Next thing you know, you’re on the floor again.

A different floor though, a minute ago you were on a tiled white floor and now your fingers rest on concrete, slightly cold and dusty.

It’s gone dark.

How much time did you spend in that room? And what the hell honestly? It was the weirdest interaction you’ve had with anyone since you can remember.

You never hated kids, but now you’ve got a reason to. He didn't reply any of your questions and left you even more confused than before.

At least... at least this is a place you do recognise. How couldn’t you? You walk here every morning when you get out of the subway to get to Uni.

You try to move right away, but you can’t, your limbs feel numb. You try not to freak out, but it’s impossible. Not only you don’t know what are you doing here, you don’t know how you got here and you lost all your stuff.

You close your eyes and take a deep shaky breath.

Calm down.

When you finally do, you sit up slowly, analyzing everything from the beginning.

You were in Uni with your friends, Liz, Carmen and Mary. You were in class. You don’t remember if you got out or not, it’s blurry. Then the room. The kid. And now back on the street.

It was morning though, when you were with your friends and now it's dark. So there's at least a few hours you don't recall.

The first thing you'd do in a situation like this would be to go home or call someone, but you don’t have any money or your phone.

Did you just pass out on the street and someone stole all of your stuff? That'd make sense, but it wouldn't explain the interaction with the kid.

You slowly get up, nodding to yourself, maybe if you get to the station, someone will lend you their phone and you’ll call your mom or Sara, she’ll most likely pick up the phone. It’s dangerous here late at night though, so you walk quickly outside the alley, heading to the main street. It’s mostly empty, few people walking around.

What time is it? Looks like nine or even later.

You’ve got five minutes or so from the station, and you can’t go back to Uni, it’s closed at this time. You hope the subway’s open. Otherwise you don’t know what you’ll do.

Okay. No freaking out. If someone tries to rob you, it’s not like they can take anything from you anyway.

Main street. You’ll be back home in no time. If you think about it it must have been some type of robbery, someone drugged you to steal your things, and you just woke up. The kid was just an hallucination.

Makes sense.

You quickly make your way out and flinch when you notice you’re about to bump into someone, preparing for the impact.

Except it doesn't come.

You open your eyes noticing the person going straight through you. You go very very still, unsure about what just happened.

Your heart is beating loud in your chest, and you're close to a panic attack, any moment now.

Nothing. 

That’s the thing. Nothing happened. He didn’t touch you. You didn't touch him. You didn’t touch each other. (The idea it's in your mind and you keep repeating it until it makes sense, but it doesn't). Like… like you weren’t even there.

You take another deep breath, looking down at your clothes, your body. Paying attention this time. You thought you were dizzy when you just woke up and that was because you were feeling… blurry, but you’re actually blurry. A bit transparent.

Okay. Maybe not hallucinating, but drunk. That must be it.

You wouldn't know how you got drunk on a thursday morning, but hey, Uni is wild sometimes and you gotta work out the stress.

Slowly you raise your hand and place it on your chest, over the fabric of your shirt. You don’t feel the weight, the pressure of your fingers.

You feel lightheaded for a moment. This can’t be happening.

And since you’re clearly going crazy, you start running, appalled when you don’t feel the wind, nor your feets against the ground, you’re light as a feather and transparent.

You’re not here.

You stop running, placing a hand over your mouth. You feel the faintest breath. You remember though, you took a deep breath before.

So you can’t… you can’t be dead.

Besides, you don’t remember dying. So that’s it, you just can’t.

I bet you didn’t expect it to go down this way

You shake your head. No.

No one does anyway

You cover your face, desperation taking over.

That’s why accidents…

No.

You didn’t die. You refuse to believe it. There must be another type of explanation.

You start walking again, extremely self conscious of your body, you don’t feel the cold even though the people around you are wearing coats. They don’t even spare one look at you.

Why would they? You’re transparent. you’re not here.

Maybe you should give it another go. You keep walking, a couple is giggling and walking towards you, they’ll definitely bump into you. You stop.

You can’t be dead.

Their laugh is making you nauseous. As they got closer, you catch the last of their conversation.

“... so I told him why do you keep you going if-” He stops mid sentence because the girl’s laughing too much and so is he.

You hold your breath in anticipation. Two steps more and they’ll bump into you. You look right at them, they don’t even react.

You don’t dare to keep your eyes open and they walk right past you again, you feel an awful sensation, like you're about to faint and you fall on your hands and knees.

This should have hurt, you should have scraped your palms and knees, what the hell is going on?

Why are you here if you died? That wouldn't make sense at all.

“Sorry?” You hear and look up, there’s no one there. They can’t possibly be talking to you.

You turn, behind you is a man. You frown, no, not a man. He looks your age. You blink, trying to place him, do you know him?

“Are you okay?” He asks, his voice is muffled because he’s wearing a scarf and an oversized sweater. You slowly sit on the floor.

“Can you see me?” You ask weakly. “Can you actually see me?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I…” He trails off, focusing on you apparently and then looks around.

It can’t be

You shake your head at the thought, it’s intrusive, you put your hands in your head. You weren’t thinking that, you just thought you knew him.

He pulls back from you and starts walking the other way, hurried.

You get up, following immediately. It’s the only person to be able to see you, you can’t let him go.

He must be special somehow.

“Wait,” you say, frowning. “Wait, I know you.”

He doesn’t stop.

Am I on TV?

You frown, rolling your eyes at the absurdity.

“No,” you scoff. “This isn’t a program. I wish it was though,” Of course, you thought about it too, this still seems unreal to you, but sadly as it is you… “Now can you stop? For God’s sake!”

He stops immediately, but he doesn’t turn towards you. He’s not replying either and you focus on his back, his shoulders are hunched and his hands are trembling.

“I’m pretty sure I thought that.” He says slowly, as if he’s trying out the words. He takes a moment and turns, looking spooked.

Can’t blame him though, that’s exactly how you feel.

“I just heard you,” you say, pursing your lips, “I have a lot to ask you, you in particular.”

He stays still, hands in his pockets and you can see his rosy cheeks, he must be cold. You wish you could feel the weather as he does. It’d make this more real.

“And I’m pretty sure you just…” He starts. He doesn’t finish the sentence because your smile fades. You know what was the last word though, you’ve been dreading it from the beginning.

died

“I must be asleep… this has to be a dream.” He whispers, nodding to himself. Not only he’s confirming that you died (and apparently that'd make you a freaking ghost), he’s also acting like it’s nothing, why him? Why is he able to see you?

Did I die too?

What the hell?

Must be hallucinating

And this time you’re watching him closely. He didn’t move his lips. He just thought that and you heard it loud and clear. You open your mouth, beyond surprised.

Did you just read his mind?

You two look at each other, speechless. What does this mean?

A hand places on your shoulder and you’re pulled backwards and away from him.