A Beautiful Flower in the Black House

Region: China

Shiwang Heng 

Meili Hua Xiang 

A Beautiful Flower in the Black House

(One Shot)

Shiwang Heng huddled in the corner of his cell as the other men ate.  Hunger had been just one of the many hardships Shi had endured since he had been captured and eventually transferred to the Black House.  He looked on with his stomach growling while the other 11 men all had their fill of whatever the meal was for this evening.  Shi watched as two the soldiers, who were on guard, stood outside of his cell and pointed in his direction as they spoke.  One of the women snickered at their exchange of words and then both yelled for the other men in the cell to back off and allow Shi to eat.  He didn’t move.  The guards yelled again and as the men in the cell backed away from the food they either stared angrily at the guards or at Shi.  After a moment and few more foul words of encouragement coming from the guards, Shi stood slowly and walked to the center of the room where plates of brown unrecognizable mush sat.  He didn’t know if this was all some sort of cruel joke or if for once he would actually get a little more than the crumbs that he usually picked from the floor and plates after everyone else had had their fill.  As he grabbed the first pieces of food he shuddered a bit knowing he would pay this moment at a later time.

Life at the Black House was not easy for the guards let alone the men who were held captive within its walls.  The labor camp was more of a last resort for the region’s men who were deemed useless.  If you were a soldier in the Empress’s army who got in trouble for one thing or another being assigned to the Black House was your punishment and possible chance at redemption.  At least that’s what the women were told if they were transferred to the Black House.  In reality many knew they would never leave the god forsaken place, but rather than face a life on the run from the Red Army, most chose to do as they were commanded so that they at least survived.  For the men that were held within the walls of the Black House it was an even crueler twist of fate.  This was their last chance at life.  The men at the Black House were considered failures in many regards. The only thing left for them to do was forced labor and if they could not accomplish that then they were no longer of any use to the Empress of China or her people.

The men found at the Black House labor camp were unskilled, unintelligent, ugly and most important of all, according to many, unable to reproduce.   Their lack of being ability have children typically went beyond the inability to reproduce.  If they could manage any aspect of sexual stimulus they still had the chance to be used in the seedy brothels and sex dens found across China, but if they were at the Black House odds where they were impotent and could not even manage a bit of sexual entertainment for the majority female population.  The men at the Black House only did one thing and that was manual labor and if a man was unable to do even that, then there would be no use for him.  It seems that was the case with Shi Shiwang Heng.

Before Hepatitis X had sent the world into chaos Shi was already living in the world as an unwanted outcast.  He was mocked by his friends and classmates, despised by his father and brothers and a failure at almost everything he did.  At the age of sixteen he weighed no more than eighty plus pounds.  His family almost always called him by his nickname baichi, which was Chinese for stupid.  The only person that ever was kind or tolerated him was his mother and she was killed when war broke out after Hepatitis X tossed China and most of the world into turmoil.  Now, after many attempts by various entities who worked for the empress and China  at finding a use for Shi and failing, he had ended up at the Black House.  As feeble a man he was, it seemed that here to he was proving his uselessness and overall worth.

About the same time that Shi was stuffing his mouth with food a beautiful woman with white pale skin and hair as dark as night sat watching him form an office somewhere else in the labor camp.   Meili glanced back and forth between the monitors in front of her while she typed away at her keyboard.  She paused a moment to read something that had crossed her screen and sighed while shaking her head.  She then stared at the monitor to her left and watched the exchange between the guards and the laborers in cell six.  Meili watched as the men in the cell parted and allowed a small man to approach the food set out in the center of the room.  Again she sighed and shook her head.  “Today will not be a good day.” she said out loud to no one in particular as she went back about her work.  About a half hour later she picked up the phone and placed a call.  When the other end answered she asked if someone could come give her a break so she could stretch her legs.  Soon after she was relieved she made her way down to the cafeteria where she then slyly grabbed and pocketed a small sweet bread pie.  It was not the fancy kind she remembered when she was a kid but it was the best thing they had to offer at the Black House.   Shortly after her trip to the cafeteria she made her way back to her desk and once again sat behind it, bustling with work.

While Meili sat at her desk she pulled out the sweet bread pie she had taken earlier from the cafeteria and set it on her desk. She opened a drawer to her right and pulled out a small white pouch and opened it.  She then pulled out a small silver spoon which she used to extract a brown powder like substance form within the pouch.  As she did this she glanced up at the monitors before her and when she was satisfied with what she saw continued with her task.  She took the powder and stuffed it into the sweet bread pie and then quickly put everything away.  Another hour or so had passed as Meili worked undisturbed.  Eventually she looked up at the clock and the monitors and decided it was time she accomplished her main task for today.  For only the second time that day Meili picked up a phone and asked for relief and soon after she was out of the cramped stuffy space and stretching her legs once again.  She left the office and headed for the south side of the Black House humming to herself as she walked.

Shi sat back in his corner after having had just enjoyed the most food he had eaten in a long time and now he was scared to death.  The other men watched him with anger burning behind their eyes.  One of them finally spoke to Shi directly.  “You will pay for eating my food little man, you will pay.  They cannot watch you all the time.” His threatening words were cut off fairly quickly by one of the guards standing outside.  She eyed the man who spoke and warned him that if he did so again she would have him lashed.  He quieted and went back to staring angrily just like the rest of the men that were in cell six.  Soon an alarm sounded and everyone stood up, even Shi.  A female voice came across the intercom announcing it was accountability time.  Routinely after dinner all the men had to be accounted for and today was no different than any other.  The men lined up at the cell door, Shi of course being the last in line, and waited for the guards to open it.  As they were doing so a beautiful woman with raven black hair appeared and spoke to the guards as the men filed one by one out of the cell.  When it came to Shi’s turn to leave the cell he was stopped by the guard.  The beautiful lady next to the soldier smiled at Shi and asked if he knew who she was.  Although nervous, he felt comfortable in her presence and responded without fear.  “No mam I do not.” He said respectfully because he knew better than to answer any other way.  She smiled at him with kind eyes and asked him to sit down as she walked back into the cell with him and when he did as he was asked Meili sat next to him.

While the men in line walked along the corridor in front of the cell some looked back in confusion as Meili pulled the sweat bread out of her pocket while sitting next to Shi.  His eyes grew wide as the men left.  It had been years since he had seen any kind of dessert but he knew instantly what the lady next to him held in her hand.  Meili looked at him and smiled.  “Would you like some of this?” she asked Shi.  Shi looked around unsure of himself and his eyes fell on the guard.  Meili realized his hesitation and spoke confidently to the remaining soldier.  “You can leave now I am fairly certain that Shi will cause me no harm. Will you Shiwang Heng?” She said turning her attention back to the frail man in the cell sitting next to her.  Shi shook his head no still eyeing the sweet bread in Meili’s hand.   The soldier without uttering single word nodded her head and walked away disappearing out of site.  Meili tore the sweet bread in half an offered it to Shi as she brought the other half to her mouth and took a bite.  Shi did not hesitate after that and took the pie from her as quickly as he could while taking a huge bite.  The sweetness from within exploded on his tongue and he smiled as he chewed.  “This is so good” he managed to say with his mouth full.  Meili smiled at Shi as she ate her share of the pie.  They soon were talking happily with another spoke for a few moments about various different things, they even laughed a bit together.

Shi was in awe of Meili. She reminded him of his mother. At least a younger version of her or how he would imagine her if she were his age.  The soldier from earlier reappeared and cleared her throat. Meili and Shi stopped their conversation for a moment, they were both smiling.  “We need to get you out to accountability Shi or else you and I will both get into trouble.” Meili finally said.  The guard stepped aside as the raven haired lady and man stood and walked out of the cell.  As they walked along the corridor and to the door outside Shi felt as if he were floating.  When the door opened and the sun struck his skin he enjoyed the feeling of immense warmth and happiness.  Today seemed to be one of the best days he had ever had.  He noticed his cell mates standing in line looking at him in surprise, possibly a bit jealous.  He even laughed a bit as he walked with Meili.  The entire time they walked together she spoke softly to him telling him a story about her childhood.  When they stopped walking he was quickly distracted by a bird and watched its flight toward the clouds and smiled.  Then everything went dark.

As Shi’s body slumped to the floor in front of the prisoners, the blood from his neck pooled thick and red on the ground around him.  Meili turned toward the soldier that had been following them and handed her the blade she had just used to slit Shi’s throat.  The soldier looked at the Warden and simply whispered “Opium huh?”  “Yep, sure was.” responded Meili while giving her head guardsman a wink.  She then turned toward the men that waited quietly, shaking, scared to their very cores and addressed them with a booming and loud voice.  “For those of you who do not know me I am Warden Xiang.  If you cannot work then you are of no use to me.  You are already of no use to anyone else in the world so it’s in your best interest to do your best for me.  If not this is what you have to look forward to.” She said this as she looked down at the body of Shiwang Heng that lay in a pool of blood by her feet.  After a few moments of silence Meili walked away never even regarding the men that cowered before her.  The warden left her soldiers to accomplish the evenings accountability and removal of Shi’s body the men now held a deep fear for the raven haired beauty.

An hour or so later Meili sat alone, again in her office typing away at her keyboard while occasionally looking up at the monitors above her desk.  She shook her head as she glanced at cell six and took a bite of another sweet bread pie she had grabbed from the cafeteria on her way back up to the office.  Again she spoke out loud to no one in particular “I told you it would not be a good day.”

  

Shiwang "Shi" Heng (Chinese Translation: Long Disappointment)

Meili Hua Xiang (Chinese Translation: Middle Beautiful Flower)