The Mysterious Class ~ Ghost POV

Episode 8 ~ Chapter 3

The class was just leaving for the night. I stayed in the classroom, watching them go.

I almost gasped in fear.

The person I had feared all this time was walking with my teacher down the hall, to our classroom.

Yoshi's grandmother - the shaman.

Mashiho was the first to notice her, and the others saw her as well.

"Who is she?" he asked the teacher.
"No need to worry," the teacher said firmly. "Don't get in the way."

Don't get in the way...
No...
She is here to exorcise me...

She gave a reproachful glance at Yoshi, who stared at her like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

I noticed his expression turn to anger as she walked inside the room - did he still care what happened to me?

She gently set candles through the room, lighting them while murmuring small charms. She placed talismans over the doorways and windows, making escape impossible for me. She scattered small black beads all over the floor, keeping me in one place.

And she began.

She danced while shaking a string of bells, making my body start to burn again.

I held back the urge to scream and run - that wouldn't do any good.

I could see my friends watching through the classroom window, half hidden.

They looked petrified - and shocked.

She danced in a circle, the bells leading her to my locker. My locker. The one that had me inside.

"It's here," she hissed. "The spirit is inside here." she glanced back at the teacher, who was staying still on the other side of the room.

She shook the bells violently in front of my locker, and I was hit with a burning pain so sudden I had to use the wall for extra support.

Once I regained my balance, I rushed over and unlocked my locker.
I didn't mean to at all. She made me. She could possess me - and she was going to use it to destroy me. She lowered the bells, an evil grin creeping over her face.

"He's been hiding well," she said, sounding amused.

She took off the lock and set it atop the lockers. Then she opened the door to mine.

I watched my friends stare in shock at my small, white urn, which looked pathetic and vulnerable. Haruto - 1993 ~ 2011 read the black lettering over the stone and glass.

"Why is this here?" my teacher exclaimed.

"You must break this to get rid of the poltergeist," she hissed. Then she took my urn out - it almost felt like she was carrying me, and then I realized that she was.

If she shattered that...

"Poor thing!" she suddenly wailed, holding it out in front of her. "Poor thing was grieving! But you cannot stay..."

She threw her arms up in the air, my urn far from the ground, ready to drop it.
"Go to hell, you demon!" she shrieked.

"NO!"

Jeongwoo bolted into the classroom, Jihoon behind him.

"Haruto is not a demon!"

"Park Jeongwoo!" the teacher snapped, "Are you nuts? Get out of the way!"

Junkyu appeared at the doorway. "Haruto is our friend!" he shouted, rushing forward and snatching my urn out of her hands and hugging it tightly to his chest. "He can't go like this!" He sounded like he was going to cry.

"I can't believe this," the teacher snarled as the rest of my friends ran into the classroom.

"I don't care if you give us detention," Jaehyuk said angrily, "Haruto is more important than getting good grades."

"You guys are all crazy," the teacher shouted. "Wake up! THAT THING WILL DO NOTHING BUT TORMENT YOU!"

His words cut in deep, but Hyunsuk said, "No. It's the opposite."

"That's right," Mashiho said insistently, "He takes care of us."

"And now..." Hyunsuk added, fierce and strong, "It's our turn to protect him."

I was filled with joy and hope. It was so sudden, such a strong emotion, that it took over my depression's control of my abilities... and I started to reappear.

It began slowly, I was still transparent, but I was slightly visible nonetheless.

"Haruto?" Yedam whispered, "Is it him?"
"Haruto?" Hyunsuk said in a small voice.

If I expected anything, it wasn't what happened.

Doyoung walked up to me.

"Haruto..." he said in a quiet but clear voice, "I'm so sorry."

It was those words that made me fully reappear.

"What is this?" Yoshi's grandmother said, shocked. She ran at Junkyu, who still hugged my urn, but she was stopped... by her own grandson.

"No," Yoshi said to her. "You can't do this."

His movements surprised her so much that she didn't struggle.

I felt like curling into a ball and sobbing, but instead, I walked past Doyoung and headed for the classroom door.

But everyone stopped me with an embrace.

I was hugged by all sides at once, feeling their love on me, and realizing, They really do care about me. Dead or alive, they love me.
I burst into tears, letting them comfort me like their child.

"Please," I heard Jihoon say. "We want to be with Haruto."
"It's just until graduation," Doyoung pleaded. "Please."

• • •

"Yoon Jaehyuk."
"Here."

"Yoon Chi Woo."
"Here."

"Lee Seonghyun."
"Here."

"Choi Hyunsuk."
"Here."

"And... Haruto?"
"Here," I said clearly, raising my hand.

The teacher sighed. Whether he liked it or not, he was stuck with me for the rest of the year.

I was with my friends.
I was never leaving them again.

It was like a dream half the time - lunchtime, giving them my food so that the cooks wouldn't be upset about extra food.
Making Junghwan's videos more interesting.
Teaching them the things I've memorized from exams over ten years.
Sleeping in class, only to have Junkyu and Jihoon scare me awake, making me laugh.

The end of the year came quickly. Graduation for them, and moving on from depression for me.

They had helped me with my grieving. I was done.

"Hey, guys!" Doyoung exclaimed, "Let's take a photo!"

We all crowded together. The end of high school.

I smiled, knowing that I would never forget them until the end of time.