(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen)

The starlight of the far hundreds of millions of years ago is only seen at this moment, eternally gazing the encounter in the twinkling of an eye.

Melancholy Spike

1 

Kochie was a wealthy and wise young man. At his twentieth birthday, he had already a great amount of wealth and wisdom, which all other people dreamed of. However, his wealth and wisdom came too easily to give him no other goals to pursue for the rest of his life. He was heavy-hearted. He was eager to know what was his life for and vowed to search for the answer at the expense of his entire wealth.

Thus, Kochie left his home for lots of places around the world. On one trip, he met heavy fog and was trapped in a deep forest. In the misty air, he saw a beautiful girl whose eyes resembled a shivering starry night, deep yet filled with melancholy. Right after this hasty encounter, the girl soon ran into the forest just like a lost beast.

2

It is said that Samila was the only survivor of a devastating storm, Ever since the disaster, she never aged, liked being stored in a sleeping amber. The time was forever sealed.

The storm brought Samila to the shore, and she settled down by the shore. At the beginning, she got married and gave birth to babies like other ordinary women. Decades had passed, and people gradually sensed Samila’s difference. Her children and family grew old and died. The flowing years restlessly took her descendants away.

"Forever young" is everyone's dream. For a delicate girl like Samila, immortality is imprisonment of her soul. However weary she was, she could never be old.

Kochie was impressed with Samila's story. To rescue her soul, he tried every method and finally found an old island, Sudu, where Samila once lived. Thousands of years ago, Sudu was swallowed by storm. But at the moment, grass once again grew lively on the island, and Suduese people sang "Harvest the sad rice by the moon. There is no shadow at night, and stars hide in the day light."
Kochie is the smartest man in the world. He knows secrets were hidden in this Suduese song.

3

The boundary of Sudu is the border of the fairy’s land. Thousands of years ago, the young Samila fell in love with the immortal Achlo. Achlo’s furious fiancée O’febes destroyed Sudu by a tremendous storm and hid Achlo’s shadow in the night. Samila’s starry eyes were hidden in the day light.
Jealousy took away O’febes’ sensibility. She punished Samila with the most severe penalty, the immortality.

Ever since that day, there was only loneliness left in Samila’s ever-lasting life. She was deprived of all memories about Achlo, and the immortality curse would never leave her. People feared her and therefore did not dare to approach her. 

Achl could never leave the fairy’s land after missing his shadow. Since then, the day chased the night, and the night chased the day. No one would ever know the secrets hidden in the day and night. 

Hopelessly Achlo sang over and over again,
“Harvest the sad rice by the moon.
There is no shadow at night, and stars hide in the day light." 

4
Kochie bumped into the fairy’s land and found Achlo.

Achlo begged Kochie, “Please break O’febes’ jewelry box on the solar eclipses day. Only when the sun and moon meet again can O’febes’ curse be broken. The memory and soul of Samila and I shall be returned to us.”

On the solar eclipses day, Kochie followed Achlo’s instruction and broke O’febes’ jewelry box. At that moment, Samila’s love returned to her memory. With smile, her body instantly decayed and weathered.

When Kochie returned to Sudu and knew about Samila’s death, he already found the answer he was after.

(Copyright @ Diving Cat. All rights reserved. Please mark the source and website if you wish to publish it for private use. DO NOT copy without permission.)

(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen) 

Ivan was ill. He started to fear the crowd.

In the day when its was loud and crowded on the street, Ivan quietly closed the curtain and hit himself deeply into the bed.

In the night, he got up sometimes and walked up to the roof following the stair at the window. The starry night covered up the world. He did not know where he was. He felt empty at his feet.

One night, a beautiful cat bumped into his world. Ivan looked at her. She was wounded. Some unknown liquid was flowing out from the corner of her left eye.

Ivan decided to give her treatment. On the next day, he took the cat outside. However, the eye-scorching sun stopped him. He fled home, hid into his bed and started to weep.

On the third morning, Ivan took the cat outside again. On the center of the street, he once again cried out loud helplessly.

Days had passed. Ivan walked to the street again and asked directions with shy face. He finally came to a vet. The vet gave the cat a thorough check. He told Ivan that the cat was not ill at all. The liquid around her eye were in fact tears. He gave Ivan a bottle of eye drop, asking him to bring the cat home and take good care of her.

The cat was gradually healed. Some day when she was almost completely healed, she suddenly talked to Ivan, "Ivan, you know why my left eye is always shedding tears? I was deserted soon after I was born. I feel alone. I prayed to God every day for having a friend. God promised me one day and said, 'I will give you a friend, but you have to share half of his pain.' I said yes to God, and since that day one of my eyes has been shedding tears for you. Now, you are to heal me, and at the same time, you heal yourself. So, please stop crying and be happy."

That night Ivan had a sweet dream. The next morning he opened the curtain and let the sun in. Since then the cat never talked to him and never had a drop of tear.

(Copyright @ Diving Cat. All rights reserved. Please mark the source and website if you wish to publish it for private use.)

(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen) 

That typewriter never stopped for a second. A thin yet delicate finger was tapping on the keys at fast speed, as if she was playing a touching piece of music. Every tap of her was filled with emotion.

The hand belonged to an ill girl. She did not have too many days left. Before that day came, she had to write the last letter to her lover.

Dear Archie,
I think you will not make it back to me in time.
However, I want to thank you for introducing this world to me. You know, I was born blind.
It was you who told me the taste of “red” when I first tasted chilly.
It was you who told me the temperature of “orange” when I was first bathed in the sun.
It was you who told me the fragrance of “yellow” when I first tried the sourness of lemon.
You took me to the forest, making me embraced by “green”.
We sailed on the clear lake and heard “blue”.
In the tranquil night, we felt the mystery of “purple” together.
Because of you, I saw the colors of the rainbow. You are the eyes God sent me.

Several days later, people broke through the girl’s door and discovered her body. The police came and later found the pile of paper flowing down from the typewriter.

However the paper was all blank. The blind girl did not know that the typewriter was running out of ink.

Therefore, nobody knew what the girl typed on the paper.

Only the wind passed by the window took away the melody on the typewriter. Perhaps one day, when you stand in the wind and listen carefully, you will more or less catch the truth of this story.

(Copyright @ Diving Cat. All rights reserved. Please mark the source and website if you wish to publish it for private use.)

(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen) 


Ask yourself, is the you in other people's eyes the true you?

Are you courageous enough to accept the incomplete self.

The Jigsaw

1 

"If I were to give you an advice, you'd better go see a shrink". Emily slapped the door and ran out.

Karl hatefully looked at the pieces of glass on the floor and started to ponder. Two years ago his ex-wife fled the house with their kids. Now, the same story goes on again. 

Emily was the first woman who was willing to approach Karl since his ex-wife left. Karl was notorious for his bad temper and rudeness. He had no friends around him, and even his employees mocked at his harshness behind him.

Therefore, when Emily accidentally bumped into Karl's life, they became couple in a natural manner. Emily was a fat woman with freckles all over her face. Being with Karl seemed to be her luck. She tried her best to take everything of Karl, except for one weirdest thing.

There is no mirror in Karls' house. He not only hated mirrors but forbid others to have mirrors. Karl believed that the mirror reflected the unreal space. Whenever he looked at himself in the mirror, he could not help trembling as if the ever-extending world inside hided many unknown fears.

This night, when Emily was dressing herself for a party and carefully take out the mirror she hided under the bed, Karl caught her with the mirror with her happy face. He shouted in hysteria, grabbed the mirror and dropped it onto the floor.

After that night, Karl return single again. He decided to close this shop temporarily and had a good rest. He left for his hometown where he left for a long time, wishing to rearrange his mind.

Karl was 54 years old. He left his hometown since he was young, and he could hardly remember what happened when he was a child. In his old house, he made a decision which even surprised himself – Accepting Emily's advice and taking mental therapy.



2
 
The doctor gave him a jigsaw, telling Karl that when he concentrated on this mission, his mind would somehow be soothed. Playing jigsaw helped him listen to the voice from his heart and face himself in subconsciousness.

Karl started with the 100-piece jigsaw and gradually moved on to more difficult level. There was a heavy snow storm outside this night, but Karl was alone playing the jigsaw in the house. He seemed to hear somebody knocking on the door and left this chair to check. However, there was no one at the door.

Karl continued with his jigsaw. Soon after, the knocking once again appeared, and this time it sounded more rapid.

Karl went open the door, and he was shocked to see another him, the 5-year-old Karl. But that person wasn't him, he was Jitter, his twin brother. The 5-year-old Jitter stared at Karl, and Karl thus understood everything. He sorted out why there were always two baseball uniforms hang on the storeroom in the attic in this childhood, and why his parents always looked at him with melancholy.



3 

On an evening 50 years ago, there was the same snow outside the house. Karl's father was still working in town. His mother had to go out and buy grocery for the dinner, so she left the twin brothers, Karl and Jitter, at home.

At the beginning, Karl and Jitter played quietly in the house. The two 5-year-old boys were at their vigorous years. After a while, they started to feel bored and played hide and seek outside the house. When Jitter counted to 100, Karl sneaked into the house quietly.

Jitter knocked at the door begging Karl to let him in, but Karl gave him a wry face, saying "I will get caught if I open the door."

It was warm inside the house, and Karl fell asleep unconsciously. Jitter outside the door got quiet gradually as well.

Suddenly, Karl was waken up by his mother's screaming outside. He opened the door and saw Jitter's frozen body curling on the door steps.

Jitter has died. After Jitter's death, Karl fell into illness. His parents looked at him in melancholy, so afraid to lose another child.

What was worthy being celebrated was that Karl recovered from the illness finally, but he forgot everything about Jitter.



4 

This night, those memories came up all of a sudden. Did that familiar body knocking at the door helplessly ever feel disappointed with the one he trusted the most? Did Jitter die lonely in such sadness? Karl missed Jitter so much. They were once playing under the tree and rolling in the snow. They though they would grow up together. However, Jitter would never come back.

(Copyright @ Diving Cat. All rights reserved. Please mark the source and website if you wish to publish it for private use.)

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(Illustrated & original text by Diving Cat/Translated by Linda Chen)

What is the definition of death? Is it a decayed body? A terminated breath? Eternal tranquilness? Or the start of another transmigration.

Whose who are alive use ceremonies and tombstones to commemorate the death. How about the death? What do they do to remember us?




Dance of the Living  

Once again Dan was frightenedly awake from the nightmare. He poured himself a glass of water and walked to the window.

Most of the street lamps were turned off. He opened the window for some fresh air. "Bang!" Suddenly a piece of shadow together with the loud voice flashed across the window. In the dark, a pair of eyes stared at Dan.

It was a cat, Dan found out. That black shadow soon disappeared in the night.

"This is not a good sign." The scenes in his dreams over the past few days came up all in a sudden.

Since he arrived the U.S., everything became unusual. It had been months, and his family never replied his letters.

"Ding Dong," the doorbell rang. It was the driver Tom. He said, "Hi, Dan, nightmare again?"

"Yeah, did I wake you up?"

Mary walked in and said, "Dan, why don't you take a deep breath and relax." Mary and her husband Tom worried about him very much.

Mary and Tom were hired by Dan's parents to take care of his life in the U.S. Tom was his driver and Mary was his maid.

Dan was born in a wealthy family. He was smart and was always his parents' pride. When he got the admission of the top PhD program in Biology in the U.S., his mother could not feel any prouder. Dan promised to contact his parents immediately after he settled down.

It had been three months. No one answered his phone at home; nor did anyone reply his letters.

Since things were unusual, Dan decided to go home and see what was happening there.

He told Tom his plan the next day and flew home.

Back home his big house was empty. Where have they been? Been traveling? The first night at home, Dan fell asleep with lots of questions.

In the dream, that strange sound came again. Dan ignored it, but the sound was approaching and finally tied him up, dragging him into a giant whirlpool.

Dan was awake with fear again. He could this time recognize that the sound was a spirit evoking song.

In ancient Chinese legends, people invited skilled master to sing spirit evoking songs for the dead in case they failed to find the way to heaven.

Who is weeping? In the dark night, that voice was weak yet clear. He followed the weeping to the hall.

The scene in the hall surprised him.

Tom and Mary stood by the table, and Dan's mother was crying and seemed to whisper to them. Dan was afraid that maybe his father met something?

Tom and Mary saw Dan. "Dan, you're home!" they said.

Dan walked into the hall and heard what his mother was saying, "My son Dan, today is the 49th day after your death. Please come back and see your mother for the last time."

He remembered everything. That was not a dream. His plane crashed, and everything, explosion, whirlpool, and the spirit evoking ritual, happen all in a sudden.

Tom and Mary were the servant puppets his parents burned to him, now waving their hands with smiles towards him.

(Copyright @ Diving Cat. All rights reserved. Please mark the source and website if you wish to publish it for private use.)

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