Nam-gyu wanted to forget everything. He wanted to forget those games. He wanted to forget how the blood oozed out of wounds when the lights came back on. He wanted to forget you ever existed, really.

He couldn't, it was haunting him. Metaphorically and literally. He tried to forget, to live a normal life, but then you showed up one night before he was going to pass out. Nam-gyu thought he was dreaming at first. He wasn't, you were real. Well, as real as you can get when you're dead. You were a ghost, a spectral entity.

Now, two years after your death, he was celebrating your birthday. Nam-gyu held the lighter to the candle on the cake, the same one he used to light his joints. Even after all these years, he still can't seem to quit the habit. Once the candle catches flame he flicks the lighter off. The glow from the fire illuminated your faces, the only other light coming through a crack in the curtains.

He always kept them closed now, just like how he stopped going to work, and never would leave his apartment. But he paid his rent on time, and got food delivered two times a day. Nam-gyu mostly just spent his time laying around and talking to you now.

Today was special however, since it was your birthday he actually went to the store to get you a cake and a small candle to blow out. It was small, decorated with your favorite color frosting and had your name in fancy handwriting. You couldn't eat it, but it was the thought that counted.

The corner of his lip upturned, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. He looked at you, deep eyebags settled under them. You knew he could barley tell between night and day anymore. "You gonna blow it out or do I have to do everything for you?"