The Cursed and the Wicked

The Reaper and the Outcast pt. 6

        

Bahati's alarm blared loudly, slowly waking her up from her deep slumber. She slammed her fits down on the buzzer, turning off the alarm as she slowly sat up and outstretched her arms above her head and yawned. Bahati looked down and noticed that she was sleeping in her bed instead of on the couch, where she fell asleep.

"What the...?" She managed to let out as she scratched her thick hair through her bonnet. "How did I get here?" She thought before Jae popped up in her head. "He must have...but why?" She asked herself but decided to shrug off the thought. Obviously, he was just being kind to her and she appreciated that. Finally, it's someone who wasn't freaked or crept out by her and her powers. Of course, it had to be a reaper, someone who has already died, to understand who she was.

Bahati looked around and noticed that Jae wasn't around. "He must be off reaping somebody, right now". She said, yawning again before she got out of her bed and headed straight for her bathroom to relieve herself.

Bahati only had to go to school today, so far as he knew. Clients, usually, show up during the afternoon to evening, so she had plenty of time to go to school first before she had to investigate any paranormal activity.

She did her normal morning routine, change into 'active' clothing, goes for a run around the neighborhood, comes back and eat breakfast, before brushing her teeth and showering, before changing into her casual clothes. She wore red skinny jeans, black shoe boots, and a black, V-neck t-shirt. She put on all of her iron rings on again just in case a spirit bothers her during school. The iron makes the ghosts dematerialize. She combed her thick, curly hair in a fro and grabbed all of her belongings for school.

Jae didn't poof back to Bahati's side until she was in one of her classes, Calculus. He sat all the way in the back, so he wouldn't distract Bahati from her schoolwork, though she still noticed him. Bahati gets these 'weird' feelings when she was around someone who was dead. Every time she was around someone who has died, she would get goosebumps, the hairs on her arm would stand up and an electrifying static sensation would travel up her spine. All this happened when Jae poofed into the room.

When Jae popped up in the back of his classroom, the professor, Jin II-Sung, started to get nervous but calmed himself down before any of his students noticed the change in his attitude. He had no idea why there was a reaper in his classroom, but he decided to ignore him and his presence and continue teaching his class.

Bahati noticed II-Sung's slight change in demeanor, but she shrugged it off when he did and continued taking notes in class. However, from the corner of her eye, Bahati saw a ghostly, transparent, young woman, standing outside the window of the classroom, staring at another student, who sat next to her, Min Hyung-Seok. She looked over at the young woman, trying to read her. She wasn't mad or angry, or revengeful. The young woman was sad and lonely as she stood there, watching Hyung-Seok, though he never noticed.

Bahati had decided right there that he was going to be her next client, whether he wanted to be or not. Nobody needs a ghost stalking him or her everywhere, especially if they can't see it.

When class was over, and everybody packed up their belongings, Jae popped over to Bahati's side.

"Man, that was boring". He groaned and complained to her. "This is what you have to deal with every day?" He asked, yawning.

"Yes, it's school. Didn't you go to school when you were alive?" She asked him, whispering as she packed up her belongings.

"I don't have any memories of me being alive". He told her.

What he said made Bahati feel bad.

"I'm sorry that I brought it up". She apologized.

Professor II-Sung noticed and watched how casually the reaper and Bahati were conversing.

"Is that who he is following? Is Bahati going to die?" He thought, gathering up his possessions so another professor can come and teach their class in this one.

"No, they wouldn't be so friendly with one another if that were the case. Who knew Bahati had that ability to see spirits?" He thought. "She is going to be trouble for us". Said a deeper, darker voice in his head, but II-Sung was oblivious to it. He ignored it and walked out of the classroom, leaving Bahati alone with Jae and Hyung-Seok.

Bahati needed to get close to Hyung-Seok as much as possible without looking weird since they were no more than classmates. There was a higher possibility that he has heard the rumors about her seeing ghosts. Hopefully, he would not make it hard for her to do her job.

"Uhm, hey Min Hyung-Seok". She called out to her and got his attention.

He was a bit surprised that she was the one calling his name, but nothing more than that. He didn't find her to be weird or anything like everybody else in the school did. Who cares if she saw ghosts? Sometimes he wished he were able to, so maybe he could see her. He gave her a simple, but warm, and friendly smile.

"What's up?" He asked her, which caught her off guard. Bahati wasn't expecting him to be friendly towards her.

Bahati sighed. She wasn't going to beat around the bush. There was no point.

"I'm going, to be honest with you and get straight to the point. You have heard of the rumors about me, right?" She asked him.

Hyung-Seok nodded his head.

"Yeah, but I found it unfair how they treat you because of it". He told her.

Bahati was caught off guard again and then her heat started to race a bit, but she was able to calm it down.

"A-ah, yes. Thanks", she said getting shy, but she shook away those feelings.

"The rumors are true. I do see spirits and one is following you around right now. Actually, she is right behind you". Bahati mentioned, pointing behind him.

Hyung-Seok immediately turned around, but of course, he couldn't see anything.

"Wow, that's creepy. Why would a ghost be falling me around?" He asked Bahati shivering.

"She's a young beautiful woman, who seems to be familiar with you. She says her name is Kim Eun-Bi". Bahati told him.

Hyung-Seok widened his eyes, but soon the shock in his eyes was replaced by sadness as he stared at nothing but hoped Eun-Bi was there, right in front of him. He reached out his hand and touched her cheek, before going for her hair.

Bahati and Jae watched the encounter between Hyung-Seok and Eun-Bi. They could tell that the two were together romantically at some point, but unfortunately one passed away. It was tragic watching these two. Their love for one another never faded away even when one died, but their love could never be and she must pass on.

"I'll tell you everything. I'll meet you after school and there we can swing by my house". Hyung-Seok told Bahati.

"Sounds like a plan". She agreed.