fic plot: when you die, everytime someone thinks of you, you get a signal telling you that you have been just remembered. Everyone around you gets a couple of signals every day. You passed away a year now. Still nothing.

/////

White small patches continue to fall from the sky. Covering every inch of anything her vision could reach, the greens of the meadow goes nonexistent.

To some, it may look like it's snowing- a reminder to all the walking weary souls of what home used to look like, what it used to feel like. She's on the boundary of what once was - in the confines of the living and the dead. Everything around her serves as a rip-off from the world she has involuntarily left.

Jeongyeon opens up her palms and patiently watches as it forms a tiny mound on her hands but still, she doesn't feel anything. The thing wasn't cold nor actually white rather, it looked like she was holding bits of grayish swirls, disappearing like a cloud of smoke when she - ever so slowly - closes her fist.

"It's not going to work." A gruff voice bellows near her, making her look around.

"Those aren't snowflakes." A man probably in his late 50's sat slacked under a willow tree. Pointing his cane to the sky, "Those things are a mockery of our death," he grunts. The side of his mouth twitches, a smoking pipe settles between his teeth. "Bastard keeps reminding us what we're missing."

She sees a soft beam of purple flash on his wrist. Another one lightens up after a few seconds. Jeongyeon looks down on her own - nothing.

"Hey kid!"

She looks up at the old man.

"Quit mopping around and help me up."

It's strange- this old man. She's been here for quite some time now but nobody has ever taken the task to willingly talk to her. They usually ignore each other, minding their own business as days pass. The people around her nothing but moving mannequins.

Jeongyeon cautiously approaches the old man, carefully reaching out her hand to take. Standing inches away, she notices a scar marked under his neck, going around his nape to his back. Calloused hands hold hers tightly, the scent of cigar invading her lungs.

Being able to support himself alone, the old man lightly pushes her to the side, patting her right shoulder. Gripping the top of his cane, he started walking towards an open field. Jeongyeon looks down and notices half of his leg is missing.

"Got blasted by a landmine," he says but never turns his back, only continues walking away. "Now tell me kid, how long have you been here?"

Not knowing what else to do, Jeongyeon's own feet decide to move on their own, following wherever the old man's headed. A few beats of tranquility hangs in the air. They stop infront of an empty clearing. The trees line themselves up in an arranged manner around a horizon that seemed endless, its branches also covered up with white patches.

Jeongyeon likes to think that they're trapped in a fathomless maze, only getting out if you're lucky or smart enough to figure out what kind of spellbound place this is. Rumor has it that odd creatures walk amongst them. Owning powers as magical and as powerful similar to gods. Some say these creatures could grant wishes while others could cause your eternal demise.

She's been here long enough to witness how people lived. There were people who walked to places far, far away. The ones coming back had a sullen look of hopelessness in their eyes. Then there were those who hunted eagerly for the strange creatures but ended up with nothing but despair of being trapped forever in this little world. Some even stopped looking for a way out, deciding to make this place a home of their own- man-made houses could be seen every few meters away, scattered all around. And just like the latter, Jeongyeon already conceded to the fact that she's dead and there's nowhere to go but here. But deep inside, at the back of her mind, she knows she doesn't belong here - doesn't want to stay here.

The old man plops himself to the ground, letting out an exhausted grunt. He lights his pipe again. The specks of dust coming to a slow halt from falling.

"Three hundred and seventy-eight days," she finally replies, sitting herself down to an empty space, a meter or two away from the old man.

"Three hundred and seventy-eight days and yet," puffing out a cloud of smoke, he looks at his band and then to hers. "Nobody misses you."

Jeongyeon grips at her wrist, ignoring the old man's words.

"What brought you here kid? An accident? Petty crime? Romeo and Juliet tragedy?"

Jeongyeon exhales, "No."

"No?"

"I was killed."

The old man guffaws at her answer, "Didn't we all."

He looks up at her, eyes filled with curiousity and mirth. "Say," he takes another drag, "Do you want to cheat death?"

She waits after a few beats, watches as the cloud of smoke disappears, "That's..." she stutters, unable to form coherent words.

The man's face turns grim, "Impossible?" he lowly says, waiting for some kind of reaction from the girl.

Jeongyeon slowly nods, "No man can cheat death."

The old man flashes that mirthful smile again, "Good thing you're not a man then." He laughs, loud and boisterous making Jeongyeon feel so out of her skin. She's scared but she doesn't move. She'll do anything to leave.

As he raises his hand, a soft flash of light distracts both of them. Her brow creases in the middle, an irked feeling rises to her chest. Jeongyeon would be lying if she said that it's not bothering her. A year already passed, yet, not even a single weak flicker lights up. She muses that it's probably because her family hates her when she made the conscious decision to leave them without much of a farewell note. It's all about those little things that matters.

"I- I died because someone shot a bullet straight through my head. Probably nobody even knows I'm already dead. But if I get a second chance to live then I...."

"Fourty days," He abruptly stands with ease, patting off the dust that settled on his button down shirt. "If you don't want to be kept here for eternity, be ready in fourty days." He warns.

A gush of wind blows out all the fallen patches of white at the open clearing. She closes her eyes, shielding them from the dust. In a blink of an eye, the sky suddenly turns bright. Everything in plain sight goes back to being green. As the strong wind subdues, Jeongyeon is left alone standing in the middle of an open field. The old man nowhere to be found.

/////

She died serving as a fighter pilot in a country torn by greed, power and hate. She died when their troop got ambushed on a cold winter night. Jeongyeon dies at a young age of 20.

She vaguely remembers the cry of her comerades when a rogue missile hits their base camp. Pools of blood paint their mother land red.

Flashbacks of ear-defeaning sound of machine guns rattle her brain. The explosion of bombs and canons going off at every corner of their base nips at her nerves. Everything was in chaos and she felt helpless- her body shutting down in a state of shock.

A fellow captain grips her hard, shaking her by the shoulder, "Get yourself together soldier!" he shouts.

"WE ARE UNDER ATTACK. SEND BACK-UP. I REPEAT. SEND. BACK-UP."

Jeongyeon hears the loud echo of the siren. A gun going off and a searing pain plunges through her chest. The chaos slowly unravels infront of her eyes. Her comrade lays lifeless next to her.

Uniformed men with large artellaries surround them. Taking out every adversaries in sight. A lone enemy stood right infront of her already lifeless body.

Aiming their handgun between her eyes. The soldier lowers their mask. Jeongyeon can see their mouth moving but all she hears is the rapid thumping of her heart. Her blurry vision failing to catch a glimpse of her triggerman. She hears one last gunshot before everything goes black.

She wakes up here. Wherever here is. She knew she was dead. The missing heartbeat inside her chest is enough confirmation but there's this nagging feeling that tells her she's not supposed to be here. It's not over yet. At least not for her.

From the beginning, the first few weeks proved to be difficult for her. Every walking soul she tried to interact with ignores her. Either they give her a displeased look or they physically push her away, prompting all her questions unanswered. Especially about the object on their wrist - a dark-colored band, lighting on and off.

It took here two weeks of walking aimlessly around in circles before she meets someone. Someone who isn't unwelcoming of social interaction. Someone who's kind enough to take her in, eventhough they just met that day. Kind enough to let her stay at their home, and indulge her curious mind. Jeongyeon finally felt like the gods stopped playing tricks on her.

"Hey," a soft voice calls out for her. "What are you doing here alone?"

Jeongyeon turns to look at the person. She's greeted with the same soft smile she's used seeing everyday. The girl looked like an angel with her cream-colored sundress. Her right hand holding a few daisies while her other hand holds a basket of fruits.

"Mina," Jeongyeon's mood brightens up almost immediately. Returning the smile, "I was just taking a walk." Was all she says and nothing else.

The girl looks at her a second too long and something in Jeongyeon's stomach unsettles her, shoulders going stiff suddenly. Jeongyeon usually doesn't go out for walks, they both know that but Mina indulges her, the warm smile graces her lips again, "Well, we better get back then." Mina says, holding out her hand to hers.

Moving her head to look up at Mina, Jeongyeon glances at her basket and asks, "How about you, where have you been?"

The girl appraises her with a curious stare, tilting her head to the side before finally settling on a reply, "Stay with me."

Jeongyeon simply nods, having been used to Mina's odd bouts of disposition.