I was in an old household – Chinese by the looks of it. I was facing a set of old, weather-beaten set of double doors. I opened them and found out it led to a verandah overlooking a marketplace. I noted the verandah was a common one for many of the houses adjoining the one I was in. It had a flight of stairs leading down to the sidewalk. It was dark…not a streetlight shone through the alleys.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps..hurried..down the sidewalk below the verandah, and up the staircase. A little girl appeared at the head of the stairs and ran along the verandah..towards where I was standing.

I hurried inside the house…hesitated…and stepped out of the doorway and motioned the little girl to get into the house. I could hear men shouting and making their way up the stairs.

“Hurry!“, I mouthed to the girl.

She ran in and I quickly bolted the doors shut. I listened as the men hurried across and up through another flight of stairs. 

“..before it’s too late..“, I heard one of the men pant.

As the footsteps of the men faded, I turned around. An old lady was standing in front of me. She was wearing an equally old and grey traditional Chinese outfit, ruffled and frayed in many places. She seemed to be over 80 years old, though it was hard to tell under the dim flickering light of the oil lamp.

“Why have you brought her inside the house? O God!! Have mercy!! Throw her out this instant!” , it was a language unknown to me, yet I understood every word that she spoke. And the fear…the fear in her voice…and in her eyes…sent a chill throughout my body..

“I won’t let them get her!”, I shouted back in the same dialect. I ran to the little girl and scooped her up in my arms. “Don’t worry my dear..they won’t get you..I’ll keep you sa…”

A hand tightened over my shoulder..an then..everything changed.

I could now see the whole scene playing out before me. I was no longer the one holding the child in my arms, instead, there was a woman several years older than me wearing a similar grey outfit, worn out and faded. She was staring lividly at the old lady, who had grabbed my…Her shoulder.