Chapter 2

My eyes flew open and I looked up to see I was outside. Or... I thought so? The Moon was directly above me in the middle of the sky. There were trees surrounding me and it was almost pitch black but I could see fine with the moonlight.

Suddenly a boy came into view above me. He had silver hair with black roots and was dressed in dark clothes. He was expressionless.

His dark eyes stared blankly at me. He was silent. All expression was gone from his face, he looked empty, completely empty. His eyes were cold and so... so empty...

"Who are you?" I asked, feeling terrified.

"Yoongi." he said blankly.

"Where is this?"

"I don't know, probably hell."

"What?"

He walked away.

I jumped up instantly and ran after him.

How did he walk so far so fast?!

"WAIT! COME BACK!" I yelled, looking around me at the dark forest that seemed black and white in the dark.

He turned, still expressionless. "How long have you been here?"

"A few seconds..? I don't know! Where is here!?"

"I told you, I don't know." he said. He just kept walking.

"Wait! Please stop!" I begged, trying to catch up.

He finally stopped and sighed, letting me catch up.

"You have to know something... please... where is this?" I asked, I felt really scared.

"I. Don't. Know." he said, sounding very annoyed.

I looked around again at the trees and then the sky, it looked the same in every direction. I looked back at him and he was so expressionless while I was so terrified.

"H-How long... have you been here?" I asked, stuttering in fear.

"I don't know." he said again. "Time's strange here."

We were silent for a second as I internally panicked because I couldn't remember... much... I remembered my life but... I couldn't remember how I got there or what happened before.

"What's your name?" the boy asked.

"Uh-Uhm... Y-Y/n..." I stuttered before feeling so overwhelmed and scared that I fell to the ground, putting my head on my knees.

I felt like I couldn't breathe and I was panicking.

I started crying.

I heard the boy... what was his name..? Yoongi, sigh. He looked at me and actually had emotion in his eyes at that point. Not much, but there was something.

He got down and looked at me, still had very little expression. "Stop crying..." he said quietly.

"I'm sorry- I- I don't know-" I hid my face.

I felt him move closer. He grabbed my hand and pulled me back to my feet.

Gah- he's ice cold- his skin is ice cold.

"There's no point in crying here." he said, he had a gentle look on his face now.

I wiped my eyes, "I'm sorry..."

"Come with me." he said quietly, leading me somewhere in the forest.

We walked and I struggled to stay calm as I followed the stranger through a dark empty forest.

We reached an area where there was a clearing and in the clearing was a building. It looked like a store of some sort.

"What is that..?" I asked quietly.

"An abandoned store or something." He answered. "It's the only building around. This is where I've been, and where you'll be, for the rest of fricking eternity."

"Wait what?!"

"I mean, unless you can figure out how to unkill yourself." He said, walking into the store.

I followed close behind. "What..?"

He sighed again. "You must not remember how you died." He turned around. "You're dead."

"What!?"

"Yep, don't know why we're the only two here because plenty of people have died but what does it matter." He shrugged. "That's my room." He pointed to a door. "Stay out and don't bother me."

I didn't know what to say as he walked into his room and closed the door.

"Dead? I can't be dead." I said to myself. "How..?"

I looked around and saw a room on the other side of the main room. I walked over and opened it. Inside there was chaos. It was messy. There were blankets in the corner though.

I couldn't walk through an empty forest at night and I didn't want to get lost alone… so I gave in and stayed there. I made a makeshift bed out of the blankets and laid down on it, staring at the ceiling.

I'd noticed one thing since we'd gotten inside the building. The colors were so dim even with the lights on. It felt like they were fading to gray.

"You're dead."

"How can I be dead…? where is this…?" I said out loud to myself. "He's gotta be lying…"

I spent the rest of the night trying to remember how I got there. The last thing I could remember was being on the phone with Isla.

I was talking to Isla…

I got out of the car for some reason… I can't remember.

And… I was talking to her… I was distracted by her I think… and I got hit…

Wait… I got hit by a car.

And then woke up here.

"Holy crap, I am dead…" I realized.

I jumped up and ran to the room that the boy locked himself in. I knocked on the door a million times before he opened it. "What!?" He asked angrily. He soon saw my face and sighed, "Don't tell me you're gonna cry again. It'a simple. You died, I died, we're dead. We're stuck with each other but don't need to bother each other so go awayyyy."

I blinked back tears. "I can't be dead…"

"Yes you can! You are!"

"But… have you tried getting out of the forest..?" I asked. "Or following the road!?"

"Yes, I've tried both of those." He sighed heavily. "Going any direction just leads you back here."

"How..?"

"I don't know! It just does." He said.

I was silent for a minute before getting the courage to ask. "How did you die..?"

He frowned, he thought a minute before saying; "Got pushed off a bridge. I don't remember what happened other than I hit my head on the ground, not the water."

Why does it sound like he's lying?

"Oh…" I said quietly. "I think I got hit by a car…"

"Hmm… well… if you don't believe me about the forest, go try for yourself." He said, "I'll be stuck with you again by tomorrow but at least I can get some sleep."

"Wait, how did you find me?" I asked.

"I was… taking a walk… and saw you." He said.

The "taking a walk" part sounded very much like a lie.

"Oh…" I responded and then looked outside. "Well enjoy your sleep… I'm testing that theory."

"Thank goodness." He locked himself back into the room and I left the building. I walked all night, I'd made it back to the building eight times but kept trying again until light came.

The morning was still very dull colored, the sun seemed like it was running out of light.

I walked back into the building at what time was probably three PM but then again, who knows if time even exists here.

I looked at the sky again and froze. It was both night and day at the same time.

I didn't know how to describe it but it definitely was.

So that's what he meant when he said time was weird..?

I walked back inside and he was standing at the shelves of the store. Looking at the contents.

He looked at me. "Welcome back to hell."

"I doubt this is hell…" I pointed out.

"Maybe not but it sure isn't heaven." He said, deadpan.

"Maybe it's like… in between life and heaven or hell. Maybe we haven't completely died yet and are stuck in this limbo place." I suggested.

"That's insane." He said.

"Well thank you for your input Mr. Optimist."

"Was I right?" He asked.

He meant about the forest. "Sadly yes."

"So you believe me now?"

"Yes…"

"Great." he said blankly.

I walked over and looked at the shelf that he was staring at. "What are you looking at?"

"Your mom."

"Okay yeah, you are definitely a teenager like I thought..."

He smirked at that. "I was sixteen... I would have turned seventeen in three months if I hadn't died."

"Oh..."

"Do I look upset about it? Don't make it awkward."

"Oh okay... I- uhm... I'm... sixteen too."

I looked at the shelf again. "But seriously, why are you staring at random obscure kitchen utensils?"

"I'm trying to find out why the afterlife is a store full of useless random crap." He said, "including me. Oh wait, this is where God sends the useless garbage!"

"Don't say that.."

"Right, you're here." He remembered. "But seriously, have you ever seen one of these!?" He asked, picking up the spiked ladle thats handle was a fork.

"Absolutely not." I said honestly. "What's that?" I pointed to another thing.

He picked it up and pressed it down. It let out a weird screeching sound that made both of us jump.

"Looks like a screaming goat themed stapler." He said, deadpan, looking closer at the goat shaped stapler.

I looked around at the other shelves after laughing at the stapler. "Is there food here or do we starve?"

"I haven't gotten hungry yet." He shrugged. "Are you?"

I shook my head, "no I was just thinking… I guess if we're dead we don't need food."

"Yet I still need sleep." He said, walking back to his room.

"Really? I just walked all of however long that was and I'm not tired at all." I said.

"Ah well I'm not actually tired. I just like sleeping." He said before closing the door. He opened it right after though. "Don't bother me!" And slammed it again.

"Well then…" I sighed. "Thanks for sticking me with such a lovely person for eternity." I said to God, who I was now questioning extremely much.

I walked around the store for a while before going to the room I claimed as mine. I cleaned up the mess a little and made it more barable.

I laid down and stared at the ceiling. I let myself think about my family and friends for the first time.

I thought about my older brother Seungmin and my younger brother Seonwoo. Then I thought about my parents. Then my friends…

"Seonwoo and Seungmin…" I said to myself. "They'll miss me the most… especially Seonwoo… no no…"

I didn't mean to leave you… I'll miss you…

I was stuck in my thoughts for what could've been minutes or hours.

I was the one who died but I found myself grieving the fact I would never see my brothers and friends again. My parents too but especially my brothers… Especially Seungmin? I'd miss Seungmin the most but I knew Seonwoo would miss me the most…

I didn't mean to leave you Seonwoo… I'm sorry…

He was so young and I was his favorite. He was only thirteen… he wouldn't be able to deal with grief, he won't know how.

I was miserable, feeling more alone than I ever had.

I ended up crying again.

I didn't want to be alone, I hated it but the only person there with me was Yoongi and I wasn't about to go to him. He'd probably find a way to double kill me.

A while later, while I was still having somewhat of a mental breakdown, I heard walking in the main room.

I wiped my eyes, forcing myself to stop crying. Then I got up and went out to find Yoongi looking through the shelves again.

I sniffed and wiped my eyes again before walking to the counter in the front, trying to hide my face from him but not desperate enough to go back to being alone.

I opened the drawers at the front counter and there wasn't much in there but more of the strange contraptions/toys/utensils/etc.

There was a cash register that's password was 1234 and I opened easily. There was nothing inside though. I wasn't really looking for money, I was kind of hoping their was some more of the weird stuff inside.

I stared into the drawers and looked at the weird stuff, ignoring Yoongi who had walked up beside me.

"Were you crying?" he asked quietly and emotionlessly.

"Maybe..."

"Why?"

"Why are you asking? I know you don't care." I muttered, looking away.

He stayed quiet. "well then don't tell me." he walked away and back to the shelves he was looking at.

I sat at the chair that was at the counter and put my head in my hands. Staring at the ground and trying not to cry again. I already missed my brothers and friends so much... and I wouldn't see them again...

I couldn't help it and did start crying again.

I heard Yoongi sigh and walk back to me again. He stared at me with his deep but empty dark brown eyes. "Why are you crying..?"

"I don't know..." I cried quietly. "you'll think it's stupid..."

"No I won't..." he sighed.

"I miss my family and friends and I don't want my life to be over!" I cried.

A sympathetic expression came on his face. "I'm not good at comforting people and I know this probably won't help but.. you get used to it. I have no idea how long I've been here but it doesn't take too long to get over it."

"Do you get used to it or just stop caring about anything..?"

He went silent before saying, "You get used to it. I stopped caring a long time before this."

I laid my head on the counter and looked at him. "You're very strange..."

"Thanks."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing..." I corrected, wiping my eyes. "I've just never met anyone like you..."

"I get that a lot." he said blankly. "Are you okay now?"

"I guess..."

"Okay. I'll be back... eventually." he said, walking outside without another word. He had a look on his face like he was being distracted by something.

He walked off and I also went outside but stayed by the building. I just walked around outside to look around and distract myself from my thoughts.

The place didn't make sense. There was power but it came from nowhere and there was a random building and things in the building that came from nowhere... and it was the only thing in the small forest that just looped back around.

I looked back at the road in the direction Yoongi had gone but he'd gone out of view. I just walked back inside the building and went through the shelves. There were so many random strange things that I'd never seen before.

I went back to my room and laid down for a while. I ended up falling asleep, I wasn't tired but there was nothing else to do.

I woke up to Yoongi walking into the building loudly. I heard him swearing at himself angrily before yelling, "What's wrong with you Yoongi..?! Why!? Aishe! I can't even get away from myself when I'm dead!" I heard him slam his door.

I was confused by that but knew it was best to leave him alone. I decided to just go back to sleep.