Tom Black toyed absentmindedly with the remote control. It had been 3 days since his run in with Tween, and a week since the incident at the nightclub. He was shaken, weary and generally exhausted from his ordeals. It was Friday night, he had absolutely nothing planned, and he was going to enjoy his weekend. He thought about giving Arthur a call, but quickly decided against it - maybe tomorrow, tonight, the TV was calling. The spirits that normally clamored in his head about what he should be doing with a free night were silent. In fact, they had been much quieter since his run in with Theresa, the girl turned demon - or whatever - from the nightclub.
He sighed and lightly dozed off on the couch, a beer tucked between his knees, and someone from channel 4's news team droning on about the upcoming weather.
What seemed like moments later, turned out to be four am according to the clock. A loud clap had woken him, and the beer between his legs had tipped and the now lukewarm alcohol spilled down his thigh as he jolted in alarm. "Crap!" he said aloud as he righted the beer and jumped up from the couch in sleep-weary semi-alertness. Clutching the bottle in his left hand, he walked quickly to the kitchen and pulled a paper towel from the roll hanging under the cabinet he kept his plates in. He wadded the towel upon itself and began wiping at his leg, but realized it was already dry. 'That's strange' he thought, and then it dawned on him - who had turned off the lights? For that matter, who had turned off the TV? He peered around the half gloom of his apartment searching for a shape in the light provided from the streetlamp below, but saw no-one.
"Wedge?" He asked aloud.
No answer.
"Arthur?" That was a long shot, Arthur's clumsiness would have waken him long before he entered the apartment.
As expected, no answer.
He listened intently for any sounds, but heard nothing. Suddenly, the walls and floor of his apartment began to fade into an ethereal haze, collapsing upon themselves in a soft purple cloud of odorless smoke. The world itself drifted away into a hazy fog that was in most places as dark as midnight, but in front of him, was a patch slightly brighter than the rest. There was no floor below him, and he seemed to simply float in place. Stranger still was a total lack of fear, somehow this place felt familiar to him, natural, almost comfortable.
Ahead of him, a shape began to take form out of the smoke; a woman coalescing from the fog began to appear. She stepped out of the wall of smoke directly in front of him. She was pretty, about 30 if he had to make a guess. She was Asian, and wore her hair long, but tied back. She wore loose fitting silk clothing that seemed to billow around her limbs as she moved toward him. She smiled at him as she approached.
'Who is this?' Tom wondered to himself, and she smiled even more broadly, her smile caused her nose to crinkle a little bit which made her even cuter. She was now about 3 feet away from him and she extended her hand in friendship. Tom took it and she shook hands with him. There was a definite strength in her grip, but she held his hand like it was something precious to her as she shook it.
"I am Yim Wing Chun,” she said simply.
The name sounded familiar to Tom, and he remembered Yim Wing Chun was the name of the original founder of the kung fu style Wing Chun.
Tom laughed inside, this was some dream so far!
"This is no dream" Yim spoke as she released his hand and stood before him.
"How the hell did you read my mind?" He asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"The same way I did when you wanted to know who I was, or when you thought I was pretty." She smiled again as she said this last part and Tom couldn't help but blush as he was called out so directly. "We are in your mind Tom. Together."
Tom's blush faded as he realized what she was telling him and he spat back dumbly "We're in my mind?" regaining, he quickly added, "Where are the others?" There was so much he wanted to know, so much he wanted to ask them all.
"They are everywhere,” Yim said as she looked around. "They will make themselves known in due time Tom."
"Ok, so how come you get to say hi first? To the best of my knowledge, you've never made your presence known to me before."
Her eyes narrowed as he said this and she suddenly lashed out with a punch that was impossibly fast. Tom was already blocking, but her strike slid by his defense before he could succeed in stopping it. Tom recognized the strike instantly, it was one of the most powerful blows in his arsenal of martial arts knowledge, he grimaced bracing for the resulting impact. Her hand contacted his chest lightly and stopped as it touched his skin.
"Sometimes, one need not speak to make their presence known Tom." She said as he peeked out from between his tightly closed eyes.
Realizing that he wasn't in any immediate danger, Tom relaxed "Yeah, ok, I remember you" he grinned at her. Yim withdrew her hand and continued "Tom, we are here for a reason, you and I, all of us for that matter”
"You're not going to go all Zen on me now are you?" Tom asked rolling his eyes.
"No. I'm a Buddhist anyway." Yim deadpanned.
“Do you mind if we go someplace a little more…” Yim paused “…inviting?” she completed and the purple fog around us swirled away to reveal a bright sunny sky above us. We were standing on a dirt path just outside of a small village on the sea.
I breathed deeply and said “I could get used to a place like this.”
Yim just smiled in silence.
“Where are we?” I asked
“This is where we live - so to speak.” We began to walk side by side toward the village, the smell of salt air was strong, and there was a light, but constant breeze blowing. I noticed the village was an eclectic collection of weathered wooden buildings along a very tidy dirt road lined with stone lamps. I could see people moving about the buildings, an old fisherman was on his front porch cleaning his net and looked up at me and smiled as we passed, his leathery hands nimbly working the net free from snags.
“That is Lo Chu” Yim spoke answering my question before I could even ask it.
“Is he -“
“One of the spirits?” She finished “Yes Tom, everyone you see here is one of us.”
“So how'd you become the lucky one to talk to me? Did you draw the shortest straw?”
"No Tom, I was selected to contact you first because the others felt you would be more... receptive to speaking with me."
'They got that right' Tom thought. Yim smiled at him again before he could censor his thoughts. "Damn, that's just not fair!”
"Don't be embarrassed Tom, it's nice to know that after 400 years, I'm still appealing."
"That's good to know." He answered and then continued “Why does it matter if I'm more receptive or not? I mean, we're in my mind, it's not like I have a choice in the matter.”
“Oh, but you do Tom. We are speaking in a sort of dreamlike state, a lucid dream if you will, Lu Di is helping to keep your body relaxed even though your mind is awake. Normally when the mind is conscious, it is the body's natural response to awaken. If one of the others had appeared to you and you had viewed them as a threat, you're awareness and natural reactions to combat might have been too much for Lu to exert control, and you would have woken before we had a chance to talk.”
“That didn't seem to bother you when you threw that punch just a second ago” Tom quipped.
Yim smiled as she smoothed the front of her clothing, looking up she said “It seems I have picked up a shadow of your bad temper, I did not like being trivialized as 'un-introduced'.”
"Ok, I can identify with.” Tom grinned and then added “So why am I here?"
The breeze shifted gently and Yim answered “We wanted to meet you face to face, for too long we have been a collection of voices in your mind and you have been a shell we have inhabited. Somewhat reluctantly at times.”
Tom grimaced as the realization struck home that this woman, and a host of as yet unknown spirits had born witness to every cheesy pick-up line he had tossed out, to every woman he had been with, to every embarrassing moment he had endured since he was 19. 'Hell,' he thought, 'they've seen me take a leak for Gods sake.'
Yim was kind enough to at least pretend she wasn't paying attention to his thoughts, or at least she didn't comment on them. There was, if nothing else, a sensitivity about her that understood the incredible invasion of privacy that Tom endured by their presence.
They stood awkwardly for a moment before Tom broke the silence by asking “So, how many of you are here?”
“There are currently 42 of us co-existing with you.”
“42?” Tom mused. He was shocked, he had expected her to say 14 or 15, maybe 20, but 42? “I've never heard that many voices.” Tom said still in disbelief
“Some of the spirits are older than the others and have forgotten how to talk, in the traditional sense anyway, they seek enlightenment even in this state of being and have little need for words. Some do not approve of you and have chosen to remain silent in protest.”
This raised some of Tom's ire. “They disapprove of me?”
Before Yim could answer, Tom continued.
“Well the hell with them, I didn't ask them to live in here.” Tom said tapping himself roughly on the side of the head. His brow creased and he added “Fuckin' freeloaders. Who are they to judge me?”
Yim interrupted his rant saying “Tom, calm down, you're making Lu's job difficult. You have to be objective about this, when you have this many entities together, they will never agree on everything.”
“The hell with that” Tom spat back, still feeling injured.
“Think about it Tom,” Yim continued “a lot of the spirit's here were once monks. You hardly lead a pious lifestyle and you can be a bit…”
“A bit what?” Tom interjected
“…abrasive sometimes.” Yim finished “So some of the spirits don't feel you're worthy of their gifts, at least not yet anyway.”
“Oh, so there's hope for me yet?” Tom said sarcastically.
“That's exactly what I'm talking about” she said “Your attitudes are very western, it's a lot to swallow for a westerner, just imagine a 3,000 year old Asian's perspective. You can be exceedingly disrespectful, and brash -“
“Don't forget pigheaded” Tom offered more than a little wounded.
“That too” Yim answered. Reading the look on Tom's face she added, “You can also be exceptionally courageous and giving sometimes too though.”
“Gee, thanks.” Tom said flatly. For some reason, this girl was really getting to him. Maybe she was right? He could be an asshole sometimes.
Yim interrupted the silence first “Look Tom,” her voice softened “This is not about berating you, you're not being judged.”
“Sure as hell feels like it.” He said “What about you? Where do you stand on the whole 'Tom's an asshole' debate?”
“That is not the point of this meeting” She answered.
“No.” he said, a flash of good old-fashioned Tom Black rising to the surface. “That may not be what this is about, but I want to know right now. This is bullshit; maybe I should be the one judging you. You guys are living in my body, experiencing an extended life through my senses, and I'm the one being judged? Hell, without me you'd be floating in the ethers, or living a vastly more boring life of meditation in the body of some monk in the hills of a Chinese province. I do you a favor being a “westerner”. You experience things with me that there's NO WAY you'd live in China. So where do you stand?”
Yim covered a small smile with the back of her hand for a moment, then removing her hand she acquiesced and answered “I think you're brash, as you just proved, but I agree, I think we are better for the experiences we live through you.” Tom smiled in triumph at this small victory. “But you could tone it down some” She added.
This time it was Tom's turn to smile. “Alright” he said, regaining some composure. “So? Where is everyone else? Now that we know I'm not going to freak out.”
“As I said, they are here Tom, they are among the village about us, many are busy meditating, and some simply choose to remain unknown.”
“OK, I can respect their desire for anonymity - although I don't understand it.” Tom paused and then tried again, "So, why am I here?"
"A more appropriate question Tom, would be why are we here."
"Semantics." Tom argued "I think this is more than simply wanting to get to know me. I mean you have access to all my memories, you probably know me better than anyone ever possibly could. So what gives?"
Yim shifted nervously in the mist. Her body language saying she was about to say something gravely important, or maybe she didn't think I was ready to hear it.
"Tom, we have always told you that we are inhabiting you solely to live out our immortality, for the sake of experiences. We told you this because we knew you'd believe us - we have a unique vantage point on what you will and will not believe."
Tom continued to listen in silence and nervous expectation. Yim motioned to a stone bench overlooking the sea and they both sat down.
"The truth is, this is about evil, an ancient and powerful evil that we are sworn to stop."
“Ancient evil.” Tom said flatly “C'mon, this is starting to sound like a bad B-movie.” He grinned at Yim, but she wasn't smiling this time.
“This is no joke Tom. The girl you met in the nightclub a week ago was a victim of this evil.”
At the mention of Theresa, Tom's mood sobered considerably. “OK, I'm listening” He stated. “Tell me about this 'ancient evil'.”
“The story starts in a far off land, in the deserts of Arabia….”
