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The four girls were integral parts of each other.
They spent most of their lives together. Ever since grade 4, when they met after Jing had slapped a boy that was harassing them. They've stuck together since then, going through the highs and lows of life. They saw every phase, every embarrassing moment—which they definitely use against each other—and they've even broken laws together… accidentally.
It was a major surprise to them when they suddenly had to escape the police after apparently trespassing.
Zhuyue, Jing, and Mei had all been mistaken as siblings in the past. Strangers thought that Yaqi was adopted. But, at the same time, why would someone adopt a know-it-all ginger?
They spent every occasion together. Chinese New Year, summer break, Halloween, Christmas. They've gotten scared that one of them would be moving in the past; it turns out Mei had misunderstood her parents. They meant their cousin was moving, not them. She still gets bullied over that to this day.
The four girls had recently bumped into a man a few days ago. They were trying to run from Yaqi, who was chasing them for calling her stupid. Zhuyue and Jing had apologized. Mei was more anxious around strangers, so her apology sounded more like a squeak than a "sorry." The ominous man's glare could have murdered them if looks could kill.
Mei worried over that moment for hours, until Yaqi called her out for having done worse.
It wasn't until now that they had received an anonymous letter that read,
"Dear all three of you,
You do not know me. However, I know all of you.
Yaqi Mo, you're top of Xuexiao. Ginger hair that you braid. You live near the forest. You want to leave this country, right? France, is it? But tell me, when's the last time you got picked first? The last time someone willingly hung out with you? The last time you got invited without having to ask if you could come?
Jing Zhao, you are impulsive. You're in archery, competitively. You're sensitive under all that fire. You write poems, pouring your heart into woeful lines, hoping it will get you somewhere, someday. How tragic.
Zhuyue Su, we are closer than you think. You think you're so smart. Your mother put you into every extracurricular imaginable, right? You are nothing but a naive, weak child running through the wilderness with your wounded, fragile heart in your hand.
I know more. But if I dare to continue writing, I will inadvertently expose my identity. The identity that shall remain unknown to you all.
If you're all so smart, use your brain."
That had sent the girls spiralling.
"Who even sent this?" exclaimed Zhuyue. "What do they mean? They know us? I'm close to them?"
"I swear to the Gods, if this is another one of your gags, Jing," Yaqi had started, only to get cut off by Jing's shrill denial.
"It's not me! On my life, it isn't me! Also, how do they know about my poetry? That was kind of rude."
"Wait, so," Mei began, pulling the other three girls out of their spiral. "It said the three of you. They didn't mention me; does that mean I'm safe from… whatever this is?"
"Who cares. We just got threatened!… I think," exclaims Yaqi. "They said they knew more! How much do they know? Do they know our addresses?"
"What if they try to attack us?" Jing panicked.
"If they know me and my mother, then they have to be close. They wouldn't murder or attack us. I'll see if anyone I know recognizes the handwriting," Zhuyue replied, keeping a stoic facade.
It was the most comfort they could get in that moment.
It took about a week for Zhuyue to come back with any information.
She walked to the group with confidence. She arrived with the letter in her hands and that same feigned calmness she always carried.
"I have an update."
The three girls' eyes widened, urging Zhuyue to tell them.
"My mother has knowledge on this. She said that the handwriting was similar to our second uncle, Zhenyu Liu. "My mother met him once in Jinan," she informed them. Her tone was cold and precise, like it usually was, but something was different now. It had an undertone of unease. "She said that he had met me when I was a child, that he had threatened me. He said that he would throw me if I cried… and then I did. He stayed true to his words, but my mother stopped before he could."
"Oh… oh my goodness…" Mei muttered.
"Zhuyue, we had no idea." Yaqi spoke, her voice barely above a whisper. Jing had nothing to say for once.
"My mom said he had some kind of god complex," Zhuyue continued, adding more facts that made the situation even more harrowing. "He tried to take everyone out of my grandmother's will once. He tried to sell our house. He's been to jail as well."
"So, he's a genuine threat." Yaqi said, her tone shifting from concern to bluntness.
"Not even my mom knows about my poetry, so unless one of you three told your parents, then it means he's stalking us," Jing butted in.
"Oh," Zhuyue realized. "Oh, oh my goodness, this is bad."
"You think?!" Exclaimed Yaqi, content that someone finally had common sense in this situation.
"He's going to harm us and erase Mei from the story. I'm not sure if he's willing to go far enough to murder us, but he's going to hurt us." Zhuyue explained to a confused Jing.
"What if he only hurts you guys but kills me?" Mei whimpered.
"No. We aren't going to let this happen. Not any of it. Not us getting hurt, not you dying, none of it. Nothing," Jing said firmly. "If he even tries to get near us, I swear to the Gods I will make him wish he was never born."
The girls quickly created a plan. It wasn't the best plan; in fact, it was a very weak plan. But it was a plan, and plans bring comfort. No matter how feeble they are. They were going to have to suck up their pride and beg their parents to move. They needed to get away from this area, from this man. China was a big country; he wouldn't be able to follow them entirely.
So, let the humiliation commence.
"Hey, Mom," Mei started once she got home, dragging out the vowels. "So, like, you know how I and my friends got that weird letter?"
"What about it?" Her mom replied, not looking forward to whatever was about to be said, judging from her daughter's tone.
"Can we move?"
"Absolutely not."
"Damn it!"
Yeah, humiliation indeed.
Zhuyue walked over to her mother once she returned home.
"Mother," she began, her tone steady, cold, and precise. "With the letters that I and my friends have received, we feel unsafe. We have concluded that we would feel safer if we moved."
"No."
Her stoic expression faltered.
"Mother, please—"
"No. It's too expensive, and you would have to leave all your tutors and coaches. We're not moving."
She'll just have to try again later.
Yaqi had already formed a plan when she got home. She would treat it like a debate. She already had statistics and facts ready. How many people got killed by stalkers, kidnapped, or assaulted? How it was better to leave while the situation was still minor.
She was ready.
So, when she walked into her home, buzzing with a mixture of excitement and fear, and didn't see her parents, she fumbled.
"Mom?" She called out, pausing before calling for her father as well. "Are you home?"
She walked towards the dining table, quickly spotting a piece of paper.
"We'll be back Monday."
That's it. No signature, no "Love, Mom and Dad," nothing. Just, "We'll be back Monday."
Right. Of course. Why would her parents ever give her a clue to where they went? She was either going to have to stay here on her own and pray that no one would try to attack her or go stay with one of her friends.
She thought about the two options; she had already stayed at Mei's house three times this month. She went to Zhuyue's once in desperation, and her mother was not fond of it; Zhuyue's mother didn't even know she had stayed over because she had to sneak around. She had stayed at Jing's house twice and wasn't too liked by her parents.
Alas, she was trapped here. She would have to just suck it up and stay home. She could do it; she's done it for years. It just… hurt? Like, a lot. Her heart throbbed whenever she thought about it.
Well, mission failed.
Jing was hesitant to ask her parents. She understood the risk that staying here imposed, but moving was such a big thing. She took a deep breath and approached her father.
"Dad. Can we move?"
"What?" He responded, caught off guard. "Like move around or move houses?"
"Move houses," she responded, looking down bashfully. "Me and my friends received a letter, and it was threatening us and had a lot of personal information… and we're, like, really creeped out right now." God, it hurt to show weakness.
"I, I don't know, kiddo. Moving is so expensive. Are you sure it's that serious? Maybe it's just someone pulling a prank."
"Whatever…"
The girls met up the next day, each dejected in their own ways. Mei was the first to notice, letting out a dry chuckle.
"So we all got told no?" She asked, glancing around at the others.
"Obviously," Zhuyue answered, leaving no space for the others to speak.
The girls stared at one another. Maybe they were just overreacting. They thought back to the letter and what it had contained: information that no one else should've known and oddly specific details of their home lives.
"Well, I technically haven't gotten a no yet," Yaqi piped up but got cut off when she was about to continue.
"Oh?" Jing let out a small noise of curiosity. Mei, on the other hand, seemed to understand immediately.
"Oh, are your parents…?" She didn't need to finish the sentence; the message was clear. Especially between the two.
"Yeah, but that technically doesn't mean no!"
"No, it does. It definitely does." Yaqi responded dryly, "Hundred percent it does."
They sat in silence. Their plan had failed, and now they needed to figure something else out before it was too late. Zhuyue glanced back over to the letter, picking it up and reading it again. She read every word diligently, almost obsessively.
"We can't stop this."
There it was, the ugly truth. No matter how hard they tried, it was going to happen. They were going to get hurt, maybe even killed.
"If he's trying to kill us, we need to make our lives known. We won't get to choose who lives or dies, but we can try to make who we were known," Zhuyue said bluntly.
"Yeah, and then what? Get turned into a Netflix Original? Our lives are at stake!" Yaqi shouted, upset at the lack of urgency from her friends.
"I'm too young to die! I wanted to become an actor!" Jing shrieked, tears welling up in her eyes. Zhuyue was always the reasonable one. She would never agree to an idea like this. So, the fact that she is currently telling them that something grave will happen is like being told the time of your death is two days away. In fact, that's not even a "like" scenario. That's just what it is!
"Can he at least hold off until graduation? I've been working my whole life for that." Yaqi mumbled reluctantly, still not open to the thought that he could very well kill them.
"At least he'll solve my identity crisis," Mei said with a laugh, which slowly dwindled down to silence. "Okay, not funny. Tough crowd."
They all sat in an uncomfortable silence. The air filled with an uncomfortable realization and fear. They had questions, so many questions, and no answers in sight. What would their parents do? Did they have to write some kind of suicide note? Would it even be considered a suicide note?
Yaqi was the first to break the silence.
"So, what do we do?" She spoke, her voice carrying an unusual tone of fear, almost softness.
"Cry?"
"Run?"
"We've already tried running, genius," Jing quipped.
"Okay, then what do we do?! Because I don't know if you've realized, but last time I checked, we're going to get killed!" Yaqi exclaimed, the stress getting to her.
"We accept it."
They all looked over to Mei, who was staring at the ground with a solemn expression.
"What? Are you saying we just accept our death?! We can prevent this! You want us to just sit there and do nothing like some lard-ass!?" Yaqi yelled, her emotions overwhelming her.
"We make our lives known. We write our existence so that they can't take it away," Zhuyue spoke.
"What, like Hamilton?" Jing laughed.
"If you want."
The joke didn't land because it was an option. They could turn this into anything they needed, turn themselves into the best version of themselves, anything. Another wave of silence rolled over the group; this was getting quite common now. Which was uncomfortable, since they were the type to never shut up.
Yaqi was the one to break it this time.
"My," she paused when everyone's head snapped towards her, and she laughed nervously. "My parents have a lot of extra paper that they never use. I could bring some tomorrow."
"Yeah, that works," Mei replied.
They had essentially given up on school by now, except for the obvious Yaqi. She's at the top of the school. But, that was beside the point. Whenever teachers questioned them on their odd behaviour, they gave a simple "I'm fine!" or they just walked away.
They found each other in the hallways and quickly exchanged papers, quiz answers, and homework answers. They couldn't be bothered to fully pay attention or do their work. As long as they got a passing grade, they were okay.
When they met up next, they made sure they were in a public area; they would have to start doing that for safety reasons. Witnesses, is what Zhuyue and Yaqi reasoned. They decided on the library this time; it's easy to work on the letters and not look weird.
"How do I start a letter?" asked Jing.
"Are you stupid?" Yaqi blurted.
"You start with their name, and then you write your thoughts." Mei explained, not looking up from her page.
"Okay, thanks. You're so kind, unlike some people here," Jing said, spitting that last part out while staring at Yaqi.
"Oh, shut up!" Yaqi burst out, to which a library attendant gave her a harsh stare. She looked away and back at the letter she was working on, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. She read over what she had so far.
"My dearest Jing,
I look at you every day, wanting to profess my undying feelings that eat away at me each night. I long to lie in your arms, to be able to love you every day. My unyielding emotions do nothing but cause me harm, a gnawing feeling that eats away at my stomach where butterflies reside."
She crumpled the paper, grabbing a new one from the large pile she brought. She couldn't write anything like that. They were just friends. They were two close friends. Nothing more.
"My dearest Jing,
As summer creeps closer with every passing day, I feel nothing but wanting to stay close. If possible, could we organize a system where I could come over, even unplanned? As we both understand the issue with my parents, this would be lovely."
After everyone's first letter was written, Jing groaned.
"Are we done yet?"
"What?" Mei asked, confusion settling over her features as she processed Jing's question.
"No! I can't—I mean, we can't just give one letter. We have to prove we were, like, good friends," Yaqi lectured.
Jing groaned again.
The four stayed there, writing silently for hours. The stillness was shattered every now and then, usually when someone was trying to find another word to use or if they just needed to find a new idea.
As they fell back into the rhythm of their day-to-day life, writing letters became second nature. Instead of shooting each other a text or an email, they'd write a letter. At first, Jing made fun of it.
"What is this, the 1800s?"
But god, she had fallen in love with it. She'd even bought specialized pens to write with. Instead of watching TV at the end of the day, she'd write a letter to her friends. It was almost like journaling.
One day, they were simply hanging out when they found another letter was sent to them.
"You three are smart," it began.
"Wow, not even a "Dear all three of you" this time," Mei said, rolling her eyes as Zhuyue kept reading.
"Writing letters like it's the olden days—impressive. However, you can't save yourselves. I am always five steps ahead. I am always armed. I am always watching. What are you all even doing? Are you trying to destroy me with the power of friendship like this is some kid's show? This isn't a cartoon; this is real life. You three aren't going to get anywhere. You all think you have me all figured out, but you are wrong. Don't worry, I've already made sure no one will believe you if you try to report this. Your little friend Zhuyue forges people's handwriting every now and then. You won't be able to save yourselves.
Signed, your favourite, Messenger Bird"
"He's smart," Zhuyue said, finally letting panic break into her voice.
"Why does he have to know so much!" Yaqi groaned.
"Well, he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does," Mei started. "He's yet to mention me in any of these letters." She said, still holding on to the hope that he wasn't trying to erase her existence.
"I think we know that he knows about you. We already figured out his whole plan," Jing commented. "Oh, Yaqi. You have a flyaway." She said, leaning over and tucking the hair behind Yaqi's ear, her hand lingering just a moment longer than it should.
Yaqi felt her entire face heat up at the touch. She panicked, mentally screaming. What was Jing doing, and why did it awaken the butterflies in her stomach? She took a shuddering breath, composing herself before speaking.
"Thanks," she said, voice shaking. Perfect. She nailed that!
"Well, if you two lovebirds could stop, we technically did something right," Zhuyue pointed out, earning a squawk from Yaqi and Jing, while Mei giggled. "If he went out of his way to write another letter and go to these measures to make sure we couldn't report this. We're doing something to intervene with his plan. He's upset now that we figured it out." Zhuyue rambled.
"Someone stop her, oh my goodness," Jing said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh my god, I have a math test tomorrow!" Yaqi squeaked before running out.
"Well, I guess that concludes our panic session," Mei threw, walking out after Yaqi.
A few days later, Mei and Jing had thrown in the towel for being present in class. Mei had seen someone staring in through one of the windows and said she was done. Jing followed after her after finding a Polaroid photo at her front door of her in class.
Skipping in the bathroom was the common escape. They often sought refuge there, hiding in the stalls or washing their hands at least a thousand times. This time, they weren't so lucky. Mei had something her body wasn't agreeing with and was vomiting. One of the teachers who was already suspicious of them walked in almost two minutes after the bell rang.
"Ah, Jing Zhao!" The older woman said, her tone ready to lecture until Mei threw up again. "Oh, and Mei An." She sighed.
Jing was not in the mood to have to deal with getting lectured. She stared at the authoritative woman with a challenging look, as if she wanted to fight her.
"Listen, I don't know if you heard over all the vomiting, but the bell rang. You're late for class."
"Mei wasn't feeling well. I'm helping her." Jing replied, a tone of mock care entering her voice.
"Not without a hall pass you're not. A week's detention."
"Oh, actually," a new voice said, emerging from the second stall, holding a small paper holding permission. "All three of us are out on a hall pass. Yearbook committee."
It was Zhuyue.
The teacher snatched the note from her hands, reading over it.
"I see you're all listed," she said with reluctance. "Hurry up and get where you're going." She said, giving the paper back to Zhuyue and leaving.
"Zhuyue? Since when do you skip?" Jing said, talking over the retching coming from the stall.
"Since my safety is my main concern. I'd rather get in trouble than get stalked." She responded dryly.
They didn't need to say anything. They all understood the feeling. For a group so passionate and loud, these last few weeks had felt foreign. It felt like being in someone else's body and living a stranger's life. Wanting to brighten the mood, Jing laughed.
"Wow, little Miss-to-Second-Perfect-Student is skipping! It's crazy how people shift from their usual selves during moments of crisis.
"Jing, don't be rude," Mei said while emerging from the stall. "I think I'm going to go home now. I just threw up everything I ate within the last two weeks. That was horrible."
"Wait," Zhuyue started. "He might follow you."
"Oh, you're right," Mei said, contemplating her next course of action. "I could go to the school library? No, they'd catch me skipping." She jabbered on, mainly speaking to herself.
"Go to the nurse," Jing said. "She always lets me skip there. She's pretty relaxed on that."
"Yeah, smart." Mei smiled, walking out of the bathroom.
After two paranoia-filled weeks, Yaqi was looking over all the letters she had received, her eyes lurking on the pile that Jing had sent her. She decided to read over them, just to remember all their conversations and memories. She grabbed the first one she saw.
"My Yaqi,
To write all this makes me feel like I need to be in some kind of musical about a founding father (if you know what I mean haha)."
Hold on. Did Jing just address her with "My Yaqi" as if they were coupled? She knew Jing wasn't entirely stupid; she was at least smart enough to understand undertone. She sighed, deciding to just look over that letter. She grabbed another letter, one that was more recent.
"My dearest, Yaqi,"
Okay, what the hell? Jing had to know that the comma was AFTER the name and not before. It was simple grammar. She had to go confront her about it.
So, once she got to the scheduled hangout, she marched up to Jing.
"Hey! Jing!" She yelled, not messing around.
"Oh, yes, Yaqi?" Jing replied, turning to look at Yaqi.
"I was reading over your letter, and you said, 'My dearest, Yaqi,' with a comma after 'dearest'! You should know that it's after the person's name! If you put your comma after their name, it means that they're the dearest of all of the people with that name! When you put a comma after "dearest," it means they're the dearest person, and then you're addressing their name! "-"She scolded before the realization dawned on her while watching Jing's expression.
"Who's to say I didn't mean what I wrote?" Jing questioned with a sly, smug smirk on her face.
"It's about time they confessed." Mei muttered, turning to Zhuyue while Yaqi sputtered in the distance.
"But, we, like, hate each other." Yaqi mumbled, embarrassed.
"Yaqi, have you read your letters? You sound like a lovesick puppy in most of them." Jing called out, nudging Yaqi.
"That's not my fault! You're just like, really cute… but you annoy me! You're like, super annoying!" Yaqi exclaimed, visibly flustered.
"Quit being an idiot and just accept that I love you."
Yaqi's face paled. She turned around and took a few paces, walking away from Jing before turning back sharply and walking up to her. Once she was face-to-face with Jing, she prepared to say something.
Instead, she took a shaky exhale.
She started swaying. Jing's eyes widened as she quickly grabbed Yaqi's arms, holding her stable.
"Don't faint, idiot," she grumbled.
Zhuyue's eyes widened as she looked at the two. It was finally happening. She turned and muttered in Mei's ear.
"Finally, I won't have to listen to their pathetic mutual pining."
Mei laughed.
"You know what? Screw it," Yaqi said.
She took another shaky breath.
Before pulling Jing in for a kiss.
Mei's jaw dropped.
"Oh my Gods, am I seeing this right?"
"Finally." Zhuyue exclaimed, unusual for the stoic girl.
Yaqi proceeded to then faint in Jing's arms.
"Did that actually just happen?" Jing squeaked, eyes wide.
"You just confessed to your best friend, and she kissed you. Yes, Jing. That did just happen. No, you are not dreaming," Mei said, regaining her composure.
"Good job." Zhuyue laughed.
Jing just stood there before beginning to laugh.
"Do we need to call someone?" Zhuyue muttered over to Mei.
"Why are you acting normal? It's weird. You usually act like some kind of robot," Mei barked.
"Where is this coming from?" Zhuyue asked, taken aback by Mei's sudden complaints.
"No! You always act like a goody-two-shoes, and now you're skipping class and making good jokes? What has gotten into you?!"
Yaqi awoke from her shock-induced faint.
"Okay, I'm okay now. I'm normal now," she breathed. "Can we start going to the mall now?"
"Yeah!" Jing exclaimed, obviously flustered by the way she spoke, just too fast.
As the girls started walking through the streets, they had come to the realization that nothing too odd had happened recently. Zhenyu hadn't made any threats since that last letter they received two weeks ago. Maybe he had given up? They seemed to have been upsetting him with their letters. So, feeling safe, they decided to take their usual route to the mall. It had a lot of alleyways and secluded areas, so they hadn't been taking it. Today, they decided they would.
Zhuyue suddenly stopped walking, causing Mei and Yaqi to bump into her and pause their laughing.
"What's wrong, Yue?" Mei asked, to which she didn't get an answer.
"Yeah, what's going on? I want to go get food!" Yaqi pouted. Jing watched the situation silently, not letting go of Yaqi's hand.
"Zhenyu…?" Zhuyue called out, her voice sounding strangled.
A man came out of the shadows like some kind of action movie, a smirk plastered on his face.
"You're smart, aren't you, Zhuyue?" he chuckled. He was visibly larger than the girls. Lurking over them at at least 5'9.
"What do you want?" Jing said roughly.
"Oh, no need to get feisty, girls." He said, his voice deepening.
Yaqi felt paralyzed, the fear overwhelming her as she glanced over to Mei's pale face. She took a step back, inadvertently yanking her hand away from Jing.
"I'm just here to teach you all a lesson!" He said, his voice dripping with sarcastic chipperness.
Mei looked back at Yaqi, a sudden heavy feeling filling her stomach. She instinctively slapped her hand over her mouth as she gagged.
"Awh, is someone going to get sick?" Zhenyu mocked. "I'd love to entertain you all, but I want to get this over with quickly." He spoke, eyes darkening as he pulled out some kind of pocketknife.
"Put that down!" Jing cried out.
He stepped closer, pulling Yaqi to the front of the group. In a moment of pure shock and panic, she shouted.
"Unhand me!" She yelled with… a British accent?
Even Yaqi herself paused, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion before realizing Zhenyu had loosened his grip on her in the moment of shared confusion. She wrestled herself out of his grip and proceeded to start sprinting away. Zhuyue followed next, then Jing, and as Mei started to go, Zhenyu grabbed onto the back of her shirt and pulled her back. She fell back, choking out a strangled gasp for air before falling on her back. She started coughing, her diaphragm paralyzed from the harsh fall. She wheezed, trying to get the air to return into her lungs.
Zhuyue stopped when she heard the loud thud. Yaqi and Jing's step stuttering as well. Mei groaned, scrambling away from the man overhead. Unfortunately for her, he took this as a perfect opportunity to slash at her brachium. Her arm gave out, causing her to fall and paralyze her diaphragm again. The fear and adrenaline built up in her seeing the crimson red liquid pour out of the wound. Zhuyue ran over, and Zhenyu quickly took the last opportunity to lacerate her side. Mei wailed, the sounds escaping her sounding guttural.
Zhuyue threw herself onto Zhenyu, attempting to grab the knife from him. While she did this, Yaqi and Jing rushed over to help Mei up, hoisting her up by the shoulders. Mei accepted the help, too focused on surviving. She held onto her slit side, pushing down with as much strength as she had.
Zhuyue grunted, trying to rip the blade away from the man she was woefully related to. He had the upper hand with his body leaning on top of hers due to the height difference. Zhuyue took a deep breath, her mind recalling all of the self-defence tactics she knew. Unfortunately, the adrenaline in her system clouded her judgment and memory. She elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to let out a sharp grunt. He kicked into the back of her knees, the unexpected push to her joints taking her off her balance.
The two were still fighting for the knife, and it was closer to Zhuyue, specifically her abdomen. While Zhenyu kicked her popliteal fossa, he twisted the knife to face upwards instead of to the ground like it was before. When Zhuyue collapsed, the knife stabbed her. She screamed, the sound not escaping the isolated path. Jing let go of Yaqi, going to help Zhuyue.
The man swiftly retrieved the knife. As Jing ran over to the girl on the ground, he sliced her in the closest area he could reach. However, Jing stayed strong, refusing to go down without a fight. She absentmindedly used her arm to hit him in the wrist, hitting his radial artery and getting cut in the process. He dropped the knife as his body reacted to the blow.
Jing rushed over to the knife that was lying on the ground.
"Don't you dare come near me!" She shouted, holding the knife out in preparation for any sudden movements.
Zhenyu chuckled darkly, taking precise steps away from Jing. She watched as he raised his arms in mock surrender.
"Drop the knife, darling." He spoke, his tone cold.
"No!" Jing growled.
"Well then, you're just begging for it."
He snatched the knife back. He raised his hand and wounded Jing. With three out of the four girls being injured, he could finally execute his original plan.
He walked over to Yaqi and Mei. Yaqi had refused to look back during the entire incident; he delivered one painful slash to her calf, causing her to stumble and release Mei from her grasp. Yaqi tried to leave, to at least save herself. But once her eyes met Zhenyu's and saw nothing but pure malice, her system panicked. Her elbows caved, and she fell to the ground. Zhenyu sliced at her sides, mirroring Mei's injuries. Yaqi's face paled at the sight of her skin being ripped open by the pocketknife. Her body went to protect itself and caused her to pass out.
"Now, with those distractions out of the way," he began, walking towards a shaking Mei. "Let's get to the actual issue." He said, stabbing her under her ribs. She let out a pained sob.
"No! Please!" She screamed gutturally as tears ran down her face.
"No one is going to remember you, Mei An. I'll burn all the letters they wrote to you. I'll burn all the identification there is of you. I'll break into your home and kill your parents. He kicked her over, and once he was greeted by her back, he plunged the knife into her shoulder.
"You should've just apologized properly." He said, spitting on her before walking away from the scene.
Jing was still conscious. She feigned passing out after her attack in hopes he would move on from her. It worked. She quickly got her cellphone out of her back pocket, turning it on and calling emergency services.
"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency and where?" The operator asked, saying her obligated script.
"Four stabbed," she breathed out. She looked around for a street sign and found none. She hoped there was a way they could just pin down the location of the phone she was calling from.
"Okay, and where is this happening? Are you hurt?" The operator questioned, typing down the information for the police records.
"I'm stabbed; I don't remember where... we are," Jing whimpered before joining the rest and passing out.
Hours later, the girls had all woken up, each at different moments. Jing first, then Yaqi, then Mei, and lastly Zhuyue. They were each disoriented by the fluorescent white lights. They had gotten informed that they were in the Intensive Care Unit. They had gotten attacked by someone with a knife.
"Zhenyu… Liu…" Zhuyue managed to get out before falling asleep.
The information got reported to the police, who checked the system for a "Zhenyu Liu" and, sure enough, found his previous charges. They had launched an investigation, trying to find him.
They received a call that someone had found him in the middle of a Walmart looking at foldable chairs for camping.
Soon enough, he was in custody.
While the girls healed, both physically and mentally, in the hospital, they got questioned by many different people. Each one of them had the same story. Zhuyue somehow had the first letter with her and gave it to the police. Zhuyue called her mother and got the second letter the man had sent; she gave it to the police as well. They had a strong case.
After a few weeks, Zhenyu Liu was sentenced to 80 years in prison with no parole. The girls could finally live in peace again.
After a few months, they had all been cleared to go live their regular lives. They started to appreciate the little things more now. Like how they could laugh as loud as they wanted without having to worry about being watched. How they could live in peace now. They had scars, both to their minds and to their physical bodies. But at the same time, they had each other.
When Jing and Yaqi both saw each other for the first time after the attack, they kissed for a solid two minutes. They had grown into a stable couple. Them being themselves and loving each other no matter what happened had encouraged Zhuyue to confess her feelings to Mei, who had happily returned them. The group planned to move to France after they graduated. They had already finished a basic French language class.
Some nights, they woke up in a cold sweat and had returned to that day where they almost lost their lives, but they'd take a deep breath, call someone, and drink some cold water. But some nights were worse. If nothing seemed to work, they'd dunk their face in cold water to shock their system.
The day of their high school graduation was beautiful and heartbreaking. They said their goodbyes to their favourite people. But they knew it was just the next chapter of life opening up for them.
They had realized that sometimes all you need are the things they overlook the most. Some days, it felt like the world was against them. Some days, they were on top of the world, though. But through their highs and lows, they had each other, and that's all that really mattered.