• EXTRAORDINARY:THEFORBIDDENKINGDOM

    CHAPTER 2 – DARK VISIONS

    It was dark outside as a cool patch of air drifted in Kevin’s window. He had fallen asleep hours ago in his bedroom. His bedroom was part of a three story tall fangzi, or Chinese home. Traditionally, fangzis were small in size, but the Xing’s had made well for themselves in the past decade. Mr. Xing was a full-time Kung-Fu master, while his wife, Shu Xing worked as a multi-lingual translator for the Chinese Embassy in downtown Hong Kong. They had two small children, Li and Chang.

    Since the night before, Kevin’s mind was flooded with nightmares. So much, in fact, that he couldn’t make sense of what was happening in his head. There was so much that happened in his past, and it seemed the more he tried to forget, the more his mind won’t let him. Just as things were beginning to settle down in his head, he heard a whispering voice.

    “Kevvviiinnnn.” The voice said quietly, but firmly.

    His eyes opened. Above him, he saw the shadows of the trees outside gently sway back and forth on his ceiling. Kevin’s dreams had gotten more severe lately. As much as he attempted to rest, and to meditate, it never seemed to help with his dreams. He thought if he trained enough, that maybe one day, he would be able to rest peacefully. Closing his eyes, Kevin brought the back of his arm to his forehead and deeply exhaled. The dream had left him sweating profusely.

    He sat up from his bed, and left the room. Quietly, Kevin tip toed to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. Times like this, Kevin had to be sure to keep quiet. The rooms separating the hallways to the bedrooms were literally paper thin. He poured himself the glass, and finished it quickly; ready to head back to bed when he heard the voice again.

    “Kevvviinnnn!” This time much louder than before. Kevin set the glass down and rushed towards the living room window. He thought he was dreaming, but it turned out the voice was real. Kevin grabbed the curtains, and quickly drew them open. Kevin screamed in horror. He lost his balance and fell on his back. He couldn’t believe his eyes. There, standing before him, was the cloaked figure, just outside the window. Kevin blinked, and the figure was gone.

    “Could it really be?” Kevin thought, “The masked menace that terrorized Luke and I that summer? Or is it really Kyle, who found me and is playing a prank on me? If so, why would he choose this time of night to terrorize me?” Kevin stopped asking himself 20 questions, and rushed towards the front door.

    Outside, the crescent moon was the only source of light illuminating the Xing’s front yard. It was a real task to look for Kyle, but he was pretty sure no one was out there. The air was cool, and it was so silent all he could hear was his own breath. Maybe he was hallucinating. Such a thing wasn’t impossible. He hadn’t gotten much sleep lately. He could easily just be sleeping awake. Kevin slumped his shoulders, and spun around, ready to catch some more shut eye.

    Like a flash of lighting, the cloaked figure was back. Something wasn’t right. Before when the cloaked had first started terrorizing him, the only thing he felt was fear. This was something new all together. Maybe it was the meditation, but in that instant, Kevin felt the figure. It felt bad, it felt evil, like a powerful dark ora was engulfing the figure. This was not Kyle Thomas, just then he was proved right, in a split second, the figure changed. Only for a split second before changing back. What he saw was an angry man. He lunged at Kevin screaming “Where is it!” before vanishing into thin air. Then there was nothing. For what seemed like twenty minutes, Kevin stood in fear. He had a lot of martial arts training, but he was not ready for that.

    The next morning, Kevin woke up and ran down the stairs. Master Xing and his wife were eating dinner. His wife had a minute to say hello before heading off to work.

    “Sensei,” Kevin started, bowing to his sensei.

    “What is it, Kevin-son?” Xing asked, noticing the importance in Kevin’s face.

    “I need to talk to you about something that happened late last night.”

    “Of course, I shall listen. But first, you have a visitor.”

    Kevin opened his eyes wide in shock when his teacher told him he had a visitor. Who could it be? Hopefully not the menace from last night. Because of his fright, he was afraid to look in the living room, where Xing had told him the guest was waiting for him. If there was one thing his teacher taught him, is that sooner or later, one must face their fear. Standing straight, Kevin walked to the living room. On the couch, Kevin was surprised to see Luke Williams.

    “Luke?” Kevin asked.

    “Hey Kev.” Luke said, distraught.

    “How did you find me?”

    “Since you left, we have been looking for you. We looked everywhere. Don’t be mad, but Joe caved. So we have known where you live for the past two months. We figured you wanted your space.”

    “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Do you want something to drink?” Kevin offered, “And boy do I have a story to tell you. I’m sure you’ll want to hear it.” Kevin said, walking to the kitchen to get his best friend a drink.

    “Kevin…” Luke said standing up. Kevin stopped in his tracks and looked at Luke. After taking a deep breath, Luke continued. “It’s Kyle…he’s dead, Kevin.”