I didn't see the accident myself. I did see the blood surrounding the crumpled tractor at the bottom of the cliff. Zhao Jie, his sister, and I stumbled upon it after class on our way home.

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The spring sky was shaking off the darkness of winter and the sun was still high over the western mountain when we were walking home that day.

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The gruesome details must have flown across town because when we rounded the bend, we came across a hoard of people already gawking at the crash site. They pointed at tractor that was still coming to rest on the cliff below. Zhao Jie shouted in excitement, “Come on! Let’s see what it is!”

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He darted into the crowd and then popped back out from a newly opened hole in the throng. “Sister, Xiao Yong, come look! A tractor turned over. Let's go see!"

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Zhao Yuan and I followed him.

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We joined in the crowd that was now moving slowly down the path to get to the crash site safely. We saw blood trailing down the mountain and collecting on the tractor. There were huge mineral deposits that had been thrown loose. The Village Head led the crowd and moved beside the tractor. He called out to a few of the men beside him,  “Keep an eye on the minerals boys. I don’t want anyone taking advantage of this tragedy.”

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I saw Zhao Jie’s forehead wrinkle in confusion. “He thinks people might steal the minerals.” I whispered to him. I didn’t think he had anything to worry about. It was an accident scene, after all. Who would steal from an accident?

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“Let’s take a closer look around the rocks over there!” Zhao Yuan whispered. “I wanna see what happened to the driver.” Zhao Jie and I looked at her with the same expression of disgusted curiosity.

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Having very little experience with machinery, the villagers were ogling at the torn and ravaged pieces of tractor. We managed to slip out of the crowd and maneuver behind rocks closer to it while the villagers followed the Village Head, who was currently barking orders concerning the loosened mineral deposits.

Wang Qi, a twenty year old, rich boy, whose family was in charge of logistics, was the first to step forward. He had been walking the family dog, the largest dog in the village. The Village Head thanked Wang Qi for volunteering, while maintaining a comfortable distance between the hound and himself.

Wang Qi pulled the leash and reared the large animal, “I can take inventory of the tractor and minerals that they lost.” The bear of a dog next to him let out a deep rolling bark, as if agreeing with its master.

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Zhao Yuan pointed at the dog from where we were hiding, "Guys look! What is it licking?"

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“He’s not licking anything,” Zhao Jie replied, “He’s talking to Wang Qi.”

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“Not the Village Head! The dog!” She pointed again.

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I followed her finger and traced a line with my eyes. Wang Qi’s dog was greedily licking blood off of the ground. Beneath the blood appeared something that looked like fur.

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My stomach rolled when it hit me and all at once I wanted to vomit. “It’s…It’s… eating…a person!” I murmured.

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Zhao Yuan looked a little uneasy at first and then her expression flattened to something that looked like boredom. She peeked her head out from behind the rock and shouted at Wang Qi, "Brother Wang Qi, Your dog is licking something on the ground. Don’t you know what it is?" Her voice was teasing and mocking.

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Wang Qi was chatting with a squad of villagers about the minerals and hadn’t noticed the animal. When Zhao Yuan's words floated to him, he looked down. With an angry grimace he kicked the dog in it’s soft belly and hollered with disgust, “Gah! Don't eat that! Bad dog! "

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The dog sprawled to the ground and let out a pitiful whimper. It scrambled to its feet and walked in circles around Wang Qi, moaning with its ears and head lowered.

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Wang Qi followed the dog with his eyes and pointed to his feet. "Stay beside me, don't move."

A younger man standing next to Wang Qi smirked, "Your dog ate a dead boy. Do you think he’ll come back to haunt you tonight?"

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Wang Qi laughed in his face, "Who cares. You think I believe in ghosts? Do you remember Xiao Chun’s mother? I checked her tomb every night for two weeks! Nothing! I even went to their house once. Don't believe the gossip. It’s all superstition.”

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His eyes burned a hole in the rock we were hiding behind while he spoke. He clearly knew we were involved with Xiao Chun’s mother.

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Zhao Yuan's face turned red when she heard him mocking. She popped her head out from behind the rock once more and let her temper get the better of her. "You're so lucky that the ghost never came after you! I bet you’d cry like a baby if you even saw one!”

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Wang Qi, not taking the bait, simply laughed and waved a dismissive hand towards our hiding place. He turned and continued discussing the mineral collection.

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We didn’t dare investigate further because of the dog, and the village adults had begun to clean up the scene. Getting as good of a look at the tractor as we could, Zhao Yuan, Zhao Jie, and I moved back to the road and continued home. My mother would kill me and then raise me from the dead if I was late getting home.

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Traffic police and emergency cranes came the following day. They cleaned the scene of the accident and took the tractor away. The Village Head arranged for volunteers to clean the site and gather the mineral collections that had fallen in the crash. For three days after that, people could be seen carrying shovels, baskets, and wheelbarrows to and fro between the village and crash site.

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Word spread that two boys inside the tractor were saved despite injuries. Word also said that one had died horribly when the tractor squashed his head.

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“Squashed?” I asked Zhao Jie, “They used the word squashed?”

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He grinned at me, “Squashed, squished, s-mushed, it all means the same!” He clapped his hands together and then lowered his voice as we went inside the school. It seemed that everyone was talking about it. Every family, man, woman, child, our teacher even brought it up as a safety lesson in school.

For days it was all people had to talk about. Weeks later it came up a few times in conversation and gradually people put the whole thing to the back of their minds. Three months later Zhao Jie and I had our final exams to worry about, which left zero room for accidents, gore, or crazy contemplations.

I wasn’t nearly as worried as Zhao Jie. I heard him murmuring information to himself at all hours of the day, and he’d asked me once in private whether I would stay back a grade to be with him.

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I smiled at him reassuringly. "Don't you worry. I’ll wait for you in the next grade, little one."

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Zhao Jie showed me the whites of his eyes, "Come on, Xiao Yong. Be a loyal friend! You never take risks any more!”

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I patted him on his shoulders, maturing my voice as much as possible, "Have you readily prepared for the exams?"

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We went through the process and life continued on. The test results would be announced after school the next day. Zhao Jie and I grabbed our backpacks and waited for Zhao Yuan in the schoolyard. After a few moments she popped her head out and waved at us. “I have to stay her for my after school program! Go on without me!”

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We waved at her and turned to go. We were walking down the curvy path and arguing over whether or not we’d be forced to repeat kindergarten.

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“If I stay, you have to-“ Zhao Jie started, but his words fell short when we saw the crowd gathered at the curve of the road, just as it had been months ago. “It’s happened again! Come on!”  

We ran to join the people staring over the edge of the mountain, but saw no accident. Something else was happening in the clearing below.

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Wang Qi was beating his huge dog with a long thing branch and ordering it over and over again to go home. The animal was dodging the stick and circling one spot below where we stood and gawked. “Move damn you!” Wang Qi hollered at the animal, but it didn’t seem to hear him at all. It continued circling one spot and jumping away from the wicked blows.

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It would move towards a point in the epicenter of its revolution and begin to roar angrily. Wang Qi must’ve thought it was growing at him and he jumped back so quickly that his feet caught the rock behind him. He fell on his backside with eyes closed tight, ready to be mauled. The dog ignored him and continued its revolution of the spot. It darted in every now and then, roared as if it had been stabbed, and backed off again.

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“It’s gone rabid,” Someone voiced.

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“No it hasn’t, there’s no foam or panting. Perhaps its just mad…”

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“It’s probably staying away from the Wang home, look how the man is treating the poor animal!”

“Poor?” Guffawed another fellow.

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The crowed jeered and laughed, content with watching.

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Zhao Jie and I got past the daze of the moment and joined in the crowds’ laughter.

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After a while, two Wang family men came and assisted Qi. The three of them pounced on the dog as they do in cartoons and a tornado of dust overtook them. The thrashing stopped eventually and the men walked away with a very tied up and upset looking animal hauled between the three of them.

The humor of the whole dog situation stuck with me the rest of the day. It stuck with the town too, I saw more than one person giggle at the mention of Wang’s Dog as word traveled. The humor, however, died the next morning.

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With exams over and only the impending results tying us to school, Zhao Jie and I decided to go with Zhao Yuan who was going hunting for crabs in the river.

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I hurried to his house as the morning began to warm and waited for Zhao Jie outside. He opened the door, leapt down the porch way, and we’d turned to leave, skipping rocks in our hands, when a voice stopped us.

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“Don’t go near the bend.” Zhao Laohei called from inside the house. We turned back to him. Zhao Jie’s father came outside onto the porch. “Where the accident was some months ago, don’t go near it. Something strange has happened.”

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“What?” I asked, more curious than spooked by his warning.

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He beckoned us closer and knelt down so we were level. "Do you remember Wang Qi’s dog? The great mountain of an animal?” We nodded deftly, eyes wide. “It died beneath the cliff last night. The Village Head says the beasts’ eyes were red and its fur had fallen out. It died miserably." He looked at us seriously.

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Zhao Yuan had come out the door behind her father to listen. “I heard that it wasn’t an obedient dog. Do you think Wang Qi was mad at it? Did he kill it?"

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Zhao Laohei shook his head, "No, I don’t think so. Those breeds are not cheap. Wang Qi would have been loathed if he killed such a creature, even if it was hard to handle."

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Zhao Jie shrugged casually, "Don't mind it. It was just a dog.”

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I looked at him surprised, marveling at his removed confidence.

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Zhao Laohei nodded and went on, "Yes, just a dog. There is something else though. Last night, Wang Qi’s neighbor, Wang Yumin was lingering at the turn. He was there when it happened. They said he was sleep walking, but…" He shook his head.

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Zhao Laohei let out a very subtle shivering breath. "When Wang Yumin returned with the morning, he said he heard something out there, a voice calling..."

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“What did it say?” All three of us asked at the same time.

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Zhao Laohei dropped his voice and extended each word as if tasting them for the first time, "Who’s seen my head?”