Chapter 6: The Antique Shop

Lian kept thinking about the woman in the lot and about what happened today .

He couldn’t stop. Every time the room went quiet her voice came back flat, with no breath in it, asking the same thing over and over. Can you see me? The way her fingers had bent the wrong way stayed behind his eyes. He kept going over it, looking for something normal that would make the whole thing smaller. Nothing did ,He thought maybe it’s all just my hallucinations?.

He picked up his phone and started scrolling. Just to fill the space in his head. Videos. Random posts. Stupid clips. He kept going long after he stopped caring what any of it was. His eyes burned. His thumb got slower.

Then he saw the news post.

Some small local article about an old antique shop. The kind that sold good luck charms and strange old objects. A few comments under it said the place had helped people with problems nobody else could explain. Lian stared at it longer than he meant to. He didn’t fully believe it. But it felt like the first useful thing he’d seen all night. Maybe it could help. Or at least give him something to do besides sit here replaying the lot.

He kept scrolling after that, but the idea stayed. Eventually he fell asleep with the phone still in his hand.

The dream hit harder than the real thing.

He was back at the edge of the lot again. Streetlight flickering. The woman sitting against the wall the same way. When she turned her head this time she was closer. The fingers reached farther. He tried to step back and his legs wouldn’t move. She asked the question again, quieter, while that wet cracking sound filled everything.

He woke up sweating. Heart beating too fast. For a few seconds he just lay there staring at the ceiling, breathing hard, waiting for the room to feel real.

"What a shitty way to start the day," he muttered, and dragged himself out of bed.

Downstairs his mother was already in the kitchen. She looked at him and her face went tight.

"How long did you sleep? Were you on that phone all night again?"

Jun was at the table. Didn’t look up.

"Yeah, Mom. He was."

Lian stared at him. Jun just kept eating.

"Don’t start with him," their mother said. "He only said the truth. Sit down and eat before it gets cold."

Lian sat. The food was warm. He barely tasted it. They talked about small things the new house, the movers, the weather. Normal talk. When there was a gap he said, "I’m going somewhere today."

His mother looked at him. "Where?"

"Just out. I won’t be long."

She watched him a second longer. "Come back before the sun goes down. I mean it. If you’re not here by evening, you’re not coming in. Don’t go fooling around with friends."

"I won’t."

He left after he finished eating.

The streets were already busy. Two schoolboys walked ahead of him, talking loud and laughing.

"Dude, did you see the new teacher? She’s so fucking hot."

They shoved each other and cracked up. A little farther on a mother held her kid’s hand while the child tried to keep a balloon from flying away. Ordinary morning. Lian kept walking.

He didn’t tell himself exactly where he was going at first. But the antique shop from the news post kept sitting in the back of his head. Good luck charms. Old things that fixed problems. It sounded stupid in daylight. It also felt like the only idea he had.

The shop was on a quiet side street. Narrow windows. Faded sign. Shelves of old stuff behind the glass. He stopped across the street and just stood there for a while, staring. Part of him wanted to keep walking. Another part felt like this was why he’d left the house.

An old woman stepped out of the doorway. Small. White hair pulled back. Eyes still sharp.

"What are you staring at? It’s not a circus."

Lian blinked. "Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude."

She looked at him properly. "Are you troubled? Are you in trouble?"

The question landed heavier than it should have. "How did you know?"

"How can one not know?" she said. "Everyone who comes here has a problem. Either they’re buying some good luck charm, or an antique, or they come with something they can’t fix anywhere else. Come inside."

She turned and went back through the door without waiting.

Lian stood there one more second, then followed her in.