"Mommy, Mommy." "What is it, Xiao Le'?" "Poke!" "Got you!" "Cheeky fellow..." "Little rascal where are you?" "I'm coming to get you!" "Xiao Le!" "Xiao Le, come here!" "Did you do this?" "Answer me!" "Did you do this?" "Yes." "Don't we give you paper to draw on?" "Why must you draw on the wall?" "It was an accident." "An accident?" "This is not an accident!" "Why don't you just admit it?" "It's all right, Ma'am, I can clean it." "Go get the cane." "Go!" "You know we just repainted this house, and I told you many, many times- be careful with your crayons and color pens." "Why don't you listen?" "Hand." "Sir, do you want to eat now?" "What about Ma'am?" "She didn't eat." "Later." "Okay, Sir." "What's wrong?" "I recognise this piece." "You can read me that well?" "I can read this piece." "What happened?" "Just feeling guilty, I suppose." "I caned Xiao Le earlier." "Why?" "He drew on the staircase walls, the walls we just painted " "I saw." "Where is he now?" "In his room." "He's probably still awake." "I should go talk to him" "No, I'll go." "You better eat - it's late." "Not sleeping yet?" "Patches is hungry." "He wants a bone." "He wants a bone?" "Here!" "A bone!" "Better now?" "I want to hear a story!" "A story?" "Yes." "Read me a story." "What do you want to hear?" ""Hansel  Gretel"." "This story again?" "If you're not tired of it, I am." "Wait." "Read from here." "From here?" "Okay." "and so, Hansel and Gretel discovered, their stepmother wanted to abandon them in the forest." "Hansel quietly snuck out of the house, and gathered as many white pebbles as he could." "The next day, as Hansel walked with his family deep into the woods, he lay a trail of white pebbles on the road," "so that they could find their way home." "Mommy, if you don't want me anymore, would you abandon me in the forest?" "Maybe..." "Of course not silly!" "Mommy would never leave you." "Shall we sleep?" "Come, lie down." "Stop fidgeting!" "Your grandmother used to say, a birthday is an occasion for new clothes, new shoes." "Close your eyes properly." "They're closed!" "Don't peek." "Okay!" "Guess what Daddy and Mommy got you for your birthday." "A dog?" "There you go!" "Happy Birthday, baby!" "What do you want to call it?" "Patches!" "Patches?" "The other Patches might find that confusing..." "That's right- give it another name." "Okay..." "Mozart!" "Mozart?" "As in Mommy's favourite composer?" "Okay, let's call it Mozart." "Watch it!" "Mozart!" "Mozart!" "Mozart!" "Wait!" "The party starts at three." "Don't be late." "I just have to take this one meeting, then I'll come right back." "I won't be late." "Mozart!" "Xiao Le!" "Don't run!" "Your shoes..." "Nora." "Yes, Ma'am?" "I have a headache." "I'm going upstairs to take a nap." "Okay." "Yes, Ma'am." "Where's the birthday boy?" "Ma'am?" "Are you looking for Xiao Le?" "Yes." "He's over there." "Okay." "Thank you." "Xiao Le!" "Look at you!" "So big now!" "Do you remember me?" "You've forgotten me already?" "I took care of you when you were a baby..." "Mozart!" "Come back here!" "Nora." "Yes, Sir?" "Is Ma'am there?" "She's upstairs, Sir." "Can you tell her I'll be late?" "Yes, Sir." "Where's Xiao Le?" "Hold on, Sir." "I think he's outside, Sir." "Can I talk to him?" "Yes, Sir." "I'm looking for him." "Mozart!" "Xiao Le!" "Mozart!" "Xiao Le, Papa wants to talk to you." "Papa, where are you?" "I'm still in a meeting." "I'm almost done..." "Sing me Happy Birthday." "What?" "Sing Happy Birthday for me!" "Xiao Le, I can't right now" "Please." "Happy Birthday to you..." "Louder." "Happy Birthday to you," "Happy Birthday dear Xiao Le..." "Happy Birthday to you." "Again!" "Xiao Le, I'll come home and sing to you, okay?" "One more time!" "Please!" "Happy Birthday to you," "Mozart!" "Happy Birthday dear Xiao Le," "Mozart!" "Happy Birthday to you." "Mozart!" "Mozart!" "Hello?" "Xiao Le!" "Ma'am, ma'am..." "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry, Ma'am." "He ran out of nowhere." "Really!" "Came out of nowhere..." "Patches will keep you company, okay?" "Coming." "I want to see Jia En." "Jia En!" "What have you done to yourself?" "Come on!" "Get up!" "Get up!" "Let's" "I remember, when I found out I was pregnant," "I took the home pregnancy test over and over ...went through five of those test kits," "I think." "Just to make sure." "I miss him so much." "In this house," "everywhere I turn," "I can feel his presence." "I don't know how to let him go." "I was Xiao Le's nanny," "I loved him very much too." "I know his spirit lives on in your heart." "When I was just a baby, my mother gave me away to a family in Ipoh." "The old man in the house could see things." "He was a medium - a spiritual advisor." "I was very close to the neighbor's daughter." "One day, when she was outside the house," "a car ran over and killed her." "For weeks after the funeral, I often woke up in the middle of the night." "I felt something shaking me, tugging at my blanket," "Only the old man knew." "He told me, the spirit of my neighbor's daughter had returned." "Her parents moved out of that house and left." "They were gone for good, so she didn't know where to go anymore." "What then?" "The old man performed a ritual, to let her know she was dead," "to send her peacefully on her way." "From that night onwards, I slept fine." "Nothing disturbing me any longer." "Soup's cold." "Auntie." "Yes?" "Is the old man still there?" "He passed away years ago, but since then, his eldest son has taken over." "In fact, he's in Singapore now." "Suppose I don't want to send my child away." "If I want to bring him back, to be here, by my side" "could this man help me?" "Are you sure you want to do this?" "She loved her son very much." "And he is her only son." "Couldn't you have another child?" "Her womb is very weak; she lost two before this one." "After she had Xiao Le, the doctor told her she couldn't have any more children." "Here - his date and time of birth." "His date and time of death are there too." "If you want Master to bring his spirit back, you must do exactly as he tells you." "Don't question his methods." "Just obey." "Master Chen, how will you find him?" "I won't." "He will find me." "Wherever he is," "I will bring him back." "Sir, the car is here." "Thank you." "I'll be back by Thursday." "My itinerary's on the bedroom table." "Saw it." "Will you be okay?" "It's just five days, and I'll be back " "Don't worry." "I'll be fine." "You better go - taxi's waiting." "Jia En?" "Is everything ready?" "Come in first." "Master Chen says he'll be here by ten." "The maid should be asleep by then." "Is everything ready?" "Yes." "Ah Ling, we can set off now." "Master, the boy's tombstone has not been erected." "His grave is in front of the big tree." "It's the fourth grave from the left." "The map." "I'll go with you." "It's better if you stay here with me." "What are you going to do?" "We have to perform certain rituals at the grave." "In order to lead the boy's spirit home, we will have to bring back a part of him." "A part of him?" "What do you mean?" "Tong!" "Don'!" "worry." "Just wait here for us." "Keep a josstick burning at the altar, until we comeback." "Remember." "Hello?" "Yes." "Okay, got it." "They're back." "Come in." "They need to do this in order to bring him back." "Remember, the finger must always stay in the box." "Burn a josstick every morning and every night." "At midnight, give Xiao Le some of his favourite food." "The more you encourage him, the stronger his spirit will be." "Remember, you have to do this, until you know his spirit is back." "How do I know when he's back?" "You'll know." "These are your favourite chicken wings." "Mommy got it from the stall you like." "Mommy, Mommy." "Poke!" "Where were you last night?" "What?" "I woke up during the night." "You weren't in bed." "Where were you?" "In the study." "Doing what?" "Nothing." "Nora says you've been spending a lot of time there." "That's because the piano's in there." "You haven't been playing the piano since that day..." "You lock the study when you're not there." "And when you're inside, you lock the door too." "In this house, it's the only place I can go to where I can grieve." "Jia En," "I miss him too." "I miss him, but we have to move on." "Move on?" "We can't spend the rest of our lives like this!" "If you want to talk to someone  you mean, like a psychiatrist?" "Dr Lim has helped you before." "We can talk to her." "De Wei, I'm not crazy." "I just need you lo understand." "Understand?" "Isn't that all I've been trying to do these last few months?" "I'm going to work." "Hello?" "Auntie?" "The number you have dialed is not available." "Please try again later." "Let's go!" "Mummy has to go home and cook..." "I want to play on the swing!" "You want to play?" "Ah flan'.!" "Hello?" "Auntie?" "Jia En, is everything alright?" "Where were you?" "I've been trying to reach you." "I couldn't get through." "My phone wasn't with me." "I need to see you." "I'm busy at the moment." "When will you be free?" "Anything wrong?" "Xiao Le?" "This is where we stopped." "Do you want me to continue reading?" "If you want me to continue reading, please tell me." "The children waited for the moon to rise, then they followed the trail of pebbles." "The trail led them back home, safe and sound." "However, they would not be safe for long." "Come on, Xiao Le." "I know you can do it." "This is exactly as we left it." "I'm sorry Sir, I'm sorry Ma'am." "But he's very, very sick." "And so young." "It's okay, Nora- we'll arrange for a flight for you to go back and " "You should go back and see him." "Thank you Sir, thank you Ma'am." "Will you be all right, Ma'am?" "Don't worry." "I'm going to be fine." "Oh no!" "Sorry, Xiao Le." "I overslept." "Mommy will come down earlier tomorrow night." "Okay?" "Your name is Anna?" "Yes, Ma'am." "You're Cambodian?" "Where did you learn to speak Mandarin?" "My previous employer couldn't speak English." "So I picked up some Mandarin." "Can you cook?" "Yes, Ma'am." "Can you do gardening?" "Yes, Ma'am." "I love gardening and cooking." "I thought you said she liked cooking?" "That's what she told me." "Maybe it tastes fine." "Even Mozart has reservations about her." "I think we should give her some time." "There's something I wanted to talk to you about." "What is it?" "Perhaps it's time to move out." "No." "I found a place - it's really nice and quiet," "I can take you there." "I don't want to move!" "I really don't want to move!" "Why?" "Why don't you want to move?" "Why do you want to move?" "Because Xiao Le's gone." "He's gone!" "No, he's not." "No, he's not!" "What are you talking about?" "De Wei." "I don't want to move, okay?" "Can we just stay here?" "Just like I used to play it." "Jia En," "I want to tell you something." "I will always love you." "No matter where I am, no matter where you are, my love will always be with you." "Play it again." "It's late." "Play it again." "Okay." "Mom, where are you going?" "Mom?" "Mom?" "Mom?" "Xiao Le!" "Enough!" "I'm going to stop if you're going to be like that." "Xiao Le!" "Xiao Le!" "Enough!" "Xiao Le!" "I know you're frustrated," "I know somethings bothering you." "But this is not the way to let it out." "Do you understand?" "Xiao Le, are you listening?" "Xiao Le!" "This is not funny " "Ma'am, do you want me to clean this room?" "No." "I don't want you to enter this room." "Not ever." "Is that understood?" "Yes, Ma'am." "Why don't you go clean the other rooms?" "I've already cleaned all the other rooms, Ma'am." "Then why don't you clean your own room?" "Yes, Ma'am." "You think about it, what you did last night." "Think about it very carefully." "De Wei?" "Where were you?" "I just got back." "Really?" "What do you mean?" "I heard you driving in half an hour ago, and you say you just got back?" "I was hungry, so I went to the kitchen to find something to eat." "Really?" "Why would I lie to you?" "Morning, Ma'am." "Morning." "I'm going to be late again tonight." "Hmm." "Anna!" "No need to cook dinner for me tonight." "Yes, Sir." "Are you angry with me?" "No." "If you are, then let's talk." "No need for all this nonsense." "What are you talking about?" "You know what I'm talking about." "No, De Wei." "I'm tired." "Jia En!" "What are you doing?" "Have you gone crazy?" "What the hell are you doing?" "Jia En!" "Anna!" "Anna!" "Why is the table so messy?" "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "What's really going on?" "Nothing, Ma'am" "Anna!" "Last night when I was asleep, someone touched me." "Touched you?" "What do you mean?" "Someone came, pushed my face into the pillow," "I couldn't see who." "What did he do?" "What did he do to you?" "He pulled down my pajamas... then... he pulled down my underwear..." "Sorry, please excuse me." "What are you doing here?" "Why aren't you answering my calls?" "Can't you see?" "I'm in a meeting!" "Is something going on, De Wei?" "Is something going on between you and Anna?" "Look, let's talk about this when I get home tonight." "I want to know now." "I need to know now!" "Listen, Jia En." "I'm going to call Dr Lim" "I saw you coming out of Anna's room the other night!" "I told you " "I went to the kitchen to look for something to eat, but I didn't know where all the food was kept." "So I went to Anna's room, to see if she could make me something." "But she was asleep." "So I left." "Jia En," "This has gone far enough." "These past months I'm trying my best to understand, but you come in here, into my office, embarrass me in front of my staff..." "Enough." "Carry on." "Shut up!" "Why don't you shut up and eat?" "Hurry up and eat!" "Stupid dog!" "Eat, or else I won't feed you!" "What is it now?" "Eat your food, stupid dog!" "We have to take her down to the station to record her statement." "Miss." "I will come and fetch you later." "Did you reach Master Chen?" "He's not in Singapore." "He's at some mountainside retreat." "He's only coming back end of the month." "I can't wait that long." "What happened?" "That spirit in my house." "It is not my son." "I don't know what it is, but I know it is not my son." "It is not Xiao Le." "The Master once taught me a ritual." "What kind of ritual?" "A ritual that can identify the spirit in your house." "What do I need to do?" "I can come to your house and show you." "But, your husband" "He left for an overseas trip this morning." "All right." "Tomorrow night, we'll perform the ritual." "This will be the Gateway." "The spirit will pass through here." "But as long as we stay within the circle, we will be okay." "Light the jossticks." "Sit down." "When the spirit passes through the Gateway, you will catch his reflection in the mirror." "If it is Xiao Le, it will be his face you see." "Let's try again." "Master Chen said, he can only get a ticket for the day after tomorrow." "He'll come straight here from the airport." "I'm going to ask Anna to pack her things." "I'm sending her back to the agency." "Jia En, right now, it might be better you don't stay here." "Go to a friend's house." "What's to stop that thing from following me?" "I'll only be putting someone else in danger." "You go and do what you need to." "Where are you going?" "If that isn't my son in the grave," "I want to know who it is." "Hello?" "Hello, Anna." "Is everything okay?" "Fine, Ma'am." "I've already packed my things." "I'll be back in about an hour." "Yes Ma'am." "Bye." "One." "Two." "Three." "His grave is in front of the big tree." "It's the fourth grave from the left." "Four." "Hello?" "Excuse me." "Can you help me?" "I'm trying to find out who's in that grave." "Which one?" "That one." "Uncle," "I really need to know the identity of the person buried there." "My son is buried next to him." "Please." "The grave next to my son's, it's unmarked." "Who's buried there?" "I don't know." "How can you not know?" "You're the caretaker." "They didn't tell me - the people who buried him." "You must at least have a name." "No." "No name - how can that be?" "There must be records!" "You can't simply let people bury their dead here." "Unless they didn't go through the cemetery..." "They paid you off..." "I have six mouths to feed." "With this salary, they would starve to death!" "Uncle, where are you?" "I'm looking for you!" "Coming!" "Aunty Seetoh" "Hello?" "Jia En?" "Hello?" "Ma km?" "He was my son." "Born several years before Xiao Le." "But from the day he was born, we knew something was wrong with him" "When he was a child, we initially thought he was just a little bit rough." "The older he grew, the more violent he became." "When he reached his teens." "He started attacking people." "One day, my sister brought her daughter to the house." "My niece had a fever, so we let her rest in the bedroom." "We were only out for ten minutes..." "Mei Mei, we're back." "Sis..." "I wasn't home when Ah Tam died." "That day." "My husband sent me out on an errand." "He gave Ah Tam some pills, so he would sleep..." "That was also the last time I saw my husband." "When I came back, he had packed his things, and left." "You killed your own son." "Master Chen tried to bring him back several times, but each time he failed." "Your son is lost, he cannot find his way back." "However, there is a way." "He can follow another spirit home." "A soul that has just died." "With this soul to guide him, your son can return." "You used Xiao Le to bring your son back." "My son's death " "did you have anything to do with it?" "No!" "I loved Xiao Le, and I know you loved him too." "The thing is, when he died, I thought," "maybe there's a way for both of us." "You understand, don't you?" "I wanted my son back, just like you." "Jia En!" "Anna!" "Help!" "Come out!" "Come out now!" "No!" "He's upstairs!" "Don't hide inside!" "Enough!" "Tam, you listen to me!" "You don't belong here!" "Please go away!" "Leave us alone!" "You don't belong here!" "Stop harassing us!" "Enough!" "Xiao Le?" "Xiao Le." "Stop!" "Xiao Le." "Ah Tam," "it's time to go home." "Jia En," "Please forgive me." "Xiao Le." "You're still here?" "I've always been here." "No matter where I am, no matter where you are," "my love will always be with you." "Mommy..." "Jia En!" "So you can always find your way home." "Xiao Le," "Daddy and Mommy will always love you."