It’s the night of Halloween and Do Kyungsoo is stuck inside an elevator with only one other person. And as his luck, or lack thereof, would have it, he’s stuck with his biggest fear: a clown. Ever since that prank his cousin pulled on him back when he was still in first grade, just the thought of a clown sends fear running down his spine. So now that he’s alone with someone who’s probably a killer clown or worse, he can’t help but sweat profusely. Kyungsoo thinks it’s unfair considering that the reason why he was here in the first place is to do a good deed to said cousin who’s currently alone and sick in his apartment.

 

He’s so close to fainting, he can sense it. It’s not helping that Mr. Clown next to him, who got inside the elevator a floor after him is going out at the same floor as him, which is still at the 14th story.

 

He’s seriously contemplating to actually go out of the elevator and just take the stairs, even if he needs to go on ten more flights of them in his beat-up sneakers, when the lights turned off completely and the elevator lurched into a full stop.

 

“What the—” he overhears Mr. Clown cursed. He hears some fidgeting and, after about a minute, a tiny light can be seen. “Aish. No service.”

 

Kyungsoo remembers his own phone inside his sling bag. He fumbles for his phone and is disappointed to see that he shares the same dilemma as Mr. Clown.

 

“I guess we’re really stuck,” Mr. Clown points out to no one in particular. Or so Kyungsoo thinks. Because after a few seconds, he adds, “How long do you think we’ll be trapped in here?”

 

Kyungsoo coughs, surprised at Mr. Clown’s attempt at conversation. Kyungsoo composes himself, masking the uneasiness he’s feeling. “Um… I don’t know, honestly. Hopefully not that long.” Especially since you’re creeping me out.

 

Thud.

 

Kyungsoo’s heart starts beating wildly. Why did Mr. Clown put down his duffel bag? What does he have in his bag? Does he have weapons of mass destruction there? Kyungsoo’s brain is going on overdrive. Is he going to kill him now?

 

“Wanna play a game?” Mr. Clown suddenly asks.

 

HOLY—Jigsaw, is that you?! Kyungsoo is now hyperventilating, remembering the time he accidentally flipped the channel to HBO just in time for that part in the “Saw” movie.

 

Mom, Dad, if I die tonight, know that I’m sorry and I love you, he professes in his head, wishing that he can actually say it to his parents.

 

He’s feeling dizzier now as he hears Mr. Clown inching towards him. Then, he feels nothing as his breath leaves him.

 

*****

 

Blinding white light… Soft music playing in the background… Wonderful aroma hanging thick in the air…

 

Am I in heaven? Kyungsoo asks himself as he regains consciousness to those aforementioned things. He sits up on the soft bed, still feeling disoriented.

 

“I’m glad you think so, but no,” someone replies, causing him to bolt upright and search for the voice talking to him. “You’re in hell.”

 

HOLY CRAP. I’m really dead, then. Mr. Clown killed me—

 

“Who’s Mr. Clown?” the voice asks, obviously amused.

 

The person I was last with before I died. He starts sniffing, his life flashing back before his eyes. He remembers all the time he had acted out against his parents and more tears begin forming in his eyes, cascading down his cheeks.

 

“Sorry, I was just messing with you. You’re not in hell. Nor in heaven.”

 

Is this the state of limbo, then?

 

“Okay. I thought this is going to be funny, what with your mumbling and all, but it’s already getting depressing how you’re so—how do I say it?—obsessed with your own death. Which, by the way, is not yet happening.”

 

Kyungsoo stops crying, confused. He starts looking around for whoever—or whatever, he supposes—is talking to him. And his heart almost leaps from his chest when he sees a reflection of someone in the mirror across him. Any other time, Kyungsoo would have had panicked and screamed for help because he is in a strange place with a stranger. But, for some reason, something about the person exudes softness.

 

“Hi,” the reflection of a man gre