The One Who Listens

Step 15: Stay

Semper Augustus

A rare tulip with red and white vertical lines running through the petals. The lines were so distinct it felt like someone had painted over the thin leathery red corolla. Hua Cheng had doubted that first, and only bought a bouquet when he was absolutely sure they were authentic.

'You will find her under the oak tree'

Xie Lian was stuck at a conference and he did not like the feeling of leaving his mother alone on her birthday.

This was all Hua Cheng knew, and so he was riding his bike with E-Ming, heading over to the location Xie Lian had sent. It was in the outskirts of Tai Cang, the suburb right next to the metropolitan city.

Whenever Xie Lian talked about his mother, it was a bit ambiguous. Hua Cheng knew a bit about her, but never enough to actually understand her. And the topic was always a tad bit uncomfortable, he felt so every time Xie Lian changed it to a completely different line of conversation.

Hua Cheng had assumed that maybe Xie Lian had a family issue that he did not know how to resolve. Or maybe he did not like his father much, Xie Lian never talked about him. Or maybe his mother was sick?

But Hua Cheng himself felt excited.

He'd be meeting his Gege's mother!

He knew about her love for nature, and so, he was not extremely shocked when the navigation led him to a deserted alley, the cemented path ending abruptly in front of an old church. Hua Cheng frowned, though. Quite an unusual place to spend your birthday - he thought.

Hua Cheng let E-Ming down and pulled out the bouquet and his backpack from the storage compartment to straighten it a bit.

Xie Lian's mother...

Should he call her 'Ma'am'?

It sounds formal.

'Mrs Xie' sounds good too.

Calling her Mother would be a bit too much, would it not?

Hua Cheng was snapped out of his thoughts when E-Ming tugged at the harness. He was sniffing at the dust, growling and hissing low. His claws were out of his paws, and E-Ming crouched low, as if preparing an attack.

"Easy E-Ming. It is an abandoned church. There might be garden snakes and lizards around. Don't pick up a fight." Hua Cheng tutted, securing the bracelet tight around his wrist.

There was no sign of life when Hua Cheng pushed open the huge iron gates. The gates protested with a bone chilling shrill groan, immediately swinging back behind the boy. A gravel path led to the fossil of a church.

Cobblestones munched under his boots, seldom a twig would snap. E-Ming walked right beside him in sync, noiseless as they neared the skeleton of a chapel. The white walls of the cathoic church were no longer clear. It had thick patches of black fungus and green moss running almost along the marble. The beautifully arched windows had rusted, half-eaten panes, with shattered, or no glass, through which branches of the surrounding trees and shrubs burst in. The ceiling was partially broken, giving way for the mild winter midday sun to filter in. The higher windows had coloured glass panes, forming patches of rainbows wherever the light fell. The floor however was almost not there. Instead, a thin veil of creepers softly carpeted the entire narthex and nave. The Cross was without Jesus. Behind the cross, was a tapestry, but the art was so old that Hua Cheng could not say what it was, though he highly suspected it to be Virgin Mary.