A rare, unseasonal rain was sprinkling down relieving some of the unpleasant heat at the end of February. It was at midnight, at Vinhomes Landmark 81, every apartment seemed to have fallen in a deep sleep. There was an unknown noise smoldering through the hallway of the 43rd floor. The strange noise came from the apartment of Mr. Tang.
In the bedroom of Mr. Tang’s, a brawny, grown man, Tien who was in his 30s, was talking in his sleep. He kept apologizing to someone as he held up his left palm with a long scar in the middle. His wife, a much younger lady, Thy was laying next to him trying to wake him up. This was the third time of the day already – one during his after-lunch nap and two during his night sleep, and this was also a three-days-in-a-row matter so it was serious. Thy insisted her husband to go have it checked in a hospital. Tien blamed it on the stress at work – he was a manager of a big marketing company. As he encountered Thy’s worried eyes, he agreed to go to a clinic next week. Thy wanted him to go tomorrow, but he refused and went back to sleep.
Tien’s mom just bought a new house in Saigon and she asked him and his youngest brother to help with the moving. He and his brother had promised to help her tomorrow. Thy knew about it and raised concern about it because of her husband’s current symptom. However, Tien had avoid mentioning the issue because he did not intend to break his promise. Plus, he would have his brother beside him if anything went off the trail.
It was 3 a.m of the next day, on a coffee table next to the bed, Tien’s iPhone was unexpectedly vibrating. He was too sleepy to answer. The phone stopped then shook again and again for four more times before it went to the voicemail messages. Each time the phone received a call, it moved closer to the edge of the table, and finally tipped over falling to the dark brown, wooden floor when another call coming.
The Tangs woke up by a small bang of the phone hitting the floor. The collision left Tien with a crack on his phone. He checked for the voicemail messages – it was his youngest brother’s. His brother informed him briefly, in a hoarse voice, that he had caught an awful flu with high fever, and a severe case of coughing; he would not be able to help out today. Tien suspected his brother was lying because he had been a situationally talented actor in the family, but Tien could do nothing about it. When Thy asked, he told her it was a wrong number circumstance.
Since Tien’s brother bailed on him, he had to wake up earlier to prepare and hopefully, get everything moved on time. Being tired and sleepy, he motivated himself with a positive thought – at least, he would avoid all the traffic jams from the morning rush. Thy asked him to call when he arrived to the place. His mom’s old house was located in Bien Hoa, about four hours of car driving from where he lived in the past, and about one hour in the present because of the newly built highway. He planned on finishing the task before 10 a.m – he would have more enough time to go to work after.
His departure began at 4 a.m when it was just dawn. The scenery on both sides of the road, although had changed slightly, still reminded him of the past – his childhood. When he was little, he loved visiting Bien Hoa, spending time with his mom and the neighbour children there. His dad and his step mother were always occupied with their jobs so they could never stay at his mom’s place over night. To have more time with his mom and friends, every time on the visiting day, Tien was the one to wake everyone up in the house, before even alarm. None of the siblings understood why he could have that much motivation – Tien was the only son between his dad and mom. They did not enjoy Bien Hoa because after all, they all found Tien’s friends were extremely weird.
Time, indeed, had changed everything. In the past, even at this hour, there were already many cars driving on the road. Nowadays, with the new highway, there was actually no car except for his, which was actually impossible. Tien assumed he had taken a wrong turn somewhere. He turned on the GPS on his phone, it still indicated that he was on the right path or rather the its screen was froze – that phone should be fixed soon. He wondered if today was a holiday, which he knew nothing about, so people must have late start. Although there were lights around on the street, the isolation appeared to cook up some discomforting feelings. Tien was in need of a companion. Unfortunately, the crack on his phone did not allow him to, but he still gave it a shot anyway.
Being distracted with the phone, Tien took his eyes out of the road for a second since it was empty. In front of him, a red convertible suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Tien jumped on the brake hard. After that, he heard some car-braking sounds behind, and on the side, a blue truck almost hit him. Tien closed and rubbed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, out of surprise, he realized he was on the middle of a crowded road with many cars around. The drivers were screaming at him – the lack of sleep must have created the previous illusion. Tien apologized and decided to postpone the home moving – it was time to head home.
The illusion became worse on his way back home, the cars continued to disappear, but the sound of the cars’ honking remained. Tien was certain all the cars were there and he was just unable to see any. Perhaps, lack of sleep was the cause, yet he did not feel sleepy at all. It must be another new symptom of whatever disease he was having. No matter what was the cause, it was unwise of him to stay on the road at this moment. Tien pulled the car over and parked in front of a roadside pub, he bought himself a glass of coffee and drank rapidly with a hope that it could somehow cure his illusion.
Tien had never liked the taste of coffee so he drank it like a kid taking a bitter medicine. However, he loved its smell because it called back a good piece of memory when his neighbour kids and he played in front of a pub nearby his mom’s old house. Sometimes, they bought soft drinks pretending like they had beers. The pub named was “Doan Tu.” As Tien looked up to see the name, he was in shock – this pub had the same name with the past one and he could see his mom’s old house in a close distance.
Tien stood still, looking at the house. He then looked at his watch and noticed it was already 8 a.m. He was confused – he did not detect that he used that much time on the road. Possibly, he had had another symptom. As he saw people walking around, he doubted if any of them was real. Tien shouted abruptly at them and people looked at him annoyed so they actually existed. Even though it was not according to the plan, he was at his mom’s old house now, it would be better for him to get some rest first.
As Tien drove closer to house, he saw some children standing in front of it. He lowered his car window intending to look at their faces. At that moment, some dirt flew into his eyes. He blinked and all of kids disappeared – they must have run away.
Tien’s mom’s old house was three-story semi-detached house in the corner of the street. It, strangely, looked exactly the same compared to the past. From the yellowish green peeling wall, the grey rusty windows to the milky folding door, the house did not change a thing like it was somehow immune to time. Suddenly, the effect from the coffee kicked in raising Tien’s heartbeat. He stepped out of the car and sat on the little granite porch of the house knocking on the door calling for his mom. No one replied but luckily, the door was opened. Tien ran straight toward the bedroom on the second floor – he hoped they did not move bed yet. The bed was still there, Tien struggled to go through the furniture before being able to rest on the bed.
Tien woke up at noon by the sunlight shinning on his face through the window. His back felt numb. As he looked down, he realized he was sleeping on the floor and the room was totally empty. It was not like that when he came in – it was stuffed before. Tien again called for his mom, but he could only hear his voice echoing throughout the house. He slowly walked around the house. Just like the bedroom, there was nothing, no furniture and no one inside the house. When he reached the ground level, he saw the front door wide open. Tien could hear voices outside. He carefully stepped out and saw an empty street.
In the corner of the street, he saw seven children – they were ones who stood in front of the house when he first got here. With their head bowing down, they were chanting and standing in a chalk circle written in unfamiliar language. All of a sudden, five of them turned their heads toward Tien simultaneously calling his name. He could hear their necks cracking like a metal statue shearing in a way they were not designed to. He recognized their faces – they were his childhood friends in Bien Hoa. For a second, he wanted to run in and give them a big hug. Then he paused because none of this made any sense. Yes, they looked exactly like his close friends, but that was 20 years ago.
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