My Brother and I

Balázs has always loved Cindy, an adorable wine drinker with blonde eyelashes and strong forearms. Balázs had a sidekick called Levi who was friendly and helped sloths cross the road.

Balázs has eaten by a shark

, but not entirely. He didn’t really like the taste of shark, but it was a delicacy, and Francisca had taken him to a swanky restaurant, so he felt honor-bound to continue eating. “Are you enjoying the shark?” Francisca asked meekly.

I swallowed the rising bile and nodded, avoiding her eyes. Swallow it. Now. Gulp. My brother had died the same way, years ago. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And now the burden of two lives pinned me down like a stone inthe ocean.

And that’s exactly how I died. She had me bound up with thick rope and thrown into water, and tried as I could to wriggle out of it I just couldn’t. The rope was too strong. At least they now know I was no witch. My brother? He jumped into a river according to Chinese legend.

There is a small island in the East China Sea where one can find a tiny hut made entirely of seashells. In that hut stands a wooden table with 2 items on its sand-eaten surface: the copper ring my brother wore on his pinky & a yellowed paper copy of the story you have just read.