The master muttered, “Here we go.” And began to perform the complex footwork. The flickering candle flames suddenly shifted in the opposite direction and then became steady.

​

He moved his hands in a rite of Taoism and his voice lilted in a low murmur. The headless ghost flickered in and out of sight near the paper body like it was waiting for an opportunity to pounce. “It’s waiting for the air…” I thought.

​

Wang Qi broke the silence with a slurred string of anger. "Di’ this‘tupid headless thing kill my dog?"

I had been almost entranced by Master Liu’s movements when the shout reached my ear. I jumped and gave a little gasp of fright. Master Liu had also jumped, losing the place in his conjuring footwork. The flames around the paper body began to dance wildly, as if they were being blown from every direction. Master Liu scowled at the dancing fires and moved his hand in a hastened rite. The candles fell still.

All eyes were on Wang Qi, who was swaying side to side in his place. Master Liu glowered at him, "If you interrupt me again all of this will be in vain!"

​

Elder Wang scolded his son, "You foolish man! You’ll get us all killed!"

​

Wang Qi’s face turned an ugly purple red. For a moment, it looked as if he would control himself, but only for a moment. Wang Qi slid his bloodshot eyes around his family. "Kill’ou? Hurt you? Thi’stupid thing?” He gestured at the headless ghost, now flickering wildly from place to place. “Who cares? I’m not scareda’ him."

​

Wang Qi darted forward and grabbed the pot of water from the table. He backed up, clutching it tightly in his hands and then splashed it towards the flickering figure before him. It vanished.

The water flew in a growing arc and landed on the paper body.

​

The delicately drawn face began to weep ink. The eyes drooped and became unrecognizable smears. The nose fell and melted into the mouth. A stream of black meaningless ink comingled and fled from the wilting paper face.

​

Wang Qi smirked at what he’d done and lifted the now empty pot. He threw it forward like a ball player hefting the game-winning pass. Before anyone could move, the pot collided with the paper man’s carefully assembled head. The pot first replaced the head. A split second later they were both gone, tumbling on the ground amongst the dirt.

​

The pot clattered to the ground with such intensity that only silence allows.

​

The low scathing sound began to fill the air. It pulsed from growl to scream again and again. The ghost appeared where the paper body stood wet and ruined. Its spectral body looked almost solid now, much more there.

​

Master Liu didn’t shout, I doubt he could have his voice was shaking with fury. He spoke in harsh abrupt spurts. "Get him away from here. Take him inside."

​

Wang Yumin and Wang Yushan grasped onto Wang Qi’s arms. Elder Wang marched in between them and struck his son across the face while scolding, "Do you want to die?"

​

Wang Qi pouted but did not struggle. "I’m not scareda’ him. He killed ma’ dog. I’ll kill’im. I’m not scared of a headless ghost. Shit, if I can’t kill him, I’ll give up my name. He killed my dog. I’ll kill’im."

Emboldened by wine, Wang Qi pushed against the men in his family and spat at the ghost flickering before him.

​

The spirit faltered, flickered, and then was upon Wang Qi in an instant. Wang Qi, still held by the others, reeled back in horror. The bravery drained from his face and his feet went out from under him.

​

"Don't move you bastard! You won’t hurt anyone else!" Master Liu was suddenly in between Wang Qi and the spirit, which had begun to darken into a deep ugly gray. Master Liu widened his arms like a soaring eagle and brought them together still stretched full length. The sound that emanated from his palms colliding on the yellow paper amulet was a thunder that shook me off my feet.

​

The spirit’s shape crinkled unnaturally beneath Master Liu’s blow. The shoulders squeezed inward until they were where the head should have been. Its back bent and cracked a number of times until the torso was a misshapen mass. The hands bent backwards as if trying to repel Master Liu’s blow. It shrieked and shuttered in and out of existence, flashing here for a moment, there in another. It appeared beside me, beside Wang Qi, beside Master Liu once more, then shot into the remains of the paper body.

​

Master Liu followed it with his eyes and called forth, "What now, you bastard? I didn't finish the religious rites. You can’t be sent away. You can’t be saved.” He spat the words at the lump of headless melted paper.

​

No one responded, nothing happened. The night went quiet and we stared at the paper mass. The candlelight was steady and calm. The cold wind was gone. Wang Qi gaped silently with the rest of us. We waited.

​

I swallowed loudly and asked Master Liu, "Godfather, what's happened? Can you send him away with the paper body?"

​

Master Liu shook his head and said, "No. He can’t leave now, even if he wanted to. His original body is gone, and this one is...” He scowled, “Incomplete.” The old man raised his voice, sounding angry, tired, and sad all at once. “He will be excluded from our world. He can never be whole again."

​

I didn’t understand. "Can’t he take someone over, like he did before?"

​

Master Liu shook his head, "It is different. When a spirit enters a person, the body doesn't belong to it. It only controls the body like a puppet. What you see before you is different. I wrote his name and birthday on the paper man. I pasted a spirit-gathering amulet on it.”

​

“This was a real body that belongs to no one but him.” His voice had risen to a shout directed at no one in particular, but it made me tremble just the same. “Everything would’ve been fine if I’d finished the rites! But I was interrupted!” Master Liu’s eyes seemed to be alight. They roamed over the paper body like searchlights seeking an escapee. “He’s forced himself inside a broken, empty body. His heaven soul will never connect with the hell or life souls. He will suffer, and suffer, and disappear. Without nature’s balance, his other two souls will fade..."

​

I fought to wrap my head around what he was saying. I caught the anger in his voice. I felt the frustration at the simple mistake. I sensed the sadness, though I didn’t completely understand why he was sad. "Oh." was all I could say.

​

"Can we burn it?" Wang Yumin broke in.

​

"Don't get close to him!” Master Liu hissed at him. “The ghost has no entity! He can hurt you and use others. He may only consist of paper, but I can’t be sure how powerful he is."

​

Master Liu pushed me behind him while he was speaking. I saw him take out another yellow paper amulet. Sweat was dripping down his forehead. I don’t think I’d ever seen him so strained before. “Godfath-“ I started, but was interrupted.

​

A crumpled wrinkling sound filled the air and we all turned to look. Paper arms waivered in the still air. Paper legs jerked and twisted beneath the still damp torso. With a strange creaking that didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before, the paper man stood up.

​

The Wangs were frightened and stepped back as one.

​

Wang Qi seemed to come back to reality at the sight of it. He started to fumble over his tongue and spit out a whimpering nonsense.

​

"You chose this.” Master Liu told the crumpled mass standing before him. “It will be a mercy to put you down. "

​

The headless paper man trembled piece by piece. I watched a shimmer of movement go up one leg, then down the opposite arm. The torso, mostly bent in half, rolled a wormlike movement and straightened itself. The misshapen body stooped to pick up the paper head, half crushed by the pot. It reached out clumsy sticklike fingers and placed the semblance of a head atop a paper neck.

​

The blurred and faded mouth on the paper man's face began to speak, "Put me down?” It rattled. The voice coming from the paper figure was high and reedy, seeming to come from the air rusting into its chest from the holes that had been punched through. It laughed a breathy, garbled sound. “Come on Master.” The title came out venomous. “You promised me a new body. Is this it? You promised reincarnation. Now, I’m excluded from your world? Is this how you keep your promises?" The faded ink smile, now drooping towards the bottom of the face, seemed to stretch all the way around. The teeth, teeth that weren’t part of the original artwork, were monstrous.

​

Master Liu looked shocked. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. He looked down at his feet and and then sighed. "I didn't kill you, but your death is now my fault. You doomed your soul yourself, my boy. Let’s not waste any more time."

​

Master Liu’s hands moved like lightning. A slew of paper amulets, glimmering with a holy light filled the air between the two. The paper man cackled a high dry laugh, falling flat and dodging the assault. The darkness took him for a moment and I lost sight of him completely.

​

An inhuman voice slithered from the shadows towards us. “I’ll have to adapt to this existence, but I will come for you. I’ll come for you all.”

​

The voice shrank and was gone.

​

Master Liu stared into the darkness in silence. He closed his eyes and shook his head, saying, "I can’t believe what I have done. Or imagine what hell will follow..."

​

Elder Wang came shakily up to Master Liu. “What now? What should we do? That…that thing is after us!” Master Liu’s eyes flashed for a moment, but softened at the group of frightened men. He opened his pouch and took out several paper amulets. He folded them deftly into minute triangles and handed one to each of the men.

​

"When you meet the ghost, when not if,” He told them, “Bite your middle finger and drip blood on the paper amulet. Help will come.”

​

The Wangs began leaking questions and worries at the old man. He ignored them and closed his pouch. Pulling my wrist, he looked sadly down at me. “Come Xiao Yong, it is time we leave this place.” He looked towards the green man, who was gazing curiously at a beetle on his shoulder. “You,” He called, “Come with us.” We set off in silence, leaving the Wangs in silence.

​

“Why did the paper man run away?” I asked Master Liu, “Why wouldn’t he let you save him?”

​

"I think he was trying to survive. I cannot blame him for panicking. Now though, now it will be much more difficult to deal with him.”

​

“Why didn’t you kill him?” I persisted.

​

“He’s more powerful at night, it works to his advantage. Tomorrow I will find him. The Yang air is more vigorous in the daytime. I don’t think it will hurt him now that he has a body, but it might weaken him.” He sighed resolutely, “We need all the help we can get.”

​

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t.

​

My house appeared in the darkness of the night. We approached the door and Master Liu fumbled with the lock. He was grasping the knob when it was yanked from his hand. My father stood in the doorway clad in his pajamas. “Is it done?” He asked.

​

Master Liu shook his head slowly. "The process went awry.” He told my father. “Tomorrow we will continue. I must rest now."

​

Master Liu led the green man back to the spare room. I followed my dad and lay down between my parents. The evening’s events played back in my mind.  

​

“What happened?” My father asked when the door was closed. I recalled the fear, Wang Qi’s slurred screams, Master Liu’s orange quelling shout, and the paper man’s hideous voice. I told them everything that I’d seen. It came out in mixed up jumbles, but they seemed to understand.

​

My dad didn’t seem surprised by what happened. "Wang Qi is a poor soul. He‘s hurt himself and his family."

​

“And the ghost!” I added. “Master Liu would have sent him away, but now he has to kill him.” Despair dawned in my chest when I said it out loud. “That’s why he was sad…” I spoke, more to myself.

​

“Who?” My dad asked. When I didn’t respond he planted a kiss on my head. “Xiao Yong, you really do have the heart to be a Taoist."

​

I smiled at him, still feeling the ache in my heart.

​