She was at loss. Everyone has left and yet her body refused to move. She just stood still brain going haywire, she didn’t even blinked, she just stared and stared until she could hear the smoke alarm in her brain wailing. This was harder than math problems. No, this was way harder than everything she had encounter. She can’t fully understand what’s going on, she can’t remember a single thing, her smart brain couldn’t come up with a perfect answer.

There, laid in front of her, a stone, a square stone – a tombstone. A name was delicately carved on that stone.

(A loyal friend - )

A name she knew all too well. A name that so familiar – 

“This must be a joke.

( - Son Seungwan 1994 – 2021)

 – that’s her name.  

“I’m dead?” 

Seungwan leaned against the stone, head lifted upward towards the dark sky. The blackness of the night was comforting, the time of the day helping the stars and the moon to shine brighter. Seungwan loved the comfort it gave her, the calmness of the black velvet wrapped around her feeling the soft breeze brushing her skin – the softness that gave a sort of reward at the end of each of her day. 

She can’t feel any of those things. She heard the wind greets the tree but it never greets her, the beautiful patterns dancing above her used to be her favorite lights and now, as if they were mocking her. 

Seungwan takes a deep breath and this might sound crazy even for her, she can’t feel her own lungs expanding, she can’t feel her blood running through her veins, she can’t feel her heart pumping,  she can’t feel anything, as though she’s – dead. 

Seungwan closed her eyes, so many unexplainable things, so many questions flooding through her brain. At least she’s still feel her brain up there, although at the moment it didn’t cooperate well with her. 

What exactly happened? How the hell it happened? How did she died? She can’t remember a thing, a blurry picture. All she could remember was coming back from work, she made a short stop at the convenience store and when she finally came home, she was greeted with a bunch of sad people and a picture of her behind a white coffin. 

A mean prank, that’s what went through her mind at the time because there’s no way she could have died. She was young, she was healthy, she didn’t remember any vehicles ran over her or something heavy fell on top of her. She just want to get some sleep and it never occurred to her she’ll be watching herself sleep – looking at her own body laid inside that white coffin. 

Seungwan yells, frantically asking everyone in the room and no one, not even single person sees or heard her, nobody respond. Then, she ended up here. 

Seungwan sigh. “This must be a dream.” 

“You can dream?” 

Seungwan eyes shot opened and immediately four pair of eyes – four pair of glowing eyes came into her view. 

“AHHHH!!!” 

Fingers digs at the grassy ground, Seungwan scutter on all fours to one of the big stone. Her back hit hard on the solid rock, she manage to get away from those scary – she doesn’t know what it was, ghost, demon – she doesn’t even want to know. Her body was shaking all over and if her heart were still working, for sure it would pop out of her ribcage. 

“Haishhh... you scared her.” 

A woman voice.

“Who knew she was a scaredy-cat.” 

Two women. 

Seungwan swallowed, braving herself as she slowly move her head and peek behind the big stone. 

Standing next to her burial ground, she saw two women, a brunette who was shorter than the raven hair girl hissing – squabbling over something, hands clasp together. The two women did not look like a demon or a ghost. They look like a decent human being. 

Despite their normal human appearance, Seungwan still find the two women were odd. Her eyes scans the two women from top to bottom.

“Why are they wearing – “ 

“Boo!” 

A faint sound enter her eardrum and Seungwan screech, pushing her feet, stumbling backward to the damp grass. Maybe a heart attack was the reason she’s dead because for sure she’s feeling it for the second time today. 

Eyes widening in horror, she see a little girl stand up from her crouching position, giggling, a mischievous glint present in her innocent eyes. Why is there a little girl wandering around in the graveyard and at this late of night. 

Seungwan spotted a small dirt on the girl white pajama gown and grass sticking out between her toes. The little girl seems normal to say the least. Did she live nearby? Is she lost? 

“Yerim ah, you found her.” The raven hair from before jogged towards them, pulling the brunette along. 

The little girl, Yerim, smile widely and skip over towards the two women. 

“Yerim found her hiding behind Mrs. Wang gravestone. Yerim did a good job, right?” 

“Yes, Yerim did a very good job.” The brunette beamed ruffling the girl hair. 

In that short duration of time, Seungwan remain still at her spot, eyes flicking back and forward between the three. Now that she look closer, she can confirm they’re indeed humans and not some sort of demon. Still, she can’t shake off the weird vibe surrounding this three girls. 

“Hey, you okay?” The brunette asks, both of her hands holding the two girls hands. 

Eyeballs switching left to right, Seungwan blinked clearing . “Y-yeah.” 

“My sincere apologies, we didn’t mean to scare you.”  

 With the help of the raven hair girl, Seungwan stood up, legs still wobbly from the previous incident. 

“I’m okay, it’s fine. Just a little surprised I guess.” Seungwan laughed awkwardly. 

“I won’t say a little, you could’ve wake up the whole neighborhood with that vocal power.” The raven hair teased. 

Seungwan blushed. She did freaked out big time. 

“Sooyoung.” The brunette scold giving her a stern look. The raven hair girl, Sooyoung, replied with a giggled. The brunette shakes her head turning back her attention to Seungwan. 

“Don’t mind her. I’m Seulgi by the way, Kang Seulgi.” She introduce herself, letting go Yerim hand and hold it out for Seungwan to take. 

Seungwan made a brief glance at the polite hand in front of her and the secure hands between the two women. They’ve been holding hands since earlier, Seulgi and Sooyoung. Seungwan wonder what kind of relationship these two shares as she took Seulgi open palm for a hand shake. 

“Seungwan, Son Seungwan.” 

“We know. Your name is on your gravestone.” Sooyoung remarks with a smirk. “Hi, my name is Park Sooyoung.” 

“And I’m Yerim.” The little girl whoop raising her hand. “Kim Yerimmie. Sorry for scaring you earlier unnie. Yerim just excited to meet you, Yerim meant no harm.” 

Seungwan laughed at the enthusiastic girl along with the other two girls. 

“Hi, Yerimmie. It’s very nice to meet you.” Seungwan beamed sweetly at the girl, stretching out her hand, which the little girl shakes happily. 

***

“Wait – what? You three...” Seungwan stammered, shaky finger pointing at the three confused girls. “You, you, you – three are...” 

“Dead? Not alive? Yes.” Sooyoung help finish her sentence.

“Ghost?!” Seungwan exclaimed.

Seulgi and Sooyoung stared with equally raised brows at the frantic girl walking left to right, mumbling something under her breath while Yerim smile, doesn’t have a single clue to such behavior. 

“Can you stop moving, and for your information we are not ghosts. We are spirits.” Sooyoung corrected. 

“It’s a same thing. Ghost, spirit... this is not normal. I’m talking to a ghost – three ghosts.” Seungwan flip out, grabbing her hair. She was freaking out, this shocking information blow her mind, there’s no way this was okay, this was not normal. 

“Calm down.” Seulgi says. 

“How? This isn’t normal, not normal at all. I shouldn’t be talking to a ghost or even sees one. How could this possibly be normal?” 

“But, unnie...” Yerim spoke. “You’re a ghost too.” 

“What?!” 

“Are you suffering from a short term memory lost? You do remember you’re dead, right?”   
 
 

That manage to stop the blaring alarm in her head. 

No one can see her except for these three. She couldn’t talk to anyone except for these three. The reason no one can see or hear her was because...

Now, it make sense.

“Right, I’m dead.” She breathe out. “I forgot.”

“Are you okay?” Seulgi asks. 

“Yeah, yeah. Just a quick reality check. Sorry.” 

“You don’t remember, do you?” Sooyoung asks. That playful glint has been replace with compassion. “How you die, you don’t remember.” 

Seungwan exhales shaking her head. “I can’t remember anything except for I was on my back from my workplace to my apartment. And the next thing I knew, I was dead.” She sighs. 

“Do any of you remember how you died?” 

“Yup, and it wasn’t a pleasant one to remember actually.” Sooyoung frown. 

Seulgi oddly scoffed at that. “Same goes here.” 

“Oh, don’t give me that look. It wasn’t my fault.” Sooyoung says in defensive tone. 

“It was. It was your fault and look what it got me.” Seulgi waggle their connected hands. “Now, I’m stuck with you.” 

“You think I wanna stuck with you. I already stuck with you since childhood and now, I’m stuck with you even in the afterlife. Don’t think too highly of yourself.” 

 Before Seulgi could retorts, Seungwan spoke. “Did you two – you two were...” 

Seulgi huffed. “We both died at the same time.” 

“How...” 

“I’m a swimming instructor and this girl here ask me to teach her how to swim which turns out would be the last time I’ll be able to teach someone.” Seulgi glared at the tall girl, clearly still holding a grudge. 

“You could’ve just let me drown.” Sooyoung fired back. 

“I’m a swimming instructor. It’s my job to save you.” 

“Well, that didn’t went well wasn’t it?” 

“It would if you didn’t knock me out with your giant hands. And how did you even drown, the pool wasn’t even deep. It’s a kids pool.” 

“Hey! I slipped and I panicked, okay.” 

“And because of that, we are stuck. What a pathetic way to die. Kids pool!” 

As the two women argued about their tragic death, Seungwan cudgel her brain and finally, she got her answers. 

'Seulgi tried to save Sooyoung from drowning, so she grab Sooyoung’s hand...swimming lesson...' 

“Did our spirits took form on the day we died? “She muttered casting another look at the swimming suit the two girls wears “Ahh...that’s explain the swimming suit.”

Seungwan quickly look at her own outfit. White button-down blouse with black skinny jeans and white flat sneakers. The same outfit she wore on the day she came home from work and got the biggest shock of her life, well she wasn’t technically alive by that time. But, she definitely got her answer. She died in between the time she walks back from her workplace to her home.

But how? Why can’t she remember anything? 

Seungwan felt a slight tug on her shirt. She bring her gaze down and smile at the little girl, crouching down to her level. 

“Do you remember the day you were urmm...the last day before you came here Yerimmie?” 

Yerim nods and happily answer, “Yerim was sleeping on the bed when this big man came into Yerim’s room and put a pillow on Yerim’s face.” 

 Seungwan eyes widen. Someone murdered this poor little innocent girl. 

“O