hey, stranger.

chapter four: the man.

I think the fates were each taking turns to mess with my life at this point. One by one, it's like they were pulling out lottery balls and deciding how to ruin my life.

I heard the sound of police cars in the distance but Jeno disregarded it. "They'll never find us. " he simply said and crouched down next to his sister's body. I watched as he tried to caress her but his hand went through her. "She's slowly fading, I can feel it. " another tear trailed down his face.

"I'm so sorry about your loss. " I knelt behind him and bowed my in respect. I was about to say something else when Jeno stuck his hand out, gesturing for me to take the paper he held. I allowed him to drop the paper in my hand before turning back to look at his sister.

"Read it. " he removed the phone from his sister's hand and switched it off, placing it in his back pocket. I unfolded the paper and read it, the dull shine of the dawn provided some light for me to read.

It seemed to be a written version of someone's personal information and judging by the hand writing, the person seemed to have wrote it down in a rush. I tried to ignore the smudges of blood at corners; the information recorded of a man named Moon Sangwoo. Immediately I recalled Jeno's story.

"Is this- "

"One of murderers? Yes. " Jeno stood up, clenching his fists. Remember what I said about Jeno looking intimidating? Yeah, that was him now. I could sense the anger radiating off of him and I wasn't the only one who could sense it. The air around us went colder, the world seemed to spin slower; everything seemed to be feeding off of his emotions.

"How did your sister find out about this? " I scanned the details on the page.

According to the information, Moon Sangwoo was a fourty six year old man who was an ex-Navy SEAL. He left the force when he was fourty two and was not seen until three years later; around the time Jeno had died. He was said to have married young but his wife passed away while giving birth to their second child who passed away days later. The first child, who was recorded as a girl, was sent to live with other family members at the age of two. 

The man seemed to have a tragic story but nothing seemed to give him the reason to murder Jeno; he didn't have anything to do with the man's unfortunate life. I skimmed down the page but saw nothing else written on it. Turning the page around, I found an old photograph stuck on with tape, it was the type of picture you'd have on your ID. The man in the picture wore a typical Navy SEAL uniform, multiple badges of honour hung proudly from his uniform; the man's face itself was one of a friendly and approachable type.

The longer I stared at the picture, the more I began to doubt whether this person was a murderer, "Is this really your murderer? Maybe there's has been a mistake. " I looked back at Jeno; he was watching me intently as if he was expecting me to say something.

"I don't know myself. There's plenty of people in Korea with the same name; but there must be a reason my sister chose him. " he approached me and took the page from my hand. A cold sensation made it's way through my arm as Jeno's ghostly hand went through it. I still was not used to the whole 'ghost' thing.

He held the paper without a problem and stared between Moon Sangwoo's picture and his sister's body. He seemed to grow frustrated at he stared between them, trying to connect the pieces of his murder and the situation. He groaned shoved the page back into my hand, "Go back home, I'll wait for my sister. "

His sister's ghost, that's what he meant. I nodded and walked back the way I came turning back one last time to see him finally caressing his sister's hand as more tears made it's way down his face; her life was finally gone. I felt tears brim my eyes as I watched them and turned back before they could slip out.