There was no word on when his potential next scene will be, Wu Xiaoming just strolled around the trailer parking spots. Right now, only he was free to "enjoy" the trailer. There was nothing really fun on TV. And as he browsed the current world versions of the popular video and streaming sites, he could not find any of the content creators he enjoyed. Nervous and a little frustrated, he decided to simply take a walk.
As he walked by a patch of shade cast by another studio and the palm trees on the side, a strange shadow the shape of a light yellow tail passed by him. He paused, turned around to take a good look at it, just in time for it to look back at him, tail wagging.
A dog. A golden retriever, with a semi-transparent body. Wu Xiaoming knelt down before this dog - this dog had a collar with the name "Bradley" on it. It was smiling at Wu Xiaoming, wagging its tail.
First dog he came close to ever since he came to this world. And it was a ghost dog. Rather odd but very fitting, in a way.
"What are you doing here, Bradley?" Wu Xiaoming whispered to the dog. He extended his hand over, just to see if he could pet the dog. His hand went through the dog's body the first time, and only when he focused a little, announced in a low voice that he would like to initiate non-violent, harmless contact with the ghost dog, did he felt the dog's touch: there was fluff, but cool, slightly chilly even; It was as if he had his palm on a malleable bubble, with not much weight or substance behind it.
The dog seemed very pleased that someone was able to touch it - it smiled wider, shoving its head into Wu Xiaoming's arms and chest, seemingly trying to get more pets from him. Wu Xiaoming was happy to oblige, but was also worried that he might squish too hard - this ghost dog did not have the normal consistency of a living dog at all.
"What are you doing here?" Wu Xiaoming asked again.
This time, the dog seemed to have understood what he meant. It licked Wu Xiaoming's palm a few times, then turned around and ran towards the palm trees. Right under the tallest one, which was almost twice the height of the studio building Wu Xiaoming was shooting in, the ghost dog dug his semi-transparent paws at a very negligible pile of completely crumbled leaves and dirt. The ghost dog dug a few times, then looked up at Wu Xiaoming with his googly eyes.
"You want me to dig this up?" Wu Xiaoming asked.
The ghost dog nodded.
Wu Xiaoming did not have dogs in both previous and current life, so this level of intelligence appeared to be somewhat surprising. He knelt down and dug his fingers into the dirt and leaves.
Maybe it was because he had been fighting too much in his dreams, the ease with which he could sink his fingers into the dirt and lift up pieces of semi-solid dirt and rock without fear of getting scratched or poked only registered with him later. "Aren't addicts supposed to be weaker?" Wu Xiaoming thought to himself, "Acting with too much strength and agility might be too - too glaring."
Before long, a cold touch permeated his right hand fingertips. Something metal. He pulled it up, wiped the dirt off its surface - it was a dog-shaped locket with a broken chain. The ghost dog tried to pick up the locket a few times, and only jumped around Wu Xiaoming after realizing it couldn't do it.
Inside the locket was one single picture and a note edged on the other side. The picture was one of a young, red headed woman holding a golden retriever. "My dear boy Bradley" the note read, yet there was no contact information.
The ghost dog hopped around Wu Xiaoming, trying to bite his pant leg a few times. It was apparent that he wanted to lead Wu Xiaoming somewhere.
Wu Xiaoming followed Bradley back to the trailer lot. Bradley went up to one of the trailers, going inside through the door then poking his head outside halfway. His eyes focused on Wu Xiaoming, his head tilting sideways, seemingly confused as to why Wu Xiaoming wouldn't follow him.
"Can I help you?" A PA just happened to walk by, and she asked Wu Xiaoming. To her, Wu Xiaoming was just checking around a trailer, maybe looking for whoever was in it or around it.
"Oh, hi, excuse me." Wu Xiaoming scratched his head, walked over to the PA and showed her the locket: "I just found this one over there, and I was wondering - if you know who it belongs to. Looks kinda important."
The PA took a look at the picture in the locket, froze for a brief moment then asked: "Can I - can I take a look?"
"Yeah sure." Wu Xiaoming handed the locket over.
The PA looked the locket up and down, studying the picture and reading through the note a few times. Eventually, with her eyes slightly red and watery, she said to Wu Xiaoming: "I think I know whose locket this is. Can you leave it to me? I'll - uh - I'll give it back to the owner. She's - a friend of mine."
Right this moment, Wu Xiaoming noticed Bradley the ghost golden retriever circling around the PA's legs, as if he knew her. He even tried to put his paws on her, but wasn't able to. Confused, he fixed his eyes on Wu Xiaoming, raising his right paw and waved a few times. Wu Xiaoming had to ignore him for now.
"Sure. I think that's for the best." Wu Xiaoming nodded. Then after a short pause, he asked: "What happened?"
The PA took a deep breath, sniffled, then shook her head: "This was my friend's dog. Bradley. She works in the studio as well. One day she brought him to the studio, but he got off the leash and - he was hit by a car… My friend had been trying to find this and - thank you. I think she would appreciate it."
"Of course, my pleasure." Wu Xiaoming nodded, then took a peek at the ghost dog, who was now sitting by the PA's legs, wagging his tail and staring at the locket.
"Thank you - again, thank you so much." The PA sighed and gave Wu Xiaoming a quick hug before rushing away.
Wu Xiaoming stayed by his trailer for roughly ten minutes, only to continue strolling around.
What he did not know, was that not far away from his position, a producer was making a call in his car. This producer caught his whole exchange with the ghost dog, including his being led to dig up the locket under the palm tree.