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Summary: Elliot Caron travels from Canada to Taipei, Taiwan and finds himself mixed up with the paranormal.

Elliott Caron walked through Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. He had recently graduated college in Montreal and was taking a trip through Asia before beginning job hunting back home.  His short blonde hair fell in his face. He often brushed it out of his eyes, but it did no good. He had bright blue eyes and a sweet dusting of freckles across his nose and cheeks. He stood at six feet exactly, not exceptionally tall nor very short. He considered himself fairly handsome, though he didn’t date often. He spent most of his time drawing. That day he wore a pair of denim shorts, a white t-shirt, white sneakers, and he had a large backpack slung across his shoulders. 

Elliot made his way through the city, looking at all the architecture and interesting people going about their day. He snapped pictures with a camera his parents had given him as a gift for graduation. He wanted to grab as many reference photos for his drawings as he could. He even had his drawing pad in his backpack, ready to whip out and draw at any time. He was well versed in digital art, but he preferred a pad and pencil. 

He stopped in front of a funeral home to take a picture. At least he thought it was a funeral home. His Mandarin wasn’t the best. It could get him by for the most part. On the ground in front of the funeral parlor sat a lone red envelope. He had heard that they were considered lucky and often contained money. He could definitely use some extra cash for lunch. Elliot reached down to pick up the envelope, but a voice stopped him. 

An older Taiwanese woman stood there on the sidewalk. She had black hair streaked with grey. It was pulled back in a tight bun. She wore khakis, a red blouse, and sandals. She held a cane in her hand. She reached out with the cane and bumped his hand away from the red envelope. 

“I would not do that if I were you,” she said in Mandarin. 

Elliot stared at her, trying to decipher what she said. 

“Don’t pick it up,” she continued in her native tongue. 

He blinked. He understood, but he wanted it. He wanted the good luck inside. She pulled her cane back and he snatched the envelope off the ground. The old woman huffed at him and turned her head away. 

Elliot opened the envelope and pulled out, not money but, a small photograph of a young woman. She was beautiful. Long dark hair, porcelain pale skin, and rich brown eyes. She had a soft smile in the photo, but she looked like the kind of person that would have a beautiful laugh. As he stared at the photo a man and a woman came out of hiding from a large bush in front of the funeral home. 

“You must marry our daughter,” the man said in Mandarin. 

Elliot looked up with a confused expression on his face. “What?” he replied in English. 

The man sighed. “You must marry our daughter,” he repeated in rough English. 

“Why?” Elliot asked. 

The man gestured to the envelope. 

The older woman huffed again, “I told you,” she said in her native tongue. 

The man glared at her. “Stay out of this,” he snapped. “Witch.” 

“I’m no witch!” The older woman pointed her cane at the man. “You preyed on this poor boy. He had no idea.” 

Elliot looked from the older woman, to the man, to the woman beside him. “Where is your daughter?” 

The woman looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “She died, but you must marry her spirit…” 

Elliot didn’t let her finish. “I’m not doing that!” 

He dropped the envelope and the photo. To say he was horrified was an understatement. He turned and ran away from the people and kept going until he reached his hotel. He panted heavily as he leaned against the door inside his room. He was an artist not an athlete. He couldn’t believe had run that far that fast. Elliot was exhausted. His body shook with fear, sweat dripped down his face, but he was tired. He removed his backpack and flopped over onto his bed. His face buried in the pillow and after a few minutes of steadying his breath he fell into a deep sleep. 

The sound of a deep mournful wail rattled his soul. It reached him in his dreams where he was eating the most delicious fruits in a Taiwanese market. The wailing hurt his ears and his heart. He swallowed the fruit he was eating and looked around for the source of the cries. A woman appeared before him. The same woman from the photograph. She opened her mouth and cried out in agony. Tears rolled down her cheeks. 

“Why are you crying?” he asked. 

“You refuse to marry me,” she said in perfect English. 

“I can’t. You’re dead.” 

She wailed louder. He covered his ears, but it did no good to protect his heart. Every wail, every cry, it squeezed his heart. He could feel her pain. 

“If you don’t marry me, I can’t have a proper burial. I won’t be reincarnated,” she cried. “I’ll be stuck in this earthly realm forever.” 

“What even happened to you?” he asked. 

“I was murdered walking home one night.” 

Elliot gave her a sympathetic expression. 

She wailed. “Help me, Elliot! Help me!” 

Elliot awoke from his dream, but he could still hear her cries. He couldn’t see her in the hotel room, but her wailing echoed through his soul. He didn’t know what to do. How could he marry a ghost? 

**

Everywhere he went he could hear her cries. In waking life and in sleep it was a constant barrage of misery. He managed to go two days before he found himself at the funeral home. He wondered if the mother and father were still there. He didn’t see the envelope on the ground anymore. 

“Hello?” he called out. 

“They’re not here,” the ghost woman said. She appeared before him, beautiful as ever, but so very sad. 

“I’ll marry you, okay?” he said. “I can’t listen to you cry anymore.” 

“I’ll take you to my parents.” 

“Wait,” he said. “What’s your name?” 

“Hanami Chen.” 

“That’s beautiful.” 

“Thank you.” She grabbed his hand. Her skin was icy compared to his. 

She led him down the sidewalk and toward a small house at the end of the lane. They walked up to the front door and Elliot knocked gently. He glanced down at the front porch where all the shoes lay out. It was important to take off your shoes before entering the home. The door opened and the man from before looked up at him. 

“Have you changed your mind?” he asked as if he couldn’t see his daughter standing there. 

“Yes,” Elliot said. “I would like to marry your daughter.” 

**

Everything happened so quickly. One moment he was standing in front of his soon to be father-in-law, the next he was standing in front of a small group of people for a Buddhist wedding. It seemed that no one but him could see Hanami. She hovered over her parents and checked in on who Elliot assumed was her grandmother. He didn’t know how all of this was going to work, but he wanted to help save her. It wasn’t fair that an unwed woman might get stuck on earth, unable to reincarnate, but what did all this mean for him? 

It was a whirlwind of a wedding. Suddenly he was married to a spirit. There was something about her he liked, though. She was beautiful of course, but there was an innate softness about her. She laughed near the end of the wedding. A beautiful melodic sound like wind chimes blowing in the breeze. He wanted to know more about her. He wanted to learn everything he could about his new wife, but as soon as the wedding was over, they gave Hanami a proper burial. 

He stood at the back of the funeral with his wife. She looked to him and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Thank you,” she said. “For saving my soul.” 

“I can’t keep you?” he asked. 

“No. I have to leave. It’s my time to return to the cycle. But you will find someone else.” 

“I’m allowed to marry someone else?” 

“If you want to.” 

Hanami turned away from him and took a deep breath. She let it out slowly and faded away. She was gone. No more crying. No more laughter. She was buried in her family’s plot and able to move on in the afterlife. 

Elliot felt kind of sad. He wasn’t sure why. There was nothing really connecting him and Hanami, but she was a sweet soul. She deserved to live a long life and yet she was killed and left to haunt him. 

He decided to leave Taiwan early and head back to Montreal. 

Elliot sat in his seat in the plane and let out a sigh. Things had not turned out the way he thought they were going to. He wanted fun and freedom, but he found heartbreak. 

“You okay?” the woman in the seat next to him asked.

He turned and looked at her. He was met with a beautiful woman. Long black hair, creamy skin, and almond shaped brown eyes. Lighter almost amber colored. His mouth fell open. 

“Um yeah, I’m fine. Just… tired.” 

“Oh, well it’s a long flight. Maybe we should find something to entertain ourselves,” she giggled. Soft and sweet. 

Elliot’s heart thudded in his chest. “What’s your name?” 

“April. My parents decided to give me an American name in case I wanted to travel to the states. Jokes on them, they should have given me a French name because I’m moving to Montreal,” she laughed louder. 

He smiled. “That’s cool. What are you going to do there?” 

“Open an art gallery.” 

His eyes widened. “I’m an artist.” 

“Shut up.” She pushed him gently. 

Elliot reached up to grab his carryon bag and pulled out his notepad. He showed her the drawings he had done of Taiwan. 

“These are beautiful,” she whispered. 

For a moment Elliot wondered if it was a coincidence he and April found each other or if Hanami had somehow had a hand in this. He wasn’t sure, but either way he felt lucky. Maybe that red envelope had been full of good luck after all.