The morning sun pierced through the thin curtains of Kobl's small apartment in Shibuya. He groaned as the brightness dragged him away from uneasy sleep. His head throbbed. He remembered fragments of the nightmare—Ricky's pale, lifeless face staring at him, Amelia's haunting voice whispering, "It's your turn now…"
Kobl splashed water on his face in the bathroom sink. The coldness didn't shake off the heaviness pressing on his chest. He looked into the mirror, and for the briefest second, he swore he saw someone else reflected back—a boy with hollow eyes, lips tinged with blue. He blinked and it was gone.
"Maybe I'm just tired… first-day stress," Kobl muttered to himself. But the unease lingered.
The second day at Shibuya High was supposed to be better. The teachers welcomed him politely, and classmates curiously asked about his transfer. Yet something about the classroom felt wrong. His desk—the one he'd been assigned—was tucked near the window. Students whispered about how that seat used to belong to someone else.
"That was Ricky's spot," one boy said under his breath.
Kobl froze. Ricky. The name clawed at the edges of his memory from last night's nightmare.
"Who's Ricky?" Kobl asked.
The boy shook his head. "A student from last year. Weird story… he died. No one really talks about it."
Kobl felt his throat tighten. He didn't ask more, but his curiosity gnawed at him. Why was he sitting in Ricky's old seat? Why did Ricky's ghost already call to him in his dream?
When class ended, Kobl slipped into the library. He searched the archives for old newspapers, anything with Ricky Martin's name. Nothing came up, almost as if someone had erased the boy from history. That erasure felt even more terrifying than finding proof.
That night, Shibuya's neon lights painted Kobl's room in shifting colors. He tried to distract himself with music, but around midnight, the whispers returned.
"Kobl…"
His chest tightened. The voice was faint, as if carried on the wind, but he was certain it wasn't in his head. He turned off his headphones and sat still.
"Kobl… come find me…"
The sound came from the corner of the room, where the shadows pooled darker than anywhere else. His pulse hammered. Slowly, he reached for the lamp switch.
The moment light filled the room, he gasped—there was a faint figure standing by his desk. A boy his age, eyes black as night, skin pale as paper. It was Ricky.
"You're not supposed to be here…" Kobl whispered.
But Ricky only smiled, lips stretching unnaturally. "Neither were you." Then, in a blink, the figure dissolved, leaving only silence.
Kobl clutched his chest, gasping. His heart raced so fast he thought it might burst. He grabbed a notebook and began scribbling what he saw, desperate to prove to himself it wasn't just a dream.
Days turned into weeks, and the visions worsened. At first, it was just Ricky. But soon Amelia joined—the girl who haunted Ricky's nightmares. Her long hair dripped with something like ink, her eyes hollow pits.
"Ricky is gone," she whispered in Kobl's dreams, her hand trailing across his cheek. "But you… you'll keep me company."
Kobl woke every night drenched in sweat, his screams muffled by the walls of his apartment. His grades began to slip. Teachers noticed his distraction, and classmates began to whisper.
"Did you see Kobl? He looks like a ghost himself."
"I think he's cursed."
The word "cursed" followed him like a shadow. He wanted to deny it, but every whisper, every nightmare, every shadowy corner told him otherwise.
One rainy afternoon, Kobl skipped class and wandered the streets of Shibuya. Neon lights blurred in the puddles as he drifted aimlessly, hoping to escape the weight pressing on his chest.
He ended up near a small shrine tucked between tall buildings. The place was eerily quiet, the air heavy with incense. An old woman tending the shrine noticed him lingering.
"You carry a heavy aura," she said softly.
Kobl flinched. "What do you mean?"
Her cloudy eyes met his. "There's a spirit tied to you. Two, maybe. They cling to your soul like chains."
Kobl's lips trembled. "Can I… can I get rid of them?"
The woman shook her head. "Some chains are forged in blood and sorrow. To break them, you must face what lies in the shadows."
He left the shrine more unsettled than before. The words echoed in his mind all night. Face what lies in the shadows. But how do you face something that isn't even alive?
That night, the curse struck harder than ever.
Kobl dreamed he was standing in a classroom drowned in blood. Desks overturned, windows shattered. At the front of the room stood Ricky, his throat a deep red slash. Beside him was Amelia, her hair dripping black liquid, eyes locked on him.
"This is your classroom now," Ricky said, voice echoing unnaturally.
Amelia tilted her head, smiling cruelly. "And we'll be your classmates forever."
The walls began to close in, dripping with dark fluid. Kobl screamed and ran, but no matter where he turned, the two followed him. Ricky's laughter filled the air, twisting into something inhuman.
When Kobl finally jolted awake, his throat burned from screaming. His neighbors banged on the walls, shouting at him to shut up. He curled on the floor, tears streaming down his face.
"This isn't fair," he whispered, rocking back and forth. "Why me? Why me?"
But no answer came—only the silence of an empty room and the faint echo of Amelia's laughter still ringing in his ears.
By the end of that week, Kobl's eyes were sunken, his hands trembling. He avoided mirrors because he no longer trusted what he'd see. Every girl's face flickered with Amelia's features. Every shadow whispered Ricky's name.
As he stumbled home one evening, exhausted and broken, he passed by an alley where something caught his attention—a faint shadow leaning against the wall, waiting.
"Kobl…" the voice crooned.
He froze. His chest heaved. He knew that voice—it was Amelia again.
The figure stepped out from the darkness, her eyes glimmering unnaturally.
"Come with me," she whispered. "It's almost time."
Kobl staggered back, his whole body trembling. But he couldn't move fast enough. The shadow surged forward, and everything went black.
)
Kobl stopped attending after-school clubs. He told himself it was because of homework, but the truth was he couldn't stand being around others for too long. Every time he looked at a classmate's face—especially the girls—it flickered with Amelia's hollow eyes and ink-dripping smile.
Even laughter felt wrong now. When someone laughed too loudly, it warped in his ears, bending into Ricky's voice. He covered his ears and pressed his head against his desk, but the sound wouldn't stop.
One afternoon, while the teacher was writing on the blackboard, Kobl glanced at the window. For a split second, Ricky's pale face stared back at him from the reflection. His chest seized. He stood up so quickly that his chair toppled over.
"Kobl? Is something wrong?" the teacher asked.
Everyone stared. He couldn't answer. His mouth opened, but words refused to come out. His classmates whispered again—words like "strange," "weird," and "cursed" rippling through the room like poisoned waves.
Kobl grabbed his bag and bolted.
Back in his apartment, the silence was worse than the noise. He sat in the dark with only the hum of the refrigerator filling the air. His phone buzzed occasionally—classmates checking if he was okay—but he couldn't bring himself to answer.
He thought about calling his parents, who lived far away. But what could he say? Hey Mom, Dad, I think I'm haunted by the ghost of a dead boy and his cursed lover. No. They'd never believe him. They'd tell him he was stressed, or worse, that he needed "help."
And maybe they were right. Maybe he was going insane. But Kobl couldn't shake the feeling that this was more than just his mind fracturing. This was real. He could feel it in his bones, the way the air grew colder whenever Amelia's whispers returned, the way the shadows stretched unnaturally when Ricky appeared.
He was never truly alone.
The old woman from the shrine lingered in his mind. Finally, one rainy Saturday, Kobl returned there, his umbrella trembling in his hand.
The woman was sweeping the stone steps when she noticed him. "You came back," she said softly, as if she had been waiting.
Kobl bowed slightly. "I… I need to know. The spirits. They're real, aren't they?"
The woman studied him with eyes that seemed to see through his skin. "Yes. They cling to you like hungry shadows."
"Why me?" His voice cracked, almost breaking. "I didn't do anything."
She sighed. "Spirits don't choose randomly. Pain attracts pain. Sorrow finds sorrow. You carry something inside you, child. And now they've found a place to dwell."
Kobl's knees weakened. "Is there a way to get rid of them?"
The woman placed her hand on the shrine's wooden beam. "You cannot banish them with prayers alone. Spirits bound by tragedy seek to repeat their pain. They will not rest until you suffer as they did."
Her words cut deep. Kobl left the shrine with rain pouring over him, feeling heavier than ever.
The next week, a boy in class approached him. His name was Haruto, a cheerful soul with messy hair and an easy smile. Unlike the others, Haruto didn't avoid Kobl.
"You look like you're carrying the world on your shoulders," Haruto said, plopping into the seat beside him. "Want to hang out after class?"
Kobl almost said no, but something in Haruto's tone felt genuine. For the first time in weeks, someone wasn't looking at him like he was cursed. So he agreed.
They went to a small ramen shop near the station. Haruto cracked jokes, slurped noodles noisily, and told stories about dumb things his friends did. For a short while, Kobl almost forgot. He almost felt normal.
But then, in the corner of the shop's reflection, Amelia stood, her ink-dripping hair soaking the floor. Her eyes never left him.
Kobl dropped his chopsticks. His appetite vanished.
"Hey, you okay?" Haruto asked, concern filling his voice.
"Y-Yeah," Kobl stammered. "Just… tired."
But he knew the truth. Even moments of comfort were poisoned. Amelia would never let him be free.
The nightmares grew worse. Some nights he dreamed of drowning in a sea of black liquid, Amelia's hands pressing him under. Other nights, Ricky whispered in his ear, his icy breath freezing Kobl's skin.
One evening, he found himself staring at the bottle of sleeping pills on his desk. If I take enough… maybe I won't dream anymore. The thought terrified him, but it lingered.
He began writing in a journal, desperate to keep a grip on his sanity. His entries became frantic:
Day 21: I saw Ricky in the hallway mirror.
Day 24: Amelia touched me. My skin burned where her hand was.
Day 28: I think Haruto is starting to look like Ricky. I can't trust him either.
The more he wrote, the more his handwriting devolved into scratches and scribbles. Sometimes he didn't remember writing at all.
One late afternoon, Kobl found himself drawn to the school rooftop. He didn't remember climbing the stairs; his body moved on its own. The sun was setting, casting Shibuya in orange and red hues.
When he reached the top, Ricky was waiting.
"You're doing well," Ricky said, smiling that hollow smile. "The suffering suits you."
Kobl backed away. "Stay away from me."
But Amelia appeared beside Ricky, her hand slipping into his. "We only want you to join us," she cooed. "We're lonely, Kobl. You understand loneliness, don't you?"
He screamed, stumbling against the railing. For a second, he almost fell over. The wind whipped around him, carrying Amelia's laughter.
"You'll join us soon," Ricky said, fading with the setting sun.
Kobl collapsed to his knees, trembling violently.
By the time he returned home that night, Kobl knew one thing for certain: this wasn't just about ghosts. This was a curse, one that would never release him.
He sat at his desk, staring at the journal, when the whispers began again.
"Kobl…"
The shadows stretched unnaturally across the walls. His pen rolled off the desk, but he didn't dare move to pick it up.
The air grew colder. The whispers grew louder. And then, Amelia's voice pierced through the silence:
"It's almost time."
Kobl's body shook violently as the lights in his room flickered and went out, plunging him into complete darkness in he's own mind.