Crossing Over

Fourteen

"How to get rid of ghosts.." Dae read aloud to herself. She laid across her bed on her stomach with her computer in front of her. Her notebook was opened to a clean sheet of paper with a pen waiting. It had been one thing to wake up to her things being moved around and three men walking around her house but last night had been too far. Just who did Yoongi think he was? The dream had left her with more sympathy but he had no right to invade her dreams without at least asking her first. 

"What are you reading?" A voice sounded beside her. Dae jumped. Her hands shot out to steady her computer before it fell backwards off her bed. "Bob Saget! Don't scare me like that!" She held her hand over her chest to fell her heart hammering against her ribs. "You could have given me a heart attack. That does it, I'm going to put a bell on you." 

Tae's mouth turned up into a boxy grin. It took her a moment to remember that she was supposed to be reprimanding him. It was easy to see how one would fawn over such an adorable smile. "I like bells, but you didn't answer my question." He leaned in closer to read her screen over her shoulder. "You're trying to get rid of a ghost?" He blinked and looked over at her for a moment. 

"Tae.. you're a ghost," she mumbled. His expression confused her. How could the same person who had sounded so intimidating just days before sound so innocent now. "Don't you want to move on instead of being stuck here? I mean.. it's not a choice to stay here, is it?" she asked quietly. 

His head shook no slowly. "I've never really thought about it. I can see Kookie's window from here. I get to watch him playing video games. I can't really go over there though. I've tried to leave the house. All three of us tried. It doesn't work though.." his brow dropped into a frown. 

"What if I could help you? What if we could get you to move on? Would you like that?" Dae asked. 

"Move on to where?" Tae asked curiously. He pulled his legs up to sit cross legged next to her. He propped his chin onto his hand. 

Dae was taken back by the question. She blinked several times while trying to think of an answer. "Well.. to whatever people move onto when they.." she looked up at him unsure if he was going to be sensitive to the word. 

"Die. When they die," he finished casually. 

"Yeah, that." she replied lamely. She glanced down at her computer screen to keep from looking at him. It felt like a subject that should be handled with more tact but she wasn't sure how. 

"Like Valhalla, heaven, hell, purgatory, reincarnation, or whatever else people believe in," Tae continued. His expression was thoughtful as he tugged at a loose thread on her blanket. "I haven't really given much thought to it. I guess I just believed that this was it. Yoongi has talked about moving on a lot. Not so much lately but he did a lot in the beginning. He talked about leaving this house before we died here though so it's not really surprising that he'd want out even more now." 

Dae studied his face while he spoke. On one hand he looked like he could be discussing the weather with the lack of emotion that he was putting into the conversation. On the other, she could see how this might have been something tiresome to him. It had been several years since he had been stuck there. Surely it was old news by now. "But what if you could go somewhere else? Would you want to?" she repeated. 

Tae stopped pulling on the thread for a moment to look over at her and smile. "There are loads of places I would like to go to but you guys are here now so it's not as boring. Especially when your brother sings while he makes pancakes. It's great to watch and the pancakes smell great! I can't remember the last time I had pancakes." His eyes were shining while he spoke with such longing for something she took for granted. 

"Yeah, his pancakes are pretty great," she smiled back. 

"Hey! I have an idea," Tae reached over her to her keyboard. "Let's watch a movie. That's something I haven't been able to do in a while either." 

Dae slid back so that Tae could press the buttons. The screen switched from the article to Netflix. "How about something animated?" he asked her. 

"That sounds good. You can pick one," she offered. 

"This one! This looks good!" He hovered the mouse over the movie Coco. "It's a boy in the Land of the Dead. That seems fitting," he grinned and pressed play. 

The two laid on their stomachs side by side to watch the movie. His laugh was much more childlike than the deep voice he spoke with, which caught her off guard the first time she heard it. Her eyes gravitated towards his face to watch his reactions when she knew an amusing part was coming up. 

It wasn't until the credits started to scroll across the screen that Dae realized how late it was getting. "I have class tomorrow," she started when her door opened. 

"Why are you still awake?" Jin stopped and looked back and forth between Dae and Tae. His mouth opened to say something but no words came out. Dae sat up quickly followed by Taehyung. 

"We were watching a movie. I lost track of how late it was getting," she explained quickly. 

Jin's eyes narrowed towards the boy. "Ghost or not, it's time for you to poof." 

Tae's eyes widened before he made himself disappear. Jin's glare turned to Dae. "And you, bed. Now." He turned and pulled the door shut firmly behind him. Dae could hear him yelling at Namjoon down the hall about turning his music off and going to bed as well. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good news! I have an outline of the story finished which means I know where it's going and what's going to happen! Bad news, due to my work schedule it still might take a little while to get everything out but I'm going to try to keep updates steady!