Crossroads

I slowly opened my eyes to find a scared Chan looking at me with worry. "Miss Song! Are you alright? What happened?", he bombarded me with questions as soon as I gained consciousness. "I am fine.", I said while my eyes searched for that girl. "You said you saw a ghost?", he asked. His face was white with fear and I knew I had to hide the truth from him. "I am scared Chan after what happened at my apartment. So maybe I remembered that phase.", I tried to cover up. He nodded and then helped me up. "Maybe you just need a little rest. Come one let's go to your room.", he said and helped me up the stairs. My eyes were still looking for that supernatural entity and finally, my eyes met hers. I was petrified. She had the most beautiful eyes. Last time I remember fainting because she had no eyes! But now her green eyes were standing out, and the knife was gone. She was still giving me a scary look and calmly she followed us to my room.

Chan was still in my room and an unwanted company was lingering around with a sadist look. I tried my best to sit straight and not show any signs of fear. The last thing I wanted was for Chan to pack his stuff and run away thinking his house was haunted too. The spirit was enjoying watching me struggle. Every time it edged a little closer, I gulped on my own saliva. Chan was chatting about his family animatedly, totally oblivious of the supernatural presence. The spirit moved a little closer to me and I inched to the side, smiling at Chan's words. "Miss Song and this one time my mom burnt the whole kitchen.", he said and the room was filled with his laughter. "Why? What did she do?", I asked showing interest but keeping an eye on the spirit with my peripheral vision. Chan went on and on about these little tales and the spirit took its time in torturing me and lessened the gap between us. Soon it was standing right next to me. I looked at Chan and tried my best to keep my heart calm. Sweat droplets forming on my forehead were a clear indication that I was anxious and afraid. It came closer to my ear and whispered, "How are you alive?". The warm air entered my ear and made me flinch. How am I alive? What kind of a question is this? "You are not Kim Song.", she said again. She knows! How does she know? "Miss Song, I am so sorry for taking up too much of your time. I'll leave you alone to rest now. It is 6:00 AM but I guess you should take a day off and rest now.", he said and left smiling. I wanted to stop him. I wished he stayed a little longer and saved me from being alone with a scary spirit. "Who are you?", she shrieked. Damn this girl has temper issues. "Why do you care?", I retorted. She gave me her signature smile and started walking towards the door. I was hoping for her to leave but she locked the door. I was now petrified. All I wanted was a safer place and I ended up being in a middle of a bigger life-threatening situation.

Sitting on this soft bed, I was sweating profusely as the spirit was staring at me. "What do you want?", I asked squirming under her gaze. "The answers.", she said with a blank face. "You won't get any answers from me.", I said and looked away. "Oh! Then we can stay like this forever. You know I do have a forever now, right?", she said. Her every word is laced with sarcasm. "How come you can roam around in daylight?", I asked a little curious about her ease of walking in the sun. "I am a ghost, not a vampire!", she scoffed. "But ghosts usually come out at night, don't they?", I tried to make our conversation a little civil. "No! Those are just stories. We take lives at night because it is easy to scare humans, but we are free souls and we can roam around at any time.", she answered. "Now you answer my questions.", she said looking straight into my eyes. I looked away showing my disagreement. "You owe me! I answered your questions without any tantrums. I am so angry! You wait! Ah!", she yelled making me cover my years. Her high-pitched voice made my ears bleed. This girl needs to work on her vocals or else she will kill people. Wait! That is exactly what she does. She calmed down and I removed my hands from my ears slowly. "Now! Where were we? Yes, answer the damn questions before others come!", she said sternly. "Others?", I asked a little unsure if I should have asked or let his question be answered on its own at the right time. "This house is built on a graveyard. There are like 500 more spirits roaming here. Plus, there are crossroads in the next lane making it a visiting spot for all the souls who wish to meet the grim reaper.", she explained. "Crossroads?", I was totally confused. Dying and getting my soul swapped was rather new to me. She sighed but chose to answer nonetheless. "Crossroads are the special gravelled roads where souls meet the god of death. Also, humans who wish to make some sort of deals with the angels come here and sell their souls and get their wishes granted.", she said. "Really! Can you take me there?", I asked as an amazing idea popped into my head. "If you answer my questions, yes I will take you there.", she said. I thought for a moment and the deal seemed fair to me so I nodded in agreement. She smiled and sat down next to me.

"Who are you?", she asked. "I am Kim Song.", I answered. "No, you are not. I can sense the death in you but you are alive! Who are you on the inside?", she specified her question. I sighed. "I am Stacey. My soul is stuck in this body.", I answered with utmost honesty. From there on she asked a few more questions about my life as Stacey and who else is with me and who knows I am not really Kim Song. I gave all the answers honestly but chose to hide the part related to my guardian angel, Jung Suk. She seemed a lot less scary now. Once she was satisfied with the amount of information she had, she said, "We will go to the crossroads in an hour." "Don't we need to go at sundown or something.", I asked a little unsure. "What is your obsession with making ghosts come out at night. The angels don't show up at night. We need to go in broad daylight.", she said. I nodded. "How do we summon them?", I asked. "You need to find a metal box and place a picture of yourself and a few drops of blood in that box. Then pick some gravel from that crossroad and put it in the box sealing the contract. Bury the box in the ground and then wait.", she said. "Picture of me or Kim Song?" I asked. "The body you are in.", she answered immediately. "You said they do dealing in the souls. So, if I ask for something, will it be my soul at stake or Kim Song's?", this question was pretty important for my plan to be successful. "Kim Song's soul will be taken. For angels, the body is the master of the soul. So, you are the rightful owner of her soul till you have this body.", she answered. And the moment these words came from her mouth, my grand plan to escape and live a free life seemed doable. Dang, it seemed totally possible. All I had to do was switch off my emotions and be a little selfish. It won't be that tough, right?