PEIYUN TANG//

I'm going to be home late tonight.

I have a cardiologist appointment.

I forgot to put it on my calendar.

ZHANGWEI TANG//

That's fine, Mom.

Be safe.



PEIYUN TANG worked as a substitute teacher for the local school district, a job she’d held for about half a decade or so, after she’d worked up the courage to work with Amerrkan children.

Her English was good, there was little worry about that. She had the ‘stare’ down pat. But the local children had a hardness to them that mystified her and left her feeling small and helpless again. Each segment seemed to linger on longer than it was welcome, making her quietly, secretly, long for return to her home country.

The feeling had intensified in frequency after her daughter had turned up missing.

“She voluntarily withdrew from school”, they’d told her. Very well then, she’d come of age, that’d been her perogative. But that was the last anyone had seen of the girl formerly known as MEIFENG.

Where had she gone wrong? What had she said? (Or not said?) Would MEIFENG ever return home?

She’d taken off from work last spring to look for her. To wait for her return. She’d looked around at every one of her favorite haunts. Asked all of her friends if they’d had any hint as to where she’d gone.

But none had known a thing.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON EASTERN PARKWAY FOR HALF A MILE.


Life had continued on without MEIFENG. Eventually PEIYUN had been forced to return to work; there was only so much personal time she had been allotted. Every day seemed less and less likely that her daughter would return.

It had been her fault, she’d surmised. She’d pushed MEIFENG too hard in school. She’d not given her enough time with her friends.

THE CAR

TURN RIGHT ON RALPH AVENUE.


Perhaps the basement room had made it worse. She’d first pushed her to take one of the upstairs rooms, thinking she’d have needed some sunlight. But she’d eventually appeased the girl’s demands and allowed her the dark room in the basement. With those awful, tiny windows. But MEIFENG had wanted it, and she’d been nearly grown. She’d wanted privacy.

But it couldn’t have done anything for her feelings of connection with the family.

THE CAR

TURN LEFT ON SUTTER AVENUE.


There was that one day that she’d been assigned to substitute for her daughter’s class. She didn’t usually do high school but the school’d been extremely short-staffed.

It had been awkward; the two unsure of how to communicate with each other. MEIFENG had avoided eye-contact. A girl had asked whether the two were related and her daughter had responded in a disappointed tone PEIYUN would never forget.

MEIFENG

SHE’S MY MOTHER.

THE CAR

TURN RIGHT ON ROCKAWAY AVENUE.


Maybe it had been that she’d put her elder brother through culinary school. ZHANGWEI was a good boy, but he hadn’t the head for facts and figures like his younger sister. She’s paid for his schooling in its entirety, hoping against hope that her son would find somewhere he belonged.

It had cost more than she’d thought. MEIFENG would need to take out loans against what wouldn’t be covered with scholarships. She’d be eligible for plenty with her good grades, she’d assumed. But maybe it had all seemed unfair.

THE CAR

TURN LEFT ON NEWPORT STREET.

PEIYUN

(thinking) …Where am I?

(thinking) Did he move addresses?

(thinking) Is this another one of his offices?


She reaches the end of the street and a train rumbles through a causeway in front of her. She’s forced to turn right.

The winter sky is dimming ominously. Anxiety trickles through her nervous system as she begins to fear that she’s lost.

THE CAR

TURN LEFT ON NEW LOTS AVENUE.

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.

PEIYUN

(thinking) This isn’t right.


She raises her hand to the car’s screen and tries to fumble with the directions while at a red light.

Had MEIFENG been jealous that she hadn’t yet expressed Talent? Her brother wasn’t nearly as gifted as others she’d met, others in their family; his first trick had been playing with magnets. It had never seemed like anything that had potential outside of parlor tricks. MEIFENG still had time, she insisted. There was still time for her.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.


The car’s navigation screen goes black.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.

PEIYUN

WHAT?


She presses buttons desperately trying to get the console to respond. The screen remains blank but it speaks again.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.


PEIYUN switches on her turn signal, intending to pull over on the right side of the road to address her failing car. But twice, the car resists her, pulling the turn signal back to neutral. It insists again:

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.


Her attention is redirected when the voice seems slightly different in pitch. Not completely different and yet, not the same. She is stopped in the street, holding up traffic behind her.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE!


It is her daughter.

It doesn’t matter how or why the car has spoken with that voice. It doesn’t matter if it’s real or just a figment of her fragmented hopes. As if possessed, she continues on.

THE CAR

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.


And the familiar voice is gone.

PEIYUN tries to continue driving, but tears are beginning to well up in her eyes in the silence.

If only she’d taught her daughter more, nurtured her, tried to find her trick. It was there, she was sure of it. MEIFENG was a bright girl and her family had expressed Talent as far back as she knew. It was her own fault, her neglect, her ineptitude at mothering a girl, that had failed her daughter. Had failed herself as a mother.

She can no longer focus on the road and she pulls over to the right against a fire hydrant to allow the tears to overtake her.

Suddenly a voice comes from the backseat of the small car.

VANESSA

CONTINUE ON NEW LOTS AVENUE FOR HALF A MILE.


PEIYUN’s tears slow against awe. She looks behind her toward the sound.

PEIYUN

MEIFENG?!


There is no one sitting in the backseat. PEIYUN turns back, unbuckles herself, and prepares to push herself up to see into the footspace behind her when–

A shape materializes; a hand clasps around her neck, pushing her against the seat.

Before she can make sense of what’s happening, two sharp fangs puncture her neck, sending a wave of panic through her body. She struggles to stay alert but quickly begins to drown in overwhelming darkness.

The only sensation that remains is the contrast between a warm trickle of blood from the fresh wounds and the increasing chill in her limbs.

Her eyes flutter shut as the familiar voice rings again.

VANESSA

THAT’S NOT MY NAME.


// THE CONVERTED TRAIN STATION //


TRENTE GAGARIN had given her one instruction:

TRENTE

DO AS YOU’VE BEEN DOING.

LEAVE THE REST TO ME.

THIS ONE IS NOT FODDER FOR YOUR SISTER’S ROSES.



PEIYUN stirs to awareness. Rivers of pain branch through her body; she’s been tied to a chair. A canvas bag has been secured over her head, bound tightly around her neck. The left side in particular itches against the coarse material.

But she can do nothing.

A dim light trickles in through the loose weave but she can’t make out anything intelligible.

PEIYUN

MEIFENG?

MEIFENG, ARE YOU THERE?


No response. PEIYUN feels her own breath hot against the bag.

PEIYUN

HELLO?

DO YOU HAVE MY DAUGHTER?


VANESSA laughs loudly; one cold, piercing call.

VANESSA

HAH!

YOU THINK SHE’S BEEN KIDNAPPED?

PEIYUN

…MEIFENG?

IS THAT YOU?


VANESSA rushes forward to grab the ropes wrapped around her mother’s neck. The ropes stretch taut, cutting into her neckbones as she pulls her forward. With her strength, the rear pair of chair legs lift from the cement floor.

She whispers loudly at the bag, enunciating each word carefully.

VANESSA

I.

TOLD YOU.

THAT’S. NOT. MY –


She pushes her fist away and releases her grasp on the ropes. The chair oscillates a few times against the force, scraping discordantly against the floor.

VANESSA

NAME!!


PEIYUN sits in stunned silence. She has no freedom of movement save her neck, which she tries to position so she can hope to see through the canvas. But the shadows say nothing.

VANESSA realizes this is her moment, looking toward the helpless figure bound before her. Here she was, for just this moment. And she would never be here again.

She brings her register down to a measured tone.

VANESSA

VANESSA.

MY NAME IS VANESSA NOW.


She pauses.

PEIYUN

…VANESSA?


But it sounds wrong coming from her mouth. The syllables are heavy with her mother’s foreign accent and she hates it. Hates the sound of it.

How dare she speak her name in that broken tongue.

VANESSA

SHUT UP, YOU STUPID BITCH!


PEIYUN obeys and the room is silent.

It’s jarring, hearing her mother’s voice here in her new home. This, her sanctuary, where she’d been introduced to the Curse. No, the Gift.

There was only one way forward from here.

VANESSA

IT’S YOUR FAULT. ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT.

YOU… YOU…


She’d built up this moment for herself in her mind. Played it over and over again, tens, hundreds of times. Told herself what she’d tell her mother on the eve of her death. What she’d get off her chest. The condemnations she’d lay down.

But here, the opportunity before her, her mind goes blank. All that she’s rehearsed is gone. She wants nothing more than to be rid of the witch.

PEIYUN

THERE’S STILL TIME FOR YOU,

…VANESSA.

THERE’S STILL TIME FOR YOUR TALENT TO SHOW ITSELF.

VANESSA

FUCK YOU!

I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MY TALENT.

I’VE FOUND SOMETHING BETTER.

IT’S YOUR FAULT, YOU KNOW. YOUR FAULT THAT I NEVER SHOWED.

YOU WERE ALWAYS SO PROUD OF MY BROTHER!


PEIYUN searches for words.

PEIYUN

NO, VANESSA.

IT WAS YOU.

IT WAS ALWAYS YOU.

VANESSA

YOU’RE A LIAR!

YOU WERE ALWAYS A LIAR!


VANESSA listens, wondering if AVAELLE is listening in on the interrogation.

PEIYUN

VANESSA…

COME BACK TO THE FAMILY.

VANESSA

NEVER!

I HAVE A NEW FAMILY NOW!

YOU WERE NEVER MY MOTHER!


PEIYUN struggles, fruitlessly, against her bonds.

PEIYUN

RETURN, PLEASE.

ALL WILL BE FORGIVEN.


VANESSA spits, yelling. If her foster-sister couldn’t have heard before, VANESSA imagines her voice is echoing in rage throughout the entire structure.

VANESSA

YOU CANNOT FORGIVE ME!

I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG!


PEIYUN regrets her words. She had wanted to grant her child acceptance. ‘All will be forgotten’. ‘Forgotten’.

VANESSA

THE WORLD IS ENDING AND I WON’T BE THE ONE TOO IGNORANT TO JUMP SHIP.

NOT I.

NOT I.

PEIYUN

YOU CAN HAVE IT.

MY ABILITY.

I’LL SHOW YOU.

I’VE HEARD OF WAYS –


VANESSA cringes and bends over, covering her ears with her hands.

When she releases her pose, she screams.

VANESSA

NEVER!

IT’S TOO LATE FOR ME.

JUST LIKE IT’S TOO LATE FOR YOU.

YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT US IN THE OLD COUNTRY.

WE WERE HAPPY.

PEIYUN

I WANTED YOU AND YOUR BROTHER –


Her voice disappears behind a chokehold.

VANESSA

YOU –

WERE ONLY THINKING OF YOURSELF.


VANESSA grasps the top of the canvas bag, pulling it off her mother’s head, along with a few locks of hair. PEIYUN cries out in pain.

She tries to open her eyes, blinded by the sudden light. But it is to no avail; pain surges through her body as her daughter presses her fangs into the other side of her neck.

PEIYUN fades to black.