Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 12 | Page 154

The next few days, they visited museums, famous monuments, absolutely everything that they could visit in one
week. On the last day, they were standing in front of a huge marble statue of Soong Ching Ling.
“Woah, she must’ve been really famous to have such a beautiful garden,” sighed Kate.
“Yes,” replied their mother. “She was even the vice president of the People’s Republic of China.”
As they went past the statue, a shiver went down Kate’s spine. A consciousness grazed hers.
“Who is it?” she asked a bit too loudly.
“It is me, the ghost of Soong Ching Ling,” replied the mysterious voice.
“And what are you doing in my head?” demanded Kate.
“I am here to stop many innocent people - including you - from dying.”
“I don’t understand,” she cried.
“You will soon.”
She then told Kate how the ghost of Dai Li had taken control of Charlie’s body, and how his enemies were planning
to put a bomb on the plane that would take their family back to America.
“Are ghosts even allowed to possess people?” asked Kate.
“They aren’t, except if the one they want to possess is their kin or if they have permission. About that, I would like
to have permission to go in your body, though I wouldn’t be in full control.”
“If it’s for the good of people, then, yes, I give you permission to enter my body.”
Her mother was peering at her strangely, and Charlie said triumphantly: “Now you’re the one talking to yourself!”
How do we stop the enemies from bombing our plane? asked Kate in her head.
“I talk to them, and they will stop when they hear of all the innocent people they would kill.”
How do we get Dai Li’s ghost out of Charlie’s body? questioned Kate again.
“That is up to you. I do not know him well enough. You alone can make the decision.”
Kate thought of what Dai Li would hate the most. Being arrested. If they could just pretend to put him in prison, the
ghost might get out of him.
While Soong Ching Ling talked to the ghosts of Dai Li’s enemies that only she could see, Kate ran to the police office
where she told the sergeant that her brother was mad, and convinced him that putting Charlie in a prison cell for just
a while would do him some good.
She ran back to the Soong Ching Ling Memorial Residence, then huffed: “Can I just borrow Charlie for a while?
There’s something I need to do with him.”
When her mother agreed, she pulled her brother to the police station, put him in the cell, and after a while, the
clouded expression left his eyes. Life went back to normal.