Whispers of the Forgotten Chapter 1

Prologue

This story surrounds the Hungry Ghost Festival, which Taoists living in Singapore, Vietnam, and China celebrate for an entire month. As its name suggests, it involves a lot of superstition.

Taoists leave many offerings to appease the hunger of wandering spirits, which cannot rest because of unresolved issues.

There are some rules Taoists follow. They cannot turn their heads upon hearing their names to avoid seeing these ghosts. Walking against walls at night is unadvisable, as is avoiding activities like swimming; there is a fear of water spirits. A water spirit is a protagonist in this story, so taking a bath would be an adventure.

This one involves an interesting ritual. Do read on.

Part 1

An Le Qu, or Peace Town, was abuzz with flurried activities. The Hungry Ghost Festival was capturing everyone’s attention; the sweet smell of incense was pervasive. Offerings to satisfy the appetites of wandering spirits lined the streets.

Lush greenery surrounded the remote town, known for its rich history and culture. The townspeople’s adherence to ancient customs caught the attention of adventurous historian and university lecturer Ethan Lee, who arrived after a long journey by coach. Worn paths, strewn with incense paper, greeted his tired feet. His parents marked the festival like everyone else in this rustic town; he was careful not to step on the scattered offerings.

After settling himself in the town’s only boutique hotel, Ethan grabbed a notebook and file. Curious and ever willing to learn, the young man hoped that visiting it would open his eyes.

And it did. In more ways than one.

Part 2: An Le Qu

Ethan, true to his rather inquisitive nature, made his way to the sleepy town’s only library. He had come across folklore involving an unappeased, malevolent entity that plagued its people; the altruistic streak in the historian and teacher wanted to find assurance for it and, hence, resolution for the town.

But first, there was a mystery surrounding the folklore that he needed to unravel.

His feet carried him straight to the library’s reference section and a file of old newspaper manuscripts. He thumbed through them eagerly until he came across a dusty, yellowed article with a headline that read, Woman Drowned By Ex-Lover Found In An Le River.

The ironic situation overwhelmed Ethan. An Le meant peace—surely, a river of peace wouldn’t host a drowning victim.

He knew he had found the spirit he was looking for. But how was he to give the assurance it needed?

But evening had fallen. Ethan glanced at his watch. He had to be home before it got too dark; he didn’t want random roaming spirits following him to his hotel.

He needed to rest himself before he could give it to this lost female soul.

Part 3: Ethan’s Dream

Exhaustion consumed Ethan as he got ready for a bath in his hotel room’s attached bathroom. He filled the antique bathtub with water, anticipating a good soak.

His bed called loudly, but it was the screech of furniture scratching the floor rather than a lonely ghost. He climbed into it eagerly and soon started snoring.

Respite didn’t last for too long. The Le River soon enveloped his mind. A sweet, dark-haired lady with well-chiseled features appeared by its embankment. A dark-haired young man with masked features caressed her hand. He kneeled before her and appeared to be doing the obvious—he reached into one of his pockets and drew out a ring box.

But he didn’t put any rings on her finger. At lightning speed, he pulled at the young lady’s legs, causing her to tumble over rocks and straight into the river.

Finally, he stood before it, his ambiguous face melting into a satisfied smirk.

The disturbing vision aroused Ethan, who sat up in bed with a start. Beads of perspiration poured down his cheeks, and he gritted his teeth. Hard. He was more certain than ever about who he needed to help.

But first, she needed to know who she was. And he knew who he needed to call.

Part 4: Jasmine and Mrs. Lin

The prospect of a new journalistic venture excited Jasmine Tan. She always relished the prospect of something novel and fresh.

So the phone call from Ethan was music to her ears.

“Yes, Ethan, it’s been a while. Surely this can’t be a date!”

The two had dated briefly when they were students at the University of Singapore but had ended their relationship when Jasmine became too involved in her journalistic pursuits and the quest to understand things.

“No, not a social call, I’m afraid, Jasmine.” He explained his attempt to find out about the entity haunting the town, the manuscript he had found, and the vision that had plagued him the night before. “I’ll need your interviewing skills. Are you in?”

Jasmine, always a purveyor of truth, readily agreed.

“I think I know where to start,” she got to the point as soon as she got out of the Nissan Sunny she had driven to the town. Jasmine was never one to mince her words.

Ethan nodded. “Great. Where do we go?”

“Let’s pay Mrs. Lin a visit. She’s one of An Le’s most prominent elders. She’d probably have more ideas about your dream.”

They reached one of the town’s many terraced houses and knocked on its door. An Le was obviously quite wealthy, if the homes of its residents were anything to go by. Mrs. Lin’s carefully manicured garden and rather grandiose home with ornate balustrades and pillars made quite an impression.

A lady in her seventies answered the door. Prim and proper, she wore a long-sleeved, rose-adorned blue dress with high, black Gucci heels. She had a string of pearls around her neck.

“You must be Mrs. Lin. This is Ethan,” With a quick swing of her arm, Jasmine introduced themselves and began right away with the reason for her visit. “Could you tell us about the mysterious entity plaguing An Le Qu? People have said a lot about it online.”

Mrs. Lin paused for a while, looking a little reluctant to broach the subject. After some time, she looked at the duo. “Come in,” she invited them to the living room. Like the rest of the surroundings, it spoke of substantial wealth—a cashmere rug lay on the floor, with a luxury leather settee surrounding it.

“I know about it, as does everyone here.” Her voice dropped to a low whisper. “About two decades ago, police discovered the body of a young lady, Mei Xuan, in the An Le River. She died under mysterious circumstances.”

Ethan drew up straight, eyes widening as he listened to the older woman.

“People around An Le have seen her spirit. She cannot seem to let go of what happened to her.” She paused and seemed to avoid Ethan’s gaze.

“So…. what happened?” Jasmine’s impatience overtook her journalistic professionalism as she pressed Mrs. Lin for answers.

The rather impersonal Mrs. Lin merely pursed her lips. She looked away from the avid historian and truth-seeking journalist, refusing to answer.

“Mrs. Lin,” Ethan cajoled gently. He understood that Jasmine’s uncompromising desire for answers would soon feature in interviews. “I realize Mei Xuan’s death is a difficult subject around here. But her soul deserves rest. And that’s why we’re asking all these questions.”

Mrs. Lin looked squarely at him. Her reluctant response came after a long pause. “You may be offending people of consequence if you pursue this any further, young people. I can tell you she met an unfortunate and unwarranted end. But no more, I’m afraid.”

“Well, thank you for your time.” Ethan handed her his card with his address and phone number printed on its back. “Do call us if you think of anything that you can share with us.” Jasmine put her card on the rosewood coffee table as well.

They left Mrs. Lin’s well-furnished home. Ethan bit his lip. Mrs. Lin’s tight lips were not so tight after all.

Part 5: The Whispers

Alone in his hotel room, Ethan tried to make sense of what Mrs. Lin had told him. Jasmine had retired to another room in the same hotel, also trying to get to the heart of the town’s ghostly debacle.

Was the woman in his dream the same one Mrs. Lin was referring to?

The shower seemed like the greatest host. Ethan turned on the heater and stepped into it, eager to relieve himself of the day’s dirt and stress.

The water seemed colder than usual. Ethan attributed this to the weather; he felt a cold draft blow through the room.

Shivering, and expecting the relief that the warm water would provide, Ethan fiddled with the rusty tap. It turned out that he didn’t need to; it had turned on itself.

‘What...’ Flabbergasted, he quickly scrambled to turn the tap in an anticlockwise direction.

Having had her bath, Jasmine sat at the writing desk in her room. She looked around for her treasured Parker Pen; her father had given it to her as a graduation present.

She couldn’t be a scribe that evening; it was strangely missing.

It was time for bed, anyway.

Part 6: Mei Xuan Speaks

Although Ethan’s room was a little dank, with a pervasive musty odour, Ethan fell into slumber like an infant. Fatigue, brought on by the draining conversation with Mrs. Lin, triggered the need for sleep.

Soon, he wasn’t alone. At least, not in his mind.

A whispery-soft voice soon filled it, growing louder and filling it.

“Need rest…”

The female voice woke him with an abrupt jump. Now clearly awake, he heard the same words.

“Need rest…”

In the other room, sleep hadn’t come easily to Jasmine. After tossing and turning for a few hours, she sat again at the desk.

The need to get answers for Mei Xuan consumed the experienced journalist.

“Zheng yi…” The Chinese words for justice, said in a female whisper, pervaded the room.

Jasmine bolted out of the door.

Part 7: The Ritual

Jasmine ran into Ethan in the corridor and caught sight of his pallid features. “Did you-?” She stammered.

“Yes.” He nodded a little too vigorously. “Jasmine, we’ll need to consult a Taoist priest about performing a ritual. Mei Xuan needs closure. Now.” There was urgency in his voice.

“The one my parents often consult for blessings could help,” Jasmine agreed. The need for resolution coloured her face. “I’ll call him.”

After a few words with the said priest, they sat down on the leather settee, gracing the hotel lobby, both shaken by their nightmarish ordeal.

The priest met them in the lobby and sensed the immense fear in Jasmine’s voice.

“We’ll have to perform a blessing for her.” He set up an altar within five minutes and recited the chants that would ease Mei Xuan’s soul. Since water featured in her demise, he placed a steamed cake near the bathtub as an offering.

The rest of the night passed without incident. The whispers ceased, and so did Mei Xuan.

Part 8: The Journal

Or so they thought. Ethan received a phone call from a somewhat anxious Mrs. Lin the next day.

“There’s something I haven’t shown you yet,” she told the young historian, who responded, as usual, with concerned furrows in his brows.

Mrs. Lin arrived at his hotel barely half an hour later. Her demeanor surprised the young pair; she was typically more stoic. In her hands was a journal with yellow, dog-eared pages. “You need to read this.”

Jasmine, ever the truth-seeker, gave her a questioning look.

“It’s Mei Xuan’s journal. I never showed it to you because of what that could do to all of us in this town.” She looked distressed beyond belief.

Urgent as this situation was, Ethan eagerly thumbed through its frayed pages. His eyes widened with intrigue.

“I’m petrified,” she had written. “Not for myself, but for this town. Evil, and evil people, exist here; What will they do to everyone if they know that I have found out?”

The rest of the tattered pages were too yellow to decipher.

“Mei Xuan’s spirit’s not left us yet,” Mrs. Lin, now rather somber, addressed them gravely. “She wants to tell all of us what she knows.”

“Why didn’t you…” Jasmine berated, her voice rising. “You could have told us this when we came to you yesterday. We need the truth before we can help her!”

Ethan held her arm. “Let Mrs. Lin speak. She may have had her reasons for her silence.”

“But…” The botched ritual and not being able to get to the heart of Mei Xuan’s demise had gotten to her. But she kept her peace.

“She had found out about powerful people who wanted to control An Le’s rich resources, including iron ore. Their authority enabled them to put a curse on anyone who wanted to tap into them. Mei Xuan’s lover was one of these rich and powerful tycoons, and the others pressured him to get rid of her because she was in their way. He threw her into the river.” She put her face in her hands, clearly regretful of her inaction.

Jasmine and Ethan stared at each other, nonplussed.

Part 9: The Next Steps

After thinking through the matter for some time, Ethan turned to the now Mrs. Lin. “We need to find out more about this curse, and what happened to Mei Xuan. Mrs. Lin, will you help us?” He gripped her shoulders.

The older woman continued sobbing, her reluctance making her unwilling to answer. After a while, however,she gave them a slow nod.