My Eyes: Part IV

(Story begins here.)

To my surprise, everything seemed to go back to normal. Or rather, back to the original state in which I had once seen them. I could feel my heart racing, my head suddenly feeling very light. There was something rather strange going on, and I haven't the foggiest clue what it was. I reached for the door once again, and found that I wasn't hallucinating earlier---the door did not have a knob.

``Why are you trying to run away?'' Uncle San said with a quizzical voice. ``Why are you acting so confused?''

``Junhao, calm down,'' Shumei suddenly said. ``I know what you are experiencing.''

``Lies!'' I shouted. ``Utter bullshit and lies! What the hell is going on here? Why did you bring me to this weird place? And what is Uncle San exactly? Why is there no way of leaving this shop?''

Uncle San made a move that was too quick to see, and suddenly he was already next to me, despite being behind the counter earlier. He held out his hand and rested it heavily on the top of my head with his palm. He mumbled a few words under his breath, words that I did not manage to catch, and I slowly felt a tingling sensation that was moving from my body upwards from my spine up to the crown of my head. I could feel my panic subsiding, my breathing normalised and my heart rate slowing back down. Then, he stopped, raised his hand from my head and brought it back to his side, chuckling a little to himself.

With the new-found sense of calm, I started to look about me once more. Shumei was still standing there, somewhat emotionless once again, while Uncle San had walked back to his original position behind the counter. I walked forward towards Uncle San, stealing a glance at Shumei, who was still standing there and looking onward with little affect. I started to wonder if it was her that I heard who told me to calm down.

``Well Junhao, let's start this all over, shall we? I am San Chin-Fong, but most people call me `Uncle San'. You are in my shop, and I know what is wrong with you and why you had that sudden reaction.''

``What did you do to Shumei?'' I demanded, emboldened by his relatively meek-looking demeanour.

``Shumei? I didn't do anything to her. It's a side effect of this place and what you are experiencing. She had called me earlier today to inform me that you were acting as though your Eyes had finally opened, and I told her to bring you over as soon as she could before you started to hurt yourself from the things that you have seen.'' Uncle San paused for a moment and cleared his throat. ``Besides, Shumei is one of my agents.''

``Agents? What do you mean?''

``Shumei is a member of our sect since young. Her parents are also a part of the sect. We go around looking for people who have opened Eyes and try to help them deal with the consequences of having their Eyes opened. Not all members have opened Eyes though. Shumei is one of those who doesn't have her Eyes opened, but she has seen enough people who have that she can tell if someone is undergoing the steps that causes their Eyes to open.''

``Then why is she standing there like that?''

``Like I said,'' Uncle San replied. ``It's a side effect of this place.''

``And just what is this place?'' I asked.

(Story continues here.)