The door opened, and Sehun opened his mouth too to scream, but he didn’t manage to emit a single sound. He saw nothing in the pitch darkness, though he knew there was someone standing under the door frame. Soft steps hit the floor almost silently and stopped next to his bed.

                Sehun didn’t even dare to breathe, nor to blink. Fear, there was only fear left in his brain. And suddenly, the tip of a finger came brush his cheekbone gently. The time, he shivered. It was the same finger that had touched him a few days before.

                In a second, his body was working again and he moved – though he did something rather useless, and he quickly lit up his bedside table. Light filled the room and Sehun looked around – he ended up facing a small blonde-haired boy who seemed a little ill at ease.

                For several minutes, he stayed motionless, staring at the boy. He had expected a frightening ghost, not…not that. The boy had very pale skin – he almost looked like a living doll. “What are you doing here?” Sehun managed to ask, a little shakily. The blonde boy blinked several times. He looked a little surprised.

                “Haunting,” he answered. His voice was soft and low. Sehun laughed nervously.

                “But – you’re not a ghost…” he stammered. The boy seemed offended.

                “Of course I am,” he replied. “What did you expect me to look like? Translucent? White? With chains and screaming?”

                Sehun swallowed. He had indeed imagined something like that, or even an invisible ghost. But the blonde-haired boy was perfectly normal; he wasn’t even scary. Sehun felt stupid for having been so afraid a while before. “But – I can see you,” he said shyly. “Aren’t ghosts meant to be unseen by humans?”

                The boy had a giggle. Sehun shivered. That laugh… “Some are,” the blonde boy conceded. “But not me. I’m a visible ghost. I’m lucky, don’t you think?” he said mischievously. Sehun didn’t know what to answer. “However...” the ghost continued. “I’m not always like that.”

                Sehun wondered what it meant. “Excuse me, but…” he began hesitantly. “You don’t actually look like a ghost, so… Could you prove me you are one?”

                Again, the blonde boy seemed offended, almost hurt. As if Sehun were questioning who he was. “If you really want it…” he said darkly. Although he had almost calmed down, Sehun was starting to feel scared again. The blonde ghost wasn’t really frightening, but there was something strange.

                Watched by Sehun, he walked to the nearest wall…and plunged his right arm inside of it. It surprised Sehun so much he almost started. “Are you satisfied now?” the ghost asked with a grin. Sehun nodded silently. “By the way, you can call me Luhan,” the other boy added.

                “Sehun,” Sehun replied automatically. Luhan smiled at him; it was a sweet smile but somehow it looked weird. Sehun sat down on his bed, still upset. “Was it you who… I mean – the floor, the stairs – and you touched me – ” he stuttered, a little scared by Luhan’s expression.

                “Ah, yes, it was me,” the blonde-haired boy answered softly. He walked to Sehun until their knees almost touched – he was standing and Sehun sitting on the bed. And then he crouched down smoothly. With a strange look in his eyes, he lifted his chin up to meet the dark-haired boy’s eyes.

                For several minutes, he only gazed at him. Sehun was starting to breathe faster and faster. Luhan’s beautiful face was really frightening – his eyes, oh God, his black eyes… They didn’t look natural. Sehun swallowed with difficulty. The blonde-haired boy kept staring at him.

                Then he leaned in and had an imperceptible smirk. “Were you…scared?” he whispered. Sehun felt an icy shiver travel down his spine.

                “I was…scared,” he answered, mesmerised. Then Luhan reached his hand out, as if to touch his cheek again. But right when his thin fingers touched Sehun’s face – they penetrated his skin, his head. Sehun almost fainted – Luhan’s hand – a ghost’s hand was inside of his head!

                It felt horrible, as if his head had been plunged into icy water. “Stop that!” he cried out in pain. Luhan took his hand away. Sehun looked at him, shocked. The small ghost got up quickly and let out a sound, bright laugh that this time, Sehun recognized perfectly. And it made his blood run cold.

                “We’ll see each other soon!” Luhan exclaimed. Still laughing like a child, he pirouetted – and he disappeared.

                Sehun was alone again.

                Suddenly his eyes felt heavy, he was dizzy and amazingly tired. Resting his palm on his forehead, Sehun staggered to his bed and collapsed on it. Instantly, his eyes fluttered closed – he drifted into a dreamless sleep.

                When Sehun woke up in the morning, he remained for about ten minutes lying on his bed, trying to figure out what had happened and what hadn’t happened. The noise in the bathroom…it had. The steps…maybe. The knocks at his door? Surely not. Luhan? No way!

                But still… He shivered, thinking about the blonde boy again. Although he looked sweet and innocent, something in him was…disturbing. We’ll see each other soon, Sehun thought, as if Luhan were talking in his head.

                Suddenly he felt very weak. Hesitantly, he got up and went downstairs; Sehyun was already having breakfast in the kitchen. Sehun sat down and inspected the items on the table cautiously. “No more orange juice?” he asked shakily, disappointed. His older brother shook his head.

                “Go buy another bottle at the village if you want some,” he retorted. Sehun rolled his eyes, sighing. Shame, he liked orange juice more than apple juice. As he reluctantly poured himself some, for a second he felt like telling Sehyun about Luhan.

                But no – he had his reasons not to do it:

                One, his brother wouldn’t believe him.

                Two, he (Sehun) would look like a freak.

                And three…somehow, he already considered Luhan as his own little secret – and he wanted to keep it. He wanted to be the only one to know about the little boy. He had opened his mouth to say ‘I met the ghost’ but he closed it and didn’t say anything.

                They spent their breakfast in silence; when Sehyun got up and left the kitchen, Sehun decided to summarise which events ought to be linked with Luhan. He was sure about the noises in the bushes, the creaks, the steps and the knocks, and the fingers touching him. Though, he didn’t know whether it was Luhan who had called his name and made the lights turn off by themselves.

                He would ask him – if he saw him again. During the day, nothing special happened. No eerie things, no strange noises… Sehun didn’t get scared a single time for several hours. He went down in the cellar (unconsciously looking for Luhan), he went out in the garden, he went around in the forest… But the blonde-haired boy was nowhere to be seen.

                Puzzled and a little disappointed, Sehun went back to his bedroom and dozed as he had nothing else to do.

                About one hour later, rain started to fall gently, just a little, wetting the garden and making disappear the hotness of the day. Sehun was still half-asleep. He didn’t see night fall – yet it did, almost suddenly. The sky became dark. But Sehun didn’t notice. However, a while later, he was woken up gently by low sounds coming from a distant place.

                At first, he couldn’t hear them properly, but after a few minutes, he was awake and able to hear the sounds. It was vague, but albeit low, it somehow sounded clear in Sehun’s ears. He sat up in his bed. He listened, his heart beating faster and faster.

                It was…it was a flute.

                He shivered. Instruments and music were always scary in ghost stories. But he knew it, he knew it, it was Luhan. A little frightened but also strangely excited, Sehun got up, pulled a warm sweater on and left his bedroom. He went past his brother’s and called, “Sehyun!”

                No answer from his brother.

                you, Sehun thought, hoping Sehyun would hear him from wherever he was at the moment. Making them creak horribly, Sehun climbed the stairs down. In the hall, he paused. Now he was sure, the music was coming from outside the house. Breathing in deeply to brace himself, he opened the door and stepped out.

                It was weird – the garden wasn’t as dark as usual. Sehun almost chuckled nervously – that strange pitch darkness had surely been caused by Luhan! He looked up, trying to locate the place where the flute was. It was still playing; the melody wasn’t really complicated, but if it was meant to be scary…

                It succeeded perfectly.

                Sehun lit up his mobile phone to see where he was stepping and walked around the house to go into the widest part of the garden. Once he was there, he stopped walking. The music seemed to be coming from his left, so he went in that direction. But after a dozen of meters, it was from the right.

                Bit by bit, Sehun lost track of the music. Where was it coming from? He didn’t know. It was as if the flute was moving at the same time as him. They were playing hide and seek… But Luhan was cheating.

                Sehun kept walking for almost half an hour. It was strange but he wanted to find the ghost. He wanted it so much he nearly forgot about his fear. And suddenly he stopped. He was at the edge of the forest. He blinked – he understood. Luhan wanted him to go into the forest.

                Mustering up his courage, Sehun plunged into the wood. He walked for a long time, guided by the music. Now he could tell where it was coming from; it seemed to have stopped moving. A while later, Sehun spotted a faint but visible light far in front of him. He walked faster; the light was brightening – he started running.

                That light – he wanted to reach it! He ran into a few branches and even it a tree once. But about ten minutes later, he arrived into a clearing that the light and the flute music had been coming from. Sehun stopped running and bent down, leaning on his knees to get his breath back. He looked up, searching. Luhan should be there…

                And suddenly, he found him. The blonde-haired boy was standing in the middle of the clearing. Although he had closed his eyes, a faint smile was crossing his lips. His hands were suspended in mid-air and his fingers were moving as if he were playing on an invisible flute – but he was playing, he really was!

                He lowered his instrument but he was still holding it; it was strange, he looked like he was holding air. However, even if he had stopped playing, the music kept sounding, albeit lower. He beamed at Sehun.

                “I was sure you’d come!” he exclaimed in a joyful, almost childlike tone. Sehun swallowed. “I suppose you heard the flute,” Luhan went on. “Did you like it?” he asked enthusiastically.

                “I – I don’t know,” Sehun answered hesitantly. “It’s a little scary, you know…”

                Luhan seemed delighted. Causing Sehun to feel suddenly very cold, he started to sing. He took up the flute melody, but with his voice. It sounded like a poem; Sehun listened, almost wanting to run away. Luhan looked either beautiful or insane.

                “Nous aurons des lits pleins d’odeurs légères,

                 Des divans profonds comme des tombeaux,

                Et d’étranges fleurs sur des étagères,

                Écloses pour nous sous des cieux plus beaux. »

                Silence fell for a few minutes. Luhan started to walk in the clearing, in circles around Sehun. The dark-haired boy followed him with his eyes. His voice sounded so soft and gentle…

                “Usant à l’envi leurs chaleurs dernières,” Luhan went on a little lower. Although he didn’t understand the language, Sehun knew perfectly what the poem was talking about. Love. Death.

                “Nos deux coeurs seront deux vastes flambeaux,

                Qui réfléchiront leurs doubles lumières,

                Dans nos deux esprits, ces miroirs jumeaux.”

                Sehun felt his body shiver and shake ; he felt so cold! Luhan kept turning, still holding his flute and playing from time to time.

                “Un soir fait de rose et de bleu mystique,

                Nous échangerons un éclair unique,

                Comme un long sanglot, tout chargé d’adieux.”

                His circles were narrowing bit by bit – now he was so close to Sehun he could have touched him. His voice was almost as low as a whisper.

                “Et plus tard un Ange, entrouvrant les portes,

                Viendra ranimer, fidèle et joyeux,” he said, gazing at the dark-haired boy, who felt desperately oppressed.

                “Les miroirs ternis et les lumières mortes.”

                Luhan had finished speaking; as he pronounced his very last word, he stopped just in front of Sehun, their lips almost touching. Sehun felt something strange dawn in his heart, something deep and powerful. He didn’t move, hypnotised by the dark light in Luhan’s pupils. The ghost looked like he wanted Sehun. He looked hungry.

                “Do you know who wrote this?” Luhan whispered. The poem, Sehun thought. But even if he wanted to answer, he couldn’t move at all – his lips stayed still, slightly parted. “Charles Baudelaire,” Luhan said. Oh so slowly, he brought his face closer to Sehun’s own, almost as if he was about to kiss him. Their lips brushed, but the blonde-haired boy instantly took several steps backwards.

                “La mort des amants,” he named the poem once he was about ten feet away from Sehun. “The death of lovers.”

                Sehun felt a weird sensation in the pit of his stomach. His eyes were fluttering closed by themselves. Luhan had an indescriptible smile and he nodded, once. Helplessly, Sehun fell down to his knees. He couldn’t take his eyes off Luhan – the ghost was way too fascinating. He also noticed that he was him who emitted all the light in the clearing. He was – glowing.

                Luhan raised his flute to his lips once again. A new melody, like a flight of spirits, resonated in the night. He played it once, and then lowered his instrument while the music kept playing. He walked to Sehun again.

                Run away, the dark-haired boy thought. This is a game and you’re losing. As if he’d read his mind, Luhan stepped back once more, giggling soundly. His bursts of laughter hit horrible high notes, reminding Sehun of the flute. He danced a few steps and sort of bent down, one arm over his chest and the other raised in the air in a theatrical bow.

                And he disappeared.

                Sehun felt his strength fail him and he lost consciousness before he even touched the ground.

~

                Sehun woke up to the sound of wind the next morning. He blinked several times. And all of a sudden, he had all the reactions he could have had during the night. He curled up into a tight ball and started crying in fear, his body shaking and jerking.

                The next ten minutes were rather confused.

                Finally, Sehun managed to calm down and he lied down on his back, gazing at the light grey sky. He thought about Luhan. And about what he had felt when the blonde boy had brought his face so close to his own. Instantly, his breath speeded up again. What is that? He thought, startled.

                After almost half an hour, he managed to get up and tried to remember how to return to the house. But he had run too fast and carelessly – he couldn’t even tell where he had entered the clearing. For a long time, almost two hours, he wandered through the woods, attempting to find his way back home. There wasn’t any network so he couldn’t use his phone. Darkly, he said to himself that Luhan must be laughing very much right then.

                For a second, without even knowing why, he wished the mischievous ghost were there to guide him. He sighed and kept walking. After an eternity, he arrived out of the forest and luckily managed to guess where he was – more or less – and to go back to the house.

                When he entered, his brother came to him and threw him a questioning glance, surely wondering where Sehun had been. The young boy shook his head silently and went straight upstairs. The only thing I do here is sleep, he thought as he heavily collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.

                It was the first day of the second month.

A/N: I think you had all guesed who the ghost was... x)

Here's a translation of the poem, for the readers who don't speak French:

We shall have beds round which light scents are wafted,
Divans which are as deep and wide as tombs; 
Strange flowers that under brighter skies were grafted 
Will scent our shelves with rare exotic blooms.

When, burning to the last their mortal ardour, 
Our torch-like hearts their bannered flames unroll, 
Their double light will kindle all the harder 
Within the deep, twinned mirror of our soul.

One evening made of mystic rose and blue, 
I will exchange a lightning-flash with you, 
Like a long sob that bids a last adieu.

Later, the Angel, opening the door 
Faithful and happy, will at last renew 
Dulled mirrors, and the flames that leap no more.

I really love Baudelaire :)

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