The student that passed away was..Jeon Jungkook."

     I was completely stunned. No, this couldn't possibly be happening. It felt like someone punched me in the throat and the wind was knocked out of me. I couldn't breathe. 
     "We'll have 5 minutes of silence to commemorate the great man that Jeon Jungkook was," Principal Lee declares.
     I snickered in my head. Silence? How was that supposed to help?

Everyone remained quiet for the requested period of time, but I felt the urge to scream. 
"You may resume your classes normally."

The next minute, the class didn't utter a word. If the principal thought silence could help, maybe staying soundless could bring back Jungkook?

      Finally, Mr Kang broke the quiet. He frowned and put his hands over his eyes. 
He muttered, "It's such a shame, he was a talented kid...he was a good kid.."

One of the many girls who was notorious for crushing on Jungkook, Ji Hee, began crying in the corner of the classroom. She dismissed herself to go to the bathroom.
     The whole class broke into whispering.

     Derek, a jock from the basketball team babbled to his desk partner,  "What could have caused him to take his own life? He had good grades, all the girls chasing behind him, and even s up to him. Sure he was occasionally a douche, but he had it all."
Some students muttered in agreement. 
Mr Kang told Derek to "Shut the hell up". He spends the rest of class explaining the signs of suicides and reminiscences his favorite memories with Jungkook.

        All throughout the day, I heard people's grievances, theories and even jokes about my enemy's end.

"Sad he took his own life. I saw his abs yesterday and damn those babies could have been put to good use," a preppy girl walking ahead of me in the hallway snorted.
     Her friend smacked her hand and the other girl cackled, "Too soon?"

     In my physics class, Fred, a book smart kid, whispered to his fellow nerd, "I can't believe Jungkook is gone...he was such a smart kid too and we were fighting to win that scholarship. Wait does that mean he's disqualified and I'm automatically in? I'm sorry for what happened to him, but it's definitely less competition for valedictorian so I mean there's a plus. I'm upset about his tragic end but it ain't ours."

     My fists clenched in anger. I was about to call him out on his BS, but realized I had barely any right. I haven't been on good terms with Jungkook for years. We've been public enemies in the school for so long. It would be hypocritical of me to say he shouldn't say these malevolent words about him.

      Why should I be concerned? Shouldn't I have been happy that my enemy was gone? No, he wasn't just my enemy..he was my classmate. An acquaintance who I saw most days of the week. And even in one part of my life, he was my friend. And above all, Jeon Jungkook was human.

     That's how it continued for the rest of the day. Some students were traumatized about his death and left school to grieve. Some were frightened that someone so young could be gone. Some just didn't care. And some pretended to care.

      Where would I fit? I definitely did care, I felt this pang of pain in my chest. My heart felt like a glass vase that someone smashed against the floor. I recall to the events of last night. Was I the one to trigger his death? Were my words too brutal? But I said worse and did worse to him in the past? What led him to his tragic end?

     After my last class ended, I walked home. I was still traumatized about what had happened. 
I didn't provoke him to harm himself, I told myself. It was an unfortunate event, but I could not be held accountable.
I felt a drop of water hit my neck. I looked up to the clouded sky. And then rain fell down in buckets. I remembered something I didn't want to think about for many years. I kept this memory in the back of my head, because Jeon Jungkook used to my my source of happiness.

It was "outside recess" in 5th grade and I was playing alone. I wasn't a complete loner, but I remembered some days in recess I had kids to play with me and other days I didn't. I prayed for there to be rain, so I could go back inside and read a book. But no, of course it didn't and I had to play alone outside.

     Everyone had their own clique, and I tried to smile or wave at certain groups, but they seem involved in their own circle of friends. As I was walking along, kicking wood chips, I saw Jungkook smiling two feet in front of me and asked if he wanted to hangout with him and his friends. The rain I was praying for all day did finally arrive-it was Jeon Jungkook.

And that's what provoked me to run. I ran all the way to the local graveyard and tears began pouring from my face.
Jeon Jungkook, my rain, was dead. And he's to be buried here somewhere. I found a reservation for him. His family already prepared the place for his body. The funeral didn't occur yet and his body wasn't in the grave, but I sobbed. I fell to my knees and put my head into my hands. The rain drops and my tears collectively poured down on my face. It felt like the sky was crying with me, too.

"This may be all my fault. I don't understand how it is, but it's all my fault.... I'm such a wicked person..."
I heard a deep voice behind me. 
"It may be your fault, but the pain can be reversed Miss."

I wiped my face. It didn't really matter though because I doubt the stranger could distinguish between my tears and rain drops. He placed his hand on my shoulder and I slapped it away. His hand was icy cold. I know this action may be rude, but I didn't know this person. I would have recognized a voice that was deeper than the depths of Hell like his.

"What are you talking about...Who are you ??"
I turned around. I saw a blonde, tall man wearing a suit, with a strikingly beautiful tan. 
He held his hand out. Since I don't trust strangers easily, I shook my head and refused. 
I implored, "Before you touch me, can you at least tell me who you are?"

I wiped my hands on my knees and slowly stood up. I felt a lot smaller than he was. Even though he isn't the tallest or most muscular guy I've met, his ethereal appearance made me feel beneath him. How can someone look so beautiful in the middle of a storm? 
     His blonde locks were perfectly tousled from the rain, and his suit, although drenching wet, looked like a million bucks. Meanwhile my soaked Walmart clothes were sticking to my skin. I don't even want to imagine the mess my hair was in.

The mysterious stranger grinned innocently with a boxed smile, showing off his pearly whites. His white teeth was such a contrast from his tanned skin, which made him look like he was kissed from the sun himself. 
Besides his cute smile, everything else about him screamed appeal. I didn't know there were attractive people on that level who existed in my area.

"I'm a devil from Hell, and I'm here to offer you a proposition."
I chuckled and thought to myself, Guys I meet can't be hot and normal, can they?

"Yeah, sure you are. And I'm a 4 foot tall pink elephant who is a part time chef and part time secret agent. Thanks for giving me a laugh though. I really needed it after this stressful day." I stretched and began walking on the stone path to leave the graveyard.

The glowing stranger gripped my arm and said, "Not so fast, sweetheart..I know all about your deceased enemy.. and I also know about your regret.."

I gulped and tried to escape from his grasp. I pulled with all the might my 5'4 body could give me. My arm wouldn't budge.
I laughed nervously. "What do you mean?"

     "Jeon Jungkook is gone..you have a burden upon your shoulders..how about I do a little favor for you because I'm," he clenches my arm significantly tighter and moves his mouth an inch from my ear, "such a nice guy". He grins innocently again with his child-like box smile, while his sky blue eyes were piercing through my own eyes.

I stated skeptically,"I have no idea how you know about any of that information. I'm assuming you're a neighborhood stalker.." 
I paused. "But for real bro, how you gonna help me."

The stranger rolled his eyes and replied, "With my demonic abilities, I can reverse time 28 days from now, so you can prevent your arch-enemy's end." My heart began beating erratically faster from his bizarre words.

      To top the strange sentence off, he simply adds,  "And by the way you can call me Death."
I decide to along with this crazy dude. He loosens his grasp and I put my hands on my hips.
"Why do call yourself Death?"
"Because that is my specialty..I collect souls from Earth after the body starts decaying, and send them off where they're supposed to be."
"But why are you allowing me to save Jungkook's life?"
Death explains, "I can't tell you the exact reason, but I do believe you have a shot at preventing his early demise."

Of course he couldn't give me a clear explanation. Crazy people just always give crazy answers. I stood a little taller.
"Why 28 days, huh?"
"Because it took 28 days for Jeon Jungkook to contemplate his suicide."

    I continuously stare into his sapphire eyes, refusing to look away. He doesn't blink or look away either, so we had a staring contest for 15 straight seconds. It appears he's telling the truth.

     "How can I believe that you actually have the ability to reverse time? You could just be a crackhead in a fancy suit,"
    Death chuckles. "You make a fairly good point. But if I wasn't Death, could I do this?"

     He snaps his fingers and the rain droplets freeze in the air, remaining in a still position. They glimmered like diamonds, when they weren't falling. I realized that besides us, everything else in the graveyard was completely frozen. The birds, crickets, wind-everything was dead quiet.

      Death inches towards me, his tall figure lowering so we were eye to eye. "I'm pretty sure if I can freeze time, I can reverse it too sweetie." He snapped his fingers again, and the rain continued to pour down.
     I back away, finally acknowledging his power.

I stuttered, "I-I don't know.. let me get these facts straight. You're from "down below" and you're willing to help me but it will probably be in exchange for something else. Sounds like the forbidden deal with the devil to me, which can lead to my own doom."

     Death shrugs his shoulders. "True, I could be 
manipulating you for my own gain. But aren't you curious or not if you were the one who directly caused his self-destruction?"
I gulped and looked down from his gaze. I was too ashamed to look directly in his eyes and answer that question.

"Damn those words you said at Eunha's party?" He mocks me then whistles.
"Even coming from me, someone who lives in Hell...that's just... evil."

I moved my legs and took one step away from him. "How did you know about what happened at the party..."
    "And damn, that must being a pathetic human and having a guilty conscience. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. You disagree now, you'll have to live with knowing that you may or not have caused Jungkook's..departure from Earth."
I backed away more until my back hit the wall of the church. Damn it, I'm screwed.

I stammered, "I-I know I didn't cause it."
   Death raises his eyebrows. "Even if you didn't, that's selfish of you not wanting to invert time to save a classmate. You call Jungkook ugly but have you looked at yourself?"

I looked down once again in guilt and closed my eyes. He was right. Here I was crying about Jungkook 5 minutes ago, but I wasn't willing to travel time to to rescue him. But I knew with this opportunity Death was giving me, there was a price I had to pay.

I gulped and with all my bravery, i stared back into his stormy eyes.

I challenge him, "What if I'm not able to save him?" After the 2 seconds of eye contact, I looked back down. I feared his eyes the most because they appeared to know everything about me.
Death placed his fingers underneath my chin and lifted my face up so I could clearly look at him.
     "Oh it's not that big of a deal..and who knows if you'll actually fail..." 
He slips his hands into his pocket, and kicks a pebble away.
"But if you do fail, you'll just have to...stop living and sell your soul to me."

He then smirked and put his arms besides my head which was against the church wall. The way he had his arms surrounding me, reminded me of how boys would trap girls against the lockers in fanfictions. 
      Except this ain't a fanfic, it's real life, and the devil had me trapped in his embrace against a church in a graveyard.

     I gulped. I really shouldn't be doing this. But then I recalled Jungkook's kindness at elementary school, and the kind boy I occasionally smiled with in class. This wasn't for me, this was for Jeon Jungkook.

   "So do we have a deal?" He lifts out his hand. I noticed his veins popping out. I usually find guys with prominent veins attractive (a sign of health and masculinity), but Death's veins popping out looked like he was a second from dying. I mean he was literally dead and his name was Death.
I nodded. I'm risking my existence for the boy who once had good intentions.
      "Yes.. we do."

     I shook his hands, and it stopped raining. The clouds cleared from the sky. I even saw sunlight pouring down. But then I slowly lost consciousness and energy from my body. Just before I fell, Death caught me in his arms, resting my head against his hard chest. I didn't hear a single heart beat. He pat my head with his hands, ruffling my hair.
"Just go to sleep, babe..." His words were like a hypnotizing lullaby and I couldn't refuse his command. Everything faded to black.