When Gu Luo realized that he was no longer in the karaoke room, he stopped singing and the music surrounding him stopped immediately.
"Oh no, I wanted to hear the rest..."
Panicking, he looked around him.
Wherever his gaze went, as far as the infinite horizon stretched, Gu Luo could see only one thing: an expanse of milky whiteness stretching from one side of his field of vision to the other.
He moved his leg slightly and it bumped into something. He leaned forward, feeling around with his fingertips until he felt the cold surface of the karaoke room's coffee table.
Gradually realizing something, he placed the microphone on the coffee table; he moved to his left and, feeling around once more for fear of tripping over something, he stretched his arms downward.
His fingers encountered the cold faux leather of the karaoke room's couch.
He straightened up.
It wasn't that everything had disappeared. Rather, it was as if everything had lost its consistency. It was as if the world had forgotten the color of things and had put all of them in at the same time.
Even the light was uniform, and the texture absent from everything made it impossible for anything to reflect. There was only this white that invaded Gu Luo's vision.
He turned his head toward the place where he had put the microphone a few moments earlier but could not spot it. It too had disappeared into the cotton-like expanse.
"It feels weird, huh."
Gu Luo jumped.
He was so disturbed by what was happening that he had not heard this voice. He now remembered that she had spoken to him earlier.
He turned toward the source of the voice and saw a strand of hair sticking out from the gap where the door to the room should normally have been.
A hand grabbed the edge of the doorway, and the tuft of hair became the silhouette of a little girl who looked to be around eleven or twelve years old.
She was wearing a faded T-shirt that was much too big for her. The T-shirt was so large that the beige bermuda shorts she was wearing could barely be seen, and the sleeves of her T-shirt covered her arms down to her elbows.
"W-Who are you?"
The little girl, who seemed amused by Gu Luo's reaction, approached while hopping on both feet.
"My name is Sū Yǔtóng." As if nothing were out of the ordinary, she grabbed Gu Luo's hand and placed it against her own to compare them. "Your hands are so big. How old are you?"
Gu Luo didn't really know how to behave around children, and it couldn't be said that the situation made him very comfortable.
He didn't know where he was or how he had gotten here. He didn't know who this girl was or how she had also ended up here.
"I'm 15."
Sū Yǔtóng still had a look of wonder in her eyes and was playing at intertwining her fingers with Gu Luo's.
"You know, I'm not much taller than you."
The little girl stopped what she was doing and looked at him in surprise.
"Really?"
Gu Luo smiled slightly.
"You'll probably be taller than me in a few years."
The light disappeared from the little girl's face.
This sudden change in expression made Gu Luo shiver.
The kind of shiver anyone can feel when they realize they have made a mistake without knowing it.
The kind of shiver that takes hold of someone when they realize a misconception they had about the world around them.
Sū Yǔtóng murmured as if to herself.
"That would surprise me a lot..."
Gu Luo didn't understand why the atmosphere had suddenly changed. He was always afraid of saying something that would hurt the person he was talking to.
In this case, he felt particularly guilty about it. After all, what kind of human being could hurt a little girl and not feel guilty about it?
He tried to reassure her, taking the same reassuring tone his mother used when he was little.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll grow up and surpass me..."
"I TOLD YOU THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"
Gu Luo jumped. He hadn't expected Sū Yǔtóng to react like that. To be honest, he could never have imagined that a little girl like her could have this kind of reaction.
But what disturbed him even more was the look filled with hatred that she gave him.
His heart was pounding and cold sweat ran down his back. Something about that expression gave him a feeling of déjà vu.
"I could never grow up like everyone else..."
Sū Yǔtóng was now looking at the floor, the tears of rage had stopped flowing, only her fists remained clenched.
Gu Luo dared to continue the conversation.
"Why couldn't you grow up like the others? I don't know of any little girl who never became an adult, you know."
Sū Yǔtóng smiled ironically to herself and spoke softly while she continued staring at the floor with an empty and depressed look.
"Because I'm already dead."