Loved Ones

“You wanna tell me why my brother – my dead brother – is in this picture?”

Myungsoo glared at the girl, who simply stared at the photograph of the man only she could see. Running a finger over it the glossy coat, she sighed and looked up at him.

“You didn’t listen to a word I said last time, did you?” she murmured quietly. She looked up at him, her eyes piercing his as she seemed to study him. His eyes were narrowed, him glaring down at her. “You still don’t believe me.”

His eyebrows furrowed even more as he crossed his arms. “I don’t. And I won’t,” he practically growled out.

Haneul placed the photograph onto the table of the small diner. She sipped at her coffee and gestured for the boy in front of her to sit. Uncrossing his arms, he reluctantly did so, his movements slow and calculated as he kept his scrutinizing gaze trained upon the girl whose name he did not know.

She sighed. “You’re glaring enough to burn a hole through my skull.” Her voice was gentle, but almost emotionless. Her dark eyes met his, and he jumped.

Just from one look, he could tell that she looked… haunted.

His glare faltered at his realization, and he looked down at the table, where she held a mug half-filled with coffee. Her hands were covered in scars that were so light that most people wouldn’t see them. But to a photographer, who had been trained to notice detail in an image, her hands were covered in blemishes and calluses.

He looked at his own.

Even he didn’t have that many calluses on his fingers.

“Sorry,” he finally managed. He still avoided her gaze, trying his best to keep himself from asking her how she’d gotten hurt. “I just… I want to know how you knew all those things about me. And how you made my brother turn up in that photo.”

Haneul heaved another sigh. She looked at him, her eyes suddenly seeming even darker, even more serious, than they had a moment before.

She suddenly dropped her voice so low that Myungsoo could barely hear her. “We can’t talk here,” she whispered hoarsely. “I can’t tell you much here. There’s someone here who’s… dangerous.”

As she said that, she appeared to fix her eyes on something behind him.

He whirled around and stared right where she had, following her gaze to the letter. But he saw nothing. There was no one there, not even another customer. Narrowing his eyes, he looked back to the girl, who was still staring at that same place.

“Who’s here?” he asked just as quietly, as to not provoke her.

She didn’t move her gaze. “I don’t know. I’ve only seen him once before. But he knows you, and I don’t like the way he’s looking over here.” She stood, placing money on the table, never once breaking her gaze.

Myungsoo frowned, once again checking.

“There’s no one there.”

She grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him up. Her eyes locked on his again, and she gritted her teeth, as if hesitating for a moment.

Then she managed a dry grin. “Oh, but there is.”

Myungsoo stared out at the ocean as he sat on a bench, holding a cup of melting iced coffee in his hands. He watched as a pair of siblings, two boys, one distinctly older than the other, ran across the grassy area near the lake, just below the hill where he was sitting. They squealed loudly as the younger tackled the older.

Someone sat next to him, and he looked over to see the short-haired girl. He saw the studs in her ears and the dark makeup lining her eyes, outlining them in charcoal.

She sipped at her own coffee, taking a large gulp, before sighing. “I told you before. My name’s Kwon Haneul. And I have the ability to see the spirits of the dead.” She looked him in the eye for a moment, allowing him to digest this information. “Your brother is still here. He asked me for help, and I believe that the only way for me to help you is for me to watch over you.” She leaned back, resting on the bench, as she took another of her ice cream.

“Why?” he demanded softly. His cold coffee was all but forgotten in his grip.

Haneul shrugged. She looked out towards the lake, breathing in and out as the birds chirped loudly above them. “It’s just that you’ve got a bunch of spirits surrounding you. Not just your brother. I’m not sure what it is about you and your little group of friends, but it seems like there’s something about you that these spirits either like or don’t like.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “And you can’t tell which ones like me and which ones want me dead? That’s comforting.” His tone was dry, but she didn’t seem to notice or care, whichever it was.

She just glanced at him with her dark, haunted, knowing eyes. Then, she looked behind him. As soon as he followed her gaze, seeing nothing where she was staring, she snapped her eyes back to look at him.

“I can tell you that at least two of these spirits mean you no harm. It’s incredibly rare that spirits would want someone else dead, let alone have the means to do so. After all, your brother holds no ill will against you, and neither does the girl.”

His gaze suddenly snapped back to her. “Girl?” he asked, his mouth running dry. There was only one girl who’d died recently that he was familiar with. He just hoped he’d been wrong.

But she nodded and said, “Ryu