Hello

Dawn reread his book, trying to ignore it, but the dark figure suddenly appeared outside his window, peering in at him. Dawn clenched his fists, trying not to look. The 'man' was drenched in his own blood, the face almost disfigured with one eye popped out and dangling from the socket. The jaw hanging from his upper mouth. That was not a very good sight at all. But, not that which makes Dawn feel unwell. The pressure from the spirit was intense, almost suffocating him.

Lena, busy primping in front of a mirror, saw Dawn's reflection. She frowned, noticing the kid looked in distress.

"Dawn, what's the matter?" she asked, turning around.

Dawn looked up. The smoky black figure was still pacing outside the window, trying to get his attention. Dawn wasn't scared, exactly, but the pressure from the spirits who'd died such gruesome deaths made it hard to breathe. This kind of spirit, or ghost, tended to invite the dark matter that floated around the air to stick on him and build the huge balloon which created heavy pressure for someone so sensitive like Dawn. That's why his grandfather had forbidden him from getting close to victims of suicide or murder; the consequences could be fatal. 

"Nothing, Len, I'm fine."

Dawn went back to his book. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid the spirits that often drifted past; it's just that his grandpa was right – every life and death is predetermined. How they meet their end is already decided. If he was meant to encounter them, he couldn't avoid it, but if not, then they wouldn't meet. So, even if he tried to avoid them, if fate destined him to meet these spirits, he'd have to face them eventually.

….

A fairly large doctor's office. A young, handsome doctor sits behind his desk after a busy shift. He looks up at a knock on the door. His assistant opens the door for his visitor.

"Doc,"

The young doctor smiles. It's Emily, bursting with energy.

"Hi Dr. Regan, how are you?" she exclaims enthusiastically.

The handsome young doctor watches Emily approach and sit down. His nameplate on the desk identifies him as Arnold Regan, an internist.

"Miss Emily, you here. I thought Dawn was coming too? Why didn't he come in?" he asks, glancing behind Emily.

Emily smiles. She knows what he means.

"Dawn's outside, he didn't want to come in. Is Pops' medicine ready?" she asks.

The doctor glances at his assistant, who he'd sent to get the medication. The young doctor is practically the family's doctor; since one of his family members used the funeral home a few years ago, their relationship has grown closer, especially the young doctor's curiosity about Dawn.

"Too bad. Is he alright? How's his asthma? Has it been relapsed? Do you still keep inhalers at home? Does he still have panic attacks during heavy rain, does he…"

Emily cuts off the young doctor's rapid-fire questions.

"Why not one at a time? That's a lot of questions. You haven't been to the funeral home since you started working here; come and ask him yourself."

Doctor Regan looked down and chuckled. His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.

"Hey, pardon me, I was too excited. If you don't mind, I left you an inhaler and a depressant, just in case Dawn had a panic attack. I'll stop by the funeral home this weekend, don't forget to prepare food for me, okay?"

Emily pursed her lips.

"Don't bother coming, doc, I know you're very busy. I'll take your message to Dawn, you have his number, you can ask him directly. Oh yeah, thanks for Dawn's medicine, for Pops' I'll wire it when I get home."

The doctor nodded.

"Of course, Miss Em, take your time"

…

Night comes. The rain was falling so hard when Emily's car arrived at their house.

"Oh, luckily it wasn't flooded," said Emily, running out of her car, hastily opening her umbrella to protect her from the rain. He looked at Dawn sharply, the young man didn't even care if he got wet by the rain.

"This brat, can't you just wait, what if you get sick, come here" cried Emily pulling Dawn's hand closer to her so he wouldn't get wet. Lena opened her umbrella and ran towards another building.

"See you tomorrow Em,"

"Lena, don't forget what we talked about earlier, it has to be done tomorrow, right away!" Emily exclaimed. While running, Lena raised her hand.

"Yeah, I know"

Dawn was bored waiting for Emily, who was taking too long, he was about to head towards the house when Emily stopped him. Grab his wrist tight.

"Hey, where are you going, can you stay under the umbrella? Do you want to go to the hospital?" Dawn just kept quiet looking at Emily who had been so fussy. He was getting used to it. Emily held his hand tightly as if he were a five-year-old and pulled him to the house.

"After this, wash your face with warm water, I will bring the barley tea to your room."

"No need Em, I want to go straight to sleep"

"Don't argue with me"

The rain fell harder and harder until even though they had protected themselves with large umbrellas, their lower bodies were still exposed and wet. The air was getting colder, and the rain didn't seem like it would stop soon, the sky was completely light gray.

Lena and several other staff occupy a two-story building, which is used as a mess at the very end of the funeral home complex. Meanwhile, Emily, Pops, and Dawn live in a fairly modern two-story house in the middle. The two buildings are relatively new, half the age of Dawn. Some staff decided to rent the house outside the complex, while some who had been staff for a long time stayed. They were used to the strange things they said were often found in the funeral house which had been around for a hundred years. Although in reality, all of that is nothing more than rumors.

The only one who could feel something strange there was Dawn.

Now, at the funeral house, three new bodies have arrived that day and will begin to be laid to rest the next day. And like any other night, Dawn could hear some noises from the funeral home building. That night, he heard the sad weeping of a woman whose body was already in the embalming room and being made up by Ross, a staff for female corpses.

The rain still falls, although not so heavy as before but the air is quite cold. Slowly, Dawn walked toward the end of the funeral house's service hall. The dim light from the hanging lamp from the door at the end of the hall provided some light. While dragging the teddy bear slippers that Emily had bought, Dawn headed to the preparation room that had been closed for the night.

No one was there at that time. It is about one in the morning. Dawn had to ignore so much black smoke that flew right to his face and got through them. The little emotional spirits were nothing for the living like him. Dawn grabbed the doorknob leading to the room and slowly turned it open.

The squeaky sound of the old was faint and echoed throughout the hallway. Even if there were people there, no one would dare to look at who, or what was making that sound. Dawn stood in front of the door, looking straight into the room with a little light in there. He looked at the space in front of the coffin that would be buried the next day.

He could smell the strong smell of formalin. The room was tightly closed, so the smell circulated there. Frank and Ross turned on the air conditioning to prevent the body from decomposing quickly, imagine how smelling the room is.

The body that experienced a natural death did not have as much pressure compared to the other, and the black smoke produced by the emotional spirits was not too thick. Dawn could see quite clearly the figure squatting facing the corner in front of the new coffin that Ross had finished preparing. Still in her figure when she died.

"Hello there," said Dawn.