The song my sister sang from outside the bathroom. except she wasn't there.

I wasn't going to post this but it's been eating at me so here we go.

So a bunch of friends came over to hang out at my place. Seven of us total including my older sister. We were messing around for a while and then someone suggested we do the thing where everyone takes turns telling scary stories. Classic bad idea.

Here's the thing about me and my sister though. we both have these naturally low, kind of husky voices for women, which makes us weirdly perfect for scary stories. And my sister? She had a THROAT COLD that night. So we're talking this deep, raspy, phlegmy voice coming out of her in the dark. Everyone was gulping and leaning in. It was genuinely unsettling.

Anyway. We went through all the stories, somehow ended up eating dinner, and eventually just passed out on the floor.

Then it's the middle of the night.

I wake up with a stomachache. Normally I'd just go to the bathroom alone, no big deal. But we'd spent the entire evening listening to horror stories and my sister's last one had been specifically about a bathroom ghost. In full demon-cold voice. So. Yeah. No. I was NOT going alone.

I looked over and nudged my sister awake.

Me: "sis. hey. wake up."

Her: "...what."

I froze for a second. Her voice sounded off. Like. flat. no tone. kind of hoarse in a different way than the cold. But she had a cold so I told myself it was fine and asked her to come wait outside the bathroom while I went.

She can't come IN obviously. So she's standing outside the door and I'm sitting there and suddenly every bathroom ghost story comes rushing back into my head and I just. I can't.

Me: "hey can you sing something? I'm scared."

Her: "...okay."

[*Mom goes to the oyster beds in the island's shade... the baby stays home alone, watching the house...*]

Of ALL the songs. She picks the one I'm most scared of. This old Korean lullaby that sounds beautiful and deeply cursed at the same time. I kept telling her to stop and she just kept going, said she couldn't be bothered to think of something else. I sat there white-knuckling it through the whole thing, finished up, and went back to sleep.

Morning comes.

My sister isn't next to me. I figured she woke up early so I went to get breakfast. Then I remembered last night and brought it up.

Me: "hey thanks for coming with me to the bathroom btw. but WHY did you sing that song. you're evil."

She looked at me like I had two heads.

"what? I went straight to my own room after you guys fell asleep, I didn't want to bother anyone in that cramped space. and why would I sing THAT song in the middle of the night?? do you know how creepy that song is??"

Everyone laughed. Figured I was pranking them. Then they saw my face.

The table went quiet. Just the sound of spoons.

And then the quietest friend, the one who barely talks, said one thing.

We all dropped our spoons.

**"hey so. I got up to get water last night and I walked past the bathroom. you were in there talking to yourself. muttering stuff. like you were talking to someone. but there was no one there."**