Song Mingi was fourteen when it happened, and he never doubted what he saw.

There, in front of the Jeong mansion, Mingi kicked the pebbles on the ground while he waited for the door to open; for the maid to answer after he pressed the doorbell, stared into the security cameras to show anyone inside he was there - something.

But no one came.

He stared at his phone, the text he had sent Yunho was three hours ago. True, Yunho was a pretty bad texter - but he never left him hanging like this. His screen showed that it was already 7:30 p.m., way past the time promised for them to meet up for skateboarding at the resident park. He scrolled through the conversations they had.

Mingi: U free later at 5? Wanna go skating? 
Yunho: Cool, see u then. BTW, need 2 tell u something later too. 
Mingi: ? 
Yunho: Its bout Sofia.
Mingi: Ur stepmom???
Yunho: Tell u later.

And Mingi had not heard from him since, which was odd. He paced around anxiously, hoping perhaps his friend had merely forgot about their outing - Mingi doubted it, but he wanted to be hopeful. The minutes stretched, and his optimism was depleting. He tried calling again, but it instantly went into voicemail. Where the hell are you? He shook his head. 

Another call came in, and Mingi's smile of relief faded when he saw who it was. Begrudgingly he answered it, "Hi mom, yeah I'm still at Yunho's house- Well if he wasn't in he would tell me but-" he groaned and stepped away from the doorstep, he didn't want the cameras catching the argument between him and his mom. "Mom...I told you, I can go back on my own and I don't need a driver! I-I'll skate home," but his mom's nagging didn't make it easy for him counter, so he had to give in. "Fine, I'll be back in five. Promise." 

The call ended at that note, much to his relief. 

He stared back at the Jeong Mansion and scratched his head in confusion. Had something come up? Did something happen to his friend? There was that undeniable churn in his gut, a sign that seemed to be telling him that something was not right. Come to think of it, nothing had been quite right since the start. He looked around the compound of the house; usually there'd be the house dog's at the corner barking because that canine didn't like him very much, the resident complex they lived in didn't have fence barriers, and yet everything was awfully quite. 

Mingi knew better than to into people's business, but this was his best friend. Maybe it's nothing...

Just then, another call came in. Mingi widened his eyes and answered. "Dude, what the hell?! Don't leave me hanging like that-"

"Help me!" his friend whispered through the phone, and Yunho's urgency caught Mingi by surprise.

"Y-Yunho?"

"Listen," Yunho hissed through the phone, albeit heavy breathing. "They're coming for me, I can't hide any longer. Please Mingi, please come. I'm scared."

At the quiver of his voice, Mingi's heart raced. Yunho was never scared, never. "Um...where are you, Yunho? Who's coming for you? Tell me!"

"Please...I'm inside-" and the line was disrupted, as if he had dropped to the ground. 

"Yunho? YUNHO?!" Mingi called out his friend frantically, but nothing helped. Without a second thought, he ran to the nearest opened window of the house he could find which was located on the balcony of the first floor. He climbed up the car roof and swung himself across the barrier to the unlocked balcony window, pushing past the blinds. 

He found himself inside the Jeong mansion, like an intruder. He'd be in big trouble if caught, but that didn't matter now. His heart was racing, but to his dismay no one was in the house either. Where was Mr Jeong? Mrs Jeong? (Though Yunho regularly called her by her first name behind her back, Mingi felt like he wasn't in the position to drop those honorifics). 

Cautiously he treaded on his feet, and travelled to the ground floor, where he heard the slightest noise. The familiar cream-coloured walls greeted him downstairs, no form of anything life-threatening that happened before - it surely couldn't have been Mingi's imagination. All alone, he ventured into the next corridor wher the music room was located. 

The instruments were in the usual spot, the grand piano near the fireplace, the room dimly lit as no one was there. But as Mingi crept closer, he could see the fireplace didn't look normal. Firstly, a brick was out of place right in the middle of the wall where it should have been covered in soot. His hands shaking, Mingi pushed the stray brick deeper.

In response, the hearth collapsed and startled him. Peering downwards, all he could see was the pitch black beyond - with nothing but a faint light of a phone screen, Yunho's phone screen. He knew he had no choice but to follow the trail, and crawled into the fireplace, dropping down into the discovered chute. His knees landed on solid ground, the stone cold surface being felt by his hands. Hastily, he picked up the flickering phone which displayed his call between Yunho that was still ongoing. 

Why did he drop it? Why was he here?

It scared him, walking into an unknown underground hallway that no one knew about until now, but he knew this was the only thing he could do now. So gathering his courage, he kept on walking. The dark corridor only led one way, so Mingi wondered, almost nervously what he would find ahead. Please let this be one of your stupid pranks...

He wasn't sure how long he had walked but he eventually found himself in another foreign place and in front of a door, shrouded in equal darkness and the only clue was the stench that reeked in the air  behind the door- of old medicine and gym socks. It hit Mingi. Was this their school?

He twisted the knob and yanked the door open, and to his utter confusion he really was back in their school. He was so confused, the door he had gone through was never magical and only the door to the doctor's office. Not some portal to their school. He tried opening the door again, and it did show the empty office. He felt his head spinning, this surely was real?

There was no time to think about that, Mingi ran out the school medbay and into the empty school corridor which was now deserted at night. Had it been that long? Mingi wasn't sure. But what he was sure was the sight of the figure at the end of the hallway, turning into the next corridor. He squinted his eyes.

Yunho.

He his breath, "Yunho!" he yelled, but his friend ignored it and kept walking. Desperately, he chased after him evn though he was already so far away. Mingi needed to save his friend from whatever danger he had said, as things were already as strange as they could get. He recognised this route, it was heading to the school swimming pool. 

He ran into a dead-end, Yunho was nowhere to be found. Mingi panted as he searched his surroundings before pushing the double doors to the pool, that were oddly unlocked as well. There, at the furthest pool from the door - was Yunho.

"YUNHO!" Mingi called out again, but his friend didn't respond as he stood at the end of the pool in a daze. "YUNHO, GET AWAY FROM THERE!" 

His friend finally looked up, but his eyes suddenly closed as if he was falling asleep. As if in slow motion, Mingi could only watch as his friend plunged into the pool with a loud splash. 

"NO!" He ran forwards and dived into the water without a second thought. With limited vision, the blurry image of his friend sinking to the bottom of the pool could be seen. He swan forward, desperately trying to cling onto his friend. But as he reached for his hand, he could feel a force pulling Yunho away as well. Still, he kicked with all his might as he tried to drag Yunho to the surface. 

He wasn't sure if it was fatigue or anything more, but he too could feel his consciousness fading away...

When he woke up again, he could sense the chaos around him. "He's alive! They're both breathing!" he heard someone say in muffled voices. "Close the perimeters! We don't want the reporters coming in!"

Mingi's eyes fluttered open as someone draped him with a blanket, his body shivering from the cold as his lips turned blue. The adults blocked his view, and they towered over him while they scrambled to keep things under control. "Boy, what's your name?" a random nurse said into his ear with urgency.

But all that formed from his mouth was, "W-where's Yunho?"

"Your name?"

"N-n-no, Yunho," he repeated weakly. "A-another one, where is he?"

But his questions went unanswered as he taken over by people, and voices, and chaos. The next thing he knew when he woke up again, was that he was already in the hospital, scehduled for a one-way flight to France the very next week after he recovered. 

He never saw Yunho again, and no one believed him and his story for the next eight years.

Yunho woke up underwater.

He should have had a memory before that, of what led to him being at the bottom of what seemed to be a swimming pool, or how long he had been there. His body writhed in panic, somehow losing control of how his limbs should properly move. His legs eventually learned how to move correctly, and the boy began to swim towards the surface. His mind had a million thoughts and none all at once, his head buzzed but he didn't know why. As soon he was out the water, he gasped for air - then he realized he hadn't been running out of oxygen either. 

He stopped when he noticed something else - he wasn't even wet.

He frowned in confusion, looking around him. He was in a swimming area, it looked like a school - but he didn't even know where it was, only that the giant school emblem gave the clues. Why am I here? 

Wanting to leave, Yunho ran out the door, zipped past the corridors blindly because he had no idea where he was. He eventually found the exit navigating without any sense of direction, into the night and street of vehicles in motion. When he spotted the blinding headlights of the truck, Yunho froze like a deer. His eyes closed in response, waiting for his inevitable peril. So this is how I die-

But nothing happened.

Yunho opened his eyes, and found himself in one piece. Heart beating uncontrollably, he turned his head to see the truck had continued driving without hitting him. "H-huh?" this time Yunho spoke for once, hearing his actual voice. This was far more than weird, almost as if he was invisible.

He continued walking, into the livelier part of the city. People filled the bars, lights blared into his eyes, a swirl of colours and life that sent his head spinning once more. Hastily, he ran up to every person he saw. "Hi there, can you tell me where am I?" he repeated the question over and over again, but every single person ignored him. He refused to believe it, but reality was slowly sinking in. "Please, you have to help me!" he still pleaded.

But with each passing person, Yunho was more dejected than ever. He stared at his reflection in one of the shop windows, and realized he was wearing a dark blue clothes, was it hospital clothes? 

Filled with despair, the young boy sank to the dirty floor of the sidewalk where no one could see him - tears b his eyes. He felt so alone, why was he here?

"Gone too soon, huh boy?" he heard a voice say.

He peered up and a breath. A man was talking to him, looking down at him sympathetically. But that wasn't what caught his eye, but rather a visible wound on his chest - an ugly bloodstain across his flannel shirt despite him looking fine. "Y-you're-" Yunho pointed at the man's wound, finger trembling.

"Tsk-tsk," the man shook his head. "I can see you havent't realized yet huh? Happens to all of us when it's fresh, take your time."

"H-huh?"

"Name's Jarod, though it won't matter since I'll move on soon," he ignored Yunho's confusion. "Letting it out helps you process things, so tell me how did you go? You look awfully intact for a ghost."

Yunho blinked, he had no idea what this man was talking about. "I-I don't get it..."

"You must have died somehow!" the man chuckled. "You haven't even told me your name yet!"

"It's-" and Yunho caught his words, when he noticed another thing. "I don't...know."

The dead man frowned, "You don't know your own name, boy?"

The sickening feeling worsened, Yunho felt like throwing up. Was he dead? He didn't feel dead, he could feel his heartbeat. "I don't know," he murmured, his head sinking into his hands. "I don't know anything..."

For 'Yunho' was no longer a name he knew, nor remembered. 

He was a shadow, with no past, present or future.

He remembered nothing.