The Next Life (?? ?? ???)

The Passing

My train of thought was cut off by the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind me. I spun around to see the Mogwai I least expected, her arms crossed as she stood in the doorframe.

"What are you doing here?" Jennie regarded me with eyes that told me I wasn't welcome.

I tried to come up with something, but ended up falling flat at first. "I... I'm just... trying to get away? From everything?"

She nodded, accepting my weak answer. "Fair enough."

"That's it?" Not that I was complaining, but the Jennie I knew would never have taken such a feeble excuse.

"Chaeyoung informed me of what transpired, Jang." Though her eyes remained cold, I could've sworn I detected in her tone a hint of... empathy? "Why are you not at the funeral?"

I hesitated, unsure of how much I trusted her. Though it made no difference if she could get any information she wanted out of me through the mind reader. "I don't go to funeral homes, too many ghosts there."

She looked off to the side uninterestedly before waving her hand. As she did, it was like she'd dissolved in the air itself, fading like smoke. Before I had a chance to react, she rematerialised, her body reforming out of thin air.

"I am capable of altering your perception, hindering your ability for a period of time. It would be as though you were a normal person, unable to see what you have been forced to your entire life."

"I..." My brain hurt a little trying to process it. "Why would you do that? I thought you hated my guts."

Taking a step closer, into the room, the Mogwai finally made eye contact with me. "Most can scarcely imagine nor stomach the guilt and the grief as it eats away at one's soul, festering, turning you into nothing but an empty shell. Listen to me, human. You will not, for a single night, stop regretting it were you to miss this opportunity to say your last goodbyes."

Jennie's words were the most sincere I had ever heard from her, with a sense of urgency almost. My mind flashed back to what Lalisa told me about Jennie's past. How her mother had been tortured and executed because of her. How she'd watched her mother endure it all, unable to do anything, be seen, or be heard.

I took a deep breath. "Okay, then. I'll go."

Jennie nodded before walking out of the room. I followed behind, at first confused as to why we weren't heading for the entrance. Once we stepped into the library, though, it made sense.

"Jisoo." Jennie's voice killed the silence in the large space that was the library.

Jisoo's eyes darted between Jennie and I, conflicting emotions showing on her face, before confusion settled in. "Jennie. What is the meaning of this?"

"Send us to the funeral home."

"Us...?" Her eyes softened every time they landed on me. How she didn't hate me yet for the times I've snapped at her was beyond me.

"Jang and myself. And we do not speak of this again."

"Why..." Jisoo cleared her throat. "What do you plan to do, exactly?"

Jennie clenched a fist, hidden as she crossed her arms. "You know precisely what, now enough questions, just do it before I change my mind."

At a loss for words, Jisoo simply nodded. With a wave of her hand, the familiar feeling of floating in space filled my senses as the world turned black.

When my senses returned to normal, I found myself in a corridor with clinical whites on the floor and walls. The atmosphere was glum, and my fingertips instantly grew stiff with coldness. I looked around, only to see that Jennie was nowhere to be seen. Going off the lack of any ghosts around, she was probably still there, just making herself invisible. And for once, that meant she was invisible to me as well.