"Wake up... poor man. Ah, I mean Joshua Billi."
Joshua gasped. The voice triggered a sharp pain in the back of his head. He groaned, forcing his stiff eyelids open. His pupils trembled as he tried to focus. Then his gaze was met by a dimly lit room that seemed unfamiliar. The place was empty. He was no longer on the asphalt, but lying on a cold, endless black floor. There were no walls, no ceiling—only boundless darkness stretching in all directions.
Am I in the grave? he thought dazedly. Or is this... the afterlife? Joshua almost smiled bitterly. If so, it meant that his suffering was finally over.
"I thought you really wanted to wait for the angels to drag you to hell," the voice sounded again, its tone cynical and sharp.
Joshua turned his head stiffly. A man was standing a meter away from him. The man was wearing an impeccable expensive suit, his face cold and emotionless, and a strange tattoo encircling his neck. Joshua's eyes widened after staring at the man for a moment.
"You... the man in the car?" Joshua's voice caught in his throat. "Are we in the same graveyard? Why are you here?"
The man looked at Joshua with disgust in his eyes.
"Congratulations, you're wrong. You're not lucky enough to die today. Call me Alex. From now on, consider me the only partner who can save your life."
Joshua's eyes widened, then his gaze went blank. "Why? Why am I still awake? I have to die... for Selena. That's the only way she can stay alive."
Joshua's body recoiled as the man advanced, narrowing the distance between them. Joshua could feel the man's gaze now clouded with anger.
"Vaffanculo!" The man cursed at Joshua in a thick Italian accent. "You think the afterlife is a vacation spot? It's much more painful there for losers who die with grudges. You want to die for insurance?" Alex laughed hollowly, gripping Joshua's shoulders hard. "Your grandfather will devour that insurance money in one night, and your sister, Selena, will still die in her hospital bed!"
"I can't do anything else," Joshua replied softly. "The only way I can love Selena is by disappearing."
"Stupid," Alex hissed. "I died a few hours ago. But you... you still have a body that can be saved. I won't let the angel of death take you away before you pay for every tear your mother has shed and every bit of your sister's suffering."
The man began to circle Joshua. "Besides, don't you want to know why the ship, which was fine at first, suddenly sank? And why Selena has to depend on an oxygen tank for the rest of her life without any progress? Doesn't that seem strange to you?"
Joshua gasped. He lifted his head to look at the man fully. "What do you mean?"
"What's even stranger is why they didn't perform an autopsy on your mother? Why was Dimitri in such a hurry to bury her? And look at Selena..." Alex lowered his voice, right next to Joshua's ear. "Why didn't her heart condition improve even though she had been treated for so long?"
Joshua was transfixed. Memories from a year ago flooded his mind. His grandfather blocking the door to the morgue, and how Dimitri always forbade him from bringing in outside specialists to examine Selena.
Joshua stared at the man warily. "Who are you, how do you know all that?"
"Call me Alex. And I know because I can read your noisy mind," Alex grinned, revealing an expression that was difficult to read. "Live, Joshua."
"I can't... I'm just a loser," Joshua bowed his head again.
"Then lend me your body."
Alex held out his hand, palm open right in front of Joshua's face. Joshua could only stare at those pale fingers, his breath caught in his throat.
"Let me possess your body," Alex continued, his voice lowering, almost whispering in Joshua's ear.
When he got no response from Joshua, Alex bent down, closing the distance until Joshua could feel the real intimidation from the figure in front of him. "I will destroy anyone who dares to step on you. Anyone."
Joshua tried to look away, but Alex grabbed his chin, forcing their eyes to meet.
"I will take over your body to find out who killed me..." Alex grinned thinly. "And in return, I will give you the truth about your mother—and make sure your sister doesn't die a foolish death in that hospital ward. How about it?
Joshua shook his head, trying to back away even though there was nowhere to run. "No... that breaks the rules of life... it won't work with the dead."
"Rules?" Alex laughed dismissively. His voice sounded hollow in the empty room. "You want to know Melinda Billi's secret, don't you? You want to know if your mother is proud of you or screaming for help somewhere?"
Alex stared into Joshua's eyes. "Deal? You give me a chance to get revenge, and I'll give you the power to get your dignity back. The world has thrown you away, Joshua. Now, let's make the world beg for your forgiveness."
Joshua stared at Alex's palm. Inside his chest, a fierce battle raged, more painful than the impact of asphalt. Part of him screamed to surrender to the darkness, longing for eternal sleep without burden as "a killer." However, a small part of his heart that was not yet dead began to beat wildly with a thirst for the truth about his mother's death.
"How... how can I trust you?" Joshua's voice trembled with doubt. "You're just a shadow in my head. You could be a demon deceiving me."
Alex crouched down to meet Joshua's eye level. Emotion filled his gaze. "Even though I'm dead, she wants to fight fate, she wants to become a vengeful ghost and drag them all down to suffer with me."
Alex scratched his own palm with his fingernail—an imaginary wound that emitted a deep red light, resembling glowing spirit blood. "Listen, Joshua. I don't have time to deceive someone if it doesn't benefit me. I swear on what's left of my cursed soul," Alex locked eyes with Joshua. The man's sharp black gaze seemed to mesmerize Joshua, who was momentarily transfixed by those eyes, eyes that Joshua saw were full of vengeance.
"If I betray you, if I let you be destroyed before the truth is revealed, then let my spirit be reduced to ashes. I will never reach the gates of hell." Alex extended his red-glowing palm, thrusting it directly toward Joshua's chest.
"You have nothing left to lose, Joshua Billi," Alex whispered. "Your name, your family, your pride—all have been taken. The only thing remaining is the anger you've buried deep within. Give me your hand," Alex said in a calm voice. "Come with me. Let's end this now."
Joshua was silent. Those words crept into the cracks of his broken heart. Hope was painful, but his curiosity about his mother's death was far more torturous than any fire.
Slowly, Joshua raised his hand. When his fingers touched Alex's ice-cold skin, a powerful electric shock spread through his nerves, causing excruciating pain.
"I... I agree," Joshua said with a trembling voice, a glimmer of hope appearing in his eyes.
Instantly, the handshake triggered a painful explosion of white light.
The entire empty space collapsed into a single central point, dragging Joshua's soul out of the silence into a narrow, shattered vessel.
Physical pain hit him brutally. He felt like he was being sewn back into his crushed flesh and bones. When the pull ended, Joshua's previously white vision slowly faded, leaving a blurry shadow amid the dizzying flashes of blue and red lights.
The wail of ambulance sirens and the panicked screams of people pierced his eardrums. He tried to breathe, but the oxygen that entered burned his lungs from within. Joshua's body gave up; he could no longer bear the pain in his body. His vision grew blurrier, before being swept away by darkness.