The room temperature plummeted unnaturally fast. Even my breath came out in thin wisps of vapor. The mocking laugh that had been perched on my lips caught in my throat, melting into a chill that crept from the soles of my feet up my spine.
“Sis...” Zayn’s voice shrank to a whisper.
My eyes went to the bedroom ceiling, to the light still blinking flirtatiously. My courage ebbed. The room, which had been full of teasing just moments ago, suddenly fell silent, leaving only the sound of my heart pounding like a drum.
My gaze then fell on the window, whose curtains I hadn’t closed yet. Outside the second-story window, where there shouldn’t have been anything to stand on, a woman was standing. She wore a long white dress that had yellowed with age. Her long black hair was wet and hung in a tangled curtain over part of her face. But the thing that completely wiped the mocking smile off my face was the position of her head.
The woman’s head bent ninety degrees to the right. It was completely broken. Her neck was twisted until her ear nearly touched her shoulder, producing a very clear KREK that carried through the windowpane. Her all-white eyes, devoid of pupils, stared straight at me.
I wasn’t sure whether Zayn could see the woman or not, but one thing was clear: he wasn’t making a sound anymore. The kid could only growl in terror like a cat caught in a door, clutching the back of my shirt until it stretched out of shape.
“Z-Zayn...” I whispered, trying to preserve the last scraps of my dignity as the eldest sister, even though my knees had already turned to jelly.
“Y-yeah?”
“C-can you see her?” I lowered my voice as much as I could so the figure wouldn’t hear me.
“See what? I-I’ve got my eyes closed.”
What an undernourished amoeba! I cursed inwardly. How could this kid squeeze his eyes shut when he was the one who had invited trouble here? If he hadn’t come in, that figure probably wouldn’t have appeared at my bedroom window.
Since I didn’t want to be bothered by an unseen creature on my first day in the new house, I tried to act indifferent. It would be a pain if the figure realized I could see her. Based on my past experience, they kept showing themselves until their wishes were fulfilled. Worse, like an MLM network, those creatures would invite their friends to come see me and ask for help solving their problems.
Armed with 2.5 percent courage, I walked toward the window. The remaining 97.5 percent of my soul had flown off to who-knew-where, leaving behind a body that had suddenly gone stiff as a tuna fish shoved into a freezer.
I pried Zayn’s hands off the back of my shirt, then walked forward with a blank stare. This was one of my tricks for keeping the figure from realizing I could see her. I had to be clever about controlling my focus so my eyes would skip over the supernatural object. Physically, my eyes were looking outside, but my brain refused to process the ghost standing there.
Unexpectedly, the female ghost outside the window suddenly raised one of her bony hands. She didn’t bang on the glass. Instead, she tapped the window with the tip of her index finger.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Then her bluish lips, split at the corners, slowly stretched. She smiled at me. It was an impossibly wide smile, slanted to match the angle of her head. I swear, she gave me goose bumps. If Zayn could see her, he’d have already wet his pants.
“I know you can see me.” The figure in front of me sneered. Her hoarse voice sounded loud, cutting through the bedroom window.
The air around me suddenly turned as cold as a block of ice. My heart pounded even harder. If I could have run, I definitely would have. But I kept trying to focus, arranging my face into something as stiff as a concrete wall.
“Yaaawn... I’m so sleepy, oh my God.” I pretended to yawn widely. My hand reached for the edge of the curtain. Only a thin sheet of glass now separated my face from the ghost’s.
Stay calm, Yuna. You’re a rock. You don’t see or hear anything, I whispered inwardly, encouraging myself.
With a relaxed motion, as if I were enjoying the nonexistent night breeze, I pulled the thick velvet curtain shut.
Screeech!
The room was now tightly sealed. The ghost in the white dress had officially been eliminated from my view. I held my chest, grateful that my heart was still in the right place. A few seconds later, I went over to Zayn, who was still curled up on the bed with his eyes squeezed shut.
“Move over, Zayn. I’m going to sleep!” I shooed him away.
“No way! The ghost is scary!” Zayn refused. He pulled his knees even tighter against his chest.
I stared at him in shock. “You can see her?”