let us go. I was still angry and upset hours later. But Zhan calmed me down again and I was able to put that day behind me.

So far, I haven't asked Zhan about our past lives. I was going to do it a few times. But then I didn't. Maybe I'll just wait a little longer to do it.

It's 11 pm now, time to go to bed. Hopefully I won't dream again tonight. Good night