This place was calm, serene. The atmosphere was cold, and so was the water, but Hana never complained about that. With one swift kick, she paddled her way steadily into the other end. Water seemed to wash away her fear. She no longer worried about the hallucination she was getting. Hana needed not to worry whether or not she was crazy for seeing those things.

           For Jung Hana, reality was important. Being stuck to the ground like glue was important as well. She’d rather be someone invisible in the middle of the crowd rather than being called crazy and ended up in an asylum. She didn’t want to be pathetic. She wasn’t crazy.

        That was why, despite being called names and bullied verbally, Hana never retorted. She liked to keep the peace around her. It wasn’t like she didn’t have the guts. Hana harbored deep hatred to the bullies. But she’d rather stay quiet and safe in the shadow.

        “Is that girl stupid or something?” Sehun muttered. He sounded rather calm, but he sure held grudge and annoyance inside. His watchful eyes continued to follow her movement. He had been doing this for hours already, since Hana insisted on staying to practice late after class.

        The water looked as if it was sparkling under the noon sunlight. There seemed to be nothing wrong up until now. Maybe Sehun should give up watching this one girl and changed shifts with Luhan tomorrow. Maybe what he saw a few days ago was just a coincidence.

           Hana’s feet were strong under water. She kicked a few times more, recalling the lie she told Jiyeon earlier on, ‘It was just a cramp.’ Hana didn’t want to tell anyone, but she felt a sudden tug under water while she was swimming back then. The force was so strong and scary. It was like being dragged down the water by a crocodile or a shark.

           Hana’s eyes closed in fear. Maybe she should get out of the water. She was holding onto the sides of the deepest part of the pool. Maybe she should at least go to the shallow part now. Paddling again, Hana swum to the shallow part, and that was when she felt a familiar tugging on her feet.

           Hana froze in fear. When she stopped moving, her body naturally sunk down into the water. Hana held her breath and opened her eyes. In the midst of blurs, she could identify something soft and slimy on her face.

            Hairs.

           There were hairs all around her. But whose was it? Hana’s hair was brownish black, and these hairs were jet black, like the night. Hana’s eyes widened, and she wanted to scream, but water came inside and she had no choice but to gulp it down.

            Now she was sure all she had seen weren’t mere illusion. She wasn’t crazy.

           A girl’s head appeared from the hairs. Her eyes pitched black, and her lips were almost stitched together. Her skin was green-ish, and she looked like a ghost from horror movie, only that seeing it in front of her very eyes looked much scarier than watching it in high definition.

            What is this? Why is this happening to me?

            Gulping too much water, Hana couldn’t just choke it out. She was inside the water, and her breath was short. A smirk appeared on the ghost’s face when Hana’s face was contorted with pain and she started hyperventilating. She tried to kick, but there was nothing to kick. She tried to swim upwards, but the strength of the ghost was almost unbelievable. She had her grips around her neck forcefully.

          “E…l…” Hana deliriously opened and gulped some more water. She tried to say ‘help’, but ended up suffering even more. She could have sworn the ghost must have laughed at her effort.

            Flash of robes covered her face, and in the midst of consciousness and not, Hana looked at the person in front of her. The ghost was gone, and a calm, almost expressionless face she couldn’t really see came closer to her. Hana didn’t even struggle. She let the person take her up, and she breathed air again.

          Hana let out a loud, inhumane shriek. The next thing she knew, she vomited a pool of water from . She took a deep breath, and hit the floor hard with her hands. There was a sudden force from her chest that made her vomit a lot of water she just gulped down.

            “Wait!” She choked on her own word. She was still lying down on the floor, but she felt so much better after vomiting the water. The robe, Hana realized, was the same as the one her savior wore the other day. Hana looked up, and saw the coldest pair of eyes she had ever seen. “Wa…it…”

               Her voice died down. She trembled.

              The man in front of her was strange. He had a strong aura. Hana didn’t usually detect aura on people, because she was just that insensitive, but this person’s aura was overwhelming. He had the killing intentions. And not to mention, those cold merciless eyes that stared at her, judging whether or not she was to be killed.

             But this was the man that saved her.

             Hana reminded herself how the man killed the vicious skeleton-like beast and saved her from the water ghost just now.

           “What was that just now? Who are you?!” Hana finally gathered enough energy to speak. She sounded weak, and she couldn’t talk too much. There was so much she wanted to ask, but she figured out the two questions would suffice at first.

            The male squat down to her level, his dark orbs meeting hers. There was blood lust, brutality, little emotions, and… hurt. His eyes were dark and stormy. His pale skin made him look inhumane under the sunlight. Hana shivered when he touched her cheeks and made her face him.

            “You are one strange woman,” he spoke, and Hana knew the male was examining her whole face. His touch was wet, and so was his whole body, but he wasn’t shivering from the cold. In fact, his touch was warm, feverish. But there was something lethal about his touch, like it could grow thorn anytime soon.

        “Why…?” Hana asked, and she cursed herself for sounding like a stupid hypnotized girl. Or maybe she was… This guy was undeniably beautiful. If only he could smile, or had a more tender eyes. Because right now, he just looked plain scary.

             “You are asking me calmly,” Now, the male was amused. And Hana didn’t understand why. “You are actually asking me.”

          “Why wouldn’t I ask you? I mean, what the heck was that?! Was that a… a water ghost?! As in those freaking movie-like water ghost?! And the creature from last week, God, what the hell was that ugly thing that looked like skeleton! Why am I seeing all this stupid hallucination?!! I am not crazy right?? I mean, if I’m crazy, then you wouldn’t be here, I’m…” Without realizing it, Hana mumbled randomly. When she saw the guy looking at her, completely silent and definitely bored, she shut up, though her hands were trembling badly.

           “Now, that’s more like it,” The male pulled back his hand from her face, and Hana felt lost without his warmth. She felt cold again. “Human usually react more violently, you know? They smash things, they scream like crazy es, they thrash around…”

            He in a deep breath. He spoke in a very slow, bored tone.

            “What are you talking about?” Hana whispered, her voice broken.

           “They are not hallucinations, Human. Those creatures that you see… they are real, flesh and blood,” The male glanced at Hana, as if waiting for a bigger reaction, but she stayed frozen on her spot. “Correction: rotten flesh and stinky blood. Very bad combination.”

            “What are those?! I mean… Oh, God…” Hana let out a frustrated grunt, and wiped her face from water. She was confused as hell. She couldn’t even understand what the male was talking about. All she heard was this gibberish puzzling words about how real they were.

         “The thing you saw last week, that was a half-made vampire. That is what happens when a vampire transformation is deemed unsuccessful. The thing you saw just now, you are right. It was a water ghost. They are normally gentle and don’t disturb people,” The guy halted all of a sudden to see if Hana was still listening.

          She was. But only surface-depth. Hana lost her way when he started talking about vampires, and what- half-made vampires… What the hell was a half-made vampire anyway? To even begin with, did vampires even exist?

           “You’re lying,” Hana whispered, almost growling. She was shocked. She began to form bubbles on her head and convinced herself this was all a dream. She always had that habit. When she saw something she didn’t like, or something she couldn’t believe, Hana would always convinced herself those were merely bad dreams.

            “You’d be dead, twice, if I hadn’t saved you.” The guy was right. She escaped death twice because of him.

          “So vampires exist?” Hana’s voice went even softer, and lower this time. But the guy heard it, and as he took off the wet, heavy robe, he replied, “Every fairy tales are true. They exist for a reason, you know? Vampires, werewolves, faeries, elves, spirits, you name them.”

        Her entire body became weak soon after. She wanted to tell the guy he was crazy, but she saw it with her own eyes. Hana’s cellphone was ringing on the bench and she had no strength to pick it up. The guy stood up.

            “There are a lot of things you should be aware of from now on. You’d be dead if you’re not careful.”

          “Wait!” Hana called out when she saw him walking away. He was about to leave, but he turned back at the last moment, looking slightly distracted. His eyebrows were furrowed together when Hana softly mumbled, “Why? Why me? Why now?”

         “I can’t tell you right now,” He shook his head. Hana’s hands reached out for him, to cling onto him, to ask more questions she couldn’t understand. But he was gone. He disappeared in a blink of an eye, like he always was. She was terrified, but she didn’t know what to do after that. So she walked to the bench and picked up her phone. A soft familiar voice spoke through the line, and in that very moment, Hana was relieved that Miyoung was calling her. She was very much relieved, indeed.

***

            “Sehun.”

            It was a voice Sehun recognized. Luhan stood at the rooftop of the school with watchful eyes. When the younger one joined him, he couldn’t help but noticed Luhan was slightly different this time. He looked close to alive.

             “It’s my first time seeing you talk so much.”

             It was a tease.

             “Shut up, Luhan. Mind your own business.”