The power grid collapses in 2047. The city’s
skyline bleeds rust. HDB blocks, once bustling
with life, now hum with static and whispers.
A woman in her thirties, known only as Ah Mei,
walks through the ruins of Bukit Batok. She
carries a compass, a bag of salt, and a list of
addresses. Her job: identify and neutralize
hauntings.
The government has declared all pre2020 HDB
estates unsafe. Residents are relocated to
floating arcologies. Those who stay are labeled
“ghosters” — tolerated but ignored.
Ah Mei is not a ghoster. She is a feng shui
master, trained in the old ways. But the world
no longer believes in spirits. It believes in
data.
She is hired by a man named Kelvin. He needs her
to pose as his girlfriend. His apartment in
Tampines is haunted. The spirit refuses to move.
The rules are clear: no physical contact, no
emotional attachment, no questions. But the
walls bleed. The lights flicker. The air smells
of burnt rice and incense.
Ah Mei inspects the flat. The layout is wrong.
The entrance should be on the left, but it’s on
the right. The floorboards creak in a pattern
she recognizes — a funeral dirge.
She places salt around the door. The spirit
reacts. It materializes as a woman in a
cheongsam, her face obscured. She points at
Kelvin.
He flinches.
The spirit vanishes. The lights return.
Ah Mei demands payment. Kelvin refuses. He says
the spirit is his mother. She died in the
collapse. He couldn’t save her.
The rules bite. Ah Mei cannot leave. The spirit
will not let her.
She stays. They pretend.
The nights are long. The silence heavy. She
learns his name is Kelvin. He works in the data
archives, sifting through old files.
One night, he shows her a photo. A woman in a
cheongsam, standing in front of an HDB block.
The same block. The same flat.
The spirit is not his mother. It is the first
resident of the estate. The one who refused to
leave.
Ah Mei breaks the ritual. She burns the salt,
chants the old words. The spirit fades.
Kelvin thanks her. She walks away.
The HDB blocks are still haunted. The city still
decays. But the ghost in the flat is gone.
Ah Mei returns to her list. There are more
ghosts to find.
