When people die unresolved, their souls usually get tied to or roam around where their strongest memory relates to. These souls can take different forms, it all depends on what was the strongest thing in their heart at the very moment of death. Some souls take forms we can see, some souls blend into nature, into objects, into dreams. Some souls have a complete conscience, while some souls are stuck in one thought, one memory.

 

“So that is the reason…” Onew’s voice startled Jonghyun who had been reading his grandmother’s journal at the end of the day, while he waited for the other employees to return.

“Yes.” Jonghyun straightened up, “Minho’s soul was stuck in a memory...their last moment together.”

Onew was silent, but a smile formed on his face as he sat beside Jonghyun on the bench.

Jonghyun let the silence linger before he said, “Tell me about your life and death.”

Onew’s face fell upon his words, “...I remember neither. I just remember where my grave is. It’s unmarked.”

Jonghyun’s eyes widened, “You are a victim of the previous accident.” Onew remained silent and Jonghyun finally let his racing curiosity out, “You told me that day, that you didn’t want them to forget themselves.”

Onew smiled bitterly, “I didn’t want them to turn out like me, so I held onto pieces of their identity, so they wouldn’t lose themselves to time.”

“I will find out who you are.” He said softly, “I will help you retrieve your memories.”

“Maybe...I know what I am.” Onew answered, looking to Jonghyun and Jonghyun felt the similar anomaly, stronger than ever before causing his heart to ache dully, “Maybe...one day, you will know too.” He straightened up, “I have been fading, right?”

Jonghyun nodded.

“I will meet you every day.” Onew got up, “When I don’t…”

Jonghyun looked at his feet, “I will know.”

Days passed and Jonghyun watched Onew grow fainter, and the dull ache of his heart seemed more prominent, watching him fade.

He had tried hard to find who Onew truly was, but there was nothing he could gather...not even a name. He felt dismal, being of no help to him, but Onew didn’t seem much dismal, there was no regret in his mien and he spoke of everything he had seen, everything that he remembered of his afterlife whenever Jonghyun had the time to listen.

Jonghyun had no reason to be dismal then, but he still was. His days passed with a stiffness like he was afraid that one day Onew wouldn’t be there, greeting him with the smile he can now only picture. Like it was not the right thing to happen, like maybe, the dull ache he sometimes felt might turn sharp.

He furnished many a reason for his fear. He feared maybe Onew was just shifting form; maybe he was still unresolved.

Onew might have seen everything on his face, because one day he said, “True, I had worried for Kibum and Taemin and their peace is part of mine. But, you are part of my peace too.”

Jonghyun didn’t have the heart to make reasons, didn’t have the heart to fear his departure after those words.

One morning, when Jonghyun entered his office, he was struck by anomaly, stronger than ever, because Onew wasn’t there, greeting him.

He stood blankly staring at the absence for a while, feeling the dull ache of his heart sharpen. He couldn’t stand the absence for long and he turned away, getting out onto the platform, taking a deep breath before he headed to the storeroom and grabbed an air hammer from the toolbox.

He walked to the graveyard and halted before the unmarked grave Onew had once shown him as his own.

He knelt before it, finding the mud strangely damp around it, finding...that there were words impressed in them.

I remember you

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