Chapter Four: Who Was Missing When the Applause Ended

Backstage, fifteen dancers celebrated, certain the rules had always promised fifteen. Lin Wu made Tang Li remove her shoe. The writing had faded, but at the sight of Zhou Ning's name, Tang Li's foot tapped his rhythm. “I don't know him,” she said as tears fell, “but my body is grieving him.” “Then let our bodies mourn.” They sewed fifteen knots inside their costumes, one for each person who should have been there. If another vanished, they would add another. Names and numbers could be changed, but the habit of tying knots would remain in their tendons. That night Lin Wu found the laundromat wrecked, shadows spilling from its machines. Helan Ye sat against a wall, his shirt black with blood, a bone needle through his chest.