“This is the third time you're asking me who am I but I don't want to disappont you, I don’t know why too. I'm just a normal person. I'm Dara by the way.” I muttered softly, still drowning in his auburn deep orbs. “I mean, I can see ghosts. But can’t touch them. You’re the first too.”

Scream of silence was heard as his gaze never left mine, studying me carefully. “You think I’m a lost soul, a ghost?” His elysian face had humourless grin, eventually turned to a flat tone laughter. As if those words were too low for him to be categorized.

“No. But...” I looked down, fiddled my fingers. Hesitation fought inside me but I needed to clear everything. My gawping went north, back to his glorious face as I started mumbling quiet words. “Why do you always stand before our house for five years? I thought I’m imagining things. But you’re real. I just didn’t recognize you. You stood in dark. I wasn’t able to see your face.”

For the first time, he was the one who broke the stare competition that we always had. His face was bit by bit moving away from me while thick brows furrowed, as if uniting to become one. It took him about five seconds before he tried to scare me. “I really want to kill you.” Funny thing. Instead of being frightened, my depression triggered me, my lips shivered. Shoulder slumped down. “You can. I’m tired living anyway. I wish I died long time ago. Why am I living? I don’t know either. You can laugh again if you want.” My sigh was deeper than the deepest trench.

He seemed taken aback with me being the drama queen that he never expected me to react like that. I felt like he pitied me and spare my life for being piece of . He shook his head with his lips clamped between his teeth as he continued walking, hand still pulling the poor soul and decided to evaporate from the earth’s surface.

“Ahhhh! Where are we?! Omo!” I shouted and panicked, anxiety felt like someone will push me and I’ll fall to death.

Surprised than I am, his eyes became more rounded together with his mouth. “How did you-“

I felt bullet of perspiration started drenching my inner layer of clothe. The heat was too much that I started taking off my thick brown trench coat and ear muffler without me knowing it. My body hair stood up and had me goose bumps all over.

So this is hell?

The place was rather darker and more maroon filtered than I imagined, skies were pitch black as if the sun never existed in this world, the only source of light was the bottomless pit of fire on my right side that a single mistake will end me to my final destination. Actually this looked more like the Grand Canyon but the excavation was too deep for human eyes, for me to grasp. I can smell strong burning of rubber that my nose itched as I sneeze in accordance. Nope, that wasn’t rubber. I lowered my eyes as I felt traumatized when I realized that the walls down to the cavernous unending ditch was million to gazillion of spirits shouting for me. Different colors of souls, but mostly were gray, reaching out their tiny hands across the bars that custody them. I thought the squeals were sound of lava or just the atmospheric sound of hell. But I was so wrong, those screams were pleading and heartbreaking. And the smouldering smell was coming from the depths, souls burned unforgiving.

“Am I dead?” I was alarmed, both hands covered my mouth in shock. Both my coat and muffler fell somewhere that I couldn’t afford to discern. I was about to snivel when I heard someone calling me by name. Even if it was coming from behind, from further distant than I possibly can see, the voice was too familiar that I essentially started crying, “Dad?”

The man in front of me was flabbergasted. He bit his lower lip as he kicked the soul he was dragging a while ago, it fell down the pit, the screech was so loud but eventually dispersed, I assumed he hit the bottom and was now aflame. In instant, he held me by my