Daemon High: New Life?

Attending a funeral has never felt so weird

"Hi, I am Xiang. A yurei (a Japanese ghost). Why you ask? It's because I'm part Japanese, oh the other reason? To make it clear, I'll just tell you the entire story, oh wait better. Why not we start with the end?"

Chapter 1: Attending a funeral has never felt so weird

It was a Saturday; I was laid back and flipping through my Guide to All Things Magical-ish, stopping only to read whenever something interesting came up. My cousin, Xian at the mean time told me that he was going out. I didn't care, little did I know that'll probably be my last thought alive.

While I was reading a section about Lycanthropy, I could see at the corner of my window that Xian was busy on his tree platform across the house which he built a couple years back. He was preparing his rocket launcher. Don't ask me how he got in, eBay maybe?

I don't really have anything against him and I didn't really know what happened to make him do something like this, perhaps maybe I'll never know.

Like anyway, he mis-fired the rpg straight at me and blowing up a huge chunk of the house along with it. When I got up I was dizzy and disorientated. I groaned and said "What in the name of what just hit me?" I looked at my body to check for missing body parts and to my horror; I found out that I do have missing body parts, worse yet I found out that I died, wow, go figure.

Instead of two legs, my entire lower body was a smoky wisp of a ghostly tail and instead of jeans, I wore a gray cloth belt that warped around my waist. It covered the place where my genitals are. I was kind of relieved that I could still use the toilet. There were also four soul flames around my head. I guessed that I was a yurei, a Japanese ghost, wait. Me parents were Japanese? I know I'm Asian, but really? I always thought I was Chinese because of my name, it meant fly, no, it's not the insect, the movement.

I tried standing up, but it felt more like I was on a segway, being pushed by a trolley, while being pulled up by a crane. It was automatic, I didn't need to strain my thought on it, all I had to do was lean.

When I was about to leave I saw a shine in the rubble, I reached out and pulled out a large sword. It was the same sword that was used as an ornament in my room. I had this strange feeling to pick it up, like it was calling out to me. To my surprise, I could touch it. I also found the book I was reading lying in a pile of rubble; surprisingly the book wasn't even scratched. I placed it near my belt and suddenly it got sucked into the belt, like water down the sink. I panicked and tried to grab it back and it did, it came back it my hands, like magic. I experimented the process again, turns out my gray belt thing could absorb anything and it didn't seem to weight me down, then again I'm a ghost, I have magical powers, I guess?

I heard a slight gasp and I turned towards the direction, it came from, well you probably have guessed it. He raised his hands in the air and screamed "I can explain!"

"You will pay for that," I said. I raised my sword and tried to cut him. Instead of horribly maiming my cousin in a cloud of rage, I swung through him. The sword felt light and it fit my hands but somehow, possibly due to the lack of using it. I missed. Xian gave me a scared look and said "Look! I had to do it, or else I'll-"

Suddenly something strange happened, behind Xian appeared a black portal. Many purple-black hands sprouted from the portal and grabbed Xian. He started screaming, and yelling something about this not being part of the bargain, I quickly dropped my sword and reached out at him. Our fingers scrapped as he got pulled in. Never to be seen again.

Couple of hours later wandering through the broken waste of my old room. My sister finally got home from work, she was shocked and immediately dropped her suitcase. She looked around for me and Xian and called our names. I didn't want to respond; I didn't want her to freak out, so I just stayed there and watched.

She cried out our names frantically, searching through the rubble with obvious panic on her face until she came across a pair of burned up jeans, half torn. Huh so there they were. Realising the worst had happened, she collapsed on her knees and started crying. In the distance, I could hear the sounds of fire engine sirens, and the sounds of people yelling, I could see on of my neighbours writing something down onto a piece of paper, he was looking at the house numberplate at his feet. 4 numbers. That son of a bitch.

Fast forward to a few weeks later, where I managed to learn invisibility, the house is being rebuilt and I attended Xian's and my funeral. Good thing was that I got a separate coffin even though there was not enough body to bury, apparently only pieces they could find were my mangled legs and my burnt pants, but it's the thought that counts.

There were many of my other relatives there and most of my classmates. Everyone was crying or on the verge of doing so. Even my childhood crush was there, I felt compelled to talk to her; then again I'll freak her out and possibly mess up her life. I decided to stay invisible the entire time when it was over, I decided to do what any other normal ghost would do. I floated behind my sister and whispered "Thank you..."

I was invisible that whole time and the look on her face wasn't fear, I think she smiled, I think.

After the funeral was over, I began to go through my book in hopes of finding something to help me cope with my unfortunately shoddy sitiuation. To my surprise, it was heavier. I then found an extra chapter in the table of contents which I've never read before, talking about this place called Burgeon Isle. There's even a map of the place, I flipped to that page and saw a part of it that was glowing for a while and suddenly stopped. I closed the book and with a strange feeling that I was being led somewhere, I followed.