ASTRAL SPIRITS IN TRAVEL. Bom was busy as she poured over the mysterious book that fell from the shelf. She was all alone in the library. The only sound, apart from the eerie silence, was the fragile, barely audible turning of pages from the book. Outside, the sun was replaced by a faint crescent moon. Occasionally, Bom heard hushed footsteps but ignored them. "It must be coming from the lower floors," she would think once the footsteps were heard. She shivered and rubbed her hands together to keep herself warm from the anticipating winter air.

"Astral spirits are wandering souls who are traveling outside the physical world. Astral spirits left their physical bodies but they are not dead. Their physical bodies must be kept alive during astral travel in order for the spirits to exist. Once the physical body dies, the astral spirit will also cease to exist. This is known as the phenomena of fading. Fading is the term used when the astral spirit slowly weakens until it can no longer maintain its strength in the physical world. When an astral spirit fades, it also means death for its physical counterpart." Bom silently read with her eyes.

"Astral spirit... Is Dragon an astral spirit?" She asked herself and thought it over.

"Astral travel occurs when a being's spirit willingly leaves its physical body. Before it occurs, the being must have its body in a state of relaxation. It should also be free from the s of physical and worldly desires. Only after then can the astral spirit be free from the physical body. The astral spirit is able to travel in four dimensions unrestricted by the bounds of the physical world. There is no limitation for astral travel, but the spirit must return and be one with the body before the body deteriorates in lifelessness. Many who have experienced astral travel first hand claims that..." Bom stopped reading to massage her throbbing temples. She rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes.

"Why am I even reading this?" Bom asked herself. The old musty smell of the book grew stronger and almost lulled Bom to sleep.

"There you are." A voice whispered in her ears followed by a familiar cold numbness. Bom sat upright all of a sudden and saw Dragon in his spirit form. He sat on the edge of the table.

"Annyeong~" he greeted with a wave. Bom looked left and right to see if anyone's approaching. "Don't worry Bom. For some reason, only you can see me." Dragon said and glanced at the open book Bom was reading.

"Where's the cat?" Bom asked as she looked down for any signs of the white cat. But she saw nothing but her feet on the polished floor.

"Oh~ the cat.. I left the cat in your room. The truth is, I actually followed you right after you left for school." Dragon answered with a smile but without looking over to Bom's direction. He was busy reading the book.

Outside, it began to rain. The raindrops knocked on the glass windows of the library. The eerie silence of the library was replaced by the creepier sound of the night rain. Bom quickly got up and grabbed her bag.

"We need to go home now, Dragon." she said with a sense of urgency.

"Eh, but what you're reading~ it's interesting." Dragon said, still reading the musty book on the desk. Bom glanced at Dragon and noticed something -- he was a bit more transparent compared to last night. The glowing outline of his body looked okay but the rest of his milky white features were a blur.

"Dragon--" Bom was cut short by Dragon who pointed to a passage in the middle of the page. Bom read it out loud.

"Occasionally, although rare, some beings experience astral travel in search for something. These occurrences sometimes happen unwillingly and are not premeditated. There are cases when an astral spirit fails in locating what it's searching for and gets stuck outside the four dimensions. These types of astral spirits are called lost souls." Bom finished reading and looked up. Dragon was nowhere in sight.

"Dragon?" she called out but there was no response. She quickly shut the book close. Its thud echoed throughout the floor. The lights flickered and a lightning bolt struck outside. Bom made a mad dash to the stairs but halfway through, she bumped to someone.

"Aigo, I'm sorry. Didn't realize somebody was here." The guy Bom bumped into said and scratched his head. He looked like a college guy with longish brown hair and an all black ensemble. He wore a brass nameplate that read: Oh Se Hun - Library Assistant. He looked like he belong to an underground band rather than a library. "Library closes at 8, don't forget," he said in a cheery voice.

"I'm sorry." Bom muttered and walked away as fast as she could.

"Yah, you were reading about astral spirits, right? Who were you talking to a while ago?" He called out but Bom ignored him as she skipped steps going down.

Outside the library, the rain continued to pour down . Bom took her umbrella from her bag. Though she was worried about Dragon, she kept on her poker face facade. Large circle of puddles formed outside the building. The old trees swayed to the rain's music. Bom started walking to the bus stop.

There were only two other people that were waiting at the shabby bus stop. Bom closed her umbrella and sat down. She felt a tap on her shoulder that startled her. She looked and saw the young librarian she met a while ago, soaking wet from the rain. He had ran after her as soon as she left the third floor.

"I'm sorry, I just want to talk to you." he apologized and took a seat beside Bom. He ran his fingers through his wet hair.

"Ahjussi, are you trying to pick me up?" Bom asked as she inched farther away from him.

The librarian let out a chuckle and shook his head in disbelief. "I'm not dumb enough to pick up girls in high school." he answered and pointed at her uniform.

The darkness was broken by the bright headlights of the Cheonan City Bus. Bom climbed up and settled for a window seat at the back. The cold blast of the air conditioner hit her face. She shivered and made a mental note to start bringing her coat to school the next day. "Oh, but tomorrow's Saturday." she thought as she slumped back on the hard seat. Bom was lost in thought and didn't notice that the librarian took the empty seat beside her.

"Miss..." he spoke, breaking Bom's train of thought. Water still dripped from his hair.

"Ahjussi, why do you keep on following me?" Bom asked aloud. A few heads turned to look at them. Se Hun slumped lower on his head.

"Don't call me 'ahjussi' I'm just a few years older than you." he hissed to Bom. "And I just want to talk to you, miss." Bom ignored him and looked out the window. She saw nothing but the dreary and lazy scene of rainy Cheonan.

"Back at the library, were you talking to an astral spirit?" Se Hun asked. He saw Bom's eyes widened from the corner of his eye.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Bom answered. She faced him and flashed a sarcastic smile.

Se Hun ignored Bom's attitude. He was determined to talk to her. "That astral spirit you were talking to, is it a lost soul?"

Bom looked at him straight in the eyes. His black round eyes invited warmth. The bus stopped and his head jerked forward from the sudden halt. Bom stood up and said, "Excuse me, this is my stop." She avoided his wet clothes and stomped of the bus. The rain has stopped. The now familiar scent of the after rain hung in the air as Bom ran home.

The bus drove away and Se Hun kept his eye on the girl as she ran. "Cheonan Girls' High, huh?" he thought as she disappeared from his sight.

~~

"Dragon!"

Bom ran directly to her room as soon as she arrived to an empty home. Her father's car was absent from the garage and her mother wasn't there either. "At least there's no need to pretend." Bom thought. The house was quiet and her footsteps made loud thuds as she ran up the stairs.

In her room, the window was open again. There was no light from the absent moon. Bom flicked the light switch open. She saw the cat on her bed lying on its side. Its breathing was heavy and out of rhythm. Bom dropped her bag on the floor.

"Dragon..." Bom said as she knelt down near her bed.

"Bom, mianhe... I'm not feeling well." the cat spoke. Bom stood up and took the cookies out her bag.

"Here take this, so you'll feel better." She offered the cookies which Dragon gobbled up in seconds. Bom looked at him with concern in her eyes. She caught up with her breath. "Aigo, I was so worried about you." she muttered.

Dragon looked at her with his blue cat eyes and purred in reply. "I...I felt like I disappeared back at the library. When I woke up, I was back in the cat's body."

"Yah, listen to me...never leave the house without the cat, okay?"

"Bom...am I a lost soul?"

~~

(=^ェ^=) meow~! Enjoying the mystery~?

Sehun makes a cameo by the way~ he'll appear in a few more chapters. Ohoho, shameless plug again~ I have an IUxSehun fic that you guys might be interested in~

Read it here! It's rated by the way, just a warning. ♪( ´θ｀)ノ

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