However, the door of my house suddenly opened along with a lightning strikes, so that the person standing in front of my door was only left as a shadow to look at —just like a classic horror movie.

I could be sure that the figure was a human, not a ghost or a phantom. Although I said that I could only see the shadow, the shadow was not translucent or transparent, it looked real.

The closer the person got to me entering my house, the more I could clearly see that the clothes worn by the person had been wet by the rain that was falling heavily, droplets of water were also seen falling from his clothes. This also strengthened my suspicion that he was human.

He was getting closer to me, even in the living room.

Actually I was already know who she was, I knew her and missed her, she was the person I was waiting for her presence. But seeing her come to my house, past midnight, when the brightning was hitting, moreover she was soaked and seemed to come alone, I never expected it at all.

"Chloe?" I asked, also walking towards her with slow steps. I'm in the middle of confused, disbelieving, worried, happy, even so many feelings and emotions mixed together I can't describe them one by one.

Chloe's face looked pale, wrinkled, and of course wet as the distance between us grew closer. My first thoughts only reasoned that Chloe's face was like that because she had braved the heavy rain in the middle of endless lightning strikes to come to my house. But, there seemed to be something else about her expression, something that seemed to say that she was worried about me as well as saying she was very tired because she had gone on a journey or adventure that was very terrible and draining.

Chloe didn't answer my question, she didn't even say a word. She just smiled when we were facing each other.

I could feel the cold from her body. I guessed that the cold was because of her braving the rain, obviously the water of heavy rain at midnight accompanied by strong winds and lightning that continued to strike, of course it felt very cold even freezing maybe.

As an initiative from me to see Chloe who was cold, I wanted to turn to the bathroom and take both towels —mine and my mother's— to wrap Chloe's body and warm her body.

At least that was my intention, before Chloe give her usual sweet smile and immediately fell towards me. I could briefly see the movement of her eyeballs which means Chloe was losing consciousness.

Suddenly facing Chloe's body that fell towards me made myself reflexively hold her falling body. At that moment of course our skin accidentally touched, and at that moment I felt how cold Chloe's skin was. It was even colder than when Chloe turned into a ghost and left her body to me in the park.

So, I don't know, or at least I'm not sure, if Chloe really fainted or if she just turned into a ghost and left her body to me again like in the park. Or maybe, it's something I shouldn't be thinking about, but why is the thought coming up, that Chloe is dead.

Whatever it was, I had to at least lay her down first, so with all the strength I had at that moment, I shifted Chloe's body onto our sofa. Yes, shift her, I wasn't strong enough to carry her at that time. I also felt guilty and bad, but what else could I do. I also panicked seeing Chloe's condition like that.

After I managed to lay Chloe's body on the sofa, I rushed to the bathroom and completed my first intention to cover Chloe's body with towels.

After all I had done, including closing the door, raising the temperature of the living room, making herbs to warm the body, I had even covered Chloe's body with an extra blanket. However, Chloe didn't regain consciousness either.

At that moment, I knelt in front of the sofa where Chloe was lying while constantly monitoring Chloe's condition. In the confusion of what else to do, I felt a mixture of feelings, either happy or sad and worried.

I was happy that at least I could know for sure that Chloe wasn't dead. Because as I watched, I didn't see Chloe's soul leave her body. This is a sign that Chloe isn't dead and a sign that Chloe hasn't turned into a ghost.

However, I was also sad and worried because it was also a sign that Chloe had really fainted. Or maybe it's worse like being in a coma. It was my worry that stupidly made me forget to call for help.

I only realized I had to call for help after about ten minutes which seemed pointless because when I stood up I could see the slightest movement on Chloe's face. All I could think was that either Chloe was dreaming which meant she'd been asleep all along and that was a relief, or Chloe's consciousness was just starting to return after she passed out and that was a relief.

I knelt back down. I brought my right hand to her head, stroking her dark black hair that seemed to shimmer under the lamp and the flashes of lightning. Chloe's hair feels silky and soft.

"Chloe" I called softly with my right hand still stroking her head accompanied by my left hand shaking her shoulders softly.

The change in expression on Chloe's face is more obvious, but she still hasn't opened her eyes. Meanwhile I was still doing the same thing by calling her softly and gently and rubbing her forehead and hair.

Although, I see Chloe's condition seems to be better, but I still have my own concerns, especially regarding Chloe's body which still feels cold, even the cold does not decrease at all.

"Chloe" I still call her again and again in the same tone. I don't feel tired about this, at least until the moment Chloe can wake up. I have to keep her safe.

I don't know how long I've been doing the same thing over and over again but never get a good response from Chloe who is still unconscious. But that didn't decrease my spirits at all, I still had to take care of her and wake her up.

Brightning is still happening as well as the rain, but now their intensity has decreased unlike before, maybe we've passed the peak.

I should still wake Chloe up and take care of her, that's what I had in mind and what I told myself over and over again. However, I can't seem to control my body completely. My eyes started to close on their own, I also started to lose consciousness, but at least I could still hold that. I mean, I had to hold my sleepiness and stay awake for Chloe's sake.

At that moment, I don't know if I was already asleep and dreaming or if I was just half-awake and hallucinating or if it was actually happening. But clearly, I saw another hand touching my right hand that was stroking Chloe's forehead.

The hand felt warm and was in very contrast to Chloe's forehead, which felt very cold —as cold as when you swim at night in the arctic, maybe. The hand didn't stroke or touch Chloe's forehead. Instead, it just touched my hand, giving me warmth.

I don't know what happened, but my sleepiness slowly disappeared but also slowly came back as long as I touched Chloe and my hand was touched by that hand.

Maybe it was just my hallucination or something, but I'm sure it wasn't real. Because I could see it clearly when my sleepiness disappeared for a while, the hand was translucent yet glowing. Something that sounds contradictory.

Strangely enough, the hand seemed to want to grasp my hand and hold my hand from stroking Chloe's forehead and hair anymore, maybe it even wanted to lift my hand from touching Chloe again. Strange, indeed.

But when my sleepiness back, the hand looked clearer and clearer, no longer translucent but the glow was also gone. And what was even stranger was that the hand actually seemed to encourage my hand to stroke Chloe's forehead and hair again and again, even I could feel the pressure from the hand like telling me not to lift my hand from Chloe's forehead.

And that weirdness happened over and over again as my sleepiness disappeared and returned.

I don't know how long it lasted, but I'm guessing it only lasted a little while. After that, everything disappeared.

What I mean is that the mysterious hand disappeared, as well as the warmth it gave, and Chloe's coldness also disappeared, and including power also disappeared or outage again, along with the rain that had subsided and the lightning that had stopped. Really everything disappeared in an instant. Including my consciousness which also disappeared only a few seconds after that.

###

Pain in my legs continues to gnaw at me.

Exhausted, cold, and unbearably thirsty, I had been running for who knows how long, yet the light remained far away. I wanted to stop for a moment just to catch my breath, but I couldn't. They were still behind me.

The clamor of wild animals, scavenger birds, and people seemingly out to kill me continued to echo behind me.

Cold hands with sharp claws kept trying to touch my body.

I could only keep running with all my might to evade them. But what were they, actually? I couldn't answer or even think. There was only one thing I remembered, they had slashed my legs.

Pitch darkness enveloped my surroundings. I couldn't see anything around me at all, except for a beam of light in the distance.

Oddly, no matter how fast or long I ran, the beam of light didn't seem to enlarge to indicate that I was getting closer. It was as if I was running on a treadmill, going nowhere. Had I not been moving at all this whole time? I couldn't answer or even think. There was only one thing I remembered, when I realized I was in a running position.

Similarly, the foul odor was sharp and pierced my nose. How long had I been smelling that odor. It was so foul that it made my head spin and became overwhelmingly heavy. I had never in my life smelled anything so awful, even the scent of a landfill was far more pleasant than this foul odor.

Every time I ran, the foul odor would disappear, only to be replaced by another foul odor. I'd lost count of how many kinds of foul odor I'd smelled all this time. What kind of odor was this, really? And where were they from? I couldn't answer or even think. There was only one thing I believed, the odor never ended.

I couldn't take it anymore, I was very exhausted.

Had the monsters stopped? No, the beam of light was still far away, and the foul odor continued to deaden my sense of smell.

I only had two choices left, I thought. Death from exhaustion due to ceaseless running or death from being torn and slashed by those monsters because I stopped running.

The first choice might sound lighter, I thought. However, the second option doesn't wrong either. If I had to die then what was the point of choosing.

As my mind was confused by the two choices, I felt a hand grasp my shoulder. A cold hand, colder than when you bathe in the arctic at midnight. I could also smell the foul odor coming from that hand. However, strangely, instead of making myself afraid or at least uneasy, the presence of that hand made my heart comfortable and feel at peace, as if I was used to it.

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Not long after, the beam of light that I had been looking at and was the target of my escape, was now blocked by something that moved to cover it. However, slowly but surely, the beam of light grew bigger and it allowed me to clearly see my surroundings.

Instantly, I realized something. Something that feels odd, I've been here and experienced this. Not exactly like this, but the beginning is always the same.

As I tried to clearly remember what exactly happened and whether it was true that I had been in this situation, suddenly the hand that grasped my shoulder pulled me down into the darkness behind me.

When I fell indeed, I had blinked my eyes because of the pain in my body. However, when my eyes opened again, I could see a big, very dark figure standing tall in front of me. The figure only stood facing the direction of the light, more precisely the direction of the thing that moved earlier. The position of the big, dark figure reminded me of someone protecting something —just like in the movies.

Not long after, before I even had time to stand up, I could clearly see the big figure clashing with something moving from behind the light. The clash sounded loud, but the sound seemed to be muffled by something.

The first clash managed to make the big, dark figure take a few steps back as well as its enemy.

At the end of the first clash, I managed to stand up and balance my body. However, that didn't last long until the second clash happened. This time, the clash was much stronger than before, causing the big, dark figure to take more steps to the back, before its feet stepped on...

###

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Huufff!

I realized that I had woken up from a nightmare, but my breathing was still difficult to manage. At least I could see, but it took a few minutes for me to fully realize and understand what I was seeing.

I woke up on the sofa in my living room, the sofa that Chloe was supposed to be sleeping on. Realizing that, my eyes immediately look around every corner of the room in search of Chloe. I found the towels and blankets I'd used to keep Chloe warm had been tidied up and placed on a chair next to the sofa.

"Are you awake?" comes Chloe's voice —of course I've recorded her voice in my memory— from the direction of the kitchen.

I didn't immediately turn around to look for her, but instead I repositioned myself so that there was enough room for Chloe to sit next to me on the sofa, even though I didn't know if she wanted to sit next to me or not.

As I was repositioning myself, I realized my clothes were quite wet, especially the back of my shirt. I must have very sweated while falling asleep.

As I gathered my energy and consciousness, I started to say, "Chloe, is that you? Sorry I fell asleep."

Actually, I still wanted to explain more about the conditions earlier, but hearing my voice which was still unstable because of my breathing which had not fully normal, I stopped for a moment.

Chloe was already walking towards me. She gave me a glass of water that she put on the table right in front of me and sat down next to me. "Yes, of course. As for apologizing, I'm the one who should be apologizing. And thank you."

I took the water and drank it.

"You must have a lot of questions about what really happened. So I'll tell you first before you ask, anyway you should recover your breath first." Chloe said.

I didn't direct my gaze towards her, like Chloe said I just focused on recovering my breath first.

"You must have heard the urban legend of brightning." Chloe continued, "Of course like most urban legends, not all of them are true. However, for brightning there are some things that are true."

The water in my glass was gone even before Chloe got into the main of her explanation.

"Brightning is an event when the life aura and the death aura appear one after another, you should already be aware of that. It's actually harmless, except for a some of people including you and me." Chloe continued.

Hearing the word harm for me, I then turned my gaze towards Chloe.

"You and I have something in common, we can see ghosts and we are even friends with ghosts and humans. This makes us indirectly exposed to the life aura and the death aura, both of which will be very standing out during brightning."

Chloe's face didn't look as pale as before, not even pale at all. I assumed she had fully recovered, as she looked brighter.

"When both of our auras are standing out, it will be easy for the ghosts to identify anyone who is a human with the power to see and even enter the ghost world. So it is just as dangerous when we enter the ghost world, you know like your body will be possessed or a vengeful ghost will hunt you down. But this time it's much more dangerous because you have no escape point, unlike when you enter the ghost world where you can run away and return to the human world, but when brightning you can't run anywhere."

Chloe paused for a moment and looked into my eyes, as if she wanted to make sure that I was aware and could understand what she was saying.

So to summarize it, I tried to make a conclusion, "In other words, during brightning, those of us who have the ability to see ghosts seem to be in two worlds at once?"

Chloe was still silent for a moment, "More or less, therefore you must have seen or encountered some ghosts?"

Without thinking because I still clearly remember the translucent figure I met when I came out of the bathroom, "Yeah. The death aura is so strong that it can even turn off my smartphone."

"A vengeful ghost?" Chloe asked which I didn't have time to answer, because she had already answered it herself, "But it's not. If it was a vengeful ghost you would have been hurt."

"But it could be. Because he did threaten me." I replied.

"Threatening?"

I tried to remember, I realized that the figure's voice was faint. "Shut up, don't move or you'll perish." I said in a low tone trying to imitate his voice.

Chloe's face showed a different expression when she heard that, now her eyes were more wide open with a tighter jaw. "But you survived? Not hurt at all."

"Luckily the lights were on so the translucent figure disappeared right away," I replied, who had also just realized again, "but it in same time with your arrival."

"But I didn't feel any death aura at all." Chloe replied. I don't know why but I felt something different from her answer this time.

"Are you sure?"

Chloe shifted her gaze to another direction, "More precisely I can't feel any death aura other than my own."

I fell silent when Chloe said that. I didn't need any further explanation this time, I already understood because I felt it myself. I felt how Chloe's death aura felt very strong, especially for the cold. If the cold I felt when I touched Chloe was part of her death aura, I couldn't imagine how strong her death aura was.

Although I don't need an explanation about it, but the question arises in me, how dangerous is it if humans have a death aura that is so strong that the strong death aura of ghosts or other creatures is not felt. But, looking at Chloe who seemed to be avoiding when talking about her death aura, I'd rather not ask about it at least for now.

Chloe returned her gaze to me again, "By the way, where are your mom and Desmon?"

"My mom is out of town on business. As for Desmon, I don't know where he went." I replied.

And yes, we were silent again. Because my mind was just filled with questions that I was afraid to ask, afraid that it would hurt or at least make Chloe uncomfortable or sad.

Chloe smiled back, "I know you have something to ask. Just ask, I'm fine."

I returned her smile while wondering if my face was too predictable. "Hmm... Actu... I... I was just wondering why you came?"

Chloe's smile faded into a frown, "You don't like me coming?"

Hearing that made it difficult for me to breathe. I knew she was sensitive from the start, so I didn't want to ask her anything for fear that it would offend her, like this.

I made stupid, meaningless hand gestures while muttering something that also didn't form a word at all. I was basically being stupid.

However, seeing that Chloe just laughed. Why did she laugh? I don't know, but she looks cute when she laughs, after all I'm happy if she feels happy so I think there's nothing wrong if I laugh too, even though I laugh softly and if I hear it like forced.

"I'm kidding, I'm really okay," Chloe said between laughs, "I came because I was worried about you."

Maybe before I felt Chloe's body like ice in winter, but this time I felt her words that were as warm as a cozy blanket in spring. Her words have melted my heart, it really feels comfortable.

It's not without reason that I exaggerate her words, but you know my life story which is full of bullying and being avoided by people, maybe not physically avoided but they don't want to be friends with me. In addition, I also saw her struggle to come to my house, how her body got cold and her face pale just because she was worried about me. I should have been the one worrying about her when she came to my house in that condition. That's why her words really touched my heart.

I could no longer manage my behavior or facial expression. Maybe right now my face was already flushed with a smile like a fool, or maybe it was worse than that. If there was mirror, maybe I could see it directly, but unfortunately the reflection of myself in Chloe's eyes didn't show my face clearly.

"Huh... Hmm..." was the only sound I could make in response to Chloe's words, and that was with my hand scratching the hair on my head that wasn't itchy at all.

Before I looked away, Chloe had smiled.

"I'm serious, I'm worried about you." Chloe continued, now holding my hand that was on my thigh, "and I know you're worried about me too."

Enough, enough is enough Chloe.

Her words are getting warmer and more touching. I don't know what else to do.

Embarrassed, maybe that's the word that fits my feelings at that time, of course, in addition to pleasure. I felt like want to disappearing from there as soon as possible, teleporting if that ability really existed to another country or even to another planet.

But, in the middle of my unclear behavior of course, I thought about her last words. How did she know that I was worried about her too?

Suddenly, I welcomed her hand that held mine, now I grasped it. I also turned my gaze back to her, though I still avoided eye contact.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

My gaze was on the lower part of Chloe's face, because I was avoiding her eyes, but it was the wrong move. Chloe smiled broadly, a smile that didn't show her teeth, but I felt the purity and affection from her. "You took care of me when I passed out until you fell asleep next to me. So I guess you must have been worried about my condition too, and I'm grateful, very grateful for that."

I could feel the sound and breath coming out of Chloe's nose, it was refreshing like the life aura being breathed into me.

"I also thank you for worrying about me," I said, getting carried away, so carried away that I didn't even think about it when I said, "you look very sweet and beautiful."

###

After my embarrassing moment of blurting out my thoughts, we were silent for a while. Until we realized that my clothes were still wet from my sweat. So after that, I asked Chloe to wait in the living room while I went to my room to change my clothes.

As I was changing my clothes, I realized that it was morning or maybe noon because the sunlight was streaming through my bedroom window, but why wasn't Desmon back yet. Whether he didn't want to come back or something was holding him back, I didn't know.

After I changed my clothes, I was supposed to go back to the living room and chat with Chloe, but it seemed like that plan had changed a bit. When I opened my room door, Chloe was already in front of my room.

"Chloe?" I said. I wasn't too surprised actually, because I had heard footsteps approaching me, moreover I felt the death aura. But, what made me quite surprised was that I had expected Desmon to have returned, but it turned out to be Chloe.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but is Desmon back yet?" Chloe asked.

"Not yet, so why?" I asked back, "Heh... please come in, if, hmm... I mean, if you want to please come in."

Chloe smiled, "No need if you mind. I-"

I shook my head, "No, no, I don't mind. I'm just confused about offering it, because you know, you're in front of my room suddenly. But I don't mean to blame you or-"

I heard and saw Chloe laughing and that stopped me from saying what I already didn't know what to say.

"No need, I'm just wondering if Desmon is back or not, because maybe he got caught in the brightning." Chloe said continuing her explanation that was cut off by me earlier.

"What do you mean?"

"During brightning, as I said, the two auras appear one after another. You must be aware that many people get scared when brightning happens, because they feel the death aura. The same is happen for ghosts, they feel fear too because they feel the life aura. Of course, only for some ghosts that have a weak death aura, and usually happy ghosts are ghosts that have a weak death aura." Chloe explained.

"So, are you saying Desmon has a weak death aura?"

"It could be, considering you yourself can't feel Desmon's death aura, right? At least it's not bad news, but rather happy news, because then the possibility of Desmon becoming a vengeful ghost is very small, because he has been happy."

Once again, Chloe's words brought relief to my heart. Chloe really was like an angel sent to bring happiness to me. "Thank goodness, if that's the case."

Chloe nodded. I could see the relief and happiness I felt painted on Chloe's face as if she was representing me.

"Alright, then, I'm going back to the living room." Chloe said, immediately turning around to leave.

Reflexively —I don't know why I did it either— I held Chloe's hand, preventing her from leaving. Of course, Chloe stopped and faced me back.

Our eyes met, and it was enough to bring me back to my senses that I hurriedly released my hand. "Sorry, I... I mean... look, I'm sorry about earlier. I don't blame you, and I also don't mind if you want to come to my room, in fact I'm even happy. But-"

"You don't need to apologize because I have no problem with it. And thank you for the offering, but I'll just stay in the living room for now." Chloe cut in with a smile.

Then, I didn't prevent Chloe from going to the living room again this time. I just watched her from the front of my room while thinking about how stupid I was and what I actually did earlier.

####