“It's today…” I stared at the glistening well that stood in front of me. “Joo!” I turned around and saw Kayla, a close friend of mine. She died an unpleasant death like most of us dreamcatchers. A common death would be suicide, as for Kayla, she died in a building fire caused by arsonists. During the fire, she helped a bunch of elderly and children leave the building safely but just before she exited the building, the building collapsed on her and she died. I watched the whole situation happen right in front of my eyes as an old client of mine was also living in her apartment complex. “Are you leaving now?” she asked. “Yep. Hope I can fulfil my promise this time.”
She smiled with a sentimental glow. “I believe you can. Though things never really went our way majority of the time, sometimes miracles do happen. I hope this is one of those times, especially since her way of passing is something you can really sympathize with.”
“Thanks for the blessing Kayla. I’ll see you in three weeks.” She nodded. I stuck my finger in the well.
“260504. The 5th Khim of the 21st Century. Ash Khim.” My body slowly entered the well, bit by bit. The nostalgic sound of the stopwatch ticking echoed all around. It engulfed by entire being. I relaxed myself and took deep and heavy breaths. It’s been a while since I’ve went back into the overworld. Almost 5 years since my last client. Makes sense though, there aren’t many Khims in this world.
Somewhere safe.
I kept repeating in my head to ensure that I will be teleported to a location nobody can see me since the last few times were pretty troublesome. Sometimes I would be teleported in a sewer, other times in the middle of the road, pretty shocking to see a car almost hit you and even more appalling to see that no one noticed you suddenly appearing on the road. Guess thats just God’s magic. My eyes opened to reveal a bathroom door. I heaved a sigh of relief as I exited the cubicle and washed my hands. I stared into those deep eyes of mine, filled with thousands and thousands of memories coming from my old experiences in the overworld. The way out of the bathroom was more nerve-wrecking than usual.
Was it because its been so long since I came to the overworld? Or was I just nervous to meet her? Or was it something else?
I brought up my head in confidence and looked at the slip of paper that came with the file.
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Winster Ville 27, Block 165C, Apartment number 170, 15th floor.
My mouth curved into an ‘O’ shape. “A new street this time huh. Pretty safe area too. Why would that happen?” I walked toward the taxi stand and entered the car swiftly, telling him my address on the paper. “New resident?” He asked. “Yep. Just came back from Korea after my winter break.” The driver took off. “Oh you’re Korean?” He questioned. “Yep. But I came to Singapore when I was around seven so I kind of grew up here. After I finish my final year of Secondary School I’m probably gonna move back to Korea.”
“Good that you have your life planned out unlike my daughter. She’s also in her last year of Secondary School, Secondary five.” “Oh I’m in Secondary five too.” “Wah! You’re 17 but living alone? Must be pretty difficult… Wahh… so she’s the same age as you too! But unlike you, she doesn’t know what do to in life. Though she is pretty talented in music. I heard her singing and playing the guitar once and I was so surprised! Couldn’t even believe she was the same daughter I gave birth to! You should listen to her busking some time. We live in the same apartment complex so it won’t be hard to catch her in the act. She also sings to the children at the playground. They all jump around and hug her whenever they see her. Hah… Such a wholesome moment.” I smiled. Good that she has a supportive father.
“Looks like we’re here. I’ll give this ride to you for free since we’re going to be neighbours anyway. See you around kiddo!” He smiled. “Thank you uncle!” I waved as he drove away.
So we are neighbours huh… This I did not expect…
I entered the building and quickly found my apartment complex. Inside, I was met with a fully furnished apartment, along with an array of storybooks on the shelf. “The angels really outdid themselves this time…” Quickly unpacking my belongings, I rested on my couch and continued reading her files:
“ Name: Ash Khim
Age: 17
Day of death: 26th May 2021
Location of passing: ------------------------
Time of passing: -------
Cause of death: -------------------
Age when dead: 17
School: Soleil Secondary School
CCA/Club: Audio Visual Aid club.
Class: 5A3 ”
I sighed. I prepared my papers and uniform for tomorrow and waited for my next three months to begin
Hong Joo, you promised. Time to finally keep it.