A few seconds before the clock face read 8:00 am, a tiny fist flew out from under the thin green sheets at 7:59 to turn off the preset alarm. 

Now, normally the 11-year-old (who the tiny fist belonged to) would have shut it off and simply rolled over to find a comfortable position again because who in their right mind wakes up so early during the first day of summer vacation, anyway? However! That summer was going to be different , so Jeongyeon surprised herself by smiling as she sat up in her bed.

Leaping out, she ran into her closet, changed from pajamas to clothes perfect for the hot weather, and slipped into the bathroom before Seungyeon could. 

After finishing with the grooming stage of this busy morning, she rushed downstairs and into the kitchen, thinking about that stubborn cowlick that wouldn’t stay down (no matter how much water she put on it!) when she noticed that her father was up and making the side dishes for their breakfast. He turned to set down a plate and feigned shock to see his youngest daughter already up and dressed.

“Hey there! I just heard your alarm but assumed you forgot to turn it off. How’d you get down here so quick?” He frowned when he saw that his fake shock went unnoticed and that Jeongyeon was scarfing down her food with nearly no breaths in between. “Hey! Don’t eat like that! You’ll get a stomachache!”

Jeongyeon slowed down– a little bit– and turned when she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Her two older sisters entered the kitchen with their mother right behind them. Uninterested, Jeongyeon turned back to her plate and continued unceremoniously shoving food into , already thinking about what she would need to bring today. 

Hmm… she thought. A backpack, water bottles, a few snacks, maybe–

“Mom! She’s not even– she’s not even eating her food! Tell her to chew it!” When no one listened to Seungyeon, the eldest of the sisters, she slammed her hand into her palm. “You guys always yell at me when I do that. That’s not fair!” 

“Looks like you’re in a hurry,” their mother observed as Jeongyeon brought the bowl to her lips. Seungyeon made an exasperated sound, making Seoyeon, the middle child, chortle. “It’s the first day of summer, Jeongyeon. I thought you’d sleep in today?”

Jeongyeon chewed thoughtfully. She’d have to be careful with her answer, or else her parents would be on her case again. She didn’t want them to know what she had planned today, so she chose her words carefully as she wiped her lips. She spoke slowly to buy even more time. “Hmm. I’m going to Jihyo’s house. She invited me over. Told me she has a new neighbor that...that she wants me to meet.” Yeah, that sounded good, she thought. It wasn’t entirely a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth, either.

“I know Jihyo always gets up early in the morning,” her father teased, “but I’m surprised she convinced you to do so as well!” 

Jeongyeon’s sisters laughed (Seungyeon’s laughter being the snarkiest), and their mother bit back a smile. When she spoke, there was a quirk in her voice. “That’s enough. Jeongyeon is making new friends, and that’s something to celebrate! I trust little Jihyo to bring great people into her life!”

Seungyeon muttered something into her drink and their father gave her a stern look. “Jeongyeon,” he said, still looking at Seungyeon, “you still need to slow down a bit–“

Jeongyeon burst out of her chair, interrupting her father. She rushed upstairs, and for a while, the only thing that the family could hear was a dresser opening and the occasional sound of thumping on the rug. Suddenly Jeongyeon came back downstairs with a blue backpack stuffed with god-knows-what and ran into the kitchen to stuff it some more with two large water bottles. Just as quickly, she rushed to the cabinet full of snacks, filled it with a few treats, then was out the front door and already cycling away.

It was silent as they all watched her from the window.

Seoyeon broke it by saying “She’s definitely going to see Sana again.” Seungyeon, ever against Jeongyeon no matter what the situation, started suggesting they take bets, but their mother raised a stern finger. She suggested that maybe she really was going to Jihyo’s house. When asked what made her think that, she pointed to the left of their house.

“She went that way, where Jihyo’s house is located. Sana is this way,” she said, pointing to the right. But it was useless. They were all thinking it: Jeongyeon definitely had something up her sleeve. Meaning she would not let poor Sana rest, as usual. 

Jeongyeon cycled as fast as her rusty green bike could handle, her backpack thumping against her backside whenever she stood on the pedals. She passed neighborhood after neighborhood, waiting to find the street where Jihyo lived. It seemed to be taking forever to spot it, but Jeongyeon was sure it was just the heat getting to her. It was hot, really hot for 8 in the morning, and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Jeongyeon swore she saw that mirage-like puddle appear on the road ahead of her more than once, and it worried her. If it was this hot so early in the morning, how would it be later, at noon? She would still be out at that time.

When the 11-year-old finally spotted Jihyo’s house, she slowed to a cool cruise, the slight wind from it lifting the short hairs stuck on her neck from the sweat. Jeongyeon arrived only to be instantly teased by a smiling Jihyo. 

“I'm surprised, Yoo Jeongyeon!” The other girl had been playing with silvery pompoms before her arrival, but dropped them now to rest her hands on her waist. “Thought you’d sleep through your alarm, as usual!”

Jeongyeon rolled her eyes, something she’d learned from Seoyeon. “Gee, thanks. Glad to know everyone wants to bully me today. You know how important this is to me. I wasn’t going to miss it,” Jeongyeon defended herself, but it landed on deaf ears, as the younger of the two was already walking away. Jeongyeon looked around Jihyo’s yard and saw no one else there. “Hey. Wait. Where is she? You said she could help me!”

Jihyo ignored her again, opting to knock on her neighbor’s door. In a blur, the door opened and a figure dashed out, jumping down the stairs and running straight for Jihyo’s driveway. Jeongyeon had trouble catching up with the blur until it screeched to a halt right before it could crash into Jeongyeon. After composing herself, Jeongyeon studied the blur, which turned out to be a tiny new girl, and felt all her hopes fly out the metaphorical window. 

This was the one that Jihyo claimed would be helpful? Was she serious? Jeongyeon almost laughed at how the girl’s brown bowl cut made her look 5 years old and the way the crooked round glasses rested on her nose. Briefly, Jeongyeon wondered if this kid had developed her fine motor skills yet. 

Jeongyeon spotted a beat up, pale purple backpack in the girl’s arms, along with a notebook with a pen clipped to it, and deduced that this was indeed the one Jihyo had told her about. She looked at the girl in question from the corner of her eye and tried to tell her– telepathically– that this was pathetic. There was no way this kid could help her! Outwardly, to spare the child in front of her, she acted like this was okay. Jeongyeon forced a smile and waved at the new girl, deciding to try her out. “Hi! You’re Chaeyoung, right?”

The girl nodded quickly, almost knocking her own glasses off. Jihyo stepped between them and assured Jeongyeon that Chaeyoung was really smart and would be of much help to her, probably doing all this because she noted the doubt in Jeongyeon’s features. 

“Yoo Jeongyeon, trust me! I’m helping you on this dumb quest of yours by offering you my neighbor, and you repay me with distrust? I’m offended!”

Jeongyeon pointed at the child. “She looks like a rejected Oompa Loompa!”

“Uh, I can hear you guys, you know?”

Both Jihyo and Jeongyeon nervously looked over at Chaeyoung, and Jihyo spoke once more. “Listen. She can handle herself. Try her out for a day. If I’m wrong, I’ll let you borrow my Nintendo.”

At that, Jeongyeon decided to take her word for it, both because it was hot as hell and also because she knew their bus was scheduled to arrive soon (the promise of Jihyo’s Nintendo64 may have had something to do with it too). Without any more hesitation, Jeongyeon waved the youngest girl over to her bike and instructed her to hop on the front bars. The younger girl did not look keen on that. Jeongyeon scowled.

Okay, so her bike was rusty and always looked ready to fall apart right under her! So what? Jeongyeon grabbed the bars on her bike and showed the girl that they wouldn’t break. After a bit of coaxing, Chaeyoung sat on the bars and held on for dear life as Jeongyeon leaned over the girl’s figure to keep from crashing into anything. It was a rough ride as they cycled to the bus station, but, hey, at least Jeongyeon was grateful now that the girl was so small, because it absolutely would have been much too hard for her to cycle with anyone bigger. That made her feel a lot better about the kid. Maybe this was a sign?

They arrived at the station sweaty and sun beaten. Chaeyoung silently offered Jeongyeon a water bottle, noticing how roughly Jeongyeon was panting. Since she already had her own water in her backpack, Jeongyeon turned Chaeyoung’s offer down, telling her to save it for later, because it was about to get hotter. After fishing for the bus fare in the far corners of Jeongyeon’s backpack and finding just enough for the both of them, the two girls ran straight for the front of the bus, where Chaeyoung said the air conditioner hit better. She was right, and during the entirety of the bus ride, they sat comfortably as the air caressed their faces. 

Now that they were out of the sun’s wrath, Jeongyeon took the time to get to know her new partner, since this might turn into a summer-long thing. She turned out… to not be so bad after all! Her full name was Son Chaeyoung and she was only a few years younger than Jeongyeon. She was 9, in fact! Jeongyeon couldn’t believe it. What a difference the bowlcut made! 

Jeongyeon also found out that Chaeyoung was just as determined to help Sana as she was, hearing from Jihyo that Jeongyeon was in need of help. The older girl really liked to hear that. Determination was more than just a word she had learned last year. It was also a word that described the kind of person Jeongyeon needed by her side. She smiled to herself, satisfied with the girl next to her. She was glad she hadn’t told Jihyo to go back to babysitting Chaeyoung. She really seemed to know what she was doing here. 

When they arrived at their destination, Jeongyeon was still smiling, but it disappeared when she started sweating again. They stood on the sidewalk in front of the hospital, so close to where they were supposed to be.

“Hey, how are your bottles?” Jeongyeon asked Chaeyoung, and the tiny girl showed her two empty bottles. A bit of frustration tried to surface, but the older girl shoved the feelings down. Instead, she raised her eyes to the sky and reminded herself that it was a hot day. Chaeyoung forgetting to conserve her water was not her fault, it was the weather’s. It was scorching, she reminded herself, so hot in fact that she was sure that her dad could place raw cookie dough on the sidewalk and they’d bake nicely and evenly in a matter of seconds. Of course Chaeyoung couldn’t keep her thirst at bay. And anyway, how could she blame her when she gave Jeongyeon such a sorry look? With not another word, Jeongyeon took Chaeyoung by her small wrist and led her inside the hospital.

They were greeted by a handsome uniformed man. “Hey girls,” he waved, smiling when he recognized Jeongyeon. She waved back shyly, remembering him from the last time she visited Sana at the hospital. His name was Taecyeon and he always greeted her with a warm smile and pearly white teeth. That didn’t change this time either. When the two girls approached the desk, Taecyeon’s eyes disappeared behind his cheeks and Jeongyeon could see his gums.

“Who’s your friend?” he asked, nodding at the younger of the two. Jeongyeon introduced her, and Taecyeon asked if they came to this side of town to see Sana. There wasn’t a hint of judgement in his voice, so Jeongyeon felt brave enough to admit that, yes, they were here to see her best friend.

“Well, don’t let me stop ya! Good luck, ladies! And be very careful, okay?” He waved at them and strolled on to do his job, which Jeongyeon guessed was to take care of the sick people. She wasn’t sure why hospitals needed security guards in the first place.

With Chaeyoung by her side, Jeongyeon continued into the hospital. Near the entrance there was a water fountain, and there they could fill up their water bottles. (Jeongyeon was glad she didn’t yell at Chaeyoung for drinking most of her water. Hers were just as pitiful!)

When their bottles were full of cold water, they continued on their trek to see Sana.

They walked right out of the hospital, out of the foyer, out of the gardens that surrounded it, onto the sidewalk, and walked down the block.

There, protected by a large cement gate with an ornate sign, was the town’s cemetery, where Sana rested.

As they entered, Jeongyeon felt Chaeyoung walk closer to her, their arms brushing most of the walk to Sana’s grave. She felt bad, knowing that as brave as one could be, it would still be scary to such a young kid like Chaeyoung. She had made sure that Jihyo told her what she’d be getting into if she joined Jeongyeon, but of course it was one thing to agree to a trip to the cemetery and another to actually be in it. Jeongyeon was just glad that she had decided to do this in the morning, when the sun was up and illuminating their surroundings. If not, the late afternoon sun would have casted long, dark tendrils onto the graves and upped the scary factor by ten.

Jeongyeon wasn’t scared anymore, since she’d visited this place many times now, but before, she used to get shivers the moment she stepped foot in the graveyard.

The girls passed the cemetery office, where old Soogeun sat, as always, doing his daily crossword puzzles. He didn’t even blink when he saw the girls, and Jeongyeon explained to Chaeyoung that she was practically a regular now. He smiled at both of them and asked Jeongyeon if she knew the answer to one of the questions he was having problems with. “What’s 11 down, and the clue is ‘powerless without it’?”

Jeongyeon scratched her head, really not wanting to do this right now. She told Soogeun that she didn’t know, sorry, and pulled Chaeyoung along quickly. Chaeyoung asked why she was in such a hurry, and Jeongyeon told her that she just wanted to get to Sana already.

After a few more minutes of walking, they finally reached their true destination. It was the only clean one around, the rest of the gravestones caked with mud and other things.

“Is this the one?” Chaeyoung asked, immediately feeling silly about asking that. The headstone clearly said it.

MINATOZAKI SANA

Jeongyeon didn’t mind and nodded kindly, then set her backpack down next to the stone. Chaeyoung did the same, and soon, both had their respective set ups done. It was clear the small girl was nervous, as her breathing was heavy before asking “Is– is she here yet?”

No, Jeongyeon told her, not yet. Sometimes Sana was already there, waiting patiently, but other times, like this time, she has had to wait a while. They didn’t wait too long, though, and in the blink of an eye, Jeongyeon saw Sana appear, and oh, the smile on her face made Jeongyeon’s heart leap.

“Quick! Chaeyoung! Can you see her?” The little girl’s pulse was visible on her neck, and Jeongyeon knew she was scared out of her mind but standing her ground, just out of pure curiosity.

“N-no. She’s here?”

Sana giggled and stepped closer to Chaeyoung. She rested her hands on her knees and came face to face with her new visitor, and when Jeongyeon warned her that she was too close to the youngest girl, Sana laughed harder and Chaeyoung’s heart dropped.

“She’s sooo cute, Jeongie! When you said Jihyo’s neighbor wanted to come see me, I never thought it would be a baby!” Sana tried to squeeze Chaeyoung’s cheeks, causing her to shiver. Jeongyeon felt her pulse race as she asked if she had felt Sana touch her. Chaeyoung’s eyes grew to the size of saucers when she asked, fearfully, “She touched me?!” 

Sana frowned and backed away, realizing that it really was a bad idea to touch the little girl without her knowing. She backed away as Jeongyeon told her that her ghost friend had touched her, but only because she was excited to see Chaeyoung for the first time.

“You… is she talking to you?” Chaeyoung asked, but before Jeongyeon could answer, all fear disappeared from the younger girl’s face when she remembered she was supposed to be recording everything! Chaeyoung picked up her ancient voice recorder (that she claimed was her father’s as a kid himself) and pressed the record button, then asked if she could ask some questions about Sana’s condition. 

Jeongyeon wasn’t sure how Chaeyoung knew all of this, like what to use to record and what questions to ask, but she shrugged it off for the time being. Jihyo said she knew how to handle herself and it was showing. She asked Sana if she was okay with getting questioned. 

“So, let’s start with an easy one,” Chaeyoung said, reading off a piece of paper. “Jihyo told me that Jeongyeon has said that you can’t move too far from your grave. Is this true?”

Sana nodded, and Jeongyeon relayed the message. “Cool,” Chaeyoung said, her already big eyes widening much more. “Uhm, okay, can you try and show me? Jeongyeon, point out when Sana can’t go any farther.” Sana walked as far as she could before she stopped in her tracks, seemingly unable to go anymore. When Chaeyoung heard this, she scribbled something on the sheet of paper. The next question was for Jeongyeon, asking how Sana looked. Jeongyeon described Sana as normal looking, but if one were to step closer to the ghost, they’d see that she was just barely see through. Only if they focused, though.

Chaeyoung couldn’t seem to write fast enough. 

Next was another question for Sana. How did she feel? Did she feel the same as when she was alive? Before answering, Sana wriggled her little fingers, staring at them as she thought about it. Jeongyeon had wondered this too. Did she feel lighter? Or did she feel nothing at all? Sana answered after a bit more pondering. She felt different. Like she had a puppy sitting on her chest, but it wasn’t too bad. Just...different. 

Chaeyoung nodded once Jeongyeon told her Sana’s response and wrote some more. The older girl peeked at Chaeyoung’s notes and frowned. Chicken scratch! How she’d be able to read that was almost as mysterious as Sana living as a ghost! Jeongyeon’s father said all doctors write like that, so Jeongyeon was sure Chaeyoung would grow up to be a doctor.

They went through two more questions, and when Jeongyeon saw Chaeyoung put away her notebook, she assumed they finished. But Chaeyoung stepped closer to Sana’s grave and asked if she could ask one more question that wasn’t on the list. Sana, who was absolutely enamored with the tiny girl, agreed. 

“Where do you go?” There was a slight shiver to her voice, Jeongyeon noticed.

Sana blinked and asked Jeongyeon to ask Chaeyoung what she meant. 

“Sana wants to know what you mean.”

Chaeyoung tapped her pencil against her lips. “Jeongyeon said that sometimes you aren’t here when she comes visit you.” Chaeyoung was looking at a place where Sana wasn’t, so Jeongyeon adjusted the smaller girl until she faced Sana. “Where are you if– if you’re not here?” 

Jeongyeon watched Sana give no reaction whatsoever. She almost repeated the question, just in case the other hadn’t heard, when, for the first time since she discovered her friend was a ghost, Sana’s entire form flickered. 

Jeongyeon’s heartbeat quickened when Sana stopped flickering, but stopped completely when she did something worse.

Sana disappeared.