status: not doing homework

- day 1; ghost -

ghost.
— a juvenile delinquent copes with the loss of her twin brother in an unhealthy way. someone has to stop her, eventually.

characters: nguyen hieu & nguyen mai (see: "oh frappe!")

note: hieu and mai are only used in this story for convenience. this is in no way related to the "oh frappe!" canon timeline in any shape or form. hieu doesn't die (or does he?), mai is.. not this insane (yet).

—

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"What? Of course, I don't. All of those stories at school are just stupid myths."

"Really? Because I would love to think they are real. Not just ghosts, but everything supernatural: fairies, demons, angels, monsters under your bed, and the like."

"Hieu, you're 14. Ghosts aren't real, they're like Santa Claus. Grow up. Stop believing 'em."

"Ghosts are not and will never be merely children's fantasies, Mai!"

"...whatever, weirdo."

"What, are you scared?"

A flinch.

"W-what did you just say?"

"Tch, I knew it. Under that "tough girl" persona of yours, you are probably just a coward—"

Before Hieu could continue, he felt a gloved fist collide with his face.

He hit the floor, head-first. Feeling his face, he realized that the punch was strong enough to break his nose.

Blood.

"Don't call me anything close to "scared" or "cowardly" again, you bastard. You have no idea—"

"How sensitive can you be? It was an assumption, no need to get heated up over it!"

Before Hieu could speak any further, Mai passed by his limp self, purposely stomping on his shoulder hard, and entered her room.

On her desk, was a letter.

"You have absolutely no idea what I'm getting myself into." She teared up, sliding down her bedroom door. "I'm not a coward. I'm not. I will prove it, if not to him—"

—

"—then to them."

Mai left her apartment, eyes struggling to hold back tears. She sniffled as she locked the door, pistol in hand.

It has only been minutes since the call, and Mai already felt her entire world crashing down.

memories

regrets

whydidntyougrowclosetohimsOONER—

you're his sister, for crying out loud, yet you learned about it from a friend.

a friend... who probably knew way more about Hieu than you ever could.

mistake

failure

you f a i l e d.

both as a mafia associate;

.

.

.

.

and as a loving sister.

Mai knew this wasn't right. Forgive and forget, one would say. It's okay to grieve, but never to exact revenge. another would state.

Mai didn't care what was right or wrong.

She was part of the mafia for a reason.

Under the guise of an emergency meeting, she agreed to rendezvous with a fellow member around two minutes from now.

The exact same member who had the nerve to ambush and murder her helpless twin brother.

Mumbling curses under her breath, she hastened her pace towards an alleyway close by.

—

"I'm not going to make this quick." She snarled, glaring down at the thug who was now all chained up. "You and your friends killed my brother. And as all clichés go, you have to pay."

As she turned and bent down to snatch her trademark knife, she felt her hand lock and freeze. As if someone strong was firmly holding her hand down.

A breeze flew past her which is odd, she'd think, the windows are closed so the bastard couldn't escape— and if Mai listened hard enough, she swore she could hear a voice.

Without nothing much to do with her hand held in place, Mai tightened her grip on the knife violently and bit her lip it's probably bleeding now...

"Do not do this." A scarily familiar voice entered her hearing range.

Mai wasn't stupid. She knew he was dead she knew that couldn't be him she knewsheknewsheknew—

Just then, the window burst open on its own, as a sheet of paper flew into the room and landed in front of her.

She felt the force holding her grip tight let go, and she acknowledged the criminal that was still stuck in the corner of her room, but curiosity got the best of her as she unfolded the paper.

The handwriting.

The loops, the slants, the periods with way too much pressure on them, she could feel it at the back of the paper.

This couldn't be forged. as much as a skeptic she was, there was absolutely no way—

Only 7 words were written.

"stubborn. told you ghosts were real.

— hew."

The mention of the childhood nickname exclusively between the two of them finally made something snap inside her.

For  the first time in what seemed like forever, she sobbed. Hard.

Nguyen Mai never believed in ghosts.

But at this one moment, one instance.. she wanted to.

For him.

—

809 words.

—

find the raw version of this prompt fill on my twitter: @/exhausted_ellie