World of the Dead (27)
World of the Dead (27)
"No idea," Shujin sighed. "The guy did not call for weeks! I tried calling that good for nothing shaman, Shinjin as well but he's out of town too. Those two men are so useless! Leaving like that, making us worried."
Gayoon did not reply but lowered her head and kept on peeling the potatoes. She did not tell Shujin about the ghost stalker. Even though Shujin had been a seer once, she had lost her ability decades ago after giving birth to Gayoon's mother. Moreover, she was merely a medium and not an exorcist like Junho. She saw passing spirits but never attracted them on a dangerous level like Gayoon did.
For some odd reason, Gayoon's powers were stronger than the other females in her family. She did not have many maternal cousins but the ones who had this powers only saw a few ghosts. Those spirits did not even sense them and most of the women could live a normal life without much worry.
But Gayoon attracted the ghosts like moths to a flame. They found her, told her things and even tried to possess her many times. Junho had trained her in some defense and mind tricks to make her mentally stronger. Ghosts found it difficult to possess people with a strong mentality and it was a good way to protect one's sanity.
However, her powers seemed to be growing more and more at an alarming rate. Seungjo was already tailing her 24x7. On top of that, other ghosts were also beginning to wander around their neighborhood, trying to find the Seer. For the past few days, Gayoon had been seeing a lot of spirits who were bombarding her.
Every time she headed out, there were ghosts of recently deceased spirits waiting for her. While peeling the potatoes, she dared to sneak a glance at the window. There were pale white figures standing outside, watching her. They knew she could see them and were waiting for her to come out.
There were ghosts of all ages. Some were old, some young. But all of them were determined to fulfill their last wishes.
The figures were standing there, unable to break the barriers placed around the house. They were getting increasingly impatient and would not budge. Even Seungjo stood with them, smirking at her. They were there, waiting and waiting. It was all they could do.
"What happened?" Shujin asked. She was worried for her granddaughter who was beginning to look weak. She noticed that Gayoon did not wat much over the past few days and spent an awful lot of time indoors. She rarely went out unless it was to go to school or to her new friend, Minjung's house.
"Nothing!" Gayoon lied. Shujin stared at her granddaughter for a while before boxing her ears.
"OW!" Gayoon yelled in pain. "What the hell are you doing, you old woman?"
"Stop lying to me!" Shujin scolded her. "Something is worrying you and it's written all over your face!"
"I-I failed an exam!" Gayoon lied. That earned her another painful pull in the ear.
"Don't lie!" Shujin exclaimed. "You got the highest score! Your teacher, Kang, called me to share the good news."
As much as Gayoon respected Teacher Kang, for the first time in her life, she wanted to whack the old man for being a blabbermouth. Who told him to call her grandma about her results?
"I'm fine!" she said, feeling irritated. "Stop nagging!"
Shujin whacked her head before dropping the subject. Gayoon had an inkling that it would be brought up again and she sincerely hoped that Junho would return before the old woman could interrogate her again.
Seungjo was tapping on the window, trying to get her attention but Gayoon ignored him. After encountering him in the supply closet that day, she had tried not to be alone. She had been sleeping in her grandma's room, citing that the sound of leaking water from the pipe was annoying her. Shujin was suspicious but allowed her granddaughter to stay in her room with her.
As for going outside, she forced Jaewan to accompany her almost everywhere. On the days he had training, she would follow him to his training sessions and wait until he was done before making him escort her to her house. He did not complain but was a little hurt by her secrecy. Gayoon refused to tell him what was going on because she knew that he would not believe her. Yet, she was grateful that he was helping her so much.
But the person she was worried about was Minjung. Even though the girl was going to therapy, she was still haunted by what Seungjo did to her. She still did not tell the therapist about what happened to her nor about the fact that she killed him. These things were eating her from within, and she was becoming thinner day by day. Gayoon sometimes, cooked food for her and Minjung's parents were also glad to see that their daughter had at least one friend who cared about her.
Putting the peeled potatoes in a bowl, she picked up her phone to call Minjung.
"Hello Gayoon," Minjung greeted in her croaked voice. The past few weeks had taken a huge toll on her and she was beginning to sound husky.
"Minjung, how was the therapy session?" Gayoon asked. "Did you guys make any progress?"
"The therapist said that it'll take time for me to fully open up about what happened to me," Minjung said from the other end of the line. "She also said that my condition might be due to hormones. Girls my age apparently go through some kind of hormone change which makes us moody."
Gayoon scoffed at those words. The therapist was probably a novice who had no idea about mental health issues.
"If you wanna talk, just let me know," she told her. "You know I'm always ready to help you, right?"
It was all Gayoon could provide her with. Minjung needed emotional support and given that she was no longer going to school, everyone was beginning to care less about her. Even the people she had once considered friends, did not visit her. They were busy with their own lives, uncaring of what happened to her. Most of them were with her for her popularity but when it came to being her source of comfort, none of them stepped up.
"Take care, alright?" Gayoon said. "Don't' stress yourself."
"Yeah…"
Gayoon bid her goodbye and hung up the phone. Minjung was still holding the phone to her ear, feeling numb. She was sitting in a corner with all the lights turned off. The room was shrouded in darkness and strangely, she felt comfortable in it. She was afraid to turn the lights back on, afraid of what would happen if she did.
The cold air was sweeping into the room through the window. Minjung was very still, unable to move from her spot. She was curled up, clutching her thighs as the cold breeze touched her skin. It whispered in her ears as if trying to tell her something. She shut her ears, trying to block out those whispers which were tormenting here.
"Murderer…"
Tears rolled from her eyes and she was unable to stop those words from reaching her ears. She whimpered, guilt and shame taking over her heart.
"You…killed…me…"
"Stop," she moaned, crying into her palms. "Please stop…"
The invisible being was taunting her, feeding on her fear. It was gleeful and seeing her being tormented only encouraged it to torture her more. Seeing her in pain excited the ghost which was hovering around her. Seungjo was eyeing his prey, excited to see her so broken.
"You're unworthy to live," he said in her ears. "You killed him. You killed a person!"
"NO!" Minjung screamed in agony. "I DIDN'T!"
I didn't! she thought wildly. I didn't mean to!
"But you did," Seungjo said in a soft tone, enjoying every bit of her misery. Seeing her alive and well was painful for him to watch. Why was she living so freely after killing him in cold blood? Even though she claimed it was an accident, Seungjo knew that she did it on purpose. The girl wanted to kill him because he had taught her a lesson. She bullied his Gayoon and made fun of his feelings for her, turning him into a laughing stock.
In his mind, she got what she deserved and now, he was going to make it ever worse.
"You wanted to kill him…" he whispered in her ears. "He died while you survived and now, that thing will be a part of you!"
That thing…the baby in her. His baby was in her. The very thought disgusted him. She was not fit to carry his baby. He never wanted children with Gayoon either!
"Kill it…" he whispered, gaslighting her thoughts. "You can kill it and end your own misery too."
He leaned closer to her ear. Minjung shivered as the frosty breath touched her ear.
"You know what to do," he said menacingly. Minjung was in a trance upon hearing those words.
Yes, she knew what to do. It was such an easy choice and yet, she never thought about it before.
"Yes," she finally replied. "I do."