I was a ghost but I still slept and ate. As soon as the food goes into my mouth it vanishes. To me, it feels like I’m eating it, but if a human saw then the food would just magically disappear, that’s what Chanyeol said when I watched him scoffed a banana down his throat. I don’t need to sleep yet I still feel tired. Suho said that it’s still better to rest so we can recharge ourselves. Though we’re dead, we are still using energy for movement.

After D.O came downstairs, he said that my room was ready. I followed him up and the quick transformation was mind-blowing. The walls were a soft shade of baby pink and the covers were white with cherry blossoms dotted across the sheet. Then there’s a single beside table with a little lamp and an alarm clock. A large wardrobe facing the bed with a window to the far left.

 “Wow!” I said, my mouths hanging open, “How did you paint the walls so fast?”

“The walls were already pink,” D.O explained, “And the covers were going to be Tao’s birthday present as a joke but now you’re here, I think he should thank you!”

I laughed and thanked him.

“You should get some rest,” D.O said kindly, “Also, seeing as only my clothes fit you, I gave you some spare for you to change into. The bullet hole wouldn’t be that trendy. We can go shopping one day and you can get some decent clothes.”

“Thank you!”

Then he left, I changed out of the dirty clothes and threw them away, D.O probably didn’t want that back anyways. As soon as the sleeves went through my arms, they disappeared. I walked over to the closet mirror and looked at myself. It was a simple black t-shirt and black jeans but it made me glow brighter. I gave off this eerie, whitish glow which freaked me out. I wasn’t black and white but the glow almost makes me fluorescent. I tied my hair up with an elastic band I found on the bedside table and walked back downstairs.

“Oh, Raine!” Lay greeted, jumping up from the sofa and dragged me to sit down beside him, “Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m fine,” I smiled, “Where are the others?”

“Downstairs, busy in the kitchen, they said we should get use to being a ghost first!”

I laughed but then suddenly serious again, “Lay?”

“Yes?” he turned his head back to me from the programme he was watching on the television.

Was he watching a broadcast on the television?

“I thought there’s no signals in this village?” I asked.

“There is apparently, if you’re a ghost!” Lay said happily, “Now I can watch TV again!”

“Lay?” I asked again.

“Yes,” he repeated, switching the television off with the remote and placed it on the seat beside him.

“I had a dream, they tortured you in the prison cell and I saw it through a monitor they pulled through, I watched then whip you and pour salt water on your wounds,” I recited the dream back to him, it was hard to forget, it felt too real.

I watched his face frown and then he placed both of his hands on my shoulder, “It wasn’t real, okay?”

I nodded and continued, “But the officer in my cell mentioned something about the Vandeviere family and that all of them should die and those who helps them should die too, I don’t understand what they have got to do with me?”

 “Don’t you know?” he asked.

“About what?”

“About the Vandevieres?” he repeated.

“No.”

“You’re a descendant from that family and I think you’re the last one surviving after your parents died because the book asked me to look for you all of a sudden,” he said slowly and allowed the words to soak into my brain, “Your parents probably didn’t want to be involved so they changed their surnames and never told you, but you have the Vandeviere’s blood running through you and those so called officers are out there killing them all off.”

“But what did they do to them?” I said, slightly angry, “I mean, what did my ancestors ever did to them?”

 “This village has been around for centuries and roles are just passed down in their families, so their ancestors told them that the Vandevieres are bad so they think they are bad, I remember my grandfather telling me a story once.”

“Story?” I asked, “Is it real?”

“I don’t know, but hundreds of years ago, the Vandeviere once ruled the village, with my family, the Zhang’s as their private secretaries, helping them make rules and take charges, until one day, spirits came and took over, destroying the land turning farming land into dustbowls and burnt the forests down to ashes.”

I listened attentively as he told the story.

“Everyone was human so they didn’t know what was happening as they couldn’t see the spirits, they did everything they could but the spirits were evil and just ruin our land, the villagers rebelled and went against our families because they could not explain what was happening and only blamed us for not trying to stop it from happening, sadly, our ancestors were killed but if you and I are still alive, it means that some has managed to escape and survived.”

I nodded slowly, the missing jigsaws pieces finally clicked into place.

“But why is the book asking us to help the spirits then?” I asked.

“Because they whole reason they came was to ask our family to help them but a minister from another family disagreed, which sent the spirits over the edge and destroyed the village, then the villagers killed our families.”

“Oh, what?” I said, throwing my hands up in frustration, “So it’s that minister’s fault then?”

“Erm, in a way, I suppose.”

“If he didn’t say no, then the spirits won’t be angry and if the spirits weren’t angry then the villagers wouldn’t be angry and kill our family, what an idiot!”

“We can’t change the past so…” Lay shrugged and then sighed, “What we can do now is find the eleven spirits and help them out before they completely wipe out the village again.”

“Makes sense,” I said.

Anyone still confused? Feel free to ask! - Cheeeeeries ^_^