Nha Han's father had been dead for many years.
But Han still remembered him.
She remembered the rough, callused hand that used to pat her head. She remembered the old motorbike he often rode to take her out for ice cream. She even remembered his deep, steady voice:
“Be a good girl, sweetheart.”
The older she got, the fainter those memories became.
Some nights, Han dreamed of her father.
He stood very far away,
in the middle of a field blanketed in white fog.
Han ran and ran, but she could never get close to him.
She called out:
“Dad!”
The man turned around.
But his face was always blurred.
Every time she woke up, Han was crying.
Mrs. Tinh felt sorry for her granddaughter, so when someone told her there was a spirit medium in Son Dong District who was very good at summoning the dead, she took it to heart.
She believed that if they could call the dead back, Han might be able to say a few final words to her father.
So one morning, Mrs. Tinh took Han and Nhan—her second daughter—to the district by taxi.
The three of them found the spirit medium’s house.
But the gate was tightly shut.
They knocked for a long time, but no one answered.
When Mrs. Tinh asked the neighbors, she learned that the spirit medium had gone somewhere and hadn’t returned yet.
The three of them had no choice but to head back in disappointment.
On the way home, Han sat by the taxi window in silence, watching the rows of trees race backward.
The taxi driver was a man in his early forties.
After listening to the three women talk, he suddenly spoke up:
“Are you folks trying to summon a dead family member?”
Mrs. Tinh nodded.
The taxi driver was silent for a few seconds before saying:
“If that’s what you want, I know someone.”
Nhan asked:
“Who?”
“He lives not far from here. People call him Master Thinh.”
The taxi driver lowered his voice.
“He’s very good. He can summon the dead. Sometimes the dead even say things only their family could know.”
Han raised her head.
“Really?”
The taxi driver looked at her in the rearview mirror.
“Really.”
Then he added:
“I hear he can cure illnesses, banish spirits, and ward off evil, too. People say he has incredible supernatural powers.”
Mrs. Tinh looked at Nhan.
Nhan looked at Han.
In the end, the three of them decided to give it a try.
None of them knew that the taxi driver was only one link in a trap that had been prepared long ago.