The chains of the swings creaked in unison as we sat, side by side, mindlessly rocking back and forth. Yes, we were 16, but that didn't mean it was illegal for us to hang out at a playground in front of a school. Especially at night, when all the kids the equipment was meant for were probably getting ready for bed.
"I still don't know how I'm gonna get my phone back," Wendy groaned. "Ms Terre says she'll need my parents to call her to get it back."
"Does she not know... or something?"
She shrugged, scowling at the thought of her homeroom teacher. "Honestly, she might just be trying to spite me. Who knows what goes through that woman's head?" She turned to me, both hands gripping the swing beams. "It's not like it's a secret, you know, where I... where we come from."
I nodded. "I've been avoiding the cafeteria the whole week to get away from Cash and his gang. I don't get what part of not talking much and having no parents is so funny."
"Plus, your... thing."
"Right... my thing."
"Any luck figuring out how it works?"
My tongue poked into the inside of my cheek. "I know I see mostly ghosts, those are the blue ones. But some of the things I see look different. And they make me feel different. I can't figure out why, though."
She tilted her head as she looked at me, her fringe falling in front of her face. A warm smile formed on her face despite the ever-dropping temperature of the Minnesotan night.
"We've got a few years here still. We'll figure it out together, I promise."
Just hearing her words felt like letting a heavy backpack down after a full day of lugging it around. "Thanks, Wendy. You're the best friend I have. My only friend, actually."
As soon as the words left my mouth, the air froze. The night air was already cold, but now it was biting into my skin. The darkness around us seemed to grow, swallowing up everything but the ground mere feet away from us. I didn't dare look at the swing next to me, but a voice spoke from where Wendy was sitting that made my heart leap into my throat.
" Then why didn't you save me? "
Against my better judgement, I looked up, only for my gaze to be met with hers. Only it wasn't her. Not really. Her eyes were bathed in a shade of blood-red. Her smile, once warm and comforting, was now menacing and filled with rows upon rows of needle-like teeth. Extending from her forehead to the bridge of her nose was a large gash, leaking scarlet all over her face.
She spoke again, in a voice that I soon recognised to belong to the very creature that took her from me. The same creature who sat on the swing next to me, in a macabre imitation of its latest victim.
" You let me die, Y/N. Clearly you see something in your own life that you value over mine. "
I opened my mouth to respond, to deny the claims "Wendy" was making, to say I wished it had been me instead of her. But before my voice could sound out, the thing next to me raised her hand. From her fingers sprouted razor sharp talons, and with the speed of an apex predator, she grabbed me by the leg. I let out a scream of agony as the talons dug into the flesh of my calf, setting my nerves on fire.
Ignoring my cries, the creature that took Wendy's place got up and, claws still sunk into my leg, walked over to the school building which stood behind us. Only, when it came into view out of the encompassing darkness, it wasn't a school building. In its place was an old, run-down house which looked like it was falling apart. From what was left of its architecture, it was clearly Korean.
YOU ARE READING
The Next Life (다음 생에 만날래)
Fanfiction"You found me once, you can find me again." - Jisoo x Male Reader - Jang Y/N never had much to call his own in life, but two things: his best friend Wendy, and his ability to see ghosts. When both of those things combine, and he ends up tagging alon...
