“Oh-he’s awake.” Someone announced, and I blinked up at the three faces bent over me.

            “Um…could…could I…get up?” I asked after a moment, and they instantly straightened, giving me room to sit up and look around.

 I’d been lying on a couch, and as I scanned the area, I noticed the familiar soft blue walls of my living room.

 I also noticed that there were not four, not five, but six other people-well, demons-in my house. Really not familiar.

How did they get here? Or, a more important question, how did I get here?

My gaze traveled to where Chanyeol was leaning against the counter in the dining room, his face stormy, but he smirked when he caught my eye, and realization dawned on me.

          “What? I did tell you.” He shrugged, unashamed at the fact that he had most likely-or as I was guessing-dragged me, unconscious, out of school.

          “How did I get here?” I asked, slightly afraid, and he grimaced.

          “I carried you. I think I gave that lady in the office a heart attack at the sight of you unconscious, so I’d hate to think what would have happened if I’d have dragged you in.” I gaped at him in shock, fear starting to well up in me.

          “Please don’t tell me you killed her.” I whispered, but he just scowled at me.

          “Let off. I happen to know that killing people in the 21^st century is frowned upon.” He countered, and I frowned, pushing myself so my feet touched the floor in front of the couch, looking awkwardly at the other demons in the room. It was uncomfortable, so I cleared my throat.

          “Um…hello…my name’s Baekhyun…” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

A demon of medium height with tousled blonde hair stepped forward, smiling kindly.

          “Hello, I’m Suho. It’s nice to finally meet you, Baekhyun.” He said, reaching out a hand, which I hesitantly took, and one by one the rest began to introduce themselves.

          D.O was the one who had taken my pulse, and he had dark hair and wide eyes, Kai was tall with copper-colored skin and blonde -white?- hair that didn’t seem to want to lie flat, and Sehun was the youngest, tall, pale-skinned, and with red-brown hair. Each of them was dressed the exact same way, black pants and a loose white shirt, but they all seemed…different.

          “How come they’re more normal than you?” I asked suddenly, turning to Chanyeol, and laughter erupted from everyone, and he just stared at me, a baffled look on his face that made Sehun and Kai laugh harder.

          “Nice one. Chanyeol doesn’t get speechless often.” Sehun snickered, pointing at Chanyeol, using Kai’s shoulder to hold himself up.

          “I am too normal!” He shot back, and Kai howled with laughter.

          “You, my friend, are far from normal.” The demon snorted, clapping Chanyeol on the back, and Suho sighed.

          “I’ve not heard someone us as normal before.” He chuckled, glancing at D.O, who shrugged.

 After the laughter had died down, I frowned.

          “Um…I don’t want to be rude-“

          “Yes you do.” Chanyeol interrupted, and I glared at him before continuing. Only to you, Chanyeol.

          “But why are you all here?”

 The demons turned to look at Chanyeol, shock clear on their faces.

          “You didn’t tell him?” Suho questioned, making him raise his hands in defense.

          “Not my fault. I was trying to, but he started screaming like a little girl and passed out.” He muttered.

          “I did not scream like a little girl!” I shot back, making Chanyeol roll his eyes.

          “Please. You did too. I was the one who had to carry you out of the school, remember? And come up with some excuse to tell that lady in the office so she didn’t think you were dead and I was a killer, so now you really owe me.”

          “Why did you show up at my school in the first place?!” I growled, and Suho held up a hand to stop Chanyeol from replying.

          “I’ll explain.” He muttered, and turned to me. “Baekhyun, you do know what we are, right?” I blinked at his question, and shook my head slowly as I mulled it over.

          “Not…really. All I know is that Chanyeol sends me out to get souls or something. I don’t really know what happens after that.” Suho nodded slowly at my answer. “What do you do with them? Do you keep them in jars or something?” I asked, making Kai and Sehun snort.

          “Dear God, no.” Sehun muttered.

          “We don’t collect souls.” D.O objected, and Kai nodded.

          “We…kind of sort them.”

 I blinked at Kai in confusion.

          “You…sort souls?”

          “Mm. We call it Sifting, but it’s pretty much the same thing.” Suho clarified. “When someone-or something- dies, there are three places you can go. Say if you’re religious or someone who’s religion says that there is a higher power-“

          “Big guy in the sky.” Sehun interjected, and Suho nodded.

          “Sure. Let’s just use God as an example. If you believe in God-or whatever higher being- there’s the knowledge that there is a Heaven. On the other side, if there is a Heaven, there is also a Hell. Are you following?” He asked, and I nodded slowly. While I wasn’t particularly religious myself, my grandma was, and had dragged me to Mass every once in a while with the excuse that she was trying to save my poor, lost soul. Or something like that.

          “So after you die, you either go to Heaven or Hell?” I questioned, and Suho shrugged.

          “Not…exactly. That’s only if you believe in the higher power that states that. As you probably know, there’s hundreds of religions out there, that all have different ideas about where you go after you die-“

          “Suho, you’re confusing him…” D.O pointed out, and I nodded gratefully to the smaller demon.

          “Right, sorry. Let’s just stick with one idea then. Heaven or Hell, all right?”

          “You said there were three places though?” I interrupted, and shivered when I felt Chanyeol’s gaze on my back.

          “Shut up and let him explain, Baek-“

          “If you’re going to threaten him, Chanyeol, I ask you to kindly leave the room. However, I feel that it would be beneficial if you were here, so please calm down and stop glaring at him.” Suho interjected calmly, and I bit back a sigh of relief as I felt the glare leave me.

          “Chanyeol, you are in a major y mood today-“

 “Sehun. And as I was saying, yes, you are right, Baekhyun. Are you familiar with the term ‘purgatory’?” He asked, and I blinked.

          “I…think so. Isn’t that were you go if Heaven doesn’t want you?” I asked, and Suho smiled.

          “Close, but not exactly. Purgatory, in the Catholic sense, is a place you go to kind of sort out your sins before you leave earth. It’s like a waiting place, and it can be in the form of anything-say a train station-or it can even be like normal, everyday life. Souls also go there if they’re not ready to leave Earth.”

          “Those are the three. Heaven, Purgatory, Hell. See?” D.O asked, and I nodded hesitantly.

          “I think I got it.” I murmured, making the group smile. Well, except for one.

          “Finally-“ Chanyeol grumbled, and Suho shot him a disapproving look.

          “Chanyeol!”

          “Sorry.” He replied, not sounding very sorry at all, but Suho just shook his head in exasperation.

           “Anyway, that’s where we come in. Our job…” He gestured to the group “Is to sort the souls out. Start to send them on their way.”

          “And to help the ones that are stuck.” D.O mentioned, and I chewed on the inside of my cheek.

          “So why am I being sent out to collect souls?” I asked, and Suho blinked, looking where Chanyeol was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

          “Chanyeol? Care to explain?” He suggested, and Chanyeol sighed.

          “You can see them.” He grunted, and I stared at him in confusion.

          “He means that you can see the souls. Probably like us.” Kai elaborated, making me frown.

          “‘Probably like us’?”

          “I’m not sure, but I think that since you died and came back, that gave you the ability to see the souls. They don’t just look like little wisps of light, right?” Suho asked, and I felt my brow furrow even more.

          “They did at first. But the longer I looked at them; they started to look more like people.” I explained. Suho smiled again.

          “That’s what we see. We see the soul as the person they looked like before they died. Chanyeol told me that you were in a coma for three months?” He asked, and I nodded, shooting a glance at Chanyeol. “That explains why. Three months of your soul detached from your physical body, three months to wander around the Earth. Three months to mix with other souls.”

          “Is that how you found me?” I asked, looking over at Chanyeol. He shrugged.

 I took a deep breath in and leaned back against the cushions as everything ran through my brain.

          “It’s a lot to take in, I know.” D.O offered, and I chewed my lip as a new thought sprang up.

          “But you still haven’t told me why you guys are here.” I pointed out. Something instantly changed in the air, the room filling up with tension. I noticed Kai, D.O, Sehun, and Suho glance at each other, then over at Chanyeol, whose face had hardened into a mask of stony silence.  

          “There are…some souls who are…well, unhappy with where they get placed.” Suho started slowly, and Sehun snorted.

          “’Unhappy’.” He copied. “More like pissed.” Suho chewed his lip, and glanced over at Chanyeol nervously.

          “Well, yes. The point is, they don’t agree with their placement. And…well…yes, they have a…tendency to try to argue every once in a while-“

          “Bull! They try to attack us every chance they get! And now Baekhyun’s being pulled into the center of it.” Chanyeol interrupted, pushing himself off from the wall, and everyone stared at him. I felt my heart plummet into my stomach as I gaped at him.

          “Way to let it on easy, Chanyeol…” Kai muttered, frowning in irritation, and D.O set a hand on his shoulder.

          “He needs to know. This isn’t a game, Kai.” Chanyeol shot back, and Suho sighed.

          “We realize that, Chanyeol, but you can’t just blurt out that without expecting confusion-“

          “Why am I in the center?” I asked, still staring at Chanyeol, and he threw his hands up.

          “I don’t know. I don’t understand how they keep slipping back into this world after they’re sorted-“

          “I told Taemin to patch the-“ Kai started, and Chanyeol rounded on him.

          “Then how are they still-“

 Suho stood up suddenly, and the room went quiet as everyone turned to look at him. He pointed at Kai.

          “You, we’ll figure that out later. You-“ He pointed to Chanyeol. “- need to calm down. I understand that you’re frustrated, but you owe Baekhyun an explanation-“

          “I just explained! Why do you think I went to find him?! I told him I wouldn’t interrupt his “normal” life unless it was important!” Chanyeol shot back, putting air quotes around the normal part, and I coughed.

          “Uh, still here-“

          “Chanyeol, you’re being ridiculous, just cool it for a second-“ D.O advised.

          “I can hear everything you’re saying-“ I started, but Chanyeol cut me off.

          “How am I supposed to cool down? They’re getting stronger, there’s a whole freaking army of them, just lying in wait, and they will kill him if they get the chance!”

 Everyone froze at his words.

I felt my knees start to go weak, heard the blood roaring in my ears, and felt my insides turn numb with icy shock as his words echoed in my mind.

Kill him if they get the chance.