There were eleven of them at the start. Lay has always known them and came to the café often. I accidently stumbled into the land after my aunt abandoned me on the motorway. So much have happened recently that the memories of my life before has become faint and distance. They are merely a blur of mists and shadows.

It was the evening, the same day after D.O left in the morning. Kris and Xiumin were in their room. Chanyeol, Kai and Lay were slouching on the sofa; reading, sleeping or picking at the threads of wool on their jumper.

“Who do you think is next?” Kai asked, breaking the boring silence which I found quite calming.

“Kris,” Chanyeol replied quickly.

“Why do you think that?”

“I don’t know, you asked who do you think is next and the first name which popped into my head was Kris.”

“I think it would be Xiumin,” Kai said and sat up straighter on the sofa.

“Do you want to have a bet?” Chanyeol challenged Kai, “The person who guesses right can…”

“Can boss the other person around until they leave,” Kai suggested.

“Deal!”

“What happens if it is one of you two who is next?” I asked.

They didn’t reply because they were lost in their own thought. Did they not think about that?

“I have no idea,” Kai said with a puzzled look, “Then I guess Raine will win instead.”

“I don’t want to be involved with this bet guys.”

“Aww, come on Raine,” Chanyeol whined like a little kid and sat down beside me.

“I don’t want to order either of you around, that’s just weird.”

“You got no jam, Raine,” Kai said.

“What has happened to that book?” Xiumin suddenly asked from the door, he sat down on the little leather stool behind the coffee table.

“It’s still in my room but nothing has happened to it,” Lay answered him, “Why don’t I bring it down and see.”

“I’ll go and get it,” Chanyeol said and jumped up out of his seat and took massive strides up the stairs with his long legs.

“You’re going to fall through the stairs Park Chanyeol!” Kai shouted at him.

“Got it!” he shouts back from Lay’s room.

“You guys make so much noise,” Kris yawned as he sat down in Chanyeol’s spot on the sofa.

“Here the book of the future!” Chanyeol said and placed the book down and plopped onto the carpet.

“Nothing is happening…” I started but I said it too soon because a chilling blast of air swept in through the front door.

“Who left the front door open?” Kris shouted above the noise created by the gust of wind.

He stood up to close the door but the wind became stronger and blew the door off its hinges.

“Hurricane!” Kai shouted and started to panic, he clambered under the coffee table while Xiumin hid behind a sofa.

The wind knocked me off my feet and sent me to the other side of the room.

“Be careful, Raine!” Lay shouted as he tried to stay behind the wall away from the opened door.

Pieces of plaster were falling from the ceiling. The roof started to peel open, revealing the grey clouds in the sky. The furniture were turned and flipped by the wind and everyone struggled to hold on.

“What is this?” Chanyeol screamed as the bricks beside him fell, sending a cloud of dust around him.

Strangely, the coffee table with the book on remained still. Even the pages didn’t turn although the wind was very strong. Kai was under the table and seemed to be perfectly fine.

“Everyone hold onto the coffee table!” Lay shouted as he tried to run towards it.

Everyone else did the same and grabbed onto one leg of the table. The wind was angry because it continued to blow away every remaining object. Then it stopped. Silence. I opened my eyes and looked around. The house has disappeared completely. All the furniture was gone, the walls have disappeared and everything was blown away by that sudden gust of wind. Instead, we were in another living room. The coffee table was positions right in the middle of a carpet which was surrounded by three leather sofas. The living room was massive. The television was hung onto the wall and game consolers were placed below.

“Where are we?” Kai asked as he slithered out from under the table.

“My house.”

We all turned to face Kris.

“Wow!” Chanyeol said in shock, “Your house is amazing!”

Kris didn’t look happy to be here at all. His expression was a mixture of anger and sadness.

“Look at these games!” Kai awed in amazement as he scanned his eyes across the shelf, “Can I play?”

“Can I too?” Chanyeol asked.

“They’re not mine.”

“Oh,” Kai and Chanyeol said in unison.

Then a woman came into the room with a small boy following behind.

“Oh my God!” Xiumin exclaimed in panic but then realised that the humans were not conscious of our presence, “Forgot they can’t see us.”

“Do you know who she is, Kris?” Chanyeol asked.

“A stranger who ruined my family.”

The woman sat down on the sofa while the little boy ran over to the games consoles and started playing on it.

“Is she your step mother?” Xiumin asked.

“She is a stranger to me, my father married a witch. Just look at her, sitting in my mother’s seat as if she owns it.”

The anger in Kris’s voice was drenched with hatred and frustration. The woman on the sofa was wearing a white dress and her hair was neatly styled into a bun. Around her neck were a pearl necklace and the diamond ring around her finger shone brightly every time it caught the light.

“I want to leave this place.”

Then we all followed Kris out of the house. Where are we exactly?

The street outside was lit up. Cars passed occasionally and shops were still open.

“Where are we?” Kai asked.

“New York.”

“Ooo! I’ve always wanted to come to New York!” Chanyeol smiled happily and looked around as we walked down the street.

“Look at that fountain show!”

We walked faster to catch up with Kai and when we turned the corner, there was a huge fountain and it was spraying colourful streaks of water. They danced around along with the music in the background and the sight was breath-taking. Although the little sprays of water was making me wet, the view was spectacular. No one said anything as we watched in amazement.

“Let’s go to the casino,” Xiumin suggested when the water stopped.

“Let’s go!”

We were ghosts, so instead of queuing up to have our IDs checked, we walked straight through the double doors. It was much busier in here than outside. People crowded around all the tables shouting and the rattling of the coins and tickets echoed from every corner of the room.

“Have you ever been in a casino before?” Lay whispered to me although no one could see or hear us.

I shook my head and looked up at him. I was a little worried but a little excited too. If only I was alive to experience this.

“Raine, Lay!” Chanyeol shouts, “Come over here!”

We walked over and they were all crowded around a table where a few men in black suits were playing a game of blackjack. The atmosphere seemed quite tense as the man beside me lifted the corner of his card.

“Luck is on my side today,” the man with a cigar on the other end of the table said, “All thanks to this pretty lady here.”

The woman working on this table handed the card out to each of the men, the one with the cigar reached forward and touched her hand. She quickly pulled away as he winked at her. Before anyone could gather what was happening, the man fell off his chair and knocked over his glass of red wine.

“Who did that?”

I looked around and noticed that Kris has walked over to the man.

“Kris!” I shouted.

The man on the ground was being beaten up by an invisible force. He rolled from one side to another but only I could see that it was Kris who was punching him.

“What are you doing Kris?” I shouted as I tried to pull him away from the man.

“Don’t you dare lay your dirty hands on my mother!” he shouted although the man couldn’t hear him.

“Stop Kris,” I said to him as he got off the ground and walked away.

Everyone else has wandered off so I had no idea where they were. Kris and I sat down near a game machine.

“That was your mum?” I asked.

“Yeah, she works here,” he replied, “She was stupid to think that my father was going to be different compared to that man I just beaten up.”

“But you still call him your father, so you must still have some respect for him?”

“I did, until he brought home another woman. I was coming home from school with my mum and the front door was opened. There was a pair of red high heels on the stairs and I knew what was happening. My mum was too scared to go upstairs so I did.”

“What happened after that?”

“He wasn’t even sorry. He said he didn’t love my mother anymore and just threw some money at her.”

Kris punched the machine beside him and it shook, startling the couple who were playing on it.

“He treated my mum like an object. She left me with him, I would have gone with her but she didn’t say anything, she didn’t care about me. Neither did my father, all he cared about was that witch and her child.”

Thanks for reading! ^.^