Fire Market

Today is Bonnie’s last day in Saigon. Her flight is at ten o’clock tonight and she has less than four hours left. After thinking of what to do, Van decided to take her to District 4 to check out a particular house.

“They call it Fire Market.” She told Bonnie, “they gave it that name because this market burns nearly every year for some reason. They never really found the cause. Some said it was electrical fires, some blamed the people grilling in the market, other blamed sabotage. But I think, there’s something nefarious going on. An evil spirit.”

“That’s interesting.” Bonnie commented as they both walked into the market. The market itself is a six-story tall building with the market being set up in the lobby. The lobby itself connects two alleyways and the market runs all the way through those out onto the main avenue.

“This alley right here is evident of that. According to Feng Shui, by having one entrance point East while the other points West in a tilted angle, the winds of bad omen get trapped inside and manifest itself into a wraith that wreaks havoc onto the population.”

“So has the wraith been in here the whole time? Would the fire get bigger every year?”

“Not really. See, the roof always burns down first, meaning that the spirit actually got away every time it burns and frees this market from its wrath until next year.”

Bonnie thought for a little and asked. “Are there only fire wraiths?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if there are other wraiths that made it in here and grew all this time into something deadly?”

“Like?”

“Like hallucinations, like this.” Bonnie phases from existence and a large meat hook impales Van from behind.

Van wakes up and finds herself back at the market, right in front of the building.

“What’s the matter Van? Aren’t you going to tell me about the Fire Market?”

“You know, maybe we should go elsewhere today. Come!”

Van leads Bonnie out of the alley but she doesn’t forget to look behind her. A gigantic eyeball stares back, its mass squeezing out of the tight building that’s containing it. One day, it’ll burst open, who knows what’ll happen then?