“Of course!” Irene’s father said, “I mean, that’s the use of holding each other’s hand in séance, or when a group of people want to call some…devils.” He chuckled.

Irene lifted her face up from her beef stroganoff, “really?”

“That is right, sweetheart. But, that’s just a joke—a trick.” Her mother said.

“I know, but that tradition—holding hands—, there must be some reasons behind it. Am I right?”

Irene nodded, she was kind of agreeing with her father. She took a look at her hands.

“Why can they see ghost if they touch my hands?” Irene wondered.

“Not only your hands, sweetheart,” her mother smiled. “But your whole body. Seulgi could hear some of the words from…who’s the name again? Oh, Joy, isn’t it? Seulgi could hear Joy, probably because your shoulders or arms were touching. But that was not strong enough because there was your sweater or uniform between them.”

“So, I’m like a radio or…what?”

“More like a pan,” her father giggled, earning a glare from his daughter.

“You’re a conductor, sweetie. Now, can you please be quite? I need to watch this drama. And Charlie, you have to stop teasing your daughter. I mean it.” Her mother said.

“Alright, Captain!” Her father teased.

Irene decided to go to her room, because she thought that talking to her parents did not make anything better. She opened her math book when she remembered that she had to finish homework for next week, but she closed it immediately. She was sure that math was not for her at that moment—number made her sick. Irene felt like déjà vu when she was staring outside through her window. She was staring across; where the Grey Lady was standing last night.

She said something about deíktis. What is that mean? Irene wondered. She opened her laptop and tried to search that word on the Internet. But unfortunately, she found nothing. Nothing—except the meaning of that word.

“It means ‘guidance’.” She read. “So weird, what is this?”

Irene frowned when there was nothing else that explained about that strange word.

Nonetheless, she decided to sleep and forget everything that happened that day.

---

Irene woke up when she heard a loud thud downstairs. She glanced at the clock. Midnight.

Without thinking, she grabbed her sweater and ran through the stairs. She found her father in the living room; he was just standing there, doing nothing. She glanced at her mother’s tiny couch, looked like it was flipped by something. And much worst when she realized, her mother was not there.

“Dad?”

Her father did not answer.

“Dad, what happened?” She tried to swallow the fear inside her.

Her father turned around and looked at her as if he did not know that it was her daughter. But, he realized it a few seconds later.

“Something’s wrong.” The man said.

“I-I know, that’s what Joy said. But—“
“That’s not it. Listen to me. I don’t know how long my time is,” her father said, hastily, as if something horrible was chasing him. It was not like the way he usually speaks to her only daughter.

Irene widened her eyes. This situation gave her a stomach-ache.

“You have to call your aunt. Jessica. She knows what to do. Tell her what is happening. Tell her that…the doors are closing.”

“But, what is happening? What doors?”

“The doors to The Other Side. Tell her, there’s only one left. She knows which one. And don’t go outside the house! No matter what, stay inside until your aunt arrives.”

“But—“

Irene could not finish her words; it stuck in when she saw her father was into their ceiling, leaving just a dot of light before completely gone. She could not move; she was just staring to the empty spot where her father was standing before she fell on her knees along with her tears. The thought that her parents were gone—for the second time— made her want to scream; the thought that she lost them completely. But then, she recalled what her father said before. Irene tried to stand up; she spruced her mother’s chair before she reached the telephone.

Her hands were shaking; the tears could not stop wetting her cheeks. She had to try twice until she could reach the number.

“Hello?”

The voice sounded clear and firm.

Irene felt relieved; she took a deep breath.

“Aunt Jessica,” she tried to sound brave. “This is me. Irene.”

There was a silence on the other side.

“What happened?”

Irene told her everything. Jessica asked her a few question and the rest, she was just listening. When Irene was done, there was another silence.

“H-hello?”

“I’m here.” Jessica said; still sounded very calm. “Alright, I will be there. Lock all the doors. Did you close all the curtains?”

“I-I’m not sure.”

“Close all of it. And don’t go outside.”

“But what if—“

“Stop talking. Listen. What did I just say?”

“Don’t go outside. Lock all the doors. Close all the curtains.” Irene repeated.

“Good girl. I will be there as soon as possible.”

Just like that, the conversation ended.

Irene sighed as she put the telephone gently. She was calmed when she knew that her aunt would be there. But she knew, that it took times for the woman to be in her house. Jessica lived in an apartment in London. It took about three—or four hours to get into Irene’s house. She might be having to call her grandfather. But, if she was forbid to go outside, it would be the same for her grandfather. Although, she knew that her grandpa would do anything for her. But she did not want anything bad happened to her grandfather.

The best way was to wait her aunt to get there, and hopefully everything would be all right.

She went upstairs to check the curtain when she found a black huge figure near her mother’s lily garden.

Its eyes were bright, and it was staring at Irene, not moving at all. And that was when Irene realized that it was a dog. Irene had never seen a dog that big, and she knew; there was no way in the world that a dog could be that big. In fact, that thing looked so smart—and not to mention, very strong.

A few minutes of staring each other, the dog was finally decided to leave. It jumped out of the garden and disappeared as if the dark swallowed it.

Three hours was actually not that long. Except, of course, if