Short, Light, Free

Chapter 78: All-seeing Eye III

 

The things I saw became different.

I’ll have to start from the second week after I got my eye patch removed.

The doctor refused to admit that it was due negligence, but the hospital had agreed to pay for me to get a pair of glasses.

After an eye-check, the optician announced that my right eye vision was normal whereas my left eye was about 150 degrees in shortsightedness.

With the new glasses, my overall vision returned to normal.

Yet, I saw strange things.

I would see Mom walking amidst the crowds at times.

Mom was buried seven days after her death. I had my gauze removed on that same day so I wasn’t able to attend her burial.

As such, I attributed hallucination to this matter.

One day, when I was passing a park after school, I saw a familiar figure.

Yinuo.

And in that split second, I had actually mistaken her for my mom.

But when I took a second glance, she returned to her normal appearance.

But I was certain that I had just seen a petite version of Mom. Much smaller than me.

I walked over to Yinuo.

“Do you still remember me, little girl?” I asked.

“You’re brother one-eyed dragon! Why are you wearing glasses?” she asked before coming down the slide.

“My wound recovered but not my vision, so I have no choice but to put them on. I can’t see clearly otherwise.”

She looked at me. “My deskmate wears spectacles too and he’s doing really well in class. But because he doesn’t ever let me touch his glasses, I suspect at times that he’s only smart because of them.”

“Perhaps he’s been studying too hard,” I suggested.

“Can you lend me your glasses, brother?” Yinuo pleaded with a smile.

“It’s not a toy,” I told her sternly.

“Just a little while. I just want to know if it will make me smarter,” she persuaded.

“Alright, take it. Can’t really say no to you.” I smiled and took them off.

The moment I took it off, I got a shock and fell butt first onto the ground.

The vision in my left eye was blurry, but in front of me stood a petite version of Mom.

I was certain.

“What is it, brother one-eyed dragon?” Yinuo asked with concern.

I handed my glasses over to her before rubbing my eyes.

My right eye could still see clearly but the left was slightly blurry.

My right eye saw Yinuo but my left saw Mom.

Mom but with Yinuo’s build.

I covered my eyes, one at a time, and realized that I had two visions.

Yinuo fiddled with my glasses and put it on. When she got dizzy, she removed them and returned it to me. “The left side makes me feel giddy! I don’t want to be smart if I have to wear this.”

I quickly put the glasses back on and my vision became consistent. Yinuo was Yinuo again.

The moment I took it off, however, my left eye saw Mom again.

Baffled, I waved Yinuo goodbye before turning around.

A few steps later, I heard her call my name. When I turned back around, she was on the ground.

I dashed over. Her face looked pale and she seemed to have difficulty breathing.

Asthma.

“Where’s your medicine?” I asked.

With much effort, she pointed at her backpack not far away.

I ran over and rummaged through it, eventually finding her inhaler.

I passed it to her and saw her struggling to open and shake it.

I took it and sprayed it toward the sky but nothing came out. Even shaking it a few times did not help.

I knew it was finished.

Frustrated, I carried her up and made a run for the hospital.

I was fourteen and she was nine so it took me about six minutes before I got to the main road.

“Help!” I cried out as I put her down.

A few Samaritans nearby came over to check out the situation.

“Asthma attack!” I shouted.

One of them flagged down a car and carried Yinuo onto the backseat.

I sat in the front seat, my mind whirling.

Ten minutes later, we arrived at the emergency room.

After an hour of wait, the doctor came out shaking his head.

I was too stunned to move. “Who is she? Your sister?”

“No, I met her on the street,” I answered.

I paced back and forth in the hospital, taking off my glasses and looking into each ward.

I noticed that regardless of the sex of the patients, my left eye only saw someone who resembled Mom a lot.

For example, when I saw an old man in a ward, or rather, when my right eye saw an old man, my left eye saw someone who had a 70% resemblance to my mom.

I pondered over it as I ran through the halls frantically.

I noticed some things.

To my left eye, each person resembled my mom but to different extents. Yinuo, who looked the most alike, was dead.

I found an old lady, ashen-faced, in another ward who looked, to my left eye, almost identical to Mom.

Her whole family was by her side.

I plucked up the courage and asked one of them, “What is she sick with?”

The family member sighed. “Last stage of stomach cancer, not much time left to live. Go elsewhere to play, kiddo. Don’t come over here.”

This had something to do with Oscar, I was sure.

I analyzed everything that had happened and finally understood why he was able to predict death.

When it was almost time for a person to go, he or she took on the appearance of Oscar’s closest kin, be it his mother or anyone else. That explained why he would snug close to them each time and even give up food to accompany the person for a little more time.

And I was in that state, either because he scratched me, or because he died in my bed.

My left eye took over his ability to see death and in turn, I saw Mom when someone was about to die.

The nearer to death, the more alike they looked.

16 years later.

I’m a famous fortune teller. I even have a nickname – Supernova.

Word spread that if Supernova said you’re going to die, no matter how vigorous and lively you were, you should start preparing for your own funeral. But if he says you’re going to live, even with last stage cancer, you’re not going to die.

Of course, I’m able to predict this thanks to my ability.

I was practically the bearer of bad news and my accuracy rate was almost 100%.

Nevertheless, I could only predict and not save.

Yet, people were still attracted and wanted me to help them take a look.

My skill has even attracted media attention. Every three to five days, some reporters would come over and conduct an interview.

Recently, a program called ‘The Battle Between Psychics’ has invited me over as a guest for June 3rd’s episode.

The first round would be a testing game.

I would be locked up in a small room.

There would be five young people and one would be a cancer patient.

They would enter the room and I would have to identify the patient in order to succeed.

I took off my glasses and surveyed each one of them carefully.

To my left eye, all of them looked identical to mom.

I smiled, thinking about how considerate the program was. Were they afraid that I would get it wrong?

I was going to be correct no matter what. An entertainment program for sure.

I put on my glasses before exiting the room. “All five of them have late-stage cancer.”

The host responded with sarcastic astonishment, “Wow, Mister Lixia. I was told that only one of them is a cancer patient. Are you a charlatan?”

The crowd off stage started hissing and getting louder.

I thought about how difficult it must have been to gather five late-stage cancer patients. Furthermore, they were all going to die that night.

I took off my glasses and looked at the host. Mom.

I gazed at the crowd. With my right eye shut, all of them turned into Mom.

I picked up the microphone. “Am I a liar? All of you will find out soon because everyone’s about to die.”

To be continued.