A group of men crowded around a table as they watched a young boy tell a story as he made giant gestures, swinging his arms in circles and making varied expressions.

‘And,’ the young boy said,  ‘they said the two bodies were never found again.’ The group of men had their eyes wide open paying attention to every word that the young boy was saying, their expression glowed with curiosity and amazement. ‘But,’ the boy quietly whispered, ‘do you want to know a secret about this tale?’ He eyed all the men and they all nodded, eager to hear the rest. The young boy smiled, knowing that he got them wrapped around his finger, and he held out his hand. The faces of the men changed as they looked at him and groaned.

‘Eyyy.’ Some whined.

‘What?’ Others groaned.

‘Just continue. If it’s good then we will give you copper coins.’ One of them said.

‘If you don’t continue, then we are all just going to leave.’ Another one threatened. The boy looked at them and knew that whatever they said were lies, or were empty threats. He knew that they were all hooked on his story already and they wanted to hear the end no matter what, and he knew this to be true for he had done this in the past and all the customers reacted the same.

‘Then I will leave. See if you guys can hear the secret from another storyteller. Bye.’ The boy got up ready to leave but all the men stopped him, pushing him gently back down in his seat.

‘We got it. We got it. We will give you the money so just finish the story first.’ They urged him but he didn’t budge and held his hand out.

‘Money first.’ He said. The men all around him groaned however reached for their money pouch and pulled out copper coins for him. The boy suppressed the smile that was forcing itself on his face as he watch them pile the copper coins on the table. I’m going to make a lot of money today! He thought as he felt the heavenly cold smooth surface of the copper coins, however he knew that he could make more. He slammed his hand down on the table and all the men looked up at him shocked. He looked back at them with dark eyes. ‘Is my story worth only this many coins?’ He asked with an offended tone.

‘Honored storyteller,’ one of the men spoke up, ‘if I could give you 100 copper coins, I would, however we here are all just poor farmers. We have given you the most we can.’ The man tried to flatter the young boy. All the other men nodded agreeing with the man however the young boy didn’t buy it. The young boy’s face changed from disapproval to sadness, as he looked away from the men, and tears began to seep out of his eyes.

‘Honored farmers,’ his voice quivered, ‘my dream since I was young, was to become a storyteller. My father beaten me when the sun rose in the east, and didn’t stop until it set in the west. I, once had a chance to become a farmer like you guys, however, due to my passion to tell stories, I gave up the comfort of being a farmer to bear the hardships of being a storyteller. I have not eaten in the last three days trying to come up with stories, trying to remember tales of our wonderful kingdom to retell, yet all I could make to survive the month is this.’ The young boy cried out as he slammed his arms on top of the coins, and buried his face into them. The men looked at him and pity pulled at their heartstrings. They all knew what kind of path a storyteller took, and they have all seen them suffering as some did not have the creativity to make people stay to listen to them. The men also knew that since they were all farmers they did have it better off than storytellers, although they were poor, at least they had food to eat.

‘We got it, we got it. You can stop crying now.’ They said as they all reached into their money pouch and pulled out more copper coins. To the men the boy looked like he was sniffling, however buried in all that copper coins, the boy was laughing out of joy as he heard the copper coins hitting the table. He raised his head up, making sure to keep a sad expression on as he pulled out an empty money pouch, and began to stuff it with the copper coins on the table.

‘Thank you honored farmers. May the gods blessed all your kindness for helping out this poor storyteller!’ He exclaimed. After all the coins were in his money pouch, he securely tied it to his sash, and sat back up. ‘Now then,’ he smiled, ‘do you guys want to know the secret?’ All the men’s eyes grew bigger and they all nodded their heads like little kids. The boy smiled and motioned for them to come closer to him, and they all came closer not wanting to miss a word he said. The boy waited, making them feel and taste the silence of suspense, before he opened his mouth. ‘Rumor has it that the empress dowager found out about the emperor's plan, and she had them murdered, then bribed the shamans to keep their mouths shut.’ He whispered just loud enough for all of them to hear. They all backed away, shocked on some of their faces, and others nod.

‘I knew it!’ Some exclaimed, while others were too speechless to say anything.

‘Why did the empress dowager do it?’ One of them asked. The young boy smiled expecting this question, and he was ready to give out the best part of the story.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

‘Do you not know why honored farmer?’ He said feigning a look of surprise on his face. The farmer nodded and others along with him. The boy motion for them to come closer, and they all leaned in, even the ones who said they knew it.

‘They said she did it bec-’ The boy looked passed the farmers to see a man with a murderous look on his face, as if he was ready to kill his target. Chills went up the young boy’s back as she quickly sat up. The farmers backed away in surprised and then looked at him.

‘What is wrong?’ The farmers asked a they saw his terrified face.

‘I will tell you guys when I see you guys next time.’ The young boy grabbed his bag that laid on the ground and threw it on his shoulder.

‘What do you mean? Just finished the story right now!’ One of the men shouted.

‘Shh!’ The young boy quickly said, but it was too late, because the man with the murderous look turned his head at the sound and made eye contact with the young boy. The man pointed his pointer at the young boy.

‘Stop right there!’ The man shouted and he started to run towards the boy. The boy quickly scrambled to his feet before turning around, and started to run away. ‘Yah! Don’t you run away. If you stop now I won’t kill you, I will just let you get away with crippled legs, but if you run away and I catch you… you’re dead.’ The man shouted.

‘Say that when you do catch me you stupid old fart!’ The boy shouted back and then ran as fast as he could.

‘Yah!’ The man screamed. The young boy quickly reached the market of the city, the busiest part of the city during the day, and made his way around all the people.

‘Excuse me.’ He said politely as he ran around them, and quickly made a sharp turn. He quickly went through the alleys of the houses in the markets, before finally hiding behind the corner of a house. He heard the man’s footstep and he held his breath, feeling his heart beat faster and faster. He heard the man screamed out of anger.

‘Chun Soka, you little wench. Don’t let me catch you, you little girl, or else you’re dead.’ He yelled before turning and running the other direction. Soka slowly peeked out the corner and watched as the man disappear as he turned behind a house.

‘Tch. Second uncle is always so persistent..’ She scoffed as h-she began to walk the other way. ‘Who says that only men can be storytellers, I can be one too!’ She muttered to herself as she walked down an alley alone. She looked up after a while then suddenly stopped, frozen in place, as her eyes grew big and she swallowed. Just look away. Just pretend you don’t see them. She thought to herself as she continued walking forwards.

In front of Soka were men with dark grey skin, and wounds on their bodies. The first one had his intestine hanging out, the second had a huge sword cut on his neck with blood gushing out, while the third had huge burns all over his body. Soka swallowed hard, balling her hands into a fist, and proceeded to walk past them. Why does this always have to happen? She screamed inside. As she was walking past them her foot stepped over something hard, and she lifted her foot to see what she stepped on. Her eyes glowed as she saw a copper coin on the floor.

‘Who would lose something as precious as this?’ She exclaimed as she bent over to pick it up from the dirt ground. When she lifted her head to get up she saw a man with a burn face staring back at her with curiosity. She made eye contact with him and her body grew stiff from shock. The man leaned in and Soka could smell his burnt skin, as the man stopped right in front of her face.

‘You, you can… see… me?’ The man asked in a low voice. Soka ignored him as she quickly stood up and stiffly continued to walk forward. ‘Hey kid. You forgot another copper coin.’ She heard behind her and she quickly turned around at the words of copper coin.

‘Where?’ She smiled and then immediately regretted her decision. She saw all three men’s face contorting to a smile and they began to run towards her. She turned on her heals and began running also. Why does this always happen to me?! She thought, Stupid ghosts!