Time: 8 a.m.

“We’re here!” says Kim’s father. Pie opens her one of her eyes slowly, peeking out of the window. She opens the other one and starts scanning the area in front of the school. There’s only two students that she see in front of the school. Two of them are the school prefects who are standing by the front gate with a notebook in their hands. “Oh, we’re late!!”thinks Pie. Pie turns to her right to find that Kim is covering her ears with her hands with both eyes tightly closed. Pie pulls Kim’s sleeve to gain her attention.

Kim looks up at Pie with a shock look. “We need to go, Kim! We’re late!!!” says Pie in an alarmed voice. Kim throws her sight out of the window before coming to her senses that they need to hurry. “Oh my GGGGGG!!!! Dad, ask Jimmy to pick us up after school! Pie, let’s go! Sammy gonna be really pissed off!!!”says Kim in a hurry while she grabs her school bag. Both of them hops off Kim’s father’s car, but Pie stay back to give thanks to Kim’s father for giving them the lift to school. Kim who was already halfway to the school gate, run back to Pie and catch hold of her wrist. “Bye, dad!!” shouts Kim before she slams the car door, pulls Pie by the wrist. Pie follows right behind Kim as both of them rush to the school gate.

Time: 8:10 a.m.

“Why are you LATE?? I’m expecting a reasonable explanation here.”demands Teacher Sam. Both Pie and Kim gives an apologetic smile to Sammy. Pie swallows her saliva before saying: “We’re really sorry, teacher. Erm, actually,…..” Kim cuts through Pie’s words and says: “Er, actually, teacher. You see, my father’s car, you know that Toyota Hi-Luz my father drives, the silver one, I mean. The tyre kind of… er… burst. So….”

Sammy is kind of impatient to hear out Kim’s reasons anymore so he yells:” Ok, enough! I get it. Go back to your seat now!!” Both Kim and Pie are of course pleased to hear Sammy’s order. They separate and go back to their own seat.  Well, the whole journey from the school gate to their class, Kim was holding Pie’s wrist. That means no ghost and no thoughts. The moment that they separate, with Kim releasing her grip, the odd things happens again. As Kim was walking pass her classmates in front, she heard their thoughts.

Alvin’s thoughts: “I need to retrieve the attendance book from the office again.” Alvin’s job is to mark everyone’s attendance and pass up the attendance book to the general office. Kim feels sorry for that because it was their fault that Alvin has to go and change the attendance record.

Jane’s thoughts: “Kim and Pie came late together. Together???” Jane was frowning with arms crossed. She softens her frown when her eyes meet Kim and her lips curving up a smile.

Boy’s thoughts: “My Kim Kim is here!!!! I’m not lonely for today!! J” Boy is flashing teeth, smiling from ear to ear. He waves at Kim and pulls out Kim’s chair.

Kim smiles at Boy, feeling pleased that Boy is happy for her appearance. However, it bothers her the fact that she keeps hearing other people’s thoughts and it’s uncontrollable. Trying her best to ignore all the voices, Kim sits down when she reaches her seat and puts down her schoolbag.

Pie, on the other hand, didn’t notice anything. No ghost, no eerie things or weird scary stuff. Of course, naturally, she thought that everything’s back to normal. Smiling at Jane as she reaches her seat, she sits down and places her bag on her desk so that she can takes out her books. Teacher Sam continues with his lesson. As soon as Pie finishes taking out her stuff and placing it on the desk, Jane moves closer to Pie. Pie was taken aback by Jane’s sudden movement. Starring deep into Pie’s eyes, the squint-eyed Jane starts to whispers: “Why both of you are late today? Pie blinks her eyes several times. “Er, because we came late…”explains Pie in a low voice as she raises one of her eyebrows.

Jane shakes her head and whispers again: “No, that’s not what I’m asking… Why both of you, came late today, at the same time??” Jane mumbles under her breath: “Plus the holding hands…” Pie who didn’t heard what Jane mumbles, was struggling about what she should tell Jane. Pie gives a small smile and whispers back: “It’s a long story… I’ll tell you later.” Pie then rivets her focus back to the teacher. Jane clearly couldn’t continue her questioning. With an unsettled heart, she exhales a deep breath and turns her attention back to the lesson.

Meanwhile, Boy is also doing the same thing but with a different expression. Boy wriggles his eyebrows a few times and gives Kim a cheeky smile. Kim wasn’t looking at Boy at that time as she is focusing in taking out the things she need for the class. Boy peeks at Sammy to make sure that Sammy is still writing equations on the blackboard. He then pokes Kim’s shoulder with his index finger. Kim rivets her look at Boy and finds him wriggling his eyebrows. Kim reads Boy’s mind again. Kim quickly throws her sights back to the blackboard with a shy smile. Boy once again nudges her to get some response but Kim pretends to note down the equations on her notebook. Boy sits nearer, puts his face near Kim and stares at Kim, raising his eyebrows. This time, Kim pushes Boy’s face away with her palm. At that moment, Sammy turns to face the whole class and starts teaching. Boy scowls and pouts his lips. Failing his mission, Boy rolls his eyes and continues to concentrate in class.

Minutes later….

Teacher Sam: “Kim, come down here. Try and solve this matrix question.” Kim puts down her pen and walk to the front. This is the way Sammy punishes his students for being late. Being confident she was able to solve it, Kim picks up the chalk and starts solving it. Pie looks up upon Kim’s back while studying the answers written on the blackboard by Kim. She was having trouble of solving the questions but was fascinated that Kim was able to solve it. Kim finishes writing her answer and she puts down the chalk. Giving a check and nodding as she is sure that her answer is correct, she turns around and face the Teacher Sam. Sammy nods and says: “You can go back to your seat.” As Kim wants to return to her seat, she was facing her classmates. She starts hearing their thoughts again. This time, it’s a lot noisier and it’s too loud. Kim quickly covers her ears but still it can’t stop the voices. The voices are too much for her to handle. Kim’s head starts spinning and her heart beats even faster. Her breath becomes shorter and faster with nervousness and fear. Her eyes wanders around the whole class as her cold sweat dribbles down her back. With much effort, she manage to get back to her seat. Jane notice Kim’s pale face and becomes worried. 

Pie who was busy understanding the math solution done by Kim, didn’t notice Kim’s expression. Suddenly, someone walk pass her table and head towards the blackboard. He picks up the chalk and starts drawing circles on the blackboard, blocking Pie’s view from the solution. He then draws circle around the solution. Pie gets pissed off by this guy and raised her hand. Sammy saw Pie raising her hand and asks: “Yes, Pie?” Pie replies: “Teacher, that guy is blocking my view of the blackboard. Can you please ask him to go back to his seat?” Sammy raised his eyebrows with a curious and weird look at Pie. He turns several times to blackboard and then back to Pie and replies:” There’s no one there.”

Pie frowns and looks back to the blackboard. The guy is still scribbling words on the blackboard. He spins his head around without turning his body and grins at Pie. Pie’s face turns white and she lose grip of her pen. Her pen falls of on the ground. Jane shakes Pie’s arms to make sure she’s okay. “Are you okay, Pie? You look pale.” says Jane.  Pie comes to her senses and forces a small smile to Jane.  “I’m okay.” says Pie as she nods to Jane and face back to Sammy. “Sorry, Sir. My mistake..” says Pie to Sammy. Pie then picks up her pen from the ground. She can still see the ghost in front. He spins his head for several times before he puts down the chalk. The ghost then walks into the blackboard and disappears. Pie grips her pen tightly. “Why didn’t anyone see the things that I see?? I need to stop this…. I need to talk to Kim…”thinks Pie.

Time: 10 am

"That all for today. Class dismissed."says Sammy. Alvin was about to stand up but Sammy says: "No need for that." He then packs his things up and left the class. Boy finishes copying all the notes from the blackboard and puts down his pen with glee. He stands up and turns to face Kim. "Kim!! Let’s go for a bite~!"says Boy. Kim shakes her head weakly as she was resting her head on the table with her face facing the ground.. Boy sulks and continues to pester Kim.  "Kim!! Let's go please~~~ Come on!!!"says Boy while pulling at Kim's sleeves. Kim shove off Boy's hand and says weakly:" Shut up.... You're too noisy... Just go with Jane. I'm staying here...."

Boy scowls and answers back:" What? I'm noisy? I can't believe it! Huh! How dare to tell me to shut up????" Boy fans his own face with his hands. He stamps his feet and walk toward Jane. "Let’s go to cafe, Jane!"says Boy as he grabs hold of Jane's wrist and pulls Jane away. Unable to stop Boy, Jane follows Boy from the back but turns to say:" Pie, let's go." Pie forces a small smile and shakes her head. "No, I need to do something. You guys enjoy yourself."rejects Pie. Pie lifts up her hand and waves at them. Boy pulls Jane firmly to the cafeteria as Jane wave back to Pie. Pie stands up and walks towards Kim. "Kim, I need to talk to you."says Pie. Kim did not give any response. "Kim?"says Pie again while shaking Kim's arm. Kim lifts up her head slowly and looks at Pie. Kim's face looks so pale. "Are you okay, Kim? You look really pale."asks Pie in a worried tone. Kim puts on a weak smile and says:" I'm okay...." Kim blinks her eyes for a few times to find Pie looking concerned but then suddenly everything went white.

Place: Treatment Room

"Kim, hug me... Hug me tightly please.... *sob sob* " cries the girl. Kim rest her left hand on the girl's head and slowly caress her long brown hair. Her right hand wraps around the girl's waist. Kim can feel her shoulders getting wet. "It's okay... I'm here for you now... You can cry as much as you want. I'm right here...."says Kim in a soft voice, whispering into the girl's ear. The smell of her hair reminds her about the lavender that she plants at her father's ranch and she closes her eyes to remember about the scenery of the place.

 A sudden lose of the tight hug on her made her open her eyes. "Ratana!!! What's happening??"shouts Kim. She can see that Ratana is slowly fading away becoming more and more invisible. Ratana raised her head, looking straight into Kim's eyes with her teary eyes. "Goodbye, Kim...."says Ratana. Slowly, Ratana legs disappear. Then her waist and soon to her shoulders. Kim tries to hold back Ratana but her hand pass through her body. Ratana gives Kim one last smile before she totally disappears. "NOOoOOoooo!!! RATANA!!"screams Kim. "Kim!!! Wake up!!"says Pie. Kim jumps herself awake, sitting upright with both hands gripping Pie's arms tightly. Kim breathes heavily as if she was out of breath as her wide opened eyes stares into the white wall.

Pie calms Kim down by petting Kim's back after Kim loosen her grip on her arms and wipe Kim's forehead which is filled of droplets of cold sweat with a piece of cloth. Seeing Kim's pale face made her heart hurts even more. Kim finally comes to her senses after much comfort from Pie, realizing what happened is just a dream. "I'm gonna suffer backache if you continue any further..."says Kim in a weak but cheeky tone. Pie glares at Kim, pouting her lips as she slaps Kim's back lightly. "I'm just trying to calm you down..."says Pie. "Oouchhh!!"squeals Kim, pretending to be in pain. "Did I hurt you??? Oh.... I'm sorry....."says Pie as she thought that she hit Kim too hard. Kim continues her act but she can't hold back her laugher after seeing Pie's cute face. "Hahahhahah... I'm just joking with you!!!"bursts Kim with her cunning laughter. Pie scowls and gives Kim her death glare. "I'm going out now since you're well enough to make fun of me..."says Pie and she stands up, pretends to leave Kim alone.

Kim quickly grab hold of Pie's hands before Pie manage to take a step further. "I'm sorry.... Don't go. I don't want to be alone. I'm.... "says Kim in a pleading voice. "You're what?"asks Pie back to Kim as she turns around to face Kim. "Well, I'll tell you if you promise you won't go away."says Kim. Pie continues to take a step further which made Kim blurts out:"Because..... because I'm afraid...."Pie smiles and answers:"Okay, I'll stay.... As long as you don't tease me with that cunning smile of yours.." Pie then pours out a glass of water and passed it to Kim while saying:"It seems like you're having a bad dream earlier. Here, have this glass of water."

 Kim accepts the water thankfully and drinks it down to quench her thirst. Holding her glass as she swallows the water, Kim answers back:"A really awful dream. Let's not talk about that. I don't want to be reminded about it. By the way, why am I in this treatment room? Last thing I remember, I'm in class..." Pie takes away Kim's glass and puts aside as she sits on the chair next to Kim's bed. "Well, you fainted. Apparently, you're having a fever."replies Pie to Kim's question. "And you send me here?"asks Kim again. Pie nods and says:"With Alvin's help......"Kim smiles and says:"Thanks..... er.... for rescuing me....".

Just then, Pie suddenly see the ghost guy earlier from class walks through the wall, spinning his head at the same time. But this time the ghost guy is walking towards Pie's direction which horrifies Pie. The instant response of what Pie did is that she shuts her eyes immediately and grab hold of Kim's arm. Kim who is startled by the sudden grip, look up to see what's happening to Pie. Pie slowly opens her eyes, peeping to see if the ghost disappears. Indeed, the ghost is out of sight. Pie puffs out her breath as a sign of relieve. "What's going on?"asks Kim.

Pie moist up her own lips before saying:"Look, Kim. There's something I need to talk to you about and I hope you doesn't freak out." Kim nods and says:"No, why would I be freak off? Trust me. I won't. I've been through something much crazier." Kim shakes her head with her eyes closed while sighing:"Huh......." Pie puts her head down. Kim gives a weak smile and place her hand on Pie's hand, squeeze it and says:"You know you can tell me anything...." They look at each other's eyes. Pie smiles back at Kim and gathers her courage and says:"Okay, here it is. I....."

 Pie's talk is interrupted with a sudden knock at the door. Both Kim and Pie rivets their attention to the door and they see Mike standing by the door. "Sorry to interrupt but can I have a... erm.... discussion with you?"says Mike. Kim couldn't find her tongue as she was surprise with a sudden visit from the , arrogant, ex buddy Mike who looks like a lost boy now. Kim finally comes to her senses and says:"Yea, sure..." Mike walks into the room and stands next to Kim bed. "Can I speak to you privately?"asks Mike as he nods at Pie in a way showing that he wants Pie to excuse them. Pie squeeze Kim's hands and ask:"Are you okay with this? Should I stay or...."

Mike scratches his head and puts both his hands in his back trouser pocket. Kim smiles and says:"Yea, i'm okay... Could you give us a minute? I'll listen to what you wanna say later." Pie nods to Kim as she stands up and heads to the door. Before she turns the doorknob to open the door, she turns around and says:"I'll be outside if you need me." Kim smiles and says:"Thanks." Pie nods and walks out of the room. The air becomes stiff and the situation is tensed after Pie went out. Kim broke the silence and says:"What is it that you want to talk to me about? Though I might have the idea of whats it's about but I hope you would spill the beans yourself." Mike glares at Kim before saying:"Have you seen the news this morning?" Kim nods and answers:"About Rat?....She's missing. I know... I was going to help out to look for her...."

Mike scowls and shouts:"What’s the use of helping now?? It's too late.... She's..... DEAD!!!" Mike broke into tears after spilling it all out sharp at Kim's face. He curls himself up sitting on the floor crying like a baby. Kim blinks her eyes for several times, unable to accept the bull that Mike just said. Pie who was outside, heard Mike raising his voice, rush into the room worried what Mike would have done to Kim. To her surprise she found Mike sitting down on the floor, crying. "No, that can't be true.... You're lying to me!!!"demands Kim in a trembling voice..