Afraid of the Dark

Everyone in the city knows that Gao Weimian, the municipal bureau's senior consultant, doesn't even blink at a dismemberment scene and is always the first to head out on a late-night call. No one knows that this fearless Gao Weimian is afraid of the dark, so afraid she won't even close the door to her own room.

A new recruit joined the bureau: Bai Xi, with big eyes and a round face. On her very first day, she dared to greet a corpse with "Hello," then cornered Gao Weimian. "Big Sis, are you afraid of the dark?" She thumped her chest. "If you are, just hide behind me. I'll protect you."

And she meant it. She stood in front of Gao Weimian in a dark alley during a blackout, clasped her hand tight inside a hidden compartment, and didn't even blink when a knife was held to her throat. Everyone laughed that the two of them were "a cold-faced consultant and her adorably clueless sidekick." Only they knew who was protecting whom.

One case followed another: the owner of Old Night Cafe, with human eyes covering the walls; a missing girl who said, "She's come to find me"; someone picking a lock at the old welfare home's site in the dead of night. Each case was like a puzzle, and when the pieces came together, they pointed to the great fire eight years ago and an "Old Night List." Nos. 05 and 07: the people on the list were being "invited" back, one by one.

The deeper they investigated, the more wrong things felt. Gao Weimian felt inexplicably familiar with the new recruit: she would instinctively grab her sleeve, stare blankly when she heard her hum, and wake in a fright in the middle of the night. There were always soft footsteps outside her door, someone keeping watch until dawn.

Bai Xi had a secret too. She was braver than anyone, yet at certain moments she would remember a door, a number, and a lullaby that was never finished. Eight years ago, someone told her, "Go. Don't look back before dawn." Eight years later, in the darkness, someone took her hand. "If you're afraid, hide behind me. I'll stay with you until dawn."

It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. The person she feared for had been behind her all along, eight years ago.