“So you’re going with her?”

“Yeah, I have to, I can’t let her go alone, and it would be too dangerous as well.”

“Maybe some of us should go with you as well.”

“No, it will be fine.”

“When are you planning to leave?”

“Probably when her leg is better.”

There were many voices downstairs as I stumbled out of the bedroom door. The pain was gone from my leg but I had to walk carefully in case the wounds opened up.

“Morning, Raine!” Sehun got up and shouted when I appeared at the living room door.

“Morning!” they all chorused afterwards.

“Morning everyone,” I greeted shyly.

“Sit down here,” Lay said pointing to the empty seat beside him, “We were discussing the trip to your home in New Zealand.”

“Oh, so when are we going?” I asked.

“Whenever you want,” Lay replied back.

“Tomorrow maybe?” I suggested, but Lay frowned, maybe thinking that it was too urgent, “Or whenever you like.”

“We can talk about this later, now though, who wants waffles for breakfast?” D.O clapped his hand and stood up.

Sehun, Kai and Tao who were sitting on the coloured beanbags shouted, “Me!”

Then they all followed D.O into the kitchen like a bunch of kids getting a treat.

“I want to the bowl!” Kai shouted.

“No, I want to!” Tao shouted back, pushing Kai gently to one side but bumped into Sehun.

“Suho,” Sehun shouted back to the living room, “Kai didn’t say sorry!”

“Urg!” Suho said in a disgusted voice, “When will they grow up?”

“They will soon,” Kris said calmly, in a reassuring voice.

 “I thought being a ghost will make them realise that it’s time to grow up and move on, but I guess they are stuck in that mental age and won’t ever change,” Suho said.

Soon enough, the smell of waffles wavered into the air. My stomach rumbled in response and I in a breath of air to stop it from embarrassing me.

“Breakfast is ready!” D.O shouted from the kitchen.

“Come on, Raine,” Lay said, holding a hand out for me to help me get up.

“Thanks,” I accepted his hand and limped into the living room, sitting down too long gave me pins and needles and I jumped around to get rid of them.

The kitchen was average sized; a small stove was in the corner then a marble worktop followed by the sink and the drainer. Lined across the top were white cupboards and shelves with black handles. The table itself was also made from marble and it sparkled like it has been scrubbed every day, not a single bit of dirt was visible.

“There you go!” D.O said, placing a plate of waffles in front of me, “Add whatever you want!”

“Banana and walnuts are a good combination,” Xiumin suggested, he took a jar of crushed walnuts and sprinkled it over his waffle.

“It’s too sweet in the morning, I prefer savoury,” Suho said, and picked up a fried egg from the plate in the middle.

“The classic!” Chen said and squeezed half a bottle of syrup which drowned the waffles, “Then the chocolate,” and then he dumped a load of sliced strawberries on the waffle and said, “Finally cream!”

I listened and watched as each of them added whatever they wanted onto their waffles. In the centre of the table, there were bowls of fruits and berries, and then there were bottles of sauce and jam but also some bacon, eggs, tomato and ham.

“Just put whatever you want,” Lay said when he saw me staring at my plain waffle.

In the end, I picked the waffle up and bit it. It was warm and the sweetness filled my mouth as I chewed. It was heavenly delicious.

After helping out with the washing up, I sat on the sofa for the rest of the day listening to them talk and argue and mess around. Time passed so quickly and before long, my eyelids were heavy and unwilling to stay up.

“Why don’t you go to sleep?” Lay suggested, “We can set off tomorrow if you want.”

I nodded and walked upstairs.

The next day, I was up bright and early. The greeting was like yesterday but after a toast and tea breakfast, they all went downstairs to bake cakes and open up the café.

“Do you want to pack some essentials for the trip?” Lay asked but it sounded more like an instruction and advice.

“Sure!”

“Here are two backpacks I borrowed from Tao,” he said and held up two bags, “Which one do you want?”

One was purple and another was pink, they weren’t that bright but they seemed really stylish and expensive and girly as well.

“I’ll take the pink one because I doubt you’ll want to carry it,” I said and took the bag.

“Let’s go and pack.”

From my suitcase, I was able to get my clothes back. I placed a change of clothes and some morning rudiments. When I came out onto the landing, Lay was ready too, with one strap over his shoulder.

“You ready?” he asked.

“Yep!”

When we walked downstairs into the café, the booths at the back were filled with people. Ghosts to be exact, talking in hush whispers and sipping coffee.

“Have a safe journey guys!” Kris said from behind the counter.

I peeked into the kitchen and shouted, “We’re going now, don’t miss us!”

“Be safe, okay?” Suho said.

“We will.”

“Bye!” they shouted back and waved.

When Lay and I were outside in the heat, I turned to him and asked, “How do we get there now that we’re ghosts?”

“We take the plane.”

“For free?”

“Yep!”

In order to get to the airport, we needed to hitch a ride. After walking past the cemetery with the gravestones which popped out of the ground, we were standing by the road waiting for a vehicle to come.

“Those gravestones,” I started, “Are they villagers who have died?”

“Yeah, once they are dead, a gravestone is automatically made for them, they are usually underground but whenever an outsider steps onto one, time will stop and they will pop out.”

“I didn’t mean to step on one,” I said sadly over my misfortune.

“I know you didn’t but you can’t change the past now.”

Then we heard the sound of a lorry arriving. It got bigger and bigger as it came closer and closer.

“We can’t thumb a ride because they can’t see us anymore, so as soon as the side of the lorry appears directly in front of you, grab onto one of the straps on the side and climb to the top,” Lay instructed, “Okay?”

“Okay,” I replied, it sounded simple enough.

I was wearing a pair of black legging, a large blue hoodie and the pink backpack on my back. The lorry was getting closer and closer now. My knees were shaking and my palms were getting sweaty, I’ve never thought I would do this in my life.

“You ready?” Lay asked.

“Yep!”

The blue lorry went past me and I hooked my hand around the buckle straps and hauled myself up and was standing on the metal railing along the bottom by the large wheels. My eyes were closed and my leant my body as close to the lorry as possible. Were we going to stay like this for the whole journey to the city? I was too scared to open my eyes.

“Raine?” Lay shouted.

I opened my eyes and Lay held a hand out for me, he was on the roof of the lorry and leaning down to help me up. I took it and he pulled me up as I settled my foot on the tank and then the window.

“You did that very well!” Lay praised.

I was out of breath and the experience was completely life threatening; I just hoped we wouldn’t have to do it again. I was facing the direction of travel but Lay wasn’t.

“Duck!” I shouted.

“Where?”

“There’s a bridge so lay down!”

“Oh!” Lay laughed, “I really thought there was a duck.”