Chapter 1

The sounds of sobs and whimpers woke Elena up from her unintended sleep. Her eyes fluttered open, and darkness was the only thing she saw. Her skin tightened. The dark had never been kind to her, so she was always wary of it. 

Taking a few deep breaths, she recalled someone crying, but due to the dark surroundings, she couldn't tell where it came from. She turned her head to the side, her body feeling hot. She was sweating and she felt the space was cramped. 

Dazed and confused, she pondered for a while. After remembering what had happened to her, she startled upright, but then her forehead hit something hard, and she was pushed back lying down. 

"Ouch," Elena groaned as she rubbed her forehead. "What is this? Where am I?"

Blinking at the absurdity of what occurred, her still sleepy head cleared, and it began to realize where she was. Feeling up the hardwood that hit her head, her face turned pale out of fear. 

She was inside a coffin! She was kidnapped on her way home from the supermarket!

Elena pushed the lid up, her veins popping on her arms and neck, but the damned wood was not even bulging. She cursed under her breath and kicked both sides of the coffin, but it only hurt her toes. 

"Is anyone there?! Please, there's someone here! Help me out!" Her parched throat hurt from shouting repeatedly, but no one was coming. Terrified, she tried to create noise as much as possible, until finally, she heard footsteps approaching. "Is there someone there? Please, let me out! I can't breathe!"

No one answered, but Elena could feel the coffin moving. She kept banging the lid, unwilling to be buried alive. 

However, recalling that she was kidnapped, her hands froze. What if the person outside was her kidnapper? What was she going to do? She didn't want to be buried alive, but she might get killed either way. 

Her lips quivered, and her fear intensified. She was afraid to die. She called out the name of her boyfriend, praying for him to rescue her, even though she knew he couldn't hear her. 

Tears swelled up in the corner of her eyes. Was this her end? 

"He won't come." 

A whisper behind her ear stopped her tears from falling. Elena slowly looked over her shoulder. The cry she heard earlier, the cry that woke her up, came from the ghost behind her, twisting her hair in her pale, rotting fingers. 

Elena screamed at the top of her lungs. Was the coffin occupied?! Used before?! She didn't care anymore. She just wanted to get out as soon as possible. 

"Please, let me out!" She shouted, pleading. She felt the coffin slide, followed by the sound of the car's engine. "No…no…no! Please, I'm still alive! Don't bury me!"

She knew the next destination would be the cemetery. The rough road caused her body to roll inside, hitting side from side. The dreadful spirit behind her was sobbing at one moment, then laughing at her the next. 

At last, the coffin stopped after several minutes.

Elena's shoulders sagged; she was losing hope. She accepted her fate—buried alive inside that coffin, next to a mad ghost pitying her sorry life. 

Yes. Elena's life had been so pitiful from childhood. The good things that happened in her life could be counted on just one hand. 

Elena was abandoned in front of a church, as she was told. The church then raised her in one of its affiliated orphanages, but she had a hard time fitting in. She was never meant to serve God, as the adults back there kept saying. 

So, she was put up for adoption. 

A devout family took notice of her and brought her home, but only a month later, she was sent back without pity, along with rage and regret for taking her in. Another family took pity on her and adopted her legally. They were kind, but they ended up dying in an accident. Their death was blamed on her by their relatives, and she was stripped of her right to grieve for them. 

Then, she ended up in the orphanage again. 

She couldn't understand why no one wanted her, but when she realized the reason, she decided to hide it, be more careful, and ignore those things. She was a child wanting to be loved, but she knew no one would love someone who could see the dead, so she believed.

The third family that paid her attention was a bit different. They weren't put off by the bad rumors attached to her—a devil reincarnate, a bad omen, or whatever you called something that always brings misfortune to anyone they latched onto—and gladly took her to their home. 

The couple had a daughter, the same age as Elena, and was very sick. They wanted to give their bedridden daughter a sibling, a friend, a companion, but they didn't want another child in fear of passing the same illness their daughter had. 

Elena did not expect to stay in that family for long. So, she always prepared herself for the time she would be sent back while doing her duty. However, a year passed, and she was still part of the family. 

Several years later, she abandoned the thought and let the couple in her heart. She genuinely took care of her sickly sister and loved the family very much. For once, she felt like she belonged. Despite being homeschooled and always cooped up in the house to accompany her sister, Elena led a normal life. 

She fell in love with her sister's childhood friend, someone who noticed and appreciated her sacrifices for her sister more than anyone. Miraculously, her sister slowly recovered. Elena was so happy. 

So, she decided to throw a party for her sister's successful recovery and went out to buy all the things she needed. She was on her way back to her car in the supermarket's parking lot when a man bumped into her and made her groceries fall. 

She yelled at the man before picking up the items. After that, she just felt a searing pain in her head, and everything was pitch black.