Short, Light, Free

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 gla.s.ses .

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 gla.s.ses, 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 pa.s.sing 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 pet.i.te 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 gla.s.ses?" 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 cla.s.s . But because he doesn"t ever let me touch his gla.s.ses, 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 gla.s.ses, 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 b.u.t.t first onto the ground .

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

I was certain .

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

I handed my gla.s.ses 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 gla.s.ses 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 gla.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed 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 gla.s.ses and looking into each ward .

I noticed that regardless of the s.e.x 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 a.n.a.lyzed 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 helpme 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 gla.s.ses 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 gla.s.ses 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 gla.s.ses 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 .