I tried to get in the normal way, but my hand just passed through the handle, making me freak out a little. It was quite an experience—realizing that even though I could see and feel my body, everything else around me couldn’t. In more ways than one, I was like air, except that I was fully conscious and temperamental.

Wait, who said I should get in the car and follow him around? Maybe I could wander. I wanted to see how the people at work were doing anyway; how they were coping without me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were underperforming. The marketing department was pretty much helpless without me.

I scanned the area for the exit, and I saw it west of the lot about forty feet where I stood. I started toward it, thinking of looking for the nearest street sign to get a grasp of where in the world I was, but as I took my fifth step, I felt something push me back, propelling me with such force that I went past where I previously stood and just slammed straight onto the passenger seat of Axel’s car.

I gasped, wide-eyed and breathless. What the hell was that?

The sound of the car revving to life hit my ears, my eyes snapping to Axel as he drove out of the parking lot. It seemed I wasn’t allowed to leave his side.

How utterly inconvenient.

Scowling, I settled on the seat, looking for anything to distract me as we hit the main road. I scrutinized the car’s interior. It was as old as I expected, with a bulky CD player and an ancient dashboard to boot. Well, at least the heater worked fine and the seats smelled clean.

I sighed, thinking of my sleek, black BMW. I missed my car so bad.

As we turned around the corner, I caught sight of the street sign that said “Winthrop” and quickly made a note on my mental map. It appeared that I was still in my home state, Maine, and currently weaving through Hallowell, a city that was about fifty miles away from my house in Nason’s Corner.

I looked up at the haze of orange in the sky, growing dimmer and darker by the minute. The day was coming to an end.

The silence was broken by the sound of something vibrating. Axel’s right hand went into his pocket, bringing out—to my shock and bewilderment—a flip phone. An old car was one thing, but a flip phone? Why? Smartphones weren’t even that expensive nowadays.

He placed it against his ear and spoke. “Yes, speaking.” A pause. “I’ll come by this weekend.” Another pause. “I understand. Thank you, Doctor Stone.”

Doctor?

He flipped the phone close and shoved it back into his pocket, his expression unfathomable. We must be getting close to where he lived, the car was significantly slowing down.

A few minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway of a two-story house that, for some unknown reason, felt more eerie than the abandoned bungalow we passed on the way. It had a steep roof, a large chimney, and an untrimmed lawn. The windows were closed, and the walls resembled the color of an old parchment paper.

“Home sweet home,” Axel murmured to himself as he killed the engine.

Well, it wasn’t exactly what I’d call homey, but whatever.

He got out of the car and I made a motion to follow, but then I remembered I couldn’t touch the car door, let alone open it. For a full minute, I played with the idea of just going through the door. If my hand could pass through objects, then I had no reason to believe that the rest of my body couldn’t. This theory had already been proven when I was thrown into the car by the invisible force back at the parking lot. I was not teleported to the seat; I was hurled at it, my surroundings flashing past me in a blur, a strange cold sensation washing over me as I went through the damn door. It was freaky, to say the least, but I’d better get over it if I wanted to make the most of this new… ability.

I took a deep breath and readied myself. I had to get going—Axel was already by the front door of the house. Before I could move any further, though, I felt a strong pull from the depths of my chest, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending me hurtling past the front lawn and through the wooden front door.

“God!” I screamed furiously as soon as my head stopped spinning, my feet back on the ground. “Don’t I just fucking love that?”

I placed a hand on my chest—trying to calm my racing heart—as I struggled to see through the dark. I heard the flip of the switch to my left, blinding me as the light came flooding in. The first thing I saw was Axel with his back to me. I shot him a reproaching look. Apparently, I had to stick to him like glue. We couldn’t be apart for more than ten feet.

He walked toward the room on the right, locking the door as he disappeared behind it. I scoffed. He could go and lock all the doors in the world, but he still wouldn’t get much privacy with me around. Of course, that didn’t mean I wouldn’t keep my distance while he was changing clothes or taking a shower. I could at least give him that.

I decided to check out the house. The living room seemed ordinary at first. There was a couch, a glass table, and a small book shelf that barely held books; but as I looked closely at the room, I found some peculiar things. There was a telephone with a curly cord, hooked to the socket near the coat rack; an old television that certainly didn’t look like it was capable of running cable; a VCD—not even a DVD—player; and a radio with a built-in cassette player that was probably made before I was born.

What in the world was this? Just what era was this man living in?

When he stepped out of his room, he was wearing a pair of gray boxers and a plain white shirt. The shirt hung loosely to his body, his shoulders slightly hunched, his expression ghastly empty. I thought he was just not lean enough, but without the bulk of his work clothes, he was borderline skinny.

I followed him as he dragged his feet to the kitchen and looked over his shoulder as he opened the fridge. There was nothing in it except for a few cans of beer and a single pitcher of water.

He grabbed a can and sat on the table, the sound of beer bubbles reaching my ears. He lifted the can to his lips, taking big gulps, his blank eyes staring at the empty seat across from him.

“Is that all you're having for dinner?” I asked, my eyes narrowing at the beer disapprovingly.

He finished it in less than two minutes. He stood up, crumpled the can in his hand, and tossed it in the bin. Without so much as a parting glance to the kitchen, he headed to his room, clearly not planning to have a proper meal.

I slipped into his room just as he closed the door, not wanting to be left alone in a stranger's house for the night.

It was dim inside. The only source of light was a small lamp on the bedside table, and it took me a few minutes to adjust to my surroundings. As Axel settled in his bed, I walked around the room to try and see what else he got in there.

There was a wooden closet on the left corner, a huge work desk on the right, and a window with the curtains drawn beside it, eliminating any chance for the moonlight to stream in. I noted, with relief, that there was a chair adjacent to his bed, and I decided that was where I'd stay at night, for as long as this little mission went on. After all, this situation was weird enough without me sitting on his bed.

The work desk intrigued me. I could tell from the shadowy outlines that there were a lot of things on there, but the faint light coming from the lamp didn't reach this far in the room and I had no way of seeing what they were. I'd just check it out next time.

I walked back to the chair and saw that it was occupied by his briefcase. Although it didn't sit well with me to share the chair with an object, it wasn't like I had a choice, so I settled in it and tried to ignore the coldness of the leather on my back.

Axel switched off the lamp, the darkness swallowing the whole room. The dark didn't scare me, but the thought of doing this every day did. So was I just supposed to sit here all night and watch him sleep?

The epitome of boredom. Fantastic.

It filled me with so much dread that I racked my brains for anything that could make the time pass quickly, however I knew there was nothing better than a good night's sleep. It made me wonder. Could ghosts fall asleep, too?

The idea sounded ridiculous, even to myself, but I sighed and closed my eyes anyway.

At first there was nothing; just complete blackness and silence. But then the black started distorting, spinning, until it dissolved into uneven patches of white, growing bigger as the seconds ticked by. The sound of rail tracks hit me before I was able to make sense of everything around me, and the slight hum reverberating through my body gave me the impression that my seat was moving.

As patches of white filled every corner of my sight, I found Axel Ford sitting across from me, on what seemed to be an empty subway train going fifty miles an hour. He was staring at me, his gray eyes cold and unwelcoming, as if I had just barged into his personal space.

“Well, this is new.”

The sound of his voice and the fact that it seemed directed at me caught me by surprise. I pointed to myself and blurted, “Did you just talk to me?”