Chanyeol wasn't going to find any answers in his own neighborhood, that much was clear. His neighbors weren't going to give him anything and Baekhyun wouldn't tell the truth any time soon, especially not after pissing him off multiple times. He didn't need the ghost catching him snooping anyway, so he thought to look somewhere else - the graveyard.
Maybe the records of his death were brushed under the rug, but his grave had to be somewhere nearby. After all, he died in his house, so of course his friends or family would bury him near the place he seemed to love most. Perhaps his grave could give some indication as to how he died, and if not, at least he'd know someone out there cared enough to bury him and knew what happened.
He left his house early in the morning, around the time Baekhyun retracted into his closet to relax. The sun hardly peeked over the horizon when he threw a jacket on and slipped into his rain boots to hike through the muddy terrain of the graveyard. A cold fog from last night's rain hung over the ground, making it hard to read the inscriptions on each stone slab. One by one, he knelt down and held a lantern up to each one. Plenty of names old and new, but no Baekhyun.
"Hey."
As soon as that deep, guttural voice called out to him, he nearly threw his lantern in surprise and bolted towards the mausoleum. Through the thick fog, he saw the silhouette of a man creeping towards him with a limp and a lantern much larger than his own dangling in one hand.
Chanyeol slowed, recognizing the man by his irregular gait. "Mr. Suho?"
"Chanyeol." He emerged from the fog, holding his lantern up to see the boy's face clearly. "What are you doing out here this early in the morning?"
"Mr. Suho, I'm glad I ran into you. You know pretty much every name on these tombstones, don't you?"
The old man shrugged with a sigh. "You start memorizing a lot of them when you work here for about forty years."
"Great. I'm looking for the burial place of a guy named Byun Baekhyun. Sound familiar?"
Mr. Suho's eyes drifted over the graves beside them. It took him an incredibly long time to answer, making for a very awkward silence. Chanyeol eventually cleared his throat, pulling the man back to reality. "So...?"
"There's no Byun Baekhyun here."
His shoulders dropped. "What? You mean no one by that name is buried here? That can't be right."
"Sorry, but I haven't seen that name anywhere." He started back the way he came, but Chanyeol grabbed his elbow to stop him.
"Wait. You mean you don't know anything about the man that died in my house? Mr. Kim and Ms. Bae know, but they won't tell me anything. You had to have been there too, right?"
Mr. Suho stared blankly at him for a second, before blinking towards the graves again. "I know who he is and I know what happened. But, I'm telling you he's not buried here, Chanyeol."
"Where was he buried then?"
"He wasn't." Mr. Suho left it at that. He tipped his hat to Chanyeol, then went back to the mausoleum to sweep the dusty floors.
👻👻👻
"Guys! Guys!" Chanyeol shouted as he barged into the library after school to find his friends flipping through history books. Their heads shot up at the sound of his voice, as did the librarian's when she quickly shushed him.
"I have information on Baekhyun." He whispered.
"What'd you find?"
"Okay, I was in the graveyard this morning and ran into Mr. Suho. I asked him if anyone named Byun Baekhyun was buried there, and he said no. However, he knew who Baekhyun was and said that he was never buried at all."
Their jaws dropped open. Kyungsoo stepped forward to put his hands on Chanyeol's shoulders. "You mean..."
"I don't think they ever found a body."
"That must be why there are no reports and no one outside the neighborhood knows what happened." Sehun said. "They don't know the cause of death because they didn't have the body to do an autopsy on. It's a cold case."
"But, why do they say he's dead if they don't really know?" Kai asked. "I mean, we know he's dead because we've met his ghost, but how did the police figure it out? For all they know, he could've run away and never returned."
"Well, his neighbors seem pretty positive that he's dead. They must've told the police." Kyungsoo said. "The only thing that doesn't make sense is how they would know. The only way they could've known is if they were responsible or they witnessed it. Either way, the cops would eventually find out how exactly it happened from them."
A book on the shelf behind Chanyeol toppled over, causing him to jump. He whipped around to find Baekhyun floating through the aisles, appearing out of nowhere. "Great." He mumbled. "He followed me again."
"Hey. Whatcha guys talking about?" He asked as he sat down on top of a table and fluttered his eyelashes. "I heard you mention Mr. Suho. I knew him back in the day."
"We were just talking about..." He racked his brain for a lie. "About...the upcoming Spookfest this weekend. I was wondering if Mr. Suho would be there."
"Ah, the Spookfest. I remember me and my neighbors would go apple bobbing in Mr. Kim's backyard. I won every time."
"Yeah. Anyway, how did you and Mr. Suho know each other?"
He jumped up from the table to fly over Chanyeol's head and resume browsing books. "Oh, I don't know. He lived nearby and I liked giving him candy. He was just a little kid, probably seven or eight. Same with Mr. Kim and Ms. Bae. They always came by my place to try and steal the spare candy I kept in the upstairs cupboard."
"They were just kids..." Chanyeol said to himself, stroking his chin. "You said seven or eight years old?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty sure."
Interesting. Knowing they were in their early sixties, Baekhyun must've died around 1966 or 1967 to make the ages match up. That narrowed their time frame down immensely, but it still didn't answer the question of how.
"So, what are you guys doing for Spookfest?" Baekhyun interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh, um...probably just going to my place to watch horror movies."
"What?!" He flew back over to the table. "That's boring! You have to at least get out of the house and do something with the neighborhood. The whole point of Spookfest is to bring the community together to celebrate the halfway point of October."
"I'll think about it later." He turned back to the others. "I'll call you guys later. I'm going to get home before Baekhyun causes more of a mess here."
"Alright, see you later. And give us any updates on...you know."
👻👻👻
"It's costume time!" Baekhyun shouted as he rummaged through Chanyeol's closet. Chanyeol normally didn't dress up until Halloween, but the ghost insisted that he participate in Spookfest and go out to celebrate with his neighbors. Spookfest lasted from Friday to Sunday, meaning he'd have to find multiple costumes to wear for each day.
"How about this? No, this would look so much better. Ooh, this is nice!" Baekhyun found the old costume box in the back of the closet and uncovered all of the old outfits Chanyeol wore for previous Halloweens. He didn't want him to wear the same thing, so he mixed and matched to create something new and, in Chanyeol's opinion, hideous.
"We can make you into a pirate, bumblebee, zombie king!" He dropped a crown on Chanyeol's head and attached plastic wings to his back. "Wow! I'm a fashion genius."
"Baek-"
"Hold on. It needs a little more." He flew back to the box and pulled out a torn shirt with fake blood splattered on it. "Put this on. Oh! Let's add this too!" A plastic sword flew in Chanyeol's direction, nearly poking his eye out.
"Baekhyun, I wanted to ask you something."
"Look at this!" A pirate hat was chucked at him next. "We can put the crown on top of that. Oh my gosh, this is so cute! It's a little stinger for the bee costume!"
"Baekhyun, shut up for a second."
The ghost sat back, pouting. "What? You're spoiling my fun."
Chanyeol removed the hat and crown from his head, then sat down crisscrossed in front of Baekhyun. "I know you don't want to talk about this, but I really, really want to know."
Baekhyun's mouth dropped into a frown.
"Where...is your body?"
In the blink of an eye, the pirate sword struck him in the face and the bee stinger jammed into his ass. "Ow! Baekhyun!" The crown plummeted into his gut and the buckle of his pirate costume struck him in the knuckles. By the time he regained himself and wiped the blurriness out of his bruised eye, the entire costume box lifted off the floor and slammed into his chest.
"How dare you ask me that question!"
"Wait, Baekhyun - ah - I'm - shit - I'm sorry."
"Shut up!" A pen from his desk shot into his arm, making him yelp.
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry! I won't ask again!"
The room went still. Baekhyun dropped the box on the floor and carried on assembling a costume in silence. Chanyeol stood up to pull the pen out of his arm, when he noticed the closet doors flew open during Baekhyun's rampage.
"Hey, Baek."
"What now?" He muttered.
"What is it with you and that closet?"
At this, Baekhyun lifted his head slightly to peer into the darkness of his tiny quarters. "I don't know. I just like it."
"You know, my dad told me ghosts prefer to hang out where they died. Why is that?"
Baekhyun dropped the superhero mask he was examining to glare at him. "Didn't I tell you not to bring this stuff up? When are you going to start being respectful, Park Chanyeol?"
Fuck respect, he thought. He wasn't going to wait around for Baekhyun to finally admit the truth. They were already halfway through October, but he couldn't wait any longer to get rid of him. He needed answers, and if stepping over boundaries meant obtaining them, then so be it. What was the worst that could happen? Baekhyun throws a book at him again?
"I'm trying to help us both here. You get to leave the spirit realm, I won't have to deal with a ghost annoying me all the time. This is a win-win for both of us."
"Ugh, I can't stand you." He floated back to his closet. "I already told you it's not going to work, so give it a rest. You've got half a month left with me, so deal with it." The doors slammed on their own.
👻👻👻
The gang met up at the lamppost to begin their nightly celebrations. Chanyeol ended up throwing a golden crown and red cape on to appear as if he put some effort into it, and because Baekhyun wouldn't let him open the front door until he put something on. And yes, the ghost came with him despite their fight earlier. Not because he wanted to hang out, but because he wanted to get away from him to see Spookfest in all of its glory after years of being trapped in the house.
He floated through the streets lined with orange and purple confetti, stopping to watch all the different activities laid out on people's lawns. Meanwhile, Chanyeol and the others went to Mr. Kim's house to watch apple bobbing and discuss their supernatural problem.
"Mr. Kim, I'm never going to win his trust. Can you at least give me a clue?" Chanyeol asked. They were sitting on his porch, watching Zitao - the neighborhood pool cleaner - and Kim Jongdae - that one stand up comedian who always made an appearance at the club down the street - dunking their heads in water to bite down on an apple.
"I won't say anything about what happened, Chanyeol." Mr. Kim sighed. "If he hasn't told you yet, it means he doesn't want you to know. He would be very upset if I went against him and revealed the truth."
"Yeah, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm starting to believe you're all murderers trying to cover up your crimes. Baekhyun did say you used to steal from him."
"Candy, and we were just kids. We were dumb and immature." His voice dropped to a near whisper. "But, we should've known better."
"What do you mean?"
"Nevermind." He rose from his rocking chair to award Tao a candy bar for collecting the most apples. "Why don't you kids give it a try? Take your mind off of that ghost and just enjoy the Halloween season for a bit."
Chanyeol was about to decline the offer, when Kyungsoo pulled him to his feet and towards the apple bucket. "Come on, let's have some fun tonight. We'll worry about Baekhyun tomorrow."
How could he say no to a face like that? They kneeled in front of their respective buckets and folded their hands behind their backs. Mr. Kim started the timer, granting them one minute to collect as many apples as possible.
"Ready, set, bite!"
Fighting against his regret, Chanyeol threw his head into the water and snapped at the apples. It was much harder than he expected. They kept floating away from him and slipping out of his mouth and hitting him in the teeth. Kyungsoo was doing much better than he was. There were already three apples in his basket by the time Chanyeol lifted his head to breath.
"Come on, Chan! You're doing terrible!" Sehun hollered.
"I'm trying!" He dunked his head back in, ramming his forehead straight into an apple. They were much more painful than they looked.
"Finished!" Mr. Kim shouted, hitting the stopwatch.
Kyungsoo counted the apples in his basket. Five in total. Chanyeol received none. He was awarded a jumbo chocolate bar, one that caught Baekhyun's attention immediately.
He drifted his way over to Mr. Kim's lawn, practically drooling. "Is that from Delight Candy?" He said dreamily. "Do you think I could win one too?"
"I don't think ghosts are allowed to play. You can go find your own chocolate somewhere else."
Kyungsoo looked up from the wrapper he peeled away. "Is Baekhyun here?
"Yeah, and he wants your chocolate."
He stared down at the piece of candy, before holding it up in the air for him to take. "Here. I can always buy my own."
The others stared wide eyed as the chocolate floated out of his hand and disappeared with each bite. Mr. Kim sat down to watch, smiling softly to himself.
"Why'd you give it to him? He's been nothing but a brat this entire time." Chanyeol said.
"I thought I should be nice. Ghosts don't get to win chocolate bars like we do." He turned to the floating chocolate and smiled. "Your welcome, Baekhyun."
"Why can't you be more like him?" The ghost mumbled as he glared at Chanyeol.
Rolling his eyes, he walked back onto Mr. Kim's porch and flopped down in his rocking chair. Mr. Kim sat beside him to look out at the neighborhood kids running onto his lawn.
"I don't see why you hate him so much. I remember he used to be a very nice person when he was alive."
"Because he's annoying." Chanyeol grumbled. "I think being a ghost for so long has turned him into a little wretch. I can't stand having him around, Mr. Kim. You have to tell me how he died."
"Chanyeol," He sighed. "No matter how many times you ask, I'm not going to tell you. Maybe you should give him a chance and try to get along for once."
"I have, but he always finds some way to piss me off. Every time I try to help his good-for-nothing soul carry over, he rejects the offer and starts chucking objects at me."
"You're going about it all wrong. I told you to earn his trust first. If you harass him and bring up topics he feels uncomfortable talking about, then you'll never get the answers you're looking for." He rested a hand on Chanyeol's knee. "Please try to be nice. Remember what I said about respecting ghosts."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't trigger them or whatever. I got it." He sat back, rocking the chair back and forth. The old wood creaked loudly with every move he made, mixed with the sound of noisy children and Kim Jondgae screaming over a dropped apple.
"Can I at least ask you about his body?"
Mr. Kim glanced up at him for a moment, before turning back to the very intense apple bobbing competition between Jondgae and a six year old. "What about it?"
"Mr. Suho told me he was never buried. If his body isn't in the cemetery, where is it?"
He turned to the house looming beside them, lit up with orange and purple lights hanging around a plastic graveyard under the tree in Chanyeol's front lawn. "I don't know."
"You mean they never found it? If he died in the house, don't you think his body would still be in there?"
Unless someone removed it, he thought. The body couldn't move on his own, but why would anyone take it? Who would? Did that mean that he was murdered? And the murderer wanted to cover up the crime, so they hid the evidence far away from the house to prevent the cops from finding out? Was his body still there after all of those years?
Chanyeol shivered at the thought. What if he had been living with a dead body the entire time and never realized it? But, if his remains really were still in the house, where would they be? It must've been somewhere that could easily fly under the radar, most likely buried deep enough to avoid a smell. The front or backyard would be the most logical place to bury it, but Chanyeol just had this...feeling that his body wouldn't be there.
Baekhyun never spent any time outside the house. Taking into account that ghosts hung around the place they died, he found it hard to believe that they wouldn't stick around their burial place either, especially if it was in the same house. Of course, he didn't actually know how often ghosts visited their burial places, but intuition told him that the place he should be looking was inside.
"I have to go." He stood up and grabbed his crown to put back on his head. "Thanks for the apples, Mr. Kim. Guys! Let's go!"
Kyungsoo, Sehun, and Kai gathered their apple baskets and followed him back to the house. Baekhyun vanished once again, probably running (or, floating) off to watch the pie eating contest. He would be back soon once he realized Chanyeol left without him, giving them a small window of time to investigate.
"Guys, I think the body's in the house."
"What?!" They shouted in unison.
"I don't know why, but I just have this feeling that the body was never removed from the house. I thought maybe it was buried in the lawn or the backyard, but something tells me it's inside."
"So, it was right under the cops' noses? That's...that's pretty genius." Sehun said.
"Does that mean he was murdered?" Kai asked.
"Maybe. For now, let's just take a look around and see if we can find any clues as to where his body could be."
They split up into groups of two; Kyungsoo went with Chanyeol and Kai went with Sehun. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo covered the second floor while the others covered the first. His parents had the lights off so as not to interfere with the spooky exterior, and as a result they had to carry flashlights around like a couple of burglars.
The second floor gang went into the guest room first. After all, if a murderer wanted to hide a body in the house, they would probably put it in a room no one used. Chanyeol pushed the door open to let Kyungsoo in first, craning his head sideways to peer into the darkness.
"If I were a dead body, where would I be...?" Kyungsoo said to himself. He looked under the bed, in the armoire, and the dressers, but found nothing suspicious.
"So, this has been a pretty interesting Spookfest." Chanyeol said as he examined the old belongings left behind by previous owners.
"Yeah. I never would have imagined I'd be searching for a dead body in the middle of the night."
"At least we get to...do it together."
"Yeah, sure." Kyungsoo crawled under the bed on his stomach and elbows. Shuffling to try and fit in the small space, he lifted his arm as much as possible to shine the flashlight down on the floorboards. "Hey, I think these boards are loose."
"You need help pulling them free?" Before he could get down to reach under the bed, Kyungsoo already pried one loose and pushed it out of his way.
"Woah."
"What is it?"
Kyungsoo pushed a box out next. Chanyeol grabbed it and set it on top of the bed, then pulled the loose, rusty lock off with ease. On the count of three, they threw the dusty lid back to reveal the contents inside.
"Holy shit."
"Is that...?"
"Yeah. That's blood."
Chanyeol slowly reached in to grab the bloody clothes neatly folded in a stack. There seemed to be three different outfits, and underneath them all was a crowbar, a saw, and a chain.
"Jesus Christ, there's dried blood on everything."
"Chanyeol, I think we just found the evidence to a murder scene."