He had already seen the building. Hell, he had been there even. He never paid much attention though, after all who in their right minds would expect themselves to be jumping from a building at school?

Of course, he was not in his right mind.

Some students saw him but didn't pay attention, it wasn't the first time he got out of class early and wandered around like that anyway. And even so, everybody at school knew of the guy no one should get close to, although some people assumed it was because of one reason or another.

The building was much taller than your regular building. Inside the classrooms were at least three meters tall, plus the cement between each floor. He had, at the very least, fifteen meters to fall.

Even if I don't kill myself I'll be sent to a hospital, there I can get overdosed if I play my cards right, he thought.

 

Behind the clock was a room, quite big to tell the truth. There were boxes and other things scattered all over. The room was big enough, it must have been used as a storage room, it doesn't seem like it was being used much lately though since everything looked far too old. There was even a typing machine on top of some boxes.

He looked around until he found a door that led outside. It was locked, of course.

"Damn it", he sighed turning around to look for another door but stopped when he found a human looking figure sitting in front of what must be the clock. "Who are you?" He found himself asking in a small voice.

The figure barely moved.

"How did you get in? I thought students weren't allowed here", he heard a male voice say after a while.

"What do yo-"

"Who are you?"

Didn't everyone know of him already? Was that guy playing around just to get to his nerves, acting like he was so unimportant like he wasn't know? He frowned.

"You know what? Never mind that", he spoke before Sehun had a chance to reply and stood up, looking at him with curious eyes. "How did you get here, that I'm interested in."

"Through the door by the stairs, is there any other way?"

"I guess not."

"What are you doing here?"

"I make sure the clock keeps on ticking."

 

They stood in silence until Sehun thought it was time he left, maybe the guy needed to check on the clock and he was interrupting.

He was about to open the door that led to the stairs when the guy called.

"You should try jumping during the night, that way people won't see it and they won't rush over, you'll be long gone when they find you."

 

And try he did, he came back to the clock at around eleven that night.

He hadn't left the school grounds by the time everybody was out, it was quite easy to get there.

There was some sort of light behind the clock, making it easier for anyone to see the time.

He went up in a calm pace. I'm gonna die anyway, where's the rush?

Once he got inside the room he noticed the emptiness. Sure, it was filled with a lot of things but it still felt empty.

Is this how you feel when you die? He thought, leaving his backpack somewhere on the ground as he walked to the locked door.

It was unlocked.

He couldn't hide the shock in his eyes as he turned the knob. Cold air rushed towards his face once the door was open.

Excited. Relieved. Scared. All the emotions he had imagined rushed towards him together with the wind.

Next thing he knows, he's standing on the edge.

A step forward.

Someone screamed his name from behind.

"Are you an idiot?" It was the guy from before.

Sehun looked back to find the guy crying.

"Yes," he breathed out.

 

Sehun would get out of class to meet the guy, who had requested to be called Lay, in the room behind the clock.

Lay was three years older than him, so he wasn't a student there, and spoke in an accent. Apparently Lay was born in China, and even though he had been living far too long in Korea he still had that accent. I don't talk much with other people, so there's no way I can get rid of my accent, he said once and Sehun thought it was kind of cute.

A month after they met, Sehun stopped going to class and stayed with Lay almost all day, until he was kicked out and told to get some rest, you're looking ugly.

 

"Don't you ever leave this room? It doesn't matter what time is it, whenever I come you're already here. And you're always wearing the same clothes, did you run away from home?"

"What a wild imagination you have."

 

"Would you like to come to my house? You can stay if you want."

"With that family of yours? No, thanks. I'd rather be homeless. No offence but your family sounds far too cold for my kind soul."

 

"Why don't you ever let me touch you?"

"It's too dusty here, isn't it uncomfortable?"

 

"Do you even eat? I bring food everyday but I don't think I've seen you eating at all."

"I don't like it when people watch me eat, I do it when you're not here."

 

His daily questions were blew off by Lay. He couldn't help but grow suspicious as the days passed.

Then, on the last day.

"Are you real?"

" . . . "

Somehow he had been expecting that.

"Have I been imagining this?"

"No."

 

He left earlier that day. Just as he was about to walk past the door he heard Lay calling out Zhang Yixing.

 

Google has all the answers one can hope for and more.

The moment he was back home he his laptop and typed the words he heard. It was corrected by Google, god bless, and he opened the first page.

 

Zhang Yixing was a young man, staying in South Korea for some sort of business. He was visiting a catholic church, where he was chased by a group of people who thought of him as evil just because he was a foreigner. He had reached the clock on the tower, where he was pushed, breaking the glass and falling down. Although it wasn't that big of a fall, the broken glass made his fate inevitable and he passed away before he could get to a hospital.

It happened over fifty years ago.

 

He had been talking to a dead person. A ghost.

 

Lay was standing on the edge of the building, where he found Sehun that night. He could tell someone was there, the perks of being a soul.

"Yixing."

A soft smile graced his face as he turned to look at the younger. "You're pronouncing it wrong."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Sehun wasn't mad. He was just... curious.

"There was nothing to be said. 'Hi, I'm dead and I know you want to kill yourself so please don't', how does that sound?"

"Why would you stop me from killing myself?"

"There's nothing good about being dead. It gets lonely."

Silence. Yixing was looking down, if he hadn't died already he'd be terrified to jump. How did Sehun manage to look so calm when he was about to do so?

"I'll stay."

"What?" Yixing looked up to him, a normal living person would have lost their balance but he didn't. "What are you talking about?"

"You can't leave this clock, right?" Sehun looked over at the door, since from their spot it was impossible to see the clock correctly.

"Yes. That's where I died," he replied without looking away from the guy, what was he trying to say? "The people didn't want to see it anymore so it was sent here, I was brought along."

"If I were like you, you wouldn't get lonely. Right?"

"Yes, but-" And so he noticed. He finally looked over to the room and saw a body on the ground. He didn't have to get close to know whose. "Sehun..."

"I was going to die anyway."

 

For the first time ever, Yixing saw a smile on Sehun's face.