A/N: Haunting: be persistently and disturbingly present in (the mind).

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The locks stared back at me in disappointed betrayal, and my body felt bittersweet at letting the weight fall.

The norm of hair was a trim, that's all it had ever been since I could remember. This spontaneous change just felt necessary, it was the most cliché thing I could possibly have submitted to, but the action held meaning.

My hair had always been my personal treasure, although sometimes it didn't support that statement. Doing something so different was almost as if I was taking a leap out of my comfort zone.

"It's all done, darling. Want to look back up?"

I could hear Ken chuckle in amusement, but the introduction to my reflection was still slow. It was a gradual and sudden snap of my neck that brought my curiousity to a reward.

My fingers dragged through my thick, wavy strands of hair, and that was when I smiled.

Staring back at me, her hair reached just below her shoulders, it no longer drowned down with the weight of the world. Fractions of me could barely believe that such a minute detail could impact my spirit. But it did.

"It looks great, but come on," Ken tapped my shoulder, "We have work to do."

I stood up, dusting my hair and then looking back at the middle-aged woman who bore a distant smile.

"Thankyou Mrs Liu, I really appreciate the change."

Her eyes met mine, but it was as if they were void of a connection. The woman's face had endured various wrinkles of stress, and her genuine smiles probably took up ounces of the meagre energy Kens' mother had left.

"Oh darling, I'm glad."

I send her an uplifting gaze, hoping that my expression could resemble what should have been words. I wanted my eyes to distinguish support, and my turned lips to represent gratitude.

"We're gonna be upstairs, call me if you need anything." Ken waved to his mum before grabbing my arm and pulling me up with him.

Only after we had made it through the dark tunnel of stairs, and entered his viridian room, was I able to ask the question that was devastating my mind.

"Ken-"

"Uh uh," I was brought to a pause as he shook his head, "Not yet."

In empathy, I nodded my head, the disappointment shrivelling a grave in my mind.

What had happened to her?

"Alright, let's see what you've done."

His modification of tone was spontaneous, to his own accord. The boy motioned for me to take the seat on his desk whilst he drew up another chair. As he tapped away on the computer, I fumbled around my leather pocket to successfully retrieve my USB drive.

As Ken scavenged out the file, I murmured, "There are a few I was quite happy with, most of the others didn't fit into the style I wanted to achieve."

"Let's take a look." He muttered to himself, leaning forward to decipher through my edited photos.

The first was of Jesse.

I wasn't going to whip through a hurricane of emotions at seeing his photo, it could wait for when I saw him in real life.

Ken had already played around with the shift of saturation, making it more concentrated towards his eyes. They didn't drastically pop out, but they really were the focus.

"At first, I wanted to use the image of Sasha to place in the background."

"It would look like two separate photographs rather than one." Ken pointed out.

"Exactly," I agreed, "So I settled for a sort of reflective image, placing a near transparent layer of her image over his visible eye."

"I like it."

The sentence was too short for my confirmation, "But?"

"Don't you feel like something's missing?"

"What? Like the cliché black and white?"

"Mhm." the boy nodded before the entire masterpiece was indulged in the two polar opposite shades.

We simultaneously chorused, "No."

"Hold on," I gestured for the mouse, "Maybe if we kept it, but toned down the intensity, so there's still that aspect of colour."

The mouse dragged to the scale as I looked back at Ken for a number, "Fifty?"

Tapping on the number, we realised how terrible it was, "You can't really decide what line it crosses huh?"

"Yeah...try twenty-five."

For the next ten minutes, we had eventually become experts in experimenting with the technique, and settled for the exact figure of thirty-two.

"Okay, I can edit the others to that extent, but there's one photo I forgot to attach to the file."

Looking up from the dragon figure I'd been fiddling with, I raised my eyebrows enquiringly.

"Coincidentally, it's of you."

I rose my eyes to the screen, taking the time to focus on the image before my thoughts drowned any prior words.

My old hair had been pushed behind my shoulder, whilst the other side lay tilted forwards as I eagerly stared at whatever the hell had been infront of me. My eyes were wide with disbelief, my mouth opened slightly in awe. I hated to admit it, but something had emotionally made me melt.

"Who took this?" I asked, trying to think about the object of my gaze.

"Um," Ken coughed, unnecessarily building a sense of awkwardness, "Davis."

"Of course," I smacked my head lightly, "Momo."

"Is that seriously what you call him?" The guy laughed at what he assumed to be a pet name.

"No. Momo is a kitten, Davis's kitten..." I trailed off, remembering his outburst, the gesture still lingering a trace of touch.

It was imprinted in my mind, and just like the constant unsettling feeling in my chest, Davis was biting at my brain and refusing to back down.

"It's a shame he didn't get the kitten in the shot," Ken muttered, "We need to edit it into here."

"Her." I sighed, my mind dreadfully longing for the blob of fuzz.

Ken rolled his eyes in good humour, then emphasised his point, "I guess he was more focused on taking a photo of you."

I flushed, my face retaliating to his words.

"Stop!" My arm shoved Ken, "You're making me feel even worse."

We were silent, and I looked back at the precision of the photo that masked any negative emotions. The abundant gap of sound was a deliverance that brought bland and bare sadness back to me.

"Want to talk about the thoughts that you've probably accumulated over the last few days?"

I met his doleful brown eyes, and even the most ignorant of species would be able to analyse how Ken had a reliable shoulder to lean on. Our knees brushed against eachother before he gestured to his bed, eagerly moving to lean against one of his emerald shaded pillows. I joined him, crossing my legs and running a hand through my hair to help me feel slightly more happy.

"Could you tell?" I placed my elbow onto my leg, then propped the side of my face into my palm.

Hesitation only slipped past his face for a mere millisecond, "Yeah, in all honesty it was obvious."

I groaned, covering my face with my hands, "Why couldn't I tell?"

"Don't feel that stupid, it was just blatant for us."

"You guys, prior me and Dina?"

He nodded swiftly, "Apart from Sadia and Sasha, he never really bothered with any girls. We could see how obvious it was, he always pounced to say something completely idiotic to make you have a reaction."

"He says stupid things to all girls." I uselessly pointed out, knowing there was no reason arguing for a point which had already been finalised.

"I can guarantee you that he doesn't drag most girls away from uncomfortable scenarios, just to make them feel reassured."

My entire face betrayed the feelings I wanted to smother. The tone of red only becoming more intense in embarrassment.

"I never realised that everything he did was because he actually cared."

Ken didn't proceed to relay any more information, which made me feel obliged to continue.

"I know that I won't be able to ever see him in the same light again, but I'm still trying to judge if that's a good or bad thing. We won't be the same again, that's for sure. I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable, but I don't want to act ignorant at the same time." My hands were sharp in movement, covering my face as soon as my mouth clamped shut.

"That makes sense, the only advice I have is to just see how things end up. Sometimes, things turn out parallel to what we anticipate." He nodded his head, fidgeting with his black hoodie.

"Which isn't always a bad thing." I gave Ken a concluding glance.

We were silent, and it continued for the right amount of minutes before he asked, "Need a hug?"

The question made me blink for a few seconds, wondering if he was joking, but when I looked back at his face I saw it all. Ken was a representation of the word genuine, his soul wrapped in sincerity.

He smiled in a way that made me feel as though he knew what a troubled life was, and that there was near nothing we could do to change the outcome, apart from our attitude.

I accepted his open arms, and allowed the grip around me to symbolise a safe haven. The friendly gesture made me suddenly feel a blast of appreciation for the people in my life.

It was him who sighed, a deep exhalation of feelings. I looked up at Ken, before moving away and trying to read his expression. It resembled a struggled decision.

Eventually, he conquered his confused mind, "My mum, she never got over my sisters' death."

I didn't want to reply with the feeble expression of an apology, so I asked, "How?"

"Mei was only thirteen, but any age would have been too young," his eyes furrowed into the carpet, "I can't remember that day, there are only small parts of it that add up to create a broken picture."

I moved my body to lean against the bedhead, never dragging my gaze off of him.

"During that week I was doing some volunteering with my uncle in China. Mei, she was always so stubborn, and we always told her it brought out the worst. That day...Mum and her argued about the boy she was dating, she was too young for him."

He paused, and I could empathise the time he needed to pass through the events, "You've given me the same advice: if you don't want to go through it, you don't have to."

"It's fine Ava," Ken shook his head and his smile was bitterly painful, "I remember Mum calling me at four in the morning, the time difference didn't matter because we were in it together. She told me that Mei had ran out of the house in fury, she stormed out...right into the road."

My muscles were tense and the solemn idea in my mind was reasonably close to the truth. "Was it too late?"

He shook his head to my surprise, "The car didn't trample over her, but it did make her fall. Her head struck the ground, and she was unconscious."

Ken breathed in, and a shiver cursed down my spine when I saw tears of deep emotions in his eyes.

On his desk was a box of two-ply tissues, right next to the computer, and I dashed to grab a few. He gave me a feeble smile of gratitude, patting at the watery lids awkwardly.

"At that time (after she had called me) we were so grateful that Mei still existed in this small world. I travelled home and went to see her, but it was out of the frying pan and into the fire."

"What went wrong?"

"The devil himself couldn't have stirred up more trouble. Mei was in a coma, the crash and fall had resulted in some sort of horrible brain injury. A week later, she slipped away from us, silently and without a goodbye."

Yet here I selfishly was, able to still say goodbye to all the people around me. Modifying my life meant I could still somewhat be normal...but Ken? He was the opposite.

"There's nothing you can do," I murmured, "To retribute for that empty space, the gap that reminds you of how she's gone."

"In some way, I've accustomed myself a little to it, but Mum?" He shook his head, "It's mortifying how she always obsesses over what triggered the event."

"She couldn't do anything about the coma," I whispered, grabbing Ken's hand in spite of my inability to comfort people properly, "That fate was out of our control."

He nodded his head and leaned on my shoulder, "It was scarring, and Mei continues to haunt us, because Mum won't let go. It's almost like she passed down the prophecy of stubborn declination."

Once again, it was silent between us as we both deeply reflected over all the traumatising words Ken had shared.

"During that time, Davis was the only one who I could seek solace in."

A/N: The outcome of this chapter makes me feel gloomy, and I don't know if that's the tone I want. Please tell me what you guys think of this chapter!

This weirdo is out, baii xx