Seulgi

Seulgi watched as the boys entered the room. Every time someone visited the place, she had the odd feeling that they were looking for her, but of course that would be impossible because they couldn't possibly know of her existence or any of the others like her. And besides her family made sure to chase away any intruders before anyone suspected anything. The last people who inhabited the place left within the second week of their stay—that was at least two years ago. Those days were still vivid in her memory, every image coming to her mind with precise detail. She pictured people running around with their possessions trying to shield them from the water. By the time they left, there wasn't a single dry spot in the whole mansion and plumbers were baffled by the unexplainable leaks. 

Since then, they had been living in solitude and except the gardener and a woman who occasionally visited to clean the place, Seulgi hasn't seen a human being in two years. 

The younger looking boy gestured in Seulgi's direction. She moved to a side as the older boy approached her and stood glued to the wall, rigid as if scared the boy would notice her any minute while he stared at the spot where her head had been resting against the wall. Her eyes were fixed on the boy's while his eyes roamed over the beads. She desperately wanted to know what was going in his mind; if he really was looking at the beads to solve the mystery of it, or if it was something else. She was feeling apprehensive when the boy's hand shot up. Maybe, he was trying to figure out a way to extricate them off the wall, she thought, but he with a single finger only touched one of the beads gently. Seulgi remained as stiff as the boy. A thousand colours passed over his face in the space of a few seconds and it ended with a look of epiphany—was it disappointment she saw?— just before the younger boy scared the two of them nearly out of their skins. 

Someone tapped Seulgi's shoulder and she turned around to see a cascade of dark hair emerge from the wall. 

"Joy!" Seulgi gasped and motioned her sister to go away. She was sure the younger boy could see Joy as well as she can. She heard him say ‘a girl’ just as Joy appeared.

One half of her body buried in the wall, Joy poked her head around to see what was going on. She too gasped when she saw the boy pointing directly at her.

"Go," Seulgi mouthed at her sister and she disappeared into the wall just as effortlessly as she appeared.

Without wasting a minute, Seulgi followed Joy through the wall, relieved that the older boy hadn't seen her sister because he had whipped his head this way and that, his eyes never exactly falling on Joy. In fact she got the feeling that he believed the younger boy was only pulling his leg. 

* * *

"How is it possible sister?" Joy asked not really expecting an answer, for Seulgi was puzzled as much as she. 

Both sisters sat facing each other by the fireplace in a spacious room. There was no fire for the fireplace was bordered up and the only source of light in the sparsely furnished place was a single candle near an open window which sent long dancing shadows all over the dusty floor. A woman's figure sat in the armchair just beside the two girls feigning sleep, listening to their conversation. 

"I do not know." Seulgi shook her head. "Are you certain he saw you?" 

"Yes, of course. You saw it too, didn’t you? He was staring at me with those two large eyes like this."

Joy mimicked the boy, widening her eyes. Just then the figure in the armchair straightened herself. She cleared and in an interested voice began,

"What exactly are the two of you talking about? Yes?" 

"Nothing, Mother." Joy dismissed her mother with a wave of her hand. She turned back to her sister but her mother beat her to it. 

"Seulgi, what is it dear. I am getting worried." She said batting her eyes and laying her hands on her chest as if she were hurt.

Seulgi gave a disgusted look and ignored her. 

"Mother please..." Joy pleaded with her but she looked like she was no leaving the two of them until she got the truth. 

Letting out a sigh, Joy said, "We think one of them can see us. The boys." 

"Oh is it?" Their mother gasped. It was hard to tell if she was acting. "That's terrible...but I've a marvellous idea—like the last time..."

Seulgi got on to her feet so fast her mother abruptly stopped in the middle of relaying her marvellous idea. 

"You are not going to make them leave!" Seulgi narrowed her eyes at her mother and after a few seconds she became self-conscious and wondered why she was defending the newcomers. 

"My My! Just look at that temper. I don't know why you are...oh you are not taking a liking to them are you now? If you are let me remind you of how you became like this—"

"You can twist the tale but we know who is responsible..." Seulgi's voice broke but she continued. "For all of us, Father, Joy..."

"Well, you really didn't leave me a choice—sneaking out with a man we didn't approve of."

"A man you didn't approve of. For a few pennies you sacrificed all of us! Why don't you just wash your hands off us already? I'm sure you've done more than enough for us."

Their mother stared at Seulgi in disbelief, but she dared not say a word. After exchanging a few glances, her mother walked away trying to hide her sheepish look. 

After the unexpected confrontation with her mother, Seulgi roamed around the house and somehow ended in Jimin's room. There was no one to be seen. Relieved, she sat in a corner, so that she wouldn't be in anyone's way, if someone were to come. The room actually belonged to her but she knew the fact was as good as a mirage and she couldn't risk taking any liberties with her ghostly nature because she was not entirely sure that the people in the house couldn't see her. Not after what happened to Joy. 

She looked across the room scanning everything in her view. The deserted appearance of the room was replaced by new furniture and all kinds of possessions now. She figured the boy must have unpacked when she had been out; there was a neat pile of clothes on the bed and a mobile phone lay on the bedside table plugged into a charger. She was about to stand up, when she heard a scream. It came from downstairs, she could tell.

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