Deadline |Seventeen FF|

Four

     Jaemin was worried as hell. 

     When she woke up, she couldn't tell if the man was real or if it was a dream. 

     Looking at her reflection in the vanity mirror, she noticed red marks around her neck. 

"Where did those come from?" She muttered, as her hand went up to touch her sensitive skin around her neck.

Then, memories flooded over her about the previous night, seeing a boy, attempting to suffocate her.

     Someone was trying to choke me last night, she thought, maybe it wasn't a dream.

     Jaemin attempted to tame her hair with a comb, and expectedly failed doing it.  She heaved out a sigh, and headed towards the bathroom for another try to put the raging lump of hair down. 

     The bathroom doorknob was a bit confusing to her.  She couldn't tell if it was locked or if she was just turning it the wrong way.  There was a dent on the side of the silver knob, and she tried her best to  turn the doorknob to the right—like she was used to doing—and it didn't open.

     When she finally figured out that she had to turn it the other way, she shook her head at herself.

     That made me look stupid.

She opened the door to see the messy bathroom. The shower curtain was broken, and the floor had several broken pieces of tile. As she stepped in, she carefully tiptoed to get to the sink safely. She turned on the faucet, cringing a little as it creaked when it turned.

Why is the bathroom the only thing that seems messy in this house?

Jaemin continued washing her hair for about three minutes, and finally was able to somewhat comb it down.

Jaemin grabbed a towel that was hanging from behind the creaking bathroom door, and hung her head low so she could ring out her hair. She wrapped her head with the towel, and proceeded to go on with her new life. She brushed her teeth, used the bathroom and then changed out of her pajamas.

You shouldn't get used to this Jaemin, you'll die anyways, she told herself, shaking her head. I'm alone here now. No one cares anymore.

But there was someone who did care. Well, he would have if he was alive. He died in the massacre of 2015. The case where thirteen boys died in a murder, and the only people who know who the killer is, are the ones who died. The spirits of the boys lived on, they all are unsatisfied with their death.

Joshua was one of the boys killed in that house that Jaemin was now living in for the rest of her life, which she knew would end soon. Joshua was always watching her, right by her side from the moment she came into the house. He had the urge to protect her, but he could barely do anything unless he's inside the house.

The night before, he pushed his friend off of Jaemin, who was about to choke. Joshua and Jihoon made themselves visible in front of Jaemin.

The thing about being a ghost is that people think that they aren't visible to humans. People think that ghosts can't leave where they were killed. But those things aren't true. Ghosts have an ability to become human like.  They can pass up as an actual human by appearance.  The only thing that people will notice that's different, the ghost's lack of heat and the non- beating heart.  Their blood doesn't run either so its hard for a ghost to pass up as a human if they are making physical contact. However, that ability goes away once they leave a fifty meter radius of where they died.  Although, it does come back once the ghost does.

Joshua had to go into his human-like form, and that's the only way that ghosts can communicate with humans.

     Joshua's figure became non-transparent, and solid to save Jaemin.  Of course, his heart wasn't beating, and his blood wasn't pumping, but he still had the appearance of a human.  But his body was cold because of the idle heart. 

     He remembered listening to Jaemin's thoughts as she was being choked.  He remembered hearing how she didn't feel the need to fight back, and that she wanted to die.  Joshua felt the need to stop it from happening, and save her, meaning he had to push his friend away from him. 

     Jihoon targeted Jaemin because she looked like a certain girl.  He despised the one who Jaemin was mistaken as, and her spouse, and has been wanting to kill them off for revenge.  But still, even though Joshua knew that Jihoon needed his satisfaction to finally rest in peace, he still needed Jaemin to be safe.  Jihoon yelled at him afterwards, but Joshua knew that he did a good thing by saving another spirit.

     Joshua still watched Jaemin from her side, admiring, and being careful around her.  You'd think a dead boy can't feel any emotions, but he felt many for her.