The ghost followed the ‘string’ she knew to be Oh Sehun and grimaced when she appeared in the cemetery. Oh Sehun was tending to her grave. Miyoung felt touched, she stood at her tomb stone and watched him clear away the weeds. Only he tidied her grave, her parents had moved on and Miyoung was glad they didn't visit. Her death still pained them, just as much as it did the Oh's.
 

“You’re here?” Sehun smiled gently making Miyoung nod shyly in return. Sehun was the only guy she called ‘oppa.’ She didn't know very many other guys let alone form a friendship. It was hard to make friends when one died. Ghost's went about their own business. There was no time to stop for a chat. No one wanted to remain as a spirit. They all wanted to move on into the afterlife. Whatever that was it would be better than just being here in the realm of the living where no one could see the dead. 

With regards to why the Oh siblings could see the ghost, no one had an answer. It was either luck or a joke played by the Grim Reaper, whichever it was Miyoung was glad for their company. Without them she would be nothing but a futile existence. Their presence made her ghastly torment bearable. She was still figuring out why the world had forgotten her and what was the infamous task she was meant to carry out. A conundrum in itself she wondered for how much longer she would be in the company of the Oh's as they grew with every passing year while she remained eternally sever-years-old. It had been ten years since her death. During those ten years Sehun had often visited and made sure the upkeep of her grave was being kept. Miyoung had no doubt that he would continue doing so.
 

 Sehun was soft hearted, there was no questioning it but he’d been hurt at one stage of his life. The pain caused by that hurt forced him to warp his compassionate personality. He'd formed a defensive barrier around his true self because remaining cheerful felt like a lie. He could no longer be friendly and inviting if he'd done so, he might have imploded under the freeze-thaw action. Such was the extent of his infliction and so he'd been left with no choice other than to hide after all, he needed to save himself. The kind, understanding Sehun was shrouded under the impression of a stoic and unapproachable persona. His protective shell shed for only a handful of people - Miyoung was one of them.

The ghost watched him work silently until he was done. He wiped his glittering forehead with his sleeve. “I’m going to the next one, are you coming?” Sehun asked. Miyoung curled her lips into a wry smile at the request. He wasn't supposed to be at the graveyard at all. His family frowned upon it. They said things like: he was stuck in the past, he was a living zombie, he was still mourning, and perhaps he was all those things. However, this was the life he chose to live. His decision had been solely his and so Miyoung found no fault but there were those who did. Miyoung knew they wouldn't be thrilled to hear that Sehun was spending his weekends tending to graves. It just wasn't normal for an eighteen-year-old boy.

“Don’t tell Seryung, she won’t like it,” Sehun placed a finger onto his lips. His eyes twinkled at the prospect of doing something he wasn’t ‘allowed’ to do. He still did it, even Seryung knew that he did, it was something to be expected. He tended to Yoon Rae Mi’s grave and each time he came he brought fresh lavender flowers with him. While taking care of Rae Mi he only thought it was fair to visit Miyoung too since Miyoung was technically still with them. His visit to the graveyard was a well-known fact within his family. It might have been what they considered the biggest flaw in his character. Sehun on the other hand, saw nothing wrong. When had caring for a loved one become a flaw? He would never understand their sentiment, and it went without saying that they would never understand him.

Miyoung also hated to watch him dedicate his life towards the dead. Rather than joining him on his visit she chose to roam the graveyard. Every so often she peered at him to make sure he was still okay. She was debating whether to tell Seryung or not. It would only stir an argument and might even make Seryung more inclined to persist with Hana. Miyoung didn't want that. She hadn't shared her friend for the past ten years. She didn't plan to do it now.

At the end of her aimless floating she found herself back at her grave. She had died in elementary school by suicide. She’d been harassed by her classmates to the point where she just couldn’t take it anymore, she’d caved and what a stupid mistake it had been! Miyoung regarded it as one of the things she regretted the most. If she'd withstood it, she would have been alive. Lamenting past thoughts was not on her agenda. A ghost couldn't cry. Harboring ill feelings only led to destruction. A soul without a body was much more complex than a living human. Tipping over the edge of the 'rules' meant extinction. The rules dictated that ghosts existed to carry out their dying wishes. That was all they were allowed to do. There was no meddling with the living. It had to be clean otherwise it could be costly...

 The thorn in Miyoung's side was that very rule. What was her purpose as a ghost? What did she need to achieve? What would help her pass on? These were questions that always plagued Miyoung’s mind. She’d haunted the world of the living for a long time, she’d watched trees grow and seen landscapes change.

“It’s all a game,” Miyoung mused as she recalled the words of someone she knew a very long time ago, “The game of life is deadly but what people don’t understand, is that they’re playing it. Life is like chess, life comes with kings and queens, bishops and knights, rooks and pawns. The only way to win is to survive, life as nasty as chess, you only realize that once you hear, CHECKMATE! Then it’s game over.”

Miyoung had never understood the meaning of those words, like she’d never understood why her parents couldn’t see her ghost, like she’d never understood the person who’d spoken such dark words. Miyoung blinked, “I wonder what MAMA’s doing?”

Miyoung had recently learnt that creatures of the night could see her, it was an interesting thing to note. This aspect should have frightened the child ghost but there was a certain delight in discovering that others could see her.

Miyoung hurried to Seryung’s room, the owl sat in its cage and looked bored from the looks of it. Miyoung chuckled and hurried over to it, “MAMA, your two owners had a big fight today. Your new owner got very upset and your previous owner was remorseful. I think the two of them are very silly for fighting over things they think are real. If they didn’t have such bad impressions of each other, they might learn to like each other. They fought in front of you too didn’t they?”

The owl hooted in response at the child ghost making the ghost giggle, the eerie sound made the owls hairs stand on end. The owl protested with a series of hoots making the ghost visibly paler.

“It’s not my fault, I’m dead, remember? I can’t help it if my laugh makes your talons curl inwards!” The ghost lowered her head to look at the talons the owl was talking about.

“They are not curling! You’re lying, unbelievable. Did you learn how to make people upset from Tao?”

The ghost listened to the owl’s long story and tried to understand the ‘depth’ the owl spoke of.

“But he just makes people upset! Just because he’s head strong, doesn’t mean he can say just anything. He should at least censor his tongue. He hurt Seryung, I can’t follow her now because she will get upset if she sees me! Seryung doesn’t look it but she’s super, duper, extra sensitive, she just pretends to be strong. You might get to see the real her, MAMA.”

MAMA pecked at the ‘owl food’ in his cage nonchalantly, he much rather preferred mice to this but he didn’t have a choice in the matter, unless...

Miyoung laughed at the owl’s words, “I can tell her but I don’t know if she’ll agree to it. You see Seryung is very afraid of you right now. You have to win her trust, don’t look so scary, don’t fly close to her, stay a safe distance away till she gets comfortable with you.”

MAMA shook his head at a 270-degree rotation making Miyoung cringe and laugh in a complementary fashion, “You do that in front of her and she will have someone throw you out. Like I said, she’s afraid of your kind. One of your kind hurt her when she was young, younger than me in fact, so that’s why she’s so afraid.”

MAMA stretched his wings as far as he could inside his cage, he flapped them and hoped around until he finally gave up his ticket to freedom. If it were Tao, MAMA would be allowed outside to fly, hunt and have fun but with his new owner MAMA felt as if he were a prisoner.

MAMA told the ghost this piece of information and let her digest it as well as she could. The ghost jut out her lower lip in retaliation, “I can ask her for you, if you really want.”

MAMA was thankful for her, the child ghost who was able to read his words and understand them, she was young, physically but she was old too, as old as Oh Seryung. MAMA wondered, not for the first time, how hard the life of a ghost must be. It was definitely harder than hopping around in a cage and eating ‘owl food’ for sure!

-

Meanwhile Seryung had locked herself in a cubicle, she recollected all the cruel memories from elementary school:

‘You should have helped her, you turned your back on her too once they called her a ‘wangta.’ You just didn’t want to become one! Like a scaredy cat, you listened to their words and joined in with their bullying. Miyoung might not have died!’

Seryung stared at the silent tears that were falling and inducing estranged sobs in between. Why was she crying? She wasn’t too sure either. They were just falling like lonely beads weaving their way down her cheeks before hitting the ground with an abandoned splash and disappearing into the floor. Seryung watched them fall feeling a sadness she’d never experienced. She swallowed the lump in he throat, she hated Tao for piecing the wound in her heart.

She hated Miyoung who’d befriended her a very long time ago. She hated the kinder garden where she’d befriended Miyoung. She hated becoming close with the girl who was very much like her younger self. She hated when Miyoung was branded a wangta. She hated that she distanced herself from Miyoung. She hated that she succumbed to pressure and subjected Miyoung to torment. She hated not being there for Miyoung. She hated when Miyoung disappeared. She hated when she found out that Miyoung had moved schools. She hated the hatred Miyoung’s parents directed at her for tormenting their daughter. She hated Miyoung for becoming a wangta at her new school. She hated the Miyoung who’d jumped off the school roof. And most of all, she hated herself for everything.

Why had Seryung befriended Hana? The reason was that Hana’s situation became similar to Miyoung’s. Miyoung, had constantly haunted Seryung since her death. Seryung had from then on, avoided any form of ‘friendship,’ keeping her distance clear from anyone who tired to approach her wearing the cloak of ‘friendship.’

Seryung couldn’t do anything for Miyoung because Miyoung was gone but Kim Hana was alive. Seryung hoped the ghost of Miyoung would finally find peace once she saved Hana from the clutches of torment.

Did a part of her want a friend too? But Seryung knew better than to become ‘friends.’ The bonds between friends – she had broken them before. She had caused someone’s death. She was a murderer. And a murderer didn’t have friends.