After school, the atmosphere outside the classroom felt quieter than usual.
Lessons were cut short because the teachers were holding a meeting — something rare but welcomed by almost every student.
As soon as the bell rang, everyone rushed out, noisy and chaotic.
But me?
I simply stood still in my place, watching Diego's back as he walked ahead.
His steps were relaxed, like always.
As if this was nothing more than a small game to him.
Something he could abandon anytime if he got bored.
But I couldn't.
I had known long before any of this started — once I stepped into this world, there would be no turning back.
This wasn't just about 'helping lost souls find answers', like Diego often said with that playful tone of his.
It was something much more.
Something that had been waiting for me long before Diego came up with his stupid idea.
Fate
Damn it.
I hated that word.
Fate always sounded like a burden — like chains binding someone before they even realized it.
Something decided long before I had the chance to refuse.
And I knew... ever since I could see them, I had been trapped in it.
I took a deep breath, quickening my steps to catch up with Diego, who was already nearing the old staircase behind the school.
That staircase… the only way to the back corridor — a place almost always deserted.
No one ever came here unless they had to.
There was something about this place that felt... wrong.
Even in broad daylight, the air around this corridor was colder than anywhere else in the school.
As if sunlight never truly touched it.
I stopped a few steps behind Diego, watching how he stood still in front of the first step.
"I knew you were following me," he said suddenly, without turning around.
His voice was light, almost teasing — but I could sense the faint tension beneath it.
I exhaled slowly, leaning against the cold wall beside him.
The smell of damp paint mixed with dusty air.
This back corridor was rarely used — except by people like us.
Or... things like them.
"We haven't even started." I broke the silence.
"Why do you sound like you've already won?"
Diego glanced over his shoulder, that familiar smirk playing on his lips — the kind of smirk I had seen too many times.
Diego was always like that.
Never truly serious, but never truly joking either.
He lived between those two lines, playing around on the thin border between fear and curiosity.
"It's not me who's won, Kai..." he said softly, letting his voice trail off.
"It's you who's lost."
I didn't say anything.
My eyes stayed fixed on the end of the corridor.
"You saw something, didn't you?"
I remained silent.
Diego let out a small chuckle, leaning back against the steps.
I knew he would keep pushing if I stayed quiet.
He liked talking nonsense — but his instincts were rarely wrong.
"... You know," I muttered, half speaking to myself.
"I'm not the only one who's been following you."
Diego finally turned to look at me, one brow slightly raised.
"What?"
I nodded faintly, my gaze locked on the farthest corner of the corridor.
I didn't need to point.
Diego wouldn't see anything.
But I knew — he could feel it.
Like a faint chill creeping down the back of the neck.
Like something just beyond the edge of sight, clinging to the borders of our awareness.
"He's standing there, isn't he?" Diego asked, his voice lower now.
He.
I never knew his name—if he ever had one.
I let out a slow breath, forcing myself to look away.
I'm used to them by now... but there's something about him—something that makes my chest feel heavy.
Something that makes me feel like... I should know him.
"He's just standing there," I finally said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Diego was silent for a moment before chuckling softly.
"Well then. I guess that means we've been chosen."
He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a crumpled pack of cigarettes.
A single stick slid out, tucked neatly between his lips.
I simply watched in silence as he flicked his lighter.
A small orange flame danced at his fingertips before finally igniting the tobacco with a faint hiss.
Thin wisps of smoke curled into the cold air of the hallway.
Maybe I should've said something—about him smoking at school, or how the smell always made my stomach turn.
But I didn't.
Because I knew it was pointless.
Some people believe rules are meant to be followed.
Some people believe rules are meant to be broken.
And then there's Diego.
He lives somewhere in between.
Always knowing exactly how far he could cross the line without ever truly falling.
Sometimes... I envy the way he lives.
"I wonder..." he murmured suddenly, his voice light and careless.
"What does it feel like... living with a bonus vision of the other world?"
I shot him a sharp glance.
That question had come up countless times before—from Diego, from others... even from myself.
Yet I never had the right answer.
There was one thing I knew for sure.
There is no such thing as a bonus in this.
I drew in a slow breath, letting the cold air fill my lungs.
Diego might accept the fact that I could see them.
But accepting isn't the same as understanding.
How could I explain that this world is far more crowded than it seems?
That every shadowed corner, every dark hallway, every space... always has something waiting?
How could I explain that while others enjoy silence, I feel trapped in an endless noise that never stops?
Even when I'm alone—I know I'm never truly alone.
"I can ask them to visit you tonight... if you're really that curious," I muttered at last, keeping my voice flat.
Diego chuckled softly without looking at me.
His laugh echoed faintly along the narrow hallway, making the air feel even colder.
"Pass. I'd rather stay blind."
I exhaled slowly, lowering my head.
Blind...
Sometimes, I wish I could stay blind too.
"Come on, Kai. Before it gets dark."
His voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I watched as he flicked the cigarette to the ground, grinding the still-burning tip beneath his shoe.
Thin trails of smoke rose before dissolving into the wind.
"Our first spirit," he said lightly—like he was inviting me to grab coffee after school, not dragging us into something far worse than cheap horror stories on the internet.
I shot him a glare.
"Not our first. I'm just... helping. You're the one leading this."
Diego snorted.
"Pfft. Me? Leading? When I can't even see them?"
A grin spread across his face, half-mocking.
But beneath that grin, I saw something else—a strange certainty that made me want to punch him right then and there.
"You can see them, Kai. You can hear them," he said quietly, as if it was an undeniable truth.
He stepped closer.
That same damn grin still on his face—but in his eyes, there was something deeper.
A belief I couldn't understand.
A belief in me.
His hand clapped lightly on my shoulder, sealing something he'd probably decided long before I ever realized it.
"No one can lead except you."
I let out a slow breath.
My gaze dropped to the stained, scratched floor beneath us.
I knew this was a bad idea.
I knew this could end worse than anything I could imagine.
I bit down on my lip, then glanced at the figure in the corner of the hallway.
He was still there.
Silent.
Unmoving.
But this time... I realized something.
He was looking at me.
Not the way shadows flicker at the edge of your vision.
His gaze was sharp.
Like he knew I could see him.
I drew in a steady breath, forcing down the spiral of worst-case scenarios clawing at my mind.
"I'll do it."
My voice sounded calmer than I expected—though my heart was hammering hard against my ribs.
Diego raised an eyebrow, surprised I agreed easily.
"One case."
I nodded. "One case."
The words felt like an invisible contract — one that couldn't be undone.
I stepped forward, leaving Diego behind.
I didn't know what was driving me—whether it was curiosity or just a foolish impulse to prove that I wasn't afraid.
But when I turned back toward the teenage boy...
I realized something.
He was closer.
Only a few steps away from me now.
His gaze remained empty.
His face—pale, like a corpse.
And a thin smile stretched across his lips, as if he knew something I didn't.
I swallowed hard, feeling the coldness creeping along the back of my neck.
"What's your name?"
I asked quietly—almost a whisper.
No answer.
Only silence devoured the long corridor.
In the distance, the faint ticking of a clock echoed—slow, dragging, as if it matched the rhythm of my growing unsteady heartbeat.
Still standing at the end of the hallway—frozen, like an abandoned wax figure left behind for decades.
His lips moved—so slow, as if the world around us had begun to spin at a different pace.
I tried to read the shape of his mouth.
One word.
"C…"
I narrowed my eyes, focusing between the throbbing fear pressing against my chest.
"Clement."
The name slipped out of my mouth before I even realized it—almost like a reflex.
And the moment that name left my lips...
Clement smiled.
A small smile—barely visible.
Thin.
Cold.
Wrong.
Shit.
I instinctively stepped back, nearly bumping into Diego behind me.
Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut, idiot?
My palms were sweating, even though the air around us was sharp and freezing.
I could hear Diego's rough breath—too close—an unmistakable sign that he was starting to panic, no matter how hard he tried to mask it with his usual smirk.
I inhaled slowly, trying to push down the fear that was crawling up my spine—like unseen fingers brushing against my skin.
"Alright, Clement..."
My voice sounded steadier than I expected, even though my throat felt dry.
"Tell me... what do you want?"
No answer.
Only silence.
But I could see it.
His eyes shifted—slowly, emptily—turning toward the side of the hallway.
Toward the old staircase leading down to the basement.
I swallowed hard.
You didn't need to be a psychic to know that place was somewhere no one was supposed to go.
That hallway...
There were stories about it.
Rumors that had been circling ever since we first set foot in this school.
A student hanged himself there years ago.
They said his body was found swinging from one of the rotting wooden beams.
They said... he was still down there.
But I'd never believed in rumors.
Until now.
I glanced at Diego, searching for some kind of answer in his face.
"Wait... don't tell me he wants us to go there?"
I stayed silent.
I didn't need to say anything.
Diego could read my expression just fine.
Because I could feel it too.
Something was waiting down there.
Something else.
Not just darkness.
Not just emptiness.
Something that never left.
I didn't know what.
I didn't want to know.
Tapi aku tahu… Clement ingin kami
But I knew one thing—
Clement wanted us to find it.
My fingers curled into fists, nails digging into my palms.
I'd already taken the first step.
"Grab the flashlight," I muttered, trying to sound calm—despite the hammering in my chest.
Diego stared at me like I'd just asked him to jump into a river full of crocodiles.
"Serious?"
Clement was still there—his figure fading slowly into the shadows.
He was waiting.
"I brought two flashlights..." Diego grumbled, opening his worn-out backpack.
He pulled out a small black flashlight, tossing it toward me without warning.
I caught it.
"If you're scared... you can leave."
I baited him on purpose.
I knew he wouldn't leave.
Diego always talked too much—but he'd never really left me behind.
And I knew—beneath all his sarcasm and cocky grins—he was more scared of letting me go alone than whatever was waiting down there.
"Asshole..." he muttered under his breath, flicking on the flashlight with a sharp click.
A dim yellow beam cut through the damp, peeling walls.
"I hate it when you start acting all cool like that."
But there was a small grin tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Get ready, world—our journey begins!" he declared dramatically, stretching out his arms like some third-rate adventurer.
I switched on my flashlight.
Clement was gone.
But the cold lingered—heavy, suffocating.
I stared down at the staircase in front of me—concrete steps cracked and stained, lined with creeping moss.
The air down there smelled of rust and damp rot—like a mouth wide open, waiting to swallow us whole.
I clenched the flashlight tighter, forcing my breath to steady.
I could still feel his presence.
Watching.
Waiting.
I took the first step down.
And the shadows welcomed us.