For the first time since I died, I felt tired.

It was as if fatigue had taken over me, seeping into my bones and oozing straight back out like poison.

I didn’t know ghosts could feel tired.

But here I was, barely heading straight as I wobbled my way back to Lay and Luhan with Sehun walking worriedly beside me.

“Soyoung…” Sehun gave me a concerned look as he grabbed onto my arm to steady me, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m alrighhht.” My speech was slurred.

“No, you’re not.” Sehun frowned. “You’re far from alright.”

“I’m finnee.” I yawned heavily, “I just need some rest…”

“What rest? Do ghosts sleep too?”

“I *yawn* slept in the unknown…”

“That’s…that’s a different case. You’re not in the unknown anymore so therefore you’re immortal.”

“Hn…” I yawned again as we finally reached Lay and Luhan, who -as I had told them to- was still waiting for me at the place where I left them.

The two immediately noticed my strange behaviour.

“Hey, Kim Soyoung. What are you doing?” Lay frowned as I slumped down onto the ground like a melting puddle.

“Just…let me sleep for a while…” I murmured drowsily as my muscles completely relaxed.

“Soyoung…” Luhan glanced at me worriedly as he placed one hand on my forehead, “Are you sick?”

“I’m…just…tired…” I barely managed to whisper out these words as my muscles suddenly became numb.

“What happened to her, Sehun?” Lay immediately knelt down beside me and began expertly pressing two fingers around my body to check for the reason behind my strange behaviour.

“I…I don’t know. She was talking with this other ghost. After the other ghost disappeared, she became like this.”

“Hm…” Lay sighed as he released his fingers from my body, “Fortunately, she’s alright. She’s just been drugged and after a few days of sleep, she’ll come to.”

A…few days…of…sleep?

I yawned again as my eyelids began to close.

*No!* I managed to scream in my head, *You can’t sleep, Soyoung!*

Forcing my eyes open again, I tried to focus my vision on the people walking past me. Yet they soon became blurred as my eyes began to slowly close itself again.

“Soyoung, it’s okay to sleep.” I heard Lay talk to me as my eyelids were almost closed, “We’ll be here…to protect you from any harm whilst you sleep.”

~~~

Whoosh

Goosebumps ran up my arms as the chilling wind blew past me, howling softly next to my ear as if it was singing a tune.

My lips twitched a little yet my eyes remained shut.

This wind reminded me of my childhood. I used to sit at the riverbank and listen to the wind howling whilst trying to figure out what sort of tune the wind was ‘singing’.

I yawned once, then my eyes fluttered open as I sat up groggily from the ground and rubbed my eyes.

“Sehun?” I adjusted my vison so that my surroundings weren’t blurred, “Lay? Luhan?”

Frowning as I saw none of them anywhere near me, I glanced around myself and saw that I was sitting at the bank of the riverbank that I used to visit all the time when I was a child.

I blinked.

*What am I doing here?* I thought to myself as I stood up, brushing any dust off my pants when the footsteps of someone approaching the river bank could be heard.

Widening my eyes, I decided that it was best to hide for now, so darting behind a bush, I peeked over the leaves to catch a glimpse of the approaching person.

My breath stopped as I saw that the person who came to the river bank was none other than me.

…A younger version of me.

I felt my eyes soften as I watched her hum happily to myself, her small feet walking in tiny, petite steps as she neared the river back carefully, and after making sure no adults were nearby, she plopped down onto the ground and began listening to the wind howl.

The younger me was in lost in the midst of her imagination when suddenly, a shrill shriek interrupted the peaceful melody of the wind.

She jumped, startled,