When he opened his eyes,
he was sitting at the table again at the restaurant. It was as if
that maddening moment and then the moment of ecstasy had never happened.
As if he had to do this all over again.
Except now it was different.
He was speaking that strange tongue. He was laughing. He was Chen
Tang after all.
Or was he? He was, and
yet, a deeper part of him was not this stranger whose life was apparently
his alone.
It was almost like he
had become separated from himself. Almost like he was watching a movie.
He stepped away from the table like a shadow of a dream, half remembered,
half forgotten, too hazy to hold on to.
But as he stepped away
from the table, Chen Tang was still there.
He tried to walk away.
He tried to run. But as he ran as fast he could, he found himself
traveling sideways through this Chen Tang's life. There was intrigue.
There was a plot. There was turmoil. There was a choice to be made.
An all important choice. The fate of many lives rested upon his decision.
It didn't bother him before.
Why did he care now? Should he do the right thing? Should he make
the ultimate sacrifice...
The moment of decision
had arrived. Quick, quick, before it's too late. He screamed and ran
faster until Chen Tang's life was but a blur of impressions and experiences
blending into a blinding flash of light. And he did not stop running
until there was only darkness.
