How can you fall asleep as soon as you lie down?

After that, Jonathan existed silently in that dilapidated house for three months, like a ghost.

Intentionally avoiding her stepfather and her mother, she spent most of her time hiding in the cramped attic, accompanied by the floating dust, looking out through the small round window for an entire day.

Until one day, a distinguished guest arrived at the house: a tall, black man in a suit and tie.

Jonathan was called downstairs by his mother, but his mother was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he ran into his unusually neat stepfather and a guest who seemed completely out of place in the house.

The guest was wearing brown sunglasses, and the room was dimly lit, so his eyes were not visible.

When Jonathan saw him, his lowered eyebrows lifted, and his thick lips parted to reveal a set of neat, white teeth. A diamond was set in the center of his canine tooth, which seemed to have been intentionally smoothed out, maintaining a smooth and uniform curve with the other teeth.

Jonathan didn't see it as a symbol of status through meticulous grooming at all; instead, he felt it was sinister, like it was about to devour him.

The distinguished guest invited by the stepfather sent his wife away, but had his stepson, who was usually called "trash," accompany him. Jonathan was wary, but also wanted to figure out what was going on, so he pretended to be naive and obedient, acting as if he couldn't understand English.

Unfortunately, the guest only whispered a few words to his stepfather before leaving without even staying for a meal.

That day, her mother cooked a table full of food again. After three months, she finally agreed to serve Jonathan some food. Her stepfather handed her a simple paper bag containing a set of clothes and a pair of shoes, cheap in style but new.

Jonathan smiled and thanked him. His stepfather, taking advantage of the situation, said in broken Chinese that he would send him to a good place to "go to school" the next day. Jonathan still smiled and didn't ask any further questions, but his stepfather took the initiative to explain that it was the house of the person he had just been to, and that the person was a "music teacher."

Jonathan said, "Okay."

Then, for the first time ever, he ate a full meal without being urged on by harsh words, enough to give him the strength to escape the next day.

The next morning, a Lincoln was parked outside the dilapidated house.

Jonathan, dressed in new clothes but without a schoolbag, walked to the door, ready to go to "school".

The stepfather was waiting early by the gate outside the house, smoking and chatting animatedly with the driver, his eyes gleaming with a menacing glint as he tried to sneak a peek inside. The mother called to Jonathan at the door, straightened his collar (which wasn't crooked to begin with), and suddenly grinned.

"Go ahead, then everything will be peaceful." The tone was gentle, yet chilling.

Jonathan grinned and said, "Goodbye, Mom. Just pretend I'm dead."

When Jonathan came to the car, the driver was neither particularly enthusiastic nor disdainful. He took the cigarette butt out of his mouth, threw it on the ground, and crushed it with the tip of his shoe. Then he opened the back door to let Jonathan get in and got into the driver's seat on the same side.

The engine roared, and the car vibrated slightly. The stepfather bent down with his hands in his pockets, took out one hand and knocked on the rear window. He nodded to the front with an embarrassed smile and asked the driver to roll down the window.

Jonathan glanced down at the many buttons on the inside of the car door. Some were labeled with seat icons, others with lock icons, all placed in pairs side by side. The last one, with a recessed area below, was probably the button for opening and closing the window.

The car window rolled down completely, and the stepfather, elbows resting on the door, squeezed his head in, his gaze carrying a threatening smile. His withered lips parted, revealing yellowed teeth corroded by tobacco and alcohol: "Behave yourself, sweetheart."

Behave my ass. (You're a real jerk.)

Jonathan responded with a docile, sweet smile, pressed the door button with her slender finger, and rolled up the window.

Seeing that he was caught in the glass, the stepfather quickly stepped out of the car window, embarrassed but not daring to say anything.

A cryptic snort came from the driver's seat. Jonathan sat up straight and said to the driver in broken English, "Please drive me away from here, sir."

The luxury of the car's interior exceeded Jonathan's expectations, but he showed no curiosity to observe or touch it, focusing instead on staring out the window the whole way.

Jonathan silently counted down the seconds. About fifteen minutes after the Lincoln drove out of the chaotic neighborhood, the environment outside the window gradually became more civilized, with red-walled and gray-roofed buildings standing tall, exuding an academic atmosphere. Jonathan was momentarily dazed. Did his stepfather really just want to take him to school?

If that's really the case, should we still try to escape?

Three months ago, those terrifying memories flooded back into my mind like a tidal wave.

Jonathan curled his fingers and pressed them against his knees, closed his eyes to dispel the pain and fear, took a deep breath, and then calmly asked the driver, "Where are we heading, sir?"

The driver didn't turn around or give a direct answer, only saying that it would take about fifteen minutes to arrive.

Jonathan refocused his attention on the outside world, crouching behind the driver's seat and looking out the window on the far side.

The Lincoln drove into a narrow section of road, passing a building with mirrored glass and square white bricks. The view above was cut off by the top of the car window, so Jonathan couldn't see the whole thing, but the building seemed to stretch endlessly and must be very tall.

A high altitude means there are many rooms where one can hide.

Jonathan's hand was tucked into the recess of the car door by the window, while his other hand was clenched tightly. His heart was pounding, and he bit his upper lip, his eyes fixed on the shop signs outside the car that were constantly receding.

Seeing a man in a hot dog suit handing out flyers in front of a store, Jonathan mustered up his courage and asked the driver if he could stop the car and buy him a hot dog since his stepfather hadn't given him any food that morning and he was very hungry.

The car slowed down for a few seconds, then quickly accelerated again. Jonathan's voice trembled slightly as the driver coldly warned, "Do as your stepfather says, behave well, and don't try to play tricks."

The driver's reaction made Jonathan even more certain that he was about to fall from one abyss into another.

In a moment of panic, a crazy, desperate idea popped into Jonathan's mind.

Jump off the train.

At red lights, the car will stop. Jonathan really didn't eat breakfast; even if he ate a lot yesterday, it wouldn't have been enough to outrun the driver's pursuit.

Then the only option is to accelerate now!

Jonathan held his breath and pressed the unlock button. The car door clicked open with a startling sound. Without even glancing at the front to see if the driver had heard him, he frantically pulled on the lever above the button, bent his knees, and pushed hard against the door with his forearms—

The car door didn't budge!

"What the hell?!"

The Lincoln braked suddenly, and Jonathan's head was jolted against the back of the seat by the jolt. He curled up in the corner of the seat, his heart pounding as he thought, "I'm done for, I'm done for..."

There was a loud thud from the front door, followed by a loud bang, as a gust of cold wind rushed into the car, blowing through the gaps in the seats and making Jonathan shiver.

Jonathan hugged himself tightly like a pangolin defending itself, desperately awaiting a beating from the stranger.

But nothing came of it.

The hood of the car was suddenly slapped loudly, and there was a lot of noise outside, with swear words coming out from more than one person every now and then.

Jonathan shrank back and looked up through the gap in his seat at the windshield. The front of the Lincoln was surrounded by a group of young people not much older than himself, and the front row of the crowd were waving banners with slogans that were hard to read.

Jonathan had seen this scene on the old TV in the living room of his dilapidated house; the recent news reported that New York City was experiencing student protests.

The driver was white, while the marchers were filled with children of all ages, their skin tones varying from brown to black. The driver had his hood slapped, and he arrogantly and angrily shoved those children, who looked younger than his own, if he were even born.

The students were instantly enraged and surrounded the driver even more closely, raising their arms and shouting as they pressed their faces against the driver's.

Although Jonathan couldn't understand the shouts in the mixed foreign languages, he was still encouraged by the morale. He composed himself, wiped away his tears, and took advantage of the chaos to climb to the front seat. He unlocked the driver's door with one hand and pulled out the car key with the other.

The rear door was successfully opened, but Jonathan's legs were still weak. He didn't realize it when he landed, and his upper body rolled off the car first, his palms scraping the ground, feeling excruciating pain.

The situation didn't allow for any fussiness. Jonathan removed his legs from the car, gently closed the door, and used his hands instead of his feet to climb to the back of the car.

Once he was sure he was completely free from Lincoln's confinement, Jonathan crouched down to catch his breath. After a few gasps, he regained feeling in his legs. He pushed himself up, still hesitant to straighten up abruptly.

He hunched over and walked a few steps quickly, then Jonathan glanced back and saw the driver about to turn and look at him. He gripped the car keys, took off running, and dashed into the nearest building...

The road ahead was like a maze, winding and twisting as if there was no end. Jonathan ran in a serpentine manner for a short while before he was out of breath, his vision went black, his legs began to lose control, and the skin under his clothes felt tingly and numb, hot and cold.

We can't... we can't just stop like this...

Although he didn't know where else he could run or who could save him.

Thoughts began to drift out of control. Seven years ago, on New Year's Eve, seven-year-old Jonathan also tried to escape from what he called "home," but failed. He was then found by his mother on the low steps outside the guardhouse, wrapped in a black down jacket.

Subsequently, he was taken to eastern Guangdong, and then to country A.

Like an object that doesn't need to be asked for its opinion.

It was daytime, yet everything in sight grew increasingly dark, gradually merging with the ghostly cave in the dilapidated tenement building that shone with a blinding red light on New Year's Eve 2008. That night, a fierce-looking, tall older brother would appear at the end to catch him.

He has a down jacket to keep himself warm, new sneakers to buy medicine, and a silver necklace to buy new clothes to make himself look presentable...

I like him.

He's so kind to a stranger like me, shouldn't he like me back?

If you like someone, why don't you take them home? If you like someone, why leave them behind?

If only he were here at the end of this road to catch me... This time, I would cling to him like glue and go home with him... home...

Everything went completely black before his eyes. He tripped over something in the darkness and stumbled forward, falling to the ground.

There was no warm, comforting embrace, only the sludge-like pain of being rubbed against my palm.

After a long while, so long that Jonah suspected he had become a corpse lying exposed on the street, a youthful female voice suddenly came from above.

"Third brother, is studying at Columbia Medical School really that tiring? How come this person can just fall asleep as soon as they hit the ground?"