“Seriously now? Why do I have to be the one going in there?” I asked my group of friends, who consisted of Yoona, Sooyoung, and Taeyeon. They wanted me to go inside that creepy lighthouse all by myself. Are they crazy or what?



“You said you weren’t afraid of ghosts, so go then! I heard the lighthouse is haunted.” Taeyeon said with a sly smirk. 



I scoffed.



“Of course I’m not afraid of ghosts..but that lighthouse is creepy! what if something happens to me?” I said, but their determination to get me inside the lighthouse did not falter. Yoona stepped up to me and handed me her cellphone.



“Just call us if something happens. ” She said, “That lighthouse is abandoned. They only come to change the light bulb once every few months.”



“It’s only for an afternoon, you can do it!” Sooyoung pushed on.



Yeah, I wasn’t afraid of ghosts. Ghosts are nothing, we humans should be more scared of other humans themselves; not ghosts. There’s no such thing as ghosts.



I sighed, giving up to their dare.



“What do I get out of this?”



“Bravery,” Taeyeon answered.



“Lunch on me,” Sooyoung added.



“Uh..a kiss from me?” Yoona said, and Taeyeon and Sooyoung both looked at her. Even I gave her a ‘say what?’ expression.



“Just kidding! I’ll pay for your ticket to Lotte world!”



We all sighed in relief. Alright, I just have to spend an afternoon at the lighthouse. No biggy. I can do this—



At least, I hope so..



“Okay, I’ll do it then. I’ll go. It’s no biggy, I’m gonna have a blast at the lighthouse.”



“We’re sure you will,” They all said in unison, it gave me the creeps.


---


Dammit, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. It’s a pain in the a*s trying to reach to the lighthouse, the rocky surroundings were definitely not helping as I struggled to hop onto the rocks to reach my destination. I stood uneasily on one of the rocks as I looked back at the girls, they were waving to me, screaming, “GO INSIDE THE LIGHTHOUSE YURI! WE’LL COME PICK YOU UP LATER!”



“WHATEVER, I WILL!” I screamed back at them, and hopped onto the land surrounding the big lighthouse. It was huge, tall, built with white bricks. I scoured the area until I found a red door, leading into the house. Instinctively, I knocked on the door.



“Is anyone in here?” I asked, but obviously no one was in there because no one answered.



I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it clockwise, it wasn’t locked. I was hoping it was locked so I could find an excuse to go home. I grumbled when the door opened and dust came flying down.



I coughed violently, swatting away the dust with my hand. It settled down a few minutes later, and I was greeted with the sight of the huge spiral staircase at the center of the house. There was a fireplace in the corner, a dusty couch adjacent to it, and nothing else. 



There was nothing else to this place, it looked abandoned and like Yoona said, people only come to change the lightbulb once every few months. But is this place really haunted? I don’t know, it does look a bit creepy on the inside, I really don’t know how I’ll be able to handle a whole afternoon in here.



Light was shining through the windows, but the light was inadequate, it won’t be long until I’ll find myself in the darkness of the house. I closed the doors behind me and gulped, walking over to the dusty sofa. I swatted the dust off and sat on it, figuring I’d just sit and wait here for the rest of the afternoon to come before I leave and prove the girls how brave I am.



But just sitting on the sofa doing nothing was boring, I took out the cell phone Yoona had given to me and started to play some games. The battery was crappy, not even an hour of playtime and the battery lowered down to 20 percent. I stopped playing and placed the phone back onto my pocket, I leaned back on the couch and stared at the long staircase. I was curious, and I wanted to see where it led to, but I was also lazy and walking up those stairs was just not worth it.



Sleeping would be the best option right now, I was getting tired and sleeping would be great to pass the time before the girls come pick me up. I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes, before I knew it.. I was drifting slowly to sleep..


---


I woke up, darkness was surrounding me. The only source of light was the light coming from up the spiral stairs, it was the lighthouse’s main purpose. Unable to see well, I stayed close to the wall and felt it up, looking for the door to get out of this place. Suddenly, I felt something, and it didn’t feel like the brick walls of the house. It felt like hair, soft..I hovered my hands down a bit and continued feeling up whatever that was in front of me, it felt like skin.



Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap.



My heart started to beat faster and faster, I squinted my eyes and saw a girl staring right at me, her hair sprawled all over her face.



I gulped.



“AHHHH, GOD SAVE ME!” I screamed on top of my lungs, trying to run for the door but it was too dark! I couldn’t find the door!



The ghost was following me closer and closer. 



I started to sob. “DON’T COME NEAR ME!” I screamed at her and ran up the stairwell, as fast as I can. She tried to follow, but the light 
from the lamp on top of the lighthouse shined down, and it scared her away.



I sighed in relief as I reached to where the huge lamp or lightbulb or whatever they call those are located and sat in a corner.



Damn girls forgot to come pick me up. I took out the cellphone, and are you freaking kidding me?



THE BATTERY IS DEAD!



And I’m trapped inside this haunted lighthouse!



At least I am protected by the light...



Until it started to dim down, and before I knew it, it was shut off. It burned. THEY DIDN’T CHANGE THE FREAKING LIGHTBULB!?



I could see it. It’s going up the stairs, I could see it. Oh, my God.



There was nowhere else to go, I’m gonna die tonight. All thanks to those three! If I die and become a ghost, I’m going to haunt them forever!



I curled up into a ball and crossed my fingers, “Please don’t hurt me!” I cried out, sobbing, tears actually flowing down my cheeks as I pleaded.



I hear noise as the girl creeps closer, I see her feet. She’s standing in front of me, but nothing happened. She didn’t..kill me.



I looked up, right at her. She extended her hand out—



“Wh-what do you want?” I asked her, and she laughed an evil laughter.



I curled up into a ball again, crossing my fingers as I prayed to God.



I felt her fingers tap on my head. I shivered, crying to myself. 



“Don’t kill me..” I sobbed.



Her hands laid firmly on my shoulders and pulled me up slowly, pushing me onto the wall.



I closed my eyes and tilted my head to a side.



“BOO!” she yelled and I sobbed hysterically, dropping onto the floor. 



“Don’t kill me!” I pleaded again.



“You cry baby,” she said and laughed at me.



I looked up at her, her hair wasn’t sprawled all over her face anymore. The moonlight was faint, but it reflected enough light to her face so that I could faintly see what she looks like.



“Are you a ghost?” I asked her, wiping away my tears.



She walked over to me and kneeled down on one knee, looking straight at me.



“What do you think?” she asked me, “Ghosts are suppose to hover right? Am I hovering? You can’t feel ghosts, but you could feel me, right? Don’t I feel like human to you?”



“Have you not seen the Grudge!?” I yelled at her. 




Who in the world is this girl? And why is she even here? She’s not a .. ghost, right?



“Oh, right. The Grudge. You mean the girl with her hair sprawled out like this?” she flipped her hair over, covering her face with it.



“And she crawls like this?” she asked, getting on the floor on all fours. 



“And—she makes this kind of noise, right?” she asked lastly, making the death rattle sound as she slowly crawled back and forth around me.



“STOP!” I yelled, standing up.



“What? Are you scared?” she asked, standing up right again as she fixed her hair.



“Do I have a reason not to be scared!? Who are you?!” 



“Tiffany Hwang, nice to meet you. And you are.. Cry baby?”



This girl, who the heck she think she is!? Calling me cry baby because I cried? Who wouldn’t cry if they were in MY position!?



“Excuse me, cry baby?” I said, trying to sound tough.



“Oh, I’m sorry, I must’ve mistaken you for a cry baby then. Your name is Yuri though, is it not?”



What the.. how did she know my name? I don’t even know her!



“How did you know my name!?”



She laid back against the rails of the staircase and proceeded to speak up.



“You see, I was a bit bored today. So while I was wandering around the streets looking for something to do, I heard these three girls talking about a ‘Kwon Yuri’ whom they dared to go inside the ‘haunted’ lighthouse for the afternoon. I’m pretty daring ya know? So I came here to check it out, and I saw you sleeping on the couch. Thought it would be fun to wait until you wake up and scare you.”



“Wow, you’re really that bored to do that, huh?” I said sarcastically.



“I guess. It was worth it though, I mean, look at your reaction! I knew I should’ve brought my cell phone with me. This could’ve become a viral video!”



“Har har, very funny,” I deadpanned and rolled my eyes.



“Actually, I wanted to leave, but the door wouldn’t budge open.”



“So you mean we’re stuck in here?”



“Seems so. Isn’t your friends going to come find you or something?”



“They were suppose to!” I grumbled.



“Aww too bad, I hope the ghouls won’t go after you tonight! I’m not afraid of ghosts though, they should be intimidated by me.”



I scoffed.



“Intimidated by you? Like hell they would!”



“Says the person who cried and sobbed for her life.”



“Like you wouldn’t if I did the same thing to you!?”



“No, I would use common sense.”



“Such as?”



“Kick you of course, ghosts aren’t suppose to feel physical pain right?”



“Yeah, that’s totally common sense right there.”



“It is!” she smiled, “And you could’ve used some of that common sense.”



She was starting to exasperate me. I rolled my eyes at her and walked towards the staircase.



“Where are you going?” she asked me, her voice echoing through the place.



“Trying to go and bust out that door because I don’t think I’d be able put up with you for the night.” I told her, and walked my way down the steps. 



I heard her footsteps coming from behind me.



“What? Are you scared I’m going to scare you again?” she said, her voice lingering through my mind.



I paused, sighing. 



“Whatever.” I said, not turning around to face her. I continued further down the steps until she spoke up again.



“Scaredy cat.”



I shook her words off and continued walking, she was still following me. What the hell does she want?



“Chicken.” she said, and I grumbled on the inside. I won’t let her words effect me, though.



“Ba-bawk, chicken. Ba-bawk.”



Alright, that did it. She’s getting right on my nerves.



“I’M NOT A CHIC—“ I turned around to face her and yelled, but I suddenly stopped midway.



We met face to face, merely inches away from each other. She looked surprised, and so was I.



One word to express how I felt at that moment?



Awkward.



“—KEN! I’m not a chicken.” I quickly said, and pretended to cough—to ease up the awkwardness. I walked down the remaining steps and blindingly tried to find my way to the door.



She didn’t move from her spot. She just stood there, looking at me.



I stopped walking and turned around to face her.



“What? Out of things to say to me? I’m not scared of you, alright? You came at me and surprised me like that, of course anyone would be shocked to death!”



“Okay. Fine.”



Damn, she sounded a bit upset. I wasn’t trying to make her upset or feel insulted or anything, I was just trying to make things clear to her.. and now this happened?



The awkward moment of silence.



“Sorry.. if I was a bit too much.” I sincerely apologized. 



If the door won’t bust out, I’d have to stay a night with her, and being friends is better than being enemies with each other right now.



“Nah, no need. You were right. I should be apologizing for scaring you like that. I’m sorry.”



She sounded sarcastic, but at this moment, I don’t really care. Just gotta do anything to keep a good relationship going on.



“So can we just call it a truce?” I offered, and she walked over to me.



“Truce.” she smiled.



“Good,” I flashed a smile back, “It would be great if you help me open up this door, unless you want us both to be stuck in here for the whole night.”


“As much as I really want to help you so we can both leave this place, it’s no use. The door won’t budge. Hopefully your friends will remember that you’re still up here and come to get you tomorrow.”



“Are you serious?” I asked, letting out a exasperated sigh.



“Do I not look serious? Why would I waste my whole day today