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The last time Li Tianchen lit a match, it had been their birthday. That’s when he’d presented the pink stuffed animal to Tianxi with a broad, brotherly grin, something he was out of practice in.
Qian Jin was nowhere to be seen—keeping himself scarce. Good. Li Tianchen despised his overstepping, committing to play acting and false fatherly duties. He scowled when Qian Jin used a low authoritative tone with them, admonished them in a domestic way—in fact, it made him a little sick.
But he wasn’t here today. So Tianchen took it upon himself to take his sister by the hand and nod towards the door, towards the white hot daylight that would descend into an orange dusk, soon, like the colour of the lit match. Tianxi frowned, shook her head. A little apprehensive to overstep, get into trouble. But Li Tianchen tugged her forwards anyway.
“Come on, I wanna show you something—he won’t get mad.” Probably.
They didn’t quite blend in with the city, so Li Tianchen shrugged on his hood, blocking out the harsh light, and hurried him and Li Tianxi along; down side-streets and quiet roads lined with cars, past people living lives that were not littered with dead bodies, nor strange powers. They were convulsing with laughter sat at a coffee shop, they were chewing on straws and smiling, slight and coy, at a friend. They were all normal and unassuming and Li Tianchen hated them all—looked back over his shoulder at his sister, his only tether, and wished for her at least, to crawl her way out of hell, but knew she would not—and hated the world for being the cruel thing it was.
Finally they arrived at their destination, a run-down arcade he’d discovered, most of the machines kicked in and the floor glittering with glass shards, but one machine in the corner of the dilapidated warehouse sat untouched. A crane machine. Tianxi lit up, pointed to the one she wanted and Tianchen gave her a grin sure as anything. Of course I’ll win it for you, he said without saying anything at all, digging around in his pockets for loose change. There, Li Tianxi watched, enraptured, his hand slicking with sweat as he tried his luck on the creaky, old machine, movements indelicate. He slammed down on the big red buttom to send the crane hurtling towards its target, its claws just missing. He grumbled, slot in another penny, tried again. More than seeing it, he could feel Li Tianxi’s face falling, her enthusiasm waning.
And Li Tianchen was not a patient person—he hadn’t even run out of coins when his fist came down on the button one last time, startling his sister. A different approach would get him what he was after. He scanned the room, then looked back at Tianxi.
“Go over to the other side of the room for a sec, Xiaoxi—close your eyes too,” he said, and blinking in curiosity, she tilted her head to one side, started to sign something with her hands and then gave up. Though she was dilligent enough in her learning of sign language, Li Tianchen barely knew more than the basics now.
After setting her hands down in her lap she waited for a beat, and then obliged. Good. Li Tianchen picked up a loose brick he spotted, close to where Xiaoxi’s feet had just been. With it, he shattered the glass. Some of the shards fell like a waterfall, shards nicking his palm and falling by his feet, in the machine, and with the new opening he’d made he fished out the pink plushie he’d now won for his sister. Li Tianxi rushed back to him when she heard the glass break, made a small noise of exclaim as she gripped his shoulder, tried to get a good look at his hand.
Tianchen shrugged her off. “Stop, it’s fine. And look”—he made sure to dust off any stray glass fragments, and handed the plush to her, and then clicked his fingers together. Once she took the stuffed animal, a small, unsure smile stretching her lips, Li Tianchen fiddled with a box of matches he’d swiped from the house and slid into his pockets, lit one. It stuck out in a stark, warm burst of orange, a tiny flame, against the shadows of the old arcade.
“Now, you have to make a wish,” he prompted. “Better be a good one, for the both of us.”
Determined, she nodded. And when she blew out the match, Li Tianchen knew for certain that he would not have wished for quite the same thing.