Funi glanced at her phone, the glowing numbers on the screen reading 6:34 PM. It had been nearly an hour since she'd tried to reach Kel, and with each passing minute, the knot of unease in her stomach tightened a little more. It wasn't like him to be this late, especially not when they had plans to watch the new Witcher series together.

She sighed, her fingers hovering over the play button on her laptop. The temptation was too great, the lure of escaping into a world of fantasy and adventure too strong to resist. With a guilty twinge, she pressed play, the opening credits of the show filling the screen.

As the familiar strains of the theme song washed over her, Funi couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. She knew Kel would be furious with her for starting without him, for breaking the sacred pact of binge-watching that they had established so long ago. But in that moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

Besides, he would not stay long when he came because he had work commitments to attend to.

There was something comforting about losing herself in the world of The Witcher, about immersing herself in a reality where monsters were slain and heroes always triumphed. It was a welcome respite from the uncertainties and anxieties of the real world, a chance to forget, if only for a little while, the nagging sense that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

But even as she watched, her mind kept drifting back to Kel. She pictured him, his easy smile, his infectious laugh, the way he scratched his forehead when he was truly happy. She thought of all the moments they had shared, the inside jokes and the late-night conversations, the dreams they had whispered to each other in the dark.

And with each passing scene, each sword fight and sorcerous incantation, the sense of unease grew stronger, the feeling that something had happened, something that would change everything forever. She tried to push the thoughts away, to lose herself in the story unfolding on the screen, but it was no use.

Funi paused the show, her hand trembling slightly as she reached for her phone once more. She speed-dialed Kel's number, her heart hammering in her chest as she listened to the ringing on the other end. One ring, two rings, three...

The ringing seemed to stretch on forever, each unanswered tone a twist of the knife in her gut. She could feel the panic rising in her throat, the fear that something was wrong. And then, as if the universe itself was conspiring against her, the phone slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor in a moment of cruel irony. But before she could even bend to retrieve it, the device burst to life, its screen lighting up with an incoming call, a glimmer of hope in the gathering darkness.

Funi's heart raced as she picked up the phone, hoping against hope that it would be Kel's voice on the other end. But when she saw Anthony's name on the caller ID, a sense of dread washed over her. She took a deep breath and answered, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Hey, Toto," she said, using the nickname she'd given him years ago. "What's up? Have you seen Kel?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, a silence that seemed to stretch on forever. And then, finally, Anthony spoke, his voice heavy with emotion.

"Funi..." he began, his words trailing off into nothingness.

"What is it, Toto?" Funi asked, her heart hammering in her chest. "What's going on?"

"It's Kel," Anthony said, his voice barely above a whisper. "There's been an accident."

Funi felt the world tilt beneath her feet, a wave of nausea washing over her. "What kind of accident?" she demanded, her voice rising in pitch. "Is he okay? Where is he?"

Another long pause, another silence that seemed to suck the air from the room.

"Funi, I don't know how to tell you this," Anthony said, his voice cracking with emotion. "But Kel... he's gone. He was hit by a car, a hit and run. He didn't make it."

The words hit Funi like a physical blow, a punch to the gut that left her reeling. She felt the phone slip from her fingers, clattering to the floor again as the room spun around her.

"No," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the roaring in her ears. "No, that can't be right. There must be some mistake."

But even as the words left her lips, she knew it was true. She could hear it in Anthony's voice, could feel it in the aching void that had opened up inside her heart. Funi felt something inside her break, a part of her soul shattering into a million pieces.

She sank to the floor, her body wracked with sobs, her mind reeling, her heart shattered into a million jagged pieces.

The phone lay on the floor, Anthony's tiny voice still emanating from the speaker, calling out to Funi in desperate, pleading tones. But Funi couldn't hear him, couldn't hear anything over the sound of her own sobs, the anguished cries that tore from her throat like a wounded animal.

There, in the dark corners of the room where the pink halogen bulb barely touched, Kel's ghostly form sat on the floor, unnoticed, his knees tucked tightly to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs like a shield, his own tears mirroring the ones that streamed down his girlfriend's face. He watched helplessly as the love of his life, the girl who had been his everything, crumbled under the weight of her loss. He ached to reach out to her, to take her in his arms and whisper words of comfort and solace, to tell her that everything would be alright.

But he was powerless, a mere spirit, a shadow of the man he had once been. He could only watch, his heart breaking with every sob, every shuddering gasp that escaped Funi's lips. And as he sat there, his eyes drifting to the photograph that sat on the nearby shelf, a cruel reminder of happier times, he felt a fresh wave of anguish wash over him.

The picture had been taken two years ago, on Funi's 17th birthday, during a picnic at the Lekki Conservation Garden. They had been so happy then, so full of life and love and laughter. Kel could still remember the way the sun had played across Funi's face, the way her eyes had sparkled with joy and mischief, the way her hand had felt in his as they walked along the winding trails.

He wanted nothing more than to step into that photograph, to live forever in that perfect, golden moment, where nothing could touch them, where nothing could ever tear them apart.

But it was too late, too late for dreams and wishes and hopes. He was fucking gone.

He had become a ghost, a memory that nobody could see, hear or touch, and Funi was left to pick up the pieces of a life that had been shattered beyond repair. And all he could do was ...watch

As Funi heaved and nearly choked on her tears on the floor, the door to her room flew open with a bang, and Marie, a tiny, whirlwind of a girl, her 18 years belied by a face that still held the soft curves of childhood, her dark eyes flashing with a intensity that made her seem both fragile and unbreakable, like a tiny, delicate vase that nevertheless could withstand the force of a hurricane, her long braids whipping around her heart-shaped face like a pair of dark, restless wings, burst in like a whirlwind of concern and compassion. "Funi, what the fuck is going on? I heard you crying from all the way down the hall..." Marie's words trailed off as she took in the scene before her, the discarded phone lying on the floor like a casualty of war, the anguished cries that tore from Funi's throat like an amputated animal. "W-what is —"

Without a moment's hesitation, Marie crossed the room in three quick strides, dropping to her knees beside Funi and gathering the heartbroken girl into her arms like a mother cradling a newborn.

"Oh my go—it—it's okay, baby ...it's alright," Marie murmured, her voice a soothing balm to Funi's fractured soul. She rocked the sobbing girl gently, smoothing her long cornrows with a touch as light as a butterfly's wing. "—I'm here, Funi-baby. I'm here."

Funi's sobs were the only response, a wordless strain of despair. But Marie didn't falter, didn't waver in her steadfast support. She was an anchor to cling to when the world was spinning out of control.

Kel watched Funi breathlessly cling to the young woman who had just arrived, her sobs reverberating through the room, he felt a sudden, overwhelming urge to flee, to escape the suffocating weight of her anguish and his own impotence.

As if the universe itself listened and heard his silent plea, he felt a peculiar sensation wash over him, a tingling that seemed to emanate from his belly.

Before he could even begin to contemplate the implications of this strange new feeling, Kel found himself suddenly transported, his ghostly form blinking out of existence in Funi's room and rematerializing on the bench in the park behind the hostel. It was a place he knew well, a place where he and Funi had spent countless hours talking and laughing and dreaming, a place that held so many memories of a life that now seemed like nothing more than a half-remembered dream.

For a moment, Kel simply sat there, under the July evening breeze, marveling at the strangeness of it all, the sheer impossibility of what had just happened. He had teleported, moved from one place to another with nothing more than a thought and a wish, a feat that defied all logic and reason and everything he had ever believed about the nature of life and death.

And yet, even as he grappled with the enormity of this revelation, Kel couldn't help but feel a small, fleeting sense of pleasure, a glimmer of satisfaction that cut through the haze of grief and despair that had consumed him since the moment of his untimely demise. He had discovered a new ability, a power that he had never even dreamed of possessing, a power that seemed to offer a small measure of control in a world that had so cruelly ripped away everything he held dear.

But even as he pondered the implications of this newfound ability, even as he imagined all the ways he could use it to watch over Funi, to be her guardian angel in a world that had so cruelly ripped him away, Kel couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more at work here, some greater purpose or plan that he had yet to uncover.

And then, just as he was about to spiral down the rabbit hole of existential angst and supernatural speculation, he felt it - a presence, a tingling at the base of his spine, a whisper of something strange and wonderful and altogether unexpected. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he turned his head, his eyes widening in shock and awe at the sight that greeted him.

There, perched on the bench beside him like a bird of paradise, was a girl, a young woman with dark brown eyes that sparkled like diamonds and a smile that could stop traffic. But there was something different about her, something ethereal and otherworldly, as if she were spun from stardust and moonbeams and the very fabric of the universe itself.

"Hi there, Kelechi," she said, her voice a melody, a symphony, a siren song that called to him from across the vast expanse of time and space. "I've been expecting you."

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