Leo Will was awakened from sleep by the sounds of rustling and whining at his bedroom door. Glancing at the alarm clock, he noticed that the time was not yet eight in the evening. Leo groggily sat up and reached over from his bed to open the door, letting in a frightened Guru, the family dog, who immediately ran to hide in a corner of the room. Stepping down from bed, Leo walked into the bathroom, where he turned on the hot tap, allowing the shower water to heat up, before removing his clothing and gingerly stepping into the tub. The stream of warm water brought Leo to full consciousness, dissolving the tension of tightened muscles from an earlier afternoon workout session of swimming and walking.

Leo then went downstairs to hurriedly prepare a bowl of ramen, which he then leisurely enjoyed. Outside, the night sky had fallen, and through the sliding glass door of the backyard, the garden lay as a blanket of darkness. Inside, the rooms of the ground floor were wrapped in a quiet and gauzy dimness of yellow light.

Leo quietly pushed open the door to his elderly mother’s room and peeked in, to see that she was already sound asleep. Carefully putting away the iPad that had been drowsily thrown across the bed, Leo then gently pulled up and tucked a fleece blanket around his mother.

Winds outside picked up strength as the hour grew later. The blinds covering the view to the backyard eerily swayed and creaked in front of the drafty glass sliding door.  

Guru, who was still in the room above, would occasionally let out a howl, bringing a forlorn chill to the house. Leo quickly finished washing the dishes, turned off the lights, and headed upstairs with a glass of orange juice.

Leo returned to his room, turned on his computer, and signed into an online-concerts live-streaming channel. For the past six months, a vast majority of the population had been quarantining at home due to the Coronavirus. Musical performers, professional and amateur, had no other venues to hone their craft, except to an online audience. Hence, Leo had been able to enjoy a nightly variety of desktop performances.

Appearing on-screen tonight, was an attractive female performer with a professionally trained voice. According to introductions, the young lady’s name was Kim Diệu Mi – an Asian-style name that evokes ancient Buddhist and martial arts influences. According to on-screen banter between the performers, however, Leo came to learn that the “Kim” in Kim Diệu Mi had been acquired by the performer for its modern, Anglicized appeal.                           

Kim had a deep, melancholic voice that seemed to express an ocean of internal turmoil. An ephemeral smile from pale lips would now and then appear upon her delicate porcelain features. There was an air of mystery that surrounded Kim – something vague and romantic – that had mesmerized Leo into following her performances closely for the past six months.

Tonight, as Leo sat in front of his computer, listening intently to Kim Diệu Mi sing, he felt as if her eyes were focused directly on him, and that she was singing for him, alone. Spellbound by this siren song, Leo was jolted from his trance when Guru began barking loudly at his feet. The small dog was staring up at the computer screen as he snarled, barked, and scratched angrily at the air.

Leo bent down to calmly pet the dog as he whispered, “Be quiet, Guru!”

Guru would not calm down, as he continued to bark furiously and postured to jump up and attack the computer screen. Holding the animal down with his right hand, Leo turned back towards the screen.

The blood drained out of Leo, and he fell back in his chair … The image before him was of a woman’s body, dangling from a rope around her neck, with eyeballs bulging out of their sockets on her ghastly white face. Words, written in blood, dripped from the body and hung in midair, “Please help Kim Diệu Mi …”

Gasping in horror, Leo rubbed his eyes and gnashed his teeth, bracing himself for another careful look at the screen. This time, tears of blood gushed from Kim Diệu Mi’s eyes as she gasped in desperation, “Leo, please help me.”

Leo fell to the floor, stammering with fear, “Who … who are you?”

Kim Diệu Mi struggled with both hands to pull at the noose around her neck, opening her mouth as her tongue struggled to find air. She choked, “Please, help me. I’m in Orange County, at – – – Westminster Road. Come, then you will understand.”

As Kim’s words ended, the screen went dark, and the computer instantly shut down. The windows began to rattle as the lights turned off, and a draft of cold air permeated the rooms. Guru barked furiously as he rushed downstairs.

Being one to act calmly and clear-headedly in situations of danger, Leo felt around for the flashlight, and headed downstairs.

The door to the backyard had been pulled wide open. Looking outside, Leo saw the indistinct form of a woman in white. Rushing outside, he aimed the beam of his flashlight towards the figure, whom he could now clearly see was Kim Diệu Mi. Mustering all his courage, Leo yelled loudly, “Kim, wait!”

But in an instant, the figure had disappeared through the high wall of the backyard. Bewildered, Leo looked about frantically, his heart pounding out of his chest.

Leo cautiously stepped back into the house – the lights had turned back on, and Guru was lying quietly on the sofa. His mother had also woken up, and, stepping out of her room, looked at Leo curiously, “What’s going on, Son?

“I just had some trouble sleeping, Mom. It’s nothing.” With this response, Leo rushed upstairs and returned to his bedroom. His body covered in sweat and his head a jumble of fear and panic, Leo tried to turn on his computer. The screen remained black, and not even the DOS programming screen appeared. The machine was completely dead.

Exhausted, Leo stretched out onto the floor in front of his computer and fell into a fitful sleep. Outside, the clash of thunder reverberated from a distance, followed by a series of lightning flashes, then the sound of a heavy rain. From time to time, Guru would let out a howl full of misery.

No one knows when Leo arrived in this city, as he was a man with few friends and even fewer words. Leo was slender, but of a muscular build – the result of a daily routine of swimming and walking around the University campus.  A young-looking Asian man of indeterminate age, Leo stood at an average 1,7 meters tall.

Occasionally, on the weekends or around the holidays, neighbors would observe out-of-state guests stopping by the house to visit with Leo and his mother. More often, though, the studious young man spent his off days at home reading, or in front of his computer, researching all sorts of matters and topics. Every now and then, the neighborhood would be treated to the melodious sounds of live classical acoustic guitar or piano drifting through the quiet night air.

As Leo drove, he thought about the terrifying events of the night before. He tried to calmly convince himself: “I was exhausted, and my body ached. Plus, with all this stress about the Coronavirus pandemic and quarantining … my imagination probably got out of hand and triggered those hallucinations.”

After turning into his driveway, Leo parked, stepped out of the car, and intended to walk through the garage to get into his house. Suddenly, Guru, who had been barking fiercely in a corner of the garage, leapt out onto the startled Leo. Catching the canine just in time, he gently stroked the dog and soothingly said, “What’s going on, Guru? I’m here now.  Everything will be alright,” then carried the frightened animal into the house.

Leo made himself a bowl of ramen with hard-boiled egg and took his meal onto the backyard patio.

“October turns dark before a smile is made,

May turns light before a bed is laid.”

The month was October, and the hour just past eight o’clock, yet the night sky was as dark as midnight. Leo tucked into his bowl of ramen as he appreciated the shimmering rays of moonbeam that shone down upon the garden.

The gentle evening breeze suddenly turned into a gust of cold air, as Guru began to whimper. A chill ran down Leo’s spine and he stood transfixed – the swing that had laid long neglected in the back yard began to sway back and forth, squeaking eerily as it did so. From the top of the swing, the body of a woman dressed in white hung suspended by a noose at her neck, swaying in rhythm with the old swing.

Leo trembled with fear; the bowl of ramen in his hands slipped to the concrete floor and shattered. Kim Diệu Mi’s voice resonated with an impassioned plea, “Please, help me! PLEASE, HELP ME!”

Guru sprang into the house, then, by some internal feral instinct, paused at the door, eyes bloodshot with rage, and began to growl and bark ferociously. Leo, still frozen in fear, could not yet react, when his mother suddenly turned on the lights and stepped towards the patio door, “What’s wrong with Guru, Son? Did you feed him yet?”

Leo pointed towards the swing and asked, breathlessly, “Mom, do you see that girl in the white dress?”

“There’s nobody there. Never mind, S

on, come inside. Have some dinner and go to bed early,” replied his mother.

Leo rubbed his eyes and took another look. The silhouette of Kim Diệu Mi’s white dress had vanished, just as the chilly blast of wind had returned to a calm breeze. Guru had stopped barking and was now curled up in his favorite corner in the kitchen.

Not long after Leo fell asleep, a gust of wind came out of nowhere to pound against the window frame of his bedroom.  Startled awake, Leo turned and sat up. Through the dim moonlight outside his window, Leo again saw Kim Diệu Mi’s bloody body, suspended from a noose around her neck. Written in dripping blood on his windowsill were the words, “Please come to this address … please help me …”  Leo was pale with fear, but still, he responded assuredly, “I promise, I will come.” With that, Leo collapsed back onto his bed.

It was not until noon of the following day that Leo finally awoke from his fretful slumber. Looking in the mirror, his could see that his face was gaunt, his eyes were sunken and dark, as those of an insomniac. After tending to his personal hygiene, Leo decided to buy a plane ticket and to find his way to the address that Kim Diệu Mi had indicated.

The flight was scheduled to depart in the late evening. As expected with the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the airport seemed mostly deserted. There were barely twenty passengers on the flight, mostly seated towards the front of the plane. Leo chose a row of seats towards the back, where there were no other passengers. He stretched out and took a relaxing breath, thinking to himself, “It’s pretty nice to travel by plane like this … an entire row of seats to myself. I could do a little more traveling around the states at this rate.”

A little past 7 p.m., the plane descended for landing. A few minutes later, Leo reached up for his compact carry-on bag and set it on the seat.  Leaning forward to look through the window, he could see that this airport was also mostly quiet and empty. Rows and rows of empty airplanes were lined up neatly under the millions of lights that reflected on the city. Swiftly exiting the airplane, Leo did not forget to thank the silver-haired pilot and weary-eyed blonde stewardess who stood by the door to greet their passengers.

It was only after 7 p.m., yet the Southern Californa airport was as eerily empty as on a New Year’s Eve – not a soul was in sight. Climbing the stairs as if he was being chased by a ghost, Leo headed towards the Taxi and Uber lanes outside. As he paced back and forth, trying to schedule an Uber ride through his phone, a gentle voice behind him suddenly asked, “Hi, are you Leo?”

Startled, Leo looked up to see a charming young Vietnamese woman standing in front of him. She wore a long, flowing white skirt, and had a long purple scarf wrapped around her neck with the tail ends hanging loosely along her femininely styled vest.

Leo asked in bewilderment, “Who are you, and how do you know my name?”

The girl smiled mischievously and winked, “Kim Diệu Mi asked me to come pick you up. She provided me with a picture from your social medial profile. You look just like your online picture.”

Leo thought to himself, “Wow, Kim Diệu Mi was pretty quick in getting ahold of my information …,” as he kept his eyes on the young lady and waited for what came next.

The girl turned around and started walking, as she introduced herself, “My name is Hạnh, Dương Chi Hạnh. I work with Diệu Mi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Hạnh. But to be honest … I don’t really know Diệu Mi …. I’m just following this address …,” holding up his phone screen which contained the address.

Hạnh giggled, “Yes, I know. Diệu Mi has told me that the two of you have met a few times.”

Leo went numb, as a chill traveled through his body. The young man pursed his lips and told himself decidedly, “Never mind. Just go with the flow. I have already made the choice to come, so I cannot be afraid.”

The streets of Orange County at this hour were unrecognizable in their depressing desolation.  The pandemic had paralyzed all businesses, including the restaurants and night clubs that contributed to the jubilant nightlife of this capital city for Vietnamese refugees.

Dương Chi Hạnh drove in silence, concentrating on her driving, and occasionally glancing over at Leo.

Moments later, Leo could hear the rumbling of waves in the distance. He asked, “Does Diệu Mi live near the ocean?”

“Yes, she does,” came the reply.

More than an hour after they had driven away from the city and continued along the Pacific Coast Highway, Leo nervously asked, “Are we almost there, Hạnh? How far is it?”

“Yes, yes. We’re almost there.” As soon as she answered, Hạnh turned quickly onto a narrow mountain road. An assortment of older houses lined both sides of the gradual slopes. A steady rain began to fall, making the twisting mountain roads even more difficult to navigate. The wind began to howl in unison with the crash of the ocean waves. Lights flickered on and off from inside various houses on the sides of the mountains, creating a spectacle of illumination and color.

Hạnh’s car came to a sudden stop at a plot of empty land in front of one of the houses. Hạnh stepped out of the car and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck, shielding against the cold wind. Leo Will also stepped out of the car, and looking around, pointed at the closest house, and asked, “Is that where Kim Diệu Mi lives?”

Hạnh was now standing forlorn in front of a pitiful gravestone next to a large tree with overgrown branches. She began to sob and lament, “Oh, Diệu Mi! You died so unjustly!”

Leo Will’s fear had now turned into determination, as he stepped behind Hạnh to place both his hands on her shoulders in an act of comfort. Hạnh’s sobs grew louder as she turned to bury her head into his shoulder. The rain grew heavier as lighting and thunder rumbled through the skies. Leo shivered in the cold, but his eyes grew wide at the apparition before him – Kim Diệu Mi’s white dress fluttered in the wind as she hung from a rope tied tightly around her neck.

A distant voice reverberated through the dark, “Thank you, Leo, for coming. I died unjustly, and my soul has not been able to go free. Please bring my name to the Temple and ask the monks to pray for the release of my soul. When these prayers have continued for forty-nine days, then I will be set free.

Gathering all of his courage, Leo placed the palms of his hands together and answered, “Take heart, Diệu Mi. I promise to do as you have asked. Rest assured.”

With this answer, a loud thunder bolt struck down, causing a ray of light to flare up into the sky, taking with it the vision of Kim Diệu Mi.

Leo closed his eyes, lowered his head, and turned around. Hạnh stood shivering at a distance, heaving and sobbing. Her white skirt was soaked through, barely covering her body, as the glimmer of rain and moonbeam emphasized her curves. Leo took off his jacket and walked towards Hạnh, “Put this on, it will keep you warm. Where do you live? Let’s get you home. Diệu Mi will soon be able to rest in peace on the other side.”

Hạnh wept even louder, “But, my house is here.”

The wind howled as a powerful gust passed through, pulling with it the scarf from Hạnh’s neck. The girl’s head fell directly to the ground.

The blood drained out of Leo, and he too fell to the ground.

The surrounding houses became dark as a flock of seabirds flew past. Farther beyond, the waves of the ocean roared fiercely.

The next morning, some locals found Leo Will’s unconscious body on the beach. With immediate medical attention and a day in the hospital to recuperate, Leo was able to regain his senses. That was the last time that Leo visited Orange County during the pandemic of 2020.

When Leo arrived home, his mother shared the sad news that Guru had died suddenly the night before, after giving a long, mournful howl. His mother also reminded Leo of how Guru had been a gift, ten years ago, from the daughter of a friend who lives in California.

The next day, Leo brought the names of Kim Diệu Mi and Dương Chi Hạnh to the temple and asked the head monk to pray for these two souls for the next 49 days.

From then on, Leo decided to never again log onto social media or to watch concert performances online.

Las Vegas, October 16, 2020

Alain Bảo Phán