Prologue

It should be a hazy memory. I should remember none of it. But I do and I do so clearly. A quiet afternoon, right after we had had our lunch. She sat right across from me. A reflection of myself yet her colour palette was unique and intriguing. The wispy white strands of hair falling across her face, her red eyes that focused on the puzzle piece in her hand, her thin frame hunched over the jigsaw puzzle that father got us from the shipyard merchants, her pale cool skin that contrasted my warm tones, so determined to be winter to my spring. She noticed my lack of movement and looked up to see me stare at her and smiled. That crooked smile was the one common feature we shared along with our general structure to mark us as twins. We looked different, our personalities contrasted, we saw the world differently even at that young age, but we got along so well. I picked up a piece that had a golden key and placed it in the empty spot of the green door. Until this moment was my life perfect and in order. After this, I joined the ranks of people who had loved and lost.

It was a moment, the beautiful music, the hypnotic voice, the panic-stricken look on our mother's face, her vain attempt at covering both our ears. Then she looked up, expressionless, her eyes glazed over, the puzzle piece fell from her hand. She stood up and walked out the open door. She looked so ethereal then, walking through the flowery maze that our garden created. My mother howled, the servants held her back. For everyone knew that she had been claimed. There was no use going after her.

Everything turned slow and blurry. I felt the tears roll down my face. Stories about the legendary Siren that I heard from my grandmother on countless evenings after tea came back to me. She walked on, deaf to my calls, dead to the world. My sister, Zhou Li Guang was gone.