AND YET… SOMETHING DID HAPPEN
Because even though I kept snoring… Even though Chubby threatened to smack me with a peach branch next time… Even though my "Qi raisin" refused to glow…
Something stirred.
For a moment.
A warm pulse.
A spark.
A flicker.
A heartbeat inside my core.
Small.
Weak.
But real.
Chubby's ears perked. He watched me through the moonlight. "…There it is," he whispered.
I didn't hear him.
Because I was already asleep again.
Face-first in the grass.
But still—
my inner Qi…
stirred.
Just enough to hint at what I might become.
One day.
Maybe.
If I ever learn to meditate without faceplanting.
*****
One evening after everyone was asleep. And because Chubby was being Chubby. We made the mistake of going into the mansion basement for a book reading session or rather him contacting his wraith friends and shadows people…weird but none of my business.
My father didn't even know the basement had a second basement.
