Chapter 13

Ming Na Liu

The Past

Ming backed up and hit the wall. "Why did you scream like that?" She rubbed her eyes to clear them and stared at her hand. She grabbed it with her left hand and started shaking it. "Why is my hand white? What the hell is going on here?"

Bobby stayed hunched over on the floor, rocking back and forth. "I knew it. I knew it. I knew it."

"What do you mean? What did you know?" She grabbed Bobby's shoulders and shook them. She refused to listen and pulled herself tighter into a ball. "Did we time-travel, Bobby? You're a woman now. What's happening?" Ming's voice rose. "I can't believe that." Her fingers twitched.

She heard a door slam open and a man scream.

"Jessica? Where are you, Jessica?"

"We're in here!" Ming yelled. She didn't know who Jessica was. Maybe this older woman. It couldn't be Bobby, no matter what she said. She was going to start laughing in a moment.

Ming looked down and saw the blood on the front of her blouse. "Dammit." She didn't have time to change. Grabbing the two sides of the ripped cloth, she cringed at the wetness. Ming clenched them together to hide her chest and the blood. When she looked up, a strange man was standing in the doorway. He was taller than she was and had a runner's build.

Bobby stared at the wall. He was rocking back and forth. Ming still didn't know why she looked like Barbie. "What's going on here, Bobby?" She reached for her shoulders when the man in the doorway tackled her.

"What the hell?" Ming shouted.

"Jessica, I thought you were dead! I'm so glad you're okay," the man said, wrapping his arms around her. "After what happened with your mother, I was sure you'd never forgive me."

He was bawling. Ming patted the man on the back. She needed time to think before saying anything. She put her hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him back. He was holding her tight, the muscle cords bulging in his arms. "What happened here? I can't remember anything." It was best to stick with the classics. Pretend ignorance and let the other person fill in the blanks.

The man stood up and started pacing. He ran his hands through his hair and rambled. "After you rejected me, I followed your mother, asking her for help, hoping she would be able to change your mind. She locked me out of your house and tried to call the police, but she forgot the kitchen. When I burst in, she hit me with the frying pan. I just wanted to talk to her, but she refused to listen. I had to do it. We were supposed to get married! When you walked in, I panicked and lashed out. I tried to stop the blood, but there was too much." He knelt and grabbed her hands. "Can you forgive me?"

Ming only followed half of what he was saying. Looking down at her bloody blouse, his bloody fingers and the blood splatter on his clothes. "You killed my mother and then me. Is that correct?" Her eyes went wide, and she stared at the man. A fist took hold of her heart.

"What are you saying?" he said. "I didn't know you spoke another language. What is it anyway?"

Ming stopped. She'd spoken in Cantonese out of instinct. It was how she usually repeated scary information to herself. She turned back to the man. He was stronger than her, and his eyes were wide with fear. If she wasn't careful here, she was dead.

Standing, she pointed to Bobby. None of this was making sense. Ming was on the edge of joining Bobby on the floor. "Can you help my mother stand? She's feeling a little weak."

"Of course." He picked up Bobby and carried her to the bed.

Ming turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She was taller than before, and dark freckles covered her small, pointed nose. Her hair was a mass of blond curls that spilled down to her shoulders and framed her face. Her eyes were wide and full of panic. "Quantum Leap it is. Breathe. Focus on the story. Use that until you know what the hell is going on." She took a deep breath and let it out.

"Jessica?" the male said from the bedroom.

"Coming. I'm just washing my face." Ming looked around the bathroom, but couldn't find anything to help defend herself. She clenched her blouse closed and stepped into the bedroom. Bobby was still staring at nothing. Ming grimaced. She needed her if they were going to get out of here. Two were always better than one.

"Can you get me something to drink? I'm feeling thirsty," she said to the man.

"Of course. Anything for you." He ran out of the room.

Ming hurried to Bobby and shook her shoulder. "Wake up, Bobby! I need you to tell me what's happening." She shook her harder. "Bobby! Please! I'm going out of my mind here."

Bobby sighed and blinked her eyes. "We've travelled through time and taken over the bodies of two people who recently died. The same thing Barbie did, maybe. I have my doubts about her. My blocks are gone, though. Fuck." She started crying.

Ming wrinkled her nose. "What are you talking about?" She couldn't hide the tension in her voice.

Bobby looked around and sighed. "Hold that thought." She got up, went to the door, stood to the side and stuck her leg out. The man tripped as he ran in, spilling the large glass of water all over Ming.

"What do you think you're doing, you bitch?" the man said, pushing himself up. Bobby surged forward and kneed him in the face, stunning him and breaking his nose. Bobby then reached down and undid the man's belt and yanked it out of his pants. Drawing his leg back, Bobby kicked the man between the legs. The man screamed and clutched his crotch, doubling over. Bobby pulled the man's arms behind him and tied them together with his belt. She stood up and kicked the man in the head one last time, slamming it into the bedpost. The man was silent as blood dripped from the ruins of his face.

Ming stared at the scene. Her mouth opened in shock. "What did you do? How?"

Bobby shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea how strong he is, and the best defence is always surprise mixed with a healthy dose of violence. He's probably the one who killed us. I saw the blood on his hands and the crazed look in his eyes. Must've been his first time. He was in a frenzy at the guilt. When he saw we were alive, it sent him careening in the other direction. I was the same my first time, too."

"You've killed people before?" Ming asked, stepping back. What was she getting into? Her fingers were twitching. The reporter in her was itching to write all this down. That feeling was the only thing keeping her sane.

"Sit down. You wanted to know what was happening." She patted the bed. "He'll be out for a while, so we have time."

Ming went to the opposite side of the bedroom and grabbed a chair from the vanity table. She wanted to sit as far away as possible from her. When did I start thinking of Bobby as her?