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墨書 Inktalez
The rain began to fall, the winter rain in Beihai cold and biting.
The thugs had finally had their fun. Before leaving, the leader drew a line across my forehead with a key, blood mingling with the rain as it flowed into my eyes.
"Remember, this is my territory. Don't let me see you again tomorrow!" They tossed this remark over their shoulders and vanished into the rainy night.
I lay on the ground, too weak to get up. The rain washed over my body and my wounds, but it couldn't cleanse the filth and despair within me.
I closed my eyes, suddenly wishing for death. In that moment, it seemed like the only escape.
In the end, I struggled to rise. The rain fell harder, and I dragged my battered body aimlessly down the street.
Suddenly, a light caught my attention—the Beihai Construction Police Station.
Twenty days of fleeing had taught me that some things are scarier than prison—namely, the endless flight and the fear and loneliness of not knowing when it would end.
"Go in, Li Fuming," I told myself. "At least inside, you won't have to hide anymore, you won't have to worry about starving, and you won't have to endure all of this alone."
I took a step forward, then another. With each step, the weight on my heart lightened a little.
Ms. Zhang's face appeared in my mind—not the bloodied visage from before, but her living self. I even remembered her gentle moments; like that time I had a fever and she brought me a cup of hot water.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Zhang," I murmured to myself. "I made an unforgivable mistake, and now I must pay for it."
Reaching the police station's entrance, I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The duty officer looked up at me, his eyes flashing with caution.
"Do you need something?" he asked, sizing up my disheveled appearance.
My throat tightened; I could barely speak.
"I... I want to turn myself in," I finally managed to say, my voice hoarse and trembling.
"Turn yourself in?" The officer was clearly taken aback. "What have you done?"
"I... I've killed someone."
As soon as the words left my lips, I suddenly felt a strange sense of relief, as if the heavy stone pressing on my heart had finally been lifted.
The police officer's expression turned serious in an instant. He gestured for me to sit down and then called over a colleague.
"Who did you kill? Where? When?" A barrage of questions came my way.
"In Jinan City, Cultural West Road, a month ago, I killed my employer, Ms. Zhang," I replied calmly, as if recounting someone else's story.
One officer quickly made a phone call to report, while they poured me a cup of hot water and brought a dry towel for me to wipe off the rain.
"Why did you turn yourself in?" an older officer asked me.
I looked down at the steaming cup in my hands; the steam blurred my vision and mingled with my tears.
"Because... it's easier to accept death than to keep running."
That night, they arranged a simple bed for me—a first in twenty days. Although it was just a makeshift bed in the interrogation room, it felt like paradise compared to park benches and concrete floors.
Tomorrow, I would be escorted back to Jinan to face the law. But at least I no longer had to run. The nightmare of being hunted was finally over.
"Li Fuming, this is all your own doing," I told myself before sinking into the first peaceful sleep I'd had in twenty days.
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