It was definitely alarming to hear sirens outside your place at five in the morning. Tiffany jolted awake and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She let out a blood-curdling scream. A man with a mask shielding the lower half of his face stood over her bed with an object in his hands that Tiffany couldn't make out in the dimness of her room. The flash from the object stunned her momentarily and she scrambled back in surprise. 

"Who are you?" Tiffany's voice trembled, "This is my house! Get out!" 

The man stood at the same spot examining the object in his hands; the small screen lighting up his features in the night. Tiffany saw the frown and realized it was a camera in his hands. He heaved a sigh and positioned it again, sending another blinding flash in Tiffany's direction.

"Get out before I call the police!" Tiffany reached out to push the man away and she froze. This must be a dream, Tiffany thought. Yes, it's definitely a dream. She reached out again and watched her hand slipped through the man's arm. She laughed nervously; it was quite a bizarre dream but she had had a few of them before which she could barely remember.

"So you can't see me?" Tiffany lifted her leg and nudged it towards the man, laughing a little when it slipped right through his bottom.

"Is this what they call lucid dreaming?" Tiffany asked herself as she lightly hovered off the ground and saw her body on the bed. Tiffany clicked her tongue in disapproval- her sleeping pose is really unglamorous and unladylike; a small blush on her face when she saw that her nightgown has raised too high above her thighs.Tiffany lingered around the other people that were simultaneously streaming into her room. Dawn break and Tiffany was now feeling confused as time lapsed and this dream doesn't seem to come to an end. More men streamed into her room and they cordoned off her bedroom. Tiffany thought it was almost like watching an episode of CSI. 

"Alright," Tiffany chuckled at her own silliness as she pretended to swim in midair, "It's time to wake up now before you're late for work."

She clenched her eyes shut. When it didn't work, she slapped herself across the cheek and there was a stinging pain. Her eyes flickered open and were greeted with the same scene of ballistic experts scoring every nook and cranny of her room. 

"What?" She slapped herself again, the pain that coursed through her reminded her it was a reality but Tiffany was still hovering above her body. 

"Hey," She let out a dry laugh, "Oh come on, stop dreaming. This is not funny, Stephanie Hwang."

"Name?"

"Tiffany Stephanie Hwang Miyoung. Aged 21."

"Madam, we found this in her drawer.'

"This is possibly the cause of her death. We need to perform an autopsy to confirm that," The crisp voice cut through the staleness of the air, the lady examining a small bottle in her hands and Tiffany recognized the bottle. She felt time halted to a stop around her.

"Who reported?"

"Neighbours. They haven't seen her for several days and no one answered the door when they rang the bell."

"Time?"

"Estimated three days. Probably around 3.15 am on Thursday night, judging from the stiffness of her body." The group held a muffled discussion, investigators bagging artifacts and noisy scribbling filled the air. Tiffany watched in horror a man draped a white sheet over her body. The camera's shutter broke Tiffany out of her trance. 

"No, wait. I'm here, can't you see me?"

'Bring her corpse back to the lab."

Tiffany reached out for them in desperation and she slipped right through everything she laid hands on. 

"Don't touch me!"

"No! I'm still here! Look at me!" Tiffany cried when they lifted her body off the bed and laid her gently in the body bag. They pulled the zipper completely over her pale face and Tiffany lost every last ounce of her sanity.

"Stop it!" 

She knelt at the foot her bed with her tear streaked face, praying that she would wake up from this surreal nightmare. Tiffany roamed the apartment; reassuring herself that it was only a delusion. She had read about interviews from lucid dreamers of their experience while seem to last for years. Tiffany crouched at the corner of her room, hugging her knees as forensics and strangers streamed into her place days after days.

Tiffany scrambled to her feet when she heard a loud thud from her living room. She looked on in utter stupefaction. Burly men in caps heaved her furniture out of the door; effortlessly loading them onto their truck. Tiffany recognized their attire; she had engaged in their services when she moved to Seoul.

"Don't take that!" Tiffany grabbed the hand of a man who dragged her vanity table across the room. It left a deep mark on the wooden flooring and Tiffany clasped her hands to in surprise. 

'No no no!"

"Ahjussi, look at me!" She tried to stop a man who was removing the photograph of her mother from the wall. He forcefully stuffed it into a box with the rest of Tiffany's belongings.

"You can't take that!"

She stood in front of the man who momentarily halted. Tiffany forced a tearful laugh. 

"You can see me right? Ahjusshi, you can hear me right?" The man pocketed his phone, balanced the box in his hands and walked right through her. A muffled sob wracked in her chest. 

"Get out! This is my house!" Tiffany pleaded.

"GET OUT!"

Tiffany cried hysterically, the primal sound of her agony echoed in the bare apartment- stripped of furniture and Tiffany's life like she had never existed. Her whole world vanished and she was left with pain that tormented her. Tiffany was somehow made known to the information- the barrier, her span as a spirit and how she couldn't interact with objects. The only ease Tiffany had was the animals that littered her backyard. 

For four years, Tiffany pressed her hands against the window with a hunger; the couple walking hand in hand strolling past her apartment, the laughter of children and scampering footsteps down the streets and people dotting the streets. The feeling of abandonment tormented Tiffany and she was depleted of tears to cry. The hollowness in her chest was aching to be quenched. Tiffany laughed bitterly- why had she decided to even stay with this agony for four years? Her parents and Sunny would have most probably forgotten about her, they were not blood-related anyway. Tiffany depressingly hated herself for her foolishness.

Taeyeon appeared like a ray of light in her forsaken existence. Taeyeon stared in her direction upon entering the apartment and Tiffany hovered closer to examine the beautiful brunette.

"Can... you see me?" Tiffany asked and Taeyeon turned away.

"Ah, nice apartment."

Taeyeon walked away and Tiffany loitered around her. It was surreal, a blessing and blissful to have another person in this apartment. Tiffany realized that it doesn't matter if Taeyeon could see her or not. The loneliness was easier to bear- Tiffany leaned on Taeyeon's shoulder and pretended to brush a strand of stray hair away from her face. Taeyeon was a soothing presence. The night, Tiffany waited for Taeyeon to fall sleep and gratefully gave her a peck on the forehead, spilling her feeling of gratitude towards the brunette. 

A loud thud startled her and Tiffany's eyes fluttered open to see Taeyeon staring at her with an astonished expression.

"Wait, you can see me?" 

Tiffany was graced with Taeyeon. Like a ray of hope that illuminated Tiffany's relinquished soul, Taeyeon unknowingly became Tiffany's everything.