The little boy closed his eyes, counting up to hundred. He was a skinny, pale boy of eight or nine years old with a bright smile and an innocent demeanor. A small girl of his age crept up to him from behind, stifling her giggles as she tried to scare him. Her long hair was tied into neat pigtails and her brown eyes were beaming with mischief.
I'll scare him for sure, she thought as she sneaked her way towards him.
"Ninety," the boy counted. "Ninety one, ninety two…"
The little girl hid her snicker and quietly stood behind him as he counted.
"Ninety eight," he went on. "Ninety nine…"
The girl raised her hands and was about to scream 'boo!' when the boy vanished in thin air.
"Eh?" the girl blinked and scanned around to look for her friend. He just disappeared like that!
"Shinho?" she called out loud. "Shinho! Where are you?"
"BOO!"
"AHHH!" The girl yelped and nearly fell down but the boy grabbed her hand while laughing loudly. The girl pouted in annoyance.
They were on the rooftop of a lavish mansion which stretched across several acres of land. The boy had never seen such a grand mansion. He was awed by the maze-like gardens which had varieties of flowers which he had never seen before. The mansion was always abuzz with people, something which he had not experienced in his life. It belonged to the girl and her family who had graciously let the boy live with them.
Before he came to stay with the girl, he rarely ever got the chance to venture outside. Those were traumatizing days for him, not being able to go out and be free. There was not a lot he could recall from his days in captivity.
All he could remember was a dark cellar where he was kept for many months.
"This isn't fair!" the girl protested. "How come you disappear every time I try to scare you?"
"It's how it is," he replied.
In contrast to the girl, the boy was paler and even under the bright sun, he was glowing brighter as if a light was emitting from his body. The girl was not fazed by his appearance because she had seen so many of them. People like him always sought her out because she had a strange light in her. They wanted her to fulfill their last wishes.
Yes. She could see ghosts.
Her special ability let her communicate with spirits like her friend Shinho who seeked a redemption they could never find while they were alive.
They came to her, seeking help from her to move on to their next life. In her short life, the girl had come across many spirits. Some were mean while some were genuinely nice people who simply had many regrets. But it did not matter to her. She accepted all of them with an open heart, reaching out to befriend them while the world turned a blind eye to their pain.
And her best friend Shinho was one of the many spirits she had encountered. It was an ability she had inherited from her mother. Surprisingly, there was another power which she had gotten from her father as well but that one was something she hoped she would never have to use again.
"I'm bored," she complained. "Let's play something else!"
"Don't you have homework to do?" he asked in a stern tone. The girl stuck out her tongue.
"It's maths!" she scowled. "I'm not doing it!"
"Just because you're not good at it, doesn't mean you shouldn't complete it," Shinho scolded her.
"You're saying it coz you're good at it!" the girl shot back. "I'm not doing it!"
Before Shinho could scold her more, the girl fell on her back and began to whine.
"I wanna play!" she whined. "No more homework!"
Shinho sighed. There was no point in making her do the homework when she was not interested to do it. She would not touch her math book even with a ten foot pole.
"Fine," he conceded. "Today, we'll do what you want! So tell me. What do you want to do?"
The girl thought for a while before replying, "Let's go and sketch pictures! I'm getting pretty good at it!"
"I'll be down there in a minute," Shinho promised her.
She sprang to her feet and excitedly ran inside. Shinho stood there for a while, watching her leave with a sad smile. It began to face until the smile completely disappeared, leaving nothing but grief. Little did his friend know, it was their last day together.
Tomorrow, he was going to move on to the afterlife. Where he would go, he did not know. But it was his time to leave. She would grow up someday and have a life of her own while he would be stuck in that form forever if he stayed.
"Don't cry, Shinho!" he told himself. "It'll only make her sad…"
But his tears would not stop. His heart had stopped beating the day his own father had killed and buried him alive in the snow. He was supposed to be an emotionless creature, hovering between life and death.
Yet, the pain remained in his chest, yearning to be with his friend for eternity. The kindness he had received from this strange family was something he never experienced while he was alive. In life, he only received the curses and abuse of his father who saw his illegitimate son as a burden on his image.
After becoming a ghost, he stumbled into the girl's parents at a large bungalow. Her mother had sensed him and told the girl's father about the little boy who had strayed into their property. They readily took him in and the couple helped the lost ghost in every way until one day, Shinho's father was punished by his own karma.
And now that Shinho's purpose was fulfilled, it was time to go.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But this will be goodbye…"
Downstairs, the girl was waiting for her friend to come. She had her crayons and paper laid out in front of her and was drawing enthusiastically when suddenly, an ominous feeling ran through her spine. Looking up, she was a little shaken.
What was that? She wondered.
For someone of her age, she was quite perceptive of certain things, especially when it came to the ghosts she encountered. She understood them well and they shared their thoughts with her.
But something was wrong that day. Her instincts were shouting at her to go and stop Shinho.
Stop him from doing what? She wondered.
She quickly sprinted towards the roof only to find it empty.
"Shinho!" She cried. She dashed towards the water tank and then back to the railing.
"Shinho!" The girl called for her friend. "Shinho!"
"BOO!"
"AHHHHH!" The girl fell on her bum while Shinho laughed hard at her. She got to her feet and playfully hit him.
"Don't ever do that again!" she scolded him. Her eyes had teared up and she was glaring at him. Shinho immediately shut up upon seeing her angry expression.
"Don't leave!" she ordered. "You're not allowed to leave, understand?"
To his surprise, she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly as if she would not let him go. Her eyes were full of sadness at their strange fate.
One was alive and the other was dead. A girl who talked to spirits ended up meeting her best friend after his death. It was not fair.
"Don't leave…" she murmured. Her eyes were welling up with tears which were hard to hold back.
"Yes ma'am!" Shinho lied. "I won't leave."
His heart was aching at the lie he had just said. He did not dare to tell her that it was his time to leave but if he did, his friend would be hurt. It was the last thing he wanted. He did not want to see her cry.
"You'll stay here with us!" she told him. "No protests!"
Shinho was surprised to find her crying. He had always seen her spunky and feisty so watching her cry like that was increasing the ache in his chest. Was it possible for ghosts to feel pain? He was not sure. But seeing her tears were pure torture to him.
He sighed and put a smile on his face before letting her go.
"Idiot!" he laughed, playfully poking her forehead. "I'll always be with you. Even if I disappear for a little while, I'll come back to you. You don't need to cry over that!"
"Promise?" the girl moaned, holding out her pinky finger. Her large doe-like eyes were looking up at him with renewed hope. "You'll come back to me, no matter what happens."
The boy nodded and touched her pinky with his. "I'll come back and protect you from all the bad spirits," he promised. "I'll never leave your side then."
The girl's lips burst into a smile and she hugged him again. Shinho hugged her back, not letting the pain in his dead heart show on his face. If she knew how sad he was, she would never let him go. He had to be strong and return even stronger for her sake.
"I'll always come back," he sadly promised again. "No matter what. I promise I'll return for you, Jina."