Whispers | Stray Kids

Winter Nights

Being alone for so long, it does strange things to one's mind, the boy thought as he hung, suspended upside down in mid air. The general bustle and noise of the humans around him, even walking through him at times, did nothing to alleviate the sense of loneliness he felt.

For, even if he saw them, felt their bodies pass through him with a disgusting clarity, the humans didn't see him. Didn't see the barely concealed scars upon his body. Didn't feel the way he tensed up, when someone's chest passed through his face.

He was completely, and utterly alone, in a street of people.

It'd been that way for years.

He drifted, following paths that gave him a sense of Deja Vu. He was used to the feeling, wondering if any of the people he passed were people he used to know. Wondering if any paths he walked down, were paths he'd walked in life.

It wasn't a new thought.

Seoul at night, that was his favourite time of day in this city.

When the neon lit the streets up in a multi coloured haze, and he could see rainbows through his translucent skin. The lights making him vanish into the night, and he could forget he was alone.

When the darkness of an empty park swallowed him whole, and he could see his veins and tendons lined under his skin, against the dark grass. When he could become real for a few hours.

When the ground was blanketed with fresh snow, and he could run and play in drifts, forgetting that cold and heat had ever existed. When he could play.

When the lights on houses and apartments came on, and the man was on his balcony waiting patiently for the ghost to appear. When he could talk to the only person in the world who could see him.

He'd met Changbin a year prior, when the boy had quiet literally run into him, expecting to pass through him, and didn't.

"Dude, what the fu---Oh." He'd snapped, turning around to glare at the ghost, and froze. His eyes had widened then, as he'd realised that this scary, tough looking human, was looking directly at him.

"You, you can see me." He'd stuttered out, shifting back from the human, who'd rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and glanced around.

"Yea... Uh, listen this is a really bad place to talk for me so..." He'd let out a nervous laugh, before motioning the ghost to follow him. Which was how he had learnt that;

A) Changbin lived in a small apartment with his best friend, who never seemed to sleep.

And B) That his name was Changbin, and he was a stressed member of a group of humans spread all over the world that could see ghosts.

And the only one, that either of them knew in Seoul.

Tonight was different, the ghost noted on night, as he perched in the railing waiting for Changbin. There was something different about the feeling and he wasn't sure what.

Maybe it was the wind, or the stars he could barely see among the bright city lights. Whatever it was, he was enjoying it. Through the window of Changbin's sliding door, the one both he and his flat mate had apparently decided to leave the curtain open for tonight, the boy could see Changbin talking to his flat mate. The other had apparently dyed his hair from that golden blonde he had yesterday, to a dark blue. It looked nice.

As he waited, for the other to notice him, the ghost played with the snow on the balcony. He looked away, enjoying the city's bright night life, his fingers running through cold that he chose not to move. Not for the first time, he wondered who he'd been before his death.

He remembered how he'd died, the chaos around him as it'd happen, but nothing before that. He'd told Changbin this when the other had asked.

The sound of the sliding door opening drew his attention, to the human closing the door and waving gently.

"Hyung." The ghost greeted softly, his hand falling off the railing to wave back. He'd decided months ago that because Changbin was older than him physically, that it was only right to call him hyung.

"Have a nice day?" Changbin smiled and nodded, coming to lean next to him.

"Figure out anything else about your past yet?" The conversation they were having, was one they'd had countless times before. The ghost almost knew his response off by heart now. He'd deny that he knew anything, and ask the human if he'd found anything else out only for him to deny as well. Then they'd switch topics. That was how the ball went.

"Unfortunately not." The ghost whispered, not that he needed to, "Did you find anything out for me?" He already knew the answer to this, He alrea--

"Yes, actually. We finally got lucky." The ghost fell through the failing, and several floors, in his surprise. And he was very grateful for Changbin waiting while he rose back up to his balcony.

"You did? What'd you find out?" He asked, excitedly, as he hooked his arms over the railing. He could hardly breathe, well to be fair he never breathed, out of excitement. Finally, he'd find out about himself.

"Yea. I was thinking about how you'd told me about... Y'know. So, I decided to search up any deaths similar to yours. I found a few, but one of the articles had a picture of someone looking like you. A student ID picture or something by the looks of it."

"Do you, do you have the article? Can you show me?" he asked frantically. Changbin nodded, pulling his phone from his pocket and opening it. The ghost watched as he tapped his way through screens of white, before lifting it to show him.

The article had been titled, Missing peoples finally located, which hadn't surprised the ghost. He'd barely started existing like this when the police had stormed the place.

It'd started off explaining the situation, how his captor (Or so it seemed) had been kidnapping random students of the streets and taking them to a secluded building on the edge of Seoul. From there, it had comments from other people he remembered seeing in the room with him. Then--

"Students, Kim Seungmin and Choi Yeonggi were among the few to..." The ghost trailed off, getting distracted by a picture of a familiar face. His face. He examined the caption under it closely, lips parting.

"Is that...?" He asked, looking up at Changbin with wide eyes. The question didn't need to be finished for the older to figure it out.

"Yes. That's you, Kim Seungmin." The name felt right. Seungmin smiled gently, looking relieved.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." He whispered gently. The other smiled again, looking pleased as he tucked his phone away.

"I can take an educated guess though."