“Hello dear whoever reads this,

by now you’ve probably moved into my, the-previous-owner-who-has-died-a-mysterious-death’s, house. And you’re very desperately cleaning this house, because I don’t know how else you could have found this letter that I will hide behind the secret medicine-cabinet-style mirror. Sorry, there aren’t tons of money over here, you probably hoped for that. Many people hide lots of money in these things, or.. In movies at least. I might put some pounds here too if I feel like it. So. Hi, I’m Jungshin.

Or... I was Jungshin? This is a little confusing to me still. Anyway, this is a warning, so please read it thoroughly. You might think about what I could be warning you for. Well, I’ll tell you in the end. Otherwise you might not get to finish this letter because you’d be scared to death. Ha, you get the wordplay? I’m dead, yeah? You get it? Good.

So where should I start? I guess I’ll just write down the whole story, let’s start at the absolute start.

I was born. Haha, kidding, this is not where my story starts, or well, it does, but if I start here, I’ll be busy for such a long time that I’ll be found dead before I can even write down that I died.

Well, I’m from North-America and moved here not long ago. I’ve always been quite a handsome man, I’m not going to pretend I’m modest. I basically could have gotten any girl I’d like (and in the end I chose for the most impossible one, but we’re not there yet). In university I got sick of girls really, all they search for in a guy is looks and money.

I happened to have both.

The girls that wanted me have all been quite stupid and dumb, cared about status only. There was no love involved, they just wanted me to be their popular boyfriend. So I stopped dating girls, which made me even more interesting, unfortunately. You know, the handsome silent boy who is always single, girls like that.

Yeah, I’ve survived the years of university and all the girls crowding around me. My father owned a company, he wanted me to become the next owner. We were a rich family and he told me that this way, we would stay rich and I could live a good life. I’ve always learned that money is a very important thing, it makes you rich and therefore gives you happiness. In my parent’s eyes, people don’t need anything else than money, I didn’t like this idea. Don’t get me wrong though, I wanted to become rich too, but I wanted to do that on my own. I’m not the kind of person that likes having his life all sorted out by someone else. I wanted to find my own luck.

So at the age of 24, I bought a house in a whole other continent. I decided to go and live in the enchanting England. The house I bought was an old house, it needed a lot of fixing and it would’ve gotten very expensive. Luckily my parents helped out and lend me lots of money. Therefore, the house is in a perfect condition right now. I worked hard repairing the balcony, the terrace, the kitchen. I managed to seal every crack and hole and redecorate and restyle the house completely. No, I really did seal every crack, my girlfriend keeps telling me how much of a perfectionist I am. She likes to tease me because of that.

Sorry, I like to talk about her, I’ll tell you more about her later.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the house, it’s beautiful right now. I’m sure you haven’t bought this house because of its prettiness only, did you? You must’ve seen the surroundings as well! Take a good look at them, it’s wonderful over here. I’m sad that I can’t go out anymore.

In this white house, on the edge of the white cliffs, you can see and hear the wild sea, trying to get rid of its crested waves as they crash into the crumbly gravel and rocks which together form some sort of black beach. The sounds that makes one able to sleep. If you listen closely you’ll fall asleep really quick. And if you’ve slept a wonderful night thanks to this sea and get up early enough, you might catch the sun rising from the water as if it’s been hiding down there all night, waiting for you to unveil itself. Getting ready for another day. And there you sit, in front of the fence that can make a difference between safely being on top of the cliffs, or fatally tumbling down. Your legs are dangling, aware of the enormous space between the gravel of the beach and the tips of your toes. You’re eating your breakfast and you’re just enjoying the scenery, relaxed. Very slowly, you forget what time it is, till the sun is high up in the sky and shines brightly. When it isn’t a dark and rainy day of course. And you swear that you can see parts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands maybe. Although you know you can’t, you like to think you do.

The sea is not the only advantage of living here, oh no! There’s so much more. Just a few kilometers from here, you’ll be able to drive between the hills with your car. The fields, filled with white sheep mindlessly pulling the green grass out of green hills. Those green hills are everywhere, as far as you can see. You’re driving on an old and forgotten way, searching for a busy and running city. You stop, because this is a nice place to enjoy your lunch, right there in the fields that seem to never end. And if someday you want some variation, you can go to one of the little forests close by, crawling up next to a calm lake, telling yourself it’s okay to be a little late.

It’s truly beautiful over here, kids would have loved it. I don’t have any kids and I won’t get them either, but if I had, I’m sure they would have loved it over here. As long as they don’t fall down the cliff though, that would be disastrous, it wouldn’t be the first time someone tumbled down. Tumble into their death, head down into the black beach that would then be turned into a dark shade of red once again…

What I want to say is that not only the house is a big benefit to decide to go and live in this mystical middle of nowhere. Because, let’s be fair, this is a middle of nowhere. It takes a little while to get to a city that can actually grant you a job that pays off a bit. But hey, you have lots and lots of space over here!

Now that I’ve told you what you can do over here,  I want to finally tell you the story.

My story.

The story about me moving towards this ensorcelled place. Because it is ensorcelled. Containing the most dark magic, keeping the most beautiful creature. At least, to me. I’ll start at the start, the start at which things start to get good. I was born and…

The second time this joke is even better haha. Okay, okay, easy, I’ll start.

I moved to this house, searching for a new adventure, a new challenge. When I came in for the first time, the whole house was covered in dust and smelled quite musty. It was a bit of a disappointment, because the outside seemed so pretty. However, I was not the type of guy that was easily discouraged. I called many different carpenters. The carpenters from the town that was most close didn’t want to come and help me out, even if I offered them lots of money. Even carpenters from out of town, didn’t want to come over. They hanged up their phones whenever I told them my address.

I had to do it on my own. So I got to work, I got myself a saw, wood, nails, a hammer, all you need to fix a house. During the process, strange things happened sometimes. I lost my tools all the time, and I wasn’t the kind of person to lose my tools. Once I lost my hammer and found it back outside, in a bush right beneath the window. I searched for days. It didn’t creep me out though. I was sure there was a logical explanation for all of this. There were lots of animals. Even wild horses were not immediately an odd sight over here. I thought that they must have been playing with me. As week after week went by, the house got more and more comfortable. I slept in a tent next to it back then, but reckoned it wouldn’t be too long before I could finally sleep in my new house.

A few days later, I actually found that it was time to do so and sleep inside. I listened to the sea that tried to make me fall asleep, I felt that it was winning from my consciousness. In the middle of the night I suddenly heard a loud bang, followed by the sound of breaking wood. A girl screamed. A dull thump ended the screaming. I sat up straight, sweat was running all over my body, I was shaking too, I was scared as hell. It was just a nightmare. Everything was okay. I got up and brushed my teeth. Ready to go to work, I had a job in the city that was the closest by. I worked in a library, I wanted to stay there till I found something better. Me and my colleagues were having a break, as I listened to them gossiping.

“Have you heard?” a guy I don’t particularly like, said, trying to grab the attention of my other colleagues.

“What’s up?” a girl, a few years younger than me asked, not appearing to be very interested.

“The old house of Ember Muttoone is finally sold. It’s been sold months ago now, some lunatic actually plans on living there.”

All the boring people at this table that would normally just nod and continue eating their lunch quietly, now looked at the man like he got shot and didn’t seem to have noticed a thing.

“Why would anyone do that?” the same girl asked, her voice nearly trembling.

“I really don’t know,” the guy said.

I noticed that I was the only one that had no clue which house we were talking about, so I bravely cleared my throat and silently asked what was wrong with the house.

“It’s haunted! Bloody haunted! Approximately one hundred years ago, a girl named Ember Muttoone turned 21. She was a rich girl, the only child of the Muttoone family, her parents owned an enormous white house at the edge of one of the white cliffs. Her mother had died a long time ago when her father got very ill too. He had remarried this pathetic woman, who cared much, if not only, about money.” He stopped and thought for a moment. “Wasn’t her name miss Wallace?” the guy looked at the girl and the girl slowly nodded. He continued, “the testament of Ember’s father stated that, when he died, all the money he owned went to Ember. However, miss Wallace got to know about the testament. She decided that she couldn’t stay behind without making any money out of it, she was furious that she wasn’t even mentioned in the testament because that was really her only reason to stay with the sick mister Muttoone. For Ember’s 21 birthday, miss Wallace thought it would be fun to take a picture of her. She told Ember to sit on the fence in front of the house, the one that ensures that no one falls down the cliff. Ember loved the idea, because this way, the whole sea would be on the picture too, creating a beautiful scenery. Ember sat down, not suspecting a thing. She trusted, respected and even loved her stepmother. The wood of the fence however, was rotten and the quality wasn’t as good as it was years before, when her father had built the enormous house.

Miss Wallace knew this.

She took the pictures, taking long enough for a stranger to walk by. She entrusted him the camera, asking whether he could take a picture of her and Ember together. As she got very close to the fence, she acted as if she slipped, and while she slipped, she managed to give the fence a really good kick at a rotten spot. The wood under her foot cracked easily, and thanks to the plank breaking, the fence lost its stability to hold the poor Ember. She cracked through the fence and fell backward. She screamed loudly as she fell down the cliff. A dull thump when her body hit the gravel and stones down there, head first, was the last sound she produced when she was still alive. The thump should logically be soft, but citizens claimed it was deafening and heard all through the town. Ember was no longer with us. Her own stepmother, can you believe it, then killed her husband and owned up all of the money that should have been in the possession of the Muttoones, she invested it to restyle the house. The story goes that Ember’s soul is still present in the house and she isn’t able to forgive her stepmother. When miss Wallace was busy redecorating “her” house, Ember killed her. And so she did to everyone else who tried to change its state. Some people say that even her screams are still heard over there. Sleeping in that house for only one night will already curse you. Once you hear her scream, you’re done with.” The man finally stopped speaking, and he had never had so much attention drawn to him.

“You mentioned a white house on the edge of a white cliff, which white house on the edge of a white cliff?” I asked politely, trying not to act too nervous.

“There is only one,” the guy answered.

I remember my eyes widened.

I got home and told myself not to believe in these stories, as they were just stories. Simple folklore, I wasn’t cursed. There were many ghost stories in America too. As rational as I was, I decided not to believe it and kept going on turning my house into mine. I found that it was time to work on the balcony again, and that was when I heard it for the first time. Footsteps in the attic. The floor squeaking under the weight of someone (or maybe something) that seemed to be dancing. I stiffened and listened closely. Then I heard someone giggling. Paralyzed, unable to move, I listened. Till the sound was gone. I was sure that I was losing my mind now, I shouldn’t believe my colleagues. Was there someone in my house? I was a curious person, so I sneaked towards the attic. Once I was upstairs, no one was to be found. I hadn’t been in the attic often yet, it was very moldy and the smell was disgusting, like animals had died over here decades ago and were slowly rotting away. So far, I had only dared to stay at the stairs, now, however, I walked in. Desperate to find what I had just heard. Oddly, the horrible smell appeared to be gone. While I was searching, my eyes got attracted towards a huge pile of gold coins. As a fly attracted to a bright light, I came closer. Closer and closer, I had no control of my body. I felt like I HAD to touch the gold. I stepped on something, that easily cracked underneath my weight. It made a crunching sound that gave me a shiver that slowly walked down my spine. I blinked and shook my head. Walking away from the gold again, I felt a bit nauseous and looked around. The room seemed to be a bedroom in a style of one hundred years ago, no one had probably entered or cleaned it for that long either. Yet, there was not a single dust particle to be seen. Why hadn’t I seen this before? A chair blocked the way for me and as I started moving it, I heard someone saying stop very softly. I looked around, but there was no one there. Not even hesitating, I moved the chair as fast as I could.

“STOP!!!” someone screamed loudly and sullen, followed by a loud bang. The hatch door was shut down.

The temperature dropped and simultaneously, the room changed. The disgusting smell came back quickly. It almost choked me at first, then it kept me gagging, I almost threw up. I was so busy choking and gagging that I didn’t notice how much the room had changed, I looked up and suddenly saw bones and corpses everywhere, some existing out of bone only, some still in the process of rotting. There was a hole the size of my foot in one of the skulls, close to the pile of coins. Now I threw up. There must’ve died ten to twenty people over there. But how and why?

I turned around, ready to leave this place. After I had turned around, I was looking directly in the enraged eyes of a girl, a few years younger than I was. She was as pale as the white cliffs, her blue eyes reminding me of the wild sea I could see behind her, through a window. As soon as our eyes made contact, we were surrounded by fire, blocking all the ways out of here.

“WHY DO YOU TRY TO MOVE THAT CHAIR? THIS IS MY ROOM, YOU CANNOT CHANGE ANYTHING IN HERE. LEAVE ME AND MY HOUSE ALONE.”

So…, I thought, is this the infamous Ember Muttoone?

“WHY DIDN’T YOU GO FOR THE GOLD? I WOULD BE ABLE TO KILL YOU IF YOU DID, NOW I CAN’T ANYMORE,” she yelled, like she tried to make me feel guilty for not giving her a reason to kill me.

“I don’t need any gold, I’m very sorry for you, Ember,” I replied, afraid of what she would do to me.

When I mentioned her name, her face softened and seemed curious and cute for a split-second, then, right after, she changed into the gruesome ghost again. Nevertheless, it gave me a little bit of hope.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT. YOU’VE BEEN CURSED, FOOL. YOU’LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH ME FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, TILL I FEEL LIKE KILLING YOU.”

“Why would you want to kill me?”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE A STUPID HUMAN LIKE ALL THE OTHERS, INVADING MY AND MY FATHER’S HOUSE WHILE CHANGING EVERYTHING YOU DON’T LIKE. IT WAS THAT OF ME AND MY FATHER. NOT THE HOUSE OF THAT HORRIBLE WOMAN. AND IT’S NOT YOURS EITHER.”

“Okay, so why don’t you kill me?”

She went silent for a few seconds. Again, her furious and maddened face searching for vengeance, turned into something that was rather cute.

“Because you didn’t seem to want the gold. You resisted, got out of my curse. You’re the first person who did that.”

I nodded and turned a bit calmer, “I see. And what if I promise you that I won’t change anything in the house that you don’t want me to change? Can I then live?”

The girl seemed to think and answered, “well, I’ll still be around for many years, we can try it. Though, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”

I was so relieved, I actually managed to make her spare me after she’d killed like everyone who had ever come in, I gave her a huge smile to emphasize my innocence, “it’s okay, I’ll get used to it! I’m Jungshin, nice to meet you!”

This is where everything started. I lived together with a female ghost. It was quite unreal to me, for a few days I thought I was insane enough for a mental hospital. But I was fine, I only saw her in my own place. It wasn’t really nice to live with her though, she was often in her room. Flying around, making sure I didn’t come in. Sometimes I found her in my room, which was smaller and directly beneath hers. Sometimes I felt her watching television with me behind my back. Sometimes she was nowhere at all. She always kept quiet. I felt that I should do something to at least make our relationship a bit better, as strange as it sounded, we were house-buddies now, after all. Therefore, one day, I walked towards her room and got brave enough to encounter the horrible smell. As soon as I opened the hatch door, she was in front of me, seeming very pissed off. I told her there was no need to worry, as I didn’t feel like changing anything except maybe getting rid of the bodies if she wanted me to, then I asked her to come down and watch television with me. She hesitated but in the end came down with me. I made her choose a movie (although she didn’t know what it was), and together we watched and commented. It was actually lots of fun to be around her, she was funny, bright and pretty too. I decided to do this more often and soon we watched movies and series every night, almost all night. We got closer and closer. She now dared to wander through the whole house more often. She liked to be in the kitchen, waiting for me to get home from work and ask me about my day, sometimes she even made me tea using her weird powers to make things fly around, I hope I get powers too.

There was this time that I was trying to fall asleep, but then I saw her white appearance that was clearly contrasting with the black room. I sat up.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, I…” she started.

I gave her a tired smile, “it’s okay, I wasn’t asleep anyways.”

“Well, then I’ll go again.”

She turned around, and before I could realize it, I told her to wait. She stopped and turned back around again.

“Come lay down over here, you must be bored.”

She gladly accepted that offer and laid down next to me, or floated, I don’t know how ghosts do these things yet. We talked all night. We did this over and over, more and more. We talked about how the world had changed over the years, about our lives, about random movies. I had never felt so comfortable with someone as with her, I don’t think I was able to be happier around someone than when I was around her.

Then, a few weeks later, in one of the nights that we were together, I softly told her I loved her. She had looked at me, slightly skeptical, which was obvious, as she had gone through so much in her life. She started to cry and whispered that she loved me too. I wanted to hug her, but forgot that she couldn’t be hugged. I couldn’t touch her. I was disappointed in myself that I hadn’t thought of this earlier, I didn’t mean to upset her. She started to cry more and whispered that it couldn’t be like this. We couldn’t love each other, we can’t even touch each other, it would hurt us too much. I shook my head and softly planted a kiss on her forehead. Although we both didn’t feel it, it calmed her down.

“We’ll be okay,” I told her.

She slept in my bed every night from that time onwards. Although I didn’t want to admit it, I tried to hug her every night, I don’t know if she had noticed it. It was not fair, I wanted to hold her, kiss her, make love to her.

I wanted to feel what she felt like.

I wanted to hug her till she fell asleep every night.

I wanted to talk to her till we got tired enough to fall asleep.

I wanted her.

It’s not that I stopped loving her, I’m not that kind of jerk, it’s not her fault. I just missed something, I missed physical affection. And I could see that she missed it too. She still thinks that I’ve never seen the devastated look on her face that she tried to hide as she was moving her fingers towards the direction of my skin. She managed to stay quite mental about it, but the longer it lasted, the more it drove me crazy.

That’s why I came to this decision. I’ll kill myself to finally be able to be with her and we will haunt this place together, for eternity. I don’t know how I’ll make sure I die yet, maybe throw myself of the cliffs. It doesn’t really matter. Ember will probably be angry about the fact that I’ve killed myself. But she shouldn’t, I think our love is pure. I’ve never felt something like this for someone before. I’d do anything for her. If you’re a guy that we’re going to haunt, back off, she’s mine!

Hence, I finally arrived at the purpose of this letter. The warning! Yeah, this house is probably (very likely) haunted by two ghosts. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Ember doesn’t hurt you (too badly), and I won’t hurt you either (probably). We will be happy. Please don’t change anything in the attic. In fact, don’t even come there. Ember’s still a little bit touchy about her attic. You can do with my room whatever you want though. Have a good life, I hope we have fun together.

Yours sincerely,

Jungshin Dale

P.S. I am sure Ember and I will have fun with you, the other way around? I’m not so sure.”

You had been reading the whole letter out loud. When you softly whispered the last words, the letter caught fire and you dropped it, shocked and amazed at the same time, but amidst all the other emotions you felt, fearfulness was the strongest one throughout the whole letter.

The temperature dropped.

Although this place looked free of any specks when you entered it, it slowly turned into a place filled with cobwebs and dust. As if no one had entered it for at least ten years. The door shut down with a loud bang and fire surrounded you, blocking not only the main exits, but also all alternative exits like windows, might you dare to do that jump. You slowly turned around and looked into the faces of two young people. A young man and a young woman. Seeming furious at something you’d done to them, but you weren’t sure about what you had done. They were just standing there, staring at you.

While they were finally able to hold each other’s hands.