A girl with long dark blonde hair walks into the play room, and looks around for a moment before she starts walking over to the table that I’m at. She keeps her head down, and I watch as someone else walks with her. A boy with black hair and blue eyes that look at me when I notice that I’m watching for too long.

She sits down a few chairs down, and again, I watch her as she takes a sketch book out and an ipod or something. I decide to be the friendly one since she seems to be too shy to say anything, and I move to the seat next to her.

I should make friends.

‘You do have friends.’

I mean, Normal friends.

If I’m going to be here for the next week, I might as well try to get to know someone.

‘But why her?’

Why not her?

She seems nice, and I don’t feel anything off about her that makes me think differently. I look over at what she’s drawing and notice that it seems to be somebody.

“Who is that?”

I ask as I lean closer to get a better look. She answers while keeping her focus on the drawing.

“It’s uh, ummm, a boy I had a dream of. I’m trying to remember him.”

“So, you do still remember me, Darling girl.” Her friend speaks up from the other side of her.

I look his way, and again his eyes are on me, but something about him feels off. Like even though he seems nice, there is something about him that’s not.

I notice her struggling to settle on the color for the eyes of her drawing, so I go ahead and take the chance of telling her.

That’s what we’re here for anyway, so what’s the harm?

Mama always tells me not to tell people about my gift, but I don’t see why I would keep the secret here if that’s the reason we’re all here.

“His eyes are blue.”

She looks at me with her brows scrunched together, and I assume she’ll question me, but she stays quiet instead.

"Your friend. His eyes are blue. Kind of like the sky.”

“Oh, well thank you. Maddy will warm up to you, just give her a chance. My name's Peter by the way, will you let her know. Maybe she’ll remember me more then.”

‘Now look what you've started.’

‘Be careful of him,’

I know.

Sometimes the ghosts seem like they are friends when they aren’t.

I lay my head on my arms and look up at her. She looks at me still, but she doesn’t seem scared or like she doesn’t believe me like some people do when I say something I shouldn’t know. So, I decide to pass his message along hoping I’m not pushing her too much.

‘Why are you worried?’

Because people don’t like me doing that.

‘People assume you're lying, but all the kids here are like you.’

Still, I hope she doesn’t hate me. I want her to be my friend.

“He says his name is Peter. Why are you here? For the program?”

I’m still hesitant of him, so I push past his message, and get back to trying to be friendly.

“I, uh, for my ADHD, why… are you here?”

Wait?! Really?!

She’s like me!

“Really? I have ADHD too, but no, that’s not what I mean. Like, what are your gifts?”

Again, her eyebrows scrunch together.

“I mean, I’m pretty smart. I got all A’s last year, but what does that have to do with the program?"

I almost want to laugh at what she said, but I realize instead that she doesn’t seem like she’s telling a joke.

Does she not know?

‘Of course she does. She’s obviously joking, you just can’t tell.’

Nooo….

She has to know, right?

But…

I don’t think so.

“That is pretty smart, but no, I mean the gift that you're in the program for? I can see, like, see your friend behind you, but no one else can. Or, I guess most can’t. I think some of the other kids can see too, and that’s why they're here. But, why are you?”

Saying that makes me wonder who else here can actually see like I do. I try to focus on each kid, and if their attention is on the ghosts around the room as it’s beginning to fill up more and grow louder with the voices along with. One in particular seems to be blaring multiple voices from itself. I’ve seen a few like it before, and the noise always bothers me. I can’t always even make out fully what each voice coming from it says. It just mostly clouds up my head.

“I don’t know, but, does that mean that you see ghosts?”

I focus back onto Maddy and her friend which helps a little with blocking a bit of all the others.

“She can see too, but not at the moment. They took it from her, but they said that they'll give it back soon for the trials.”

I get excited about that too.

So, she really is like me!

“It does, and you do too! That’s really cool. I’ve never met someone else that can see them too. You can't right now, but you will. Your friend says that that’s why you're in trials. My name’s Tanner by the way.”

She’s quiet for a moment before now she gets excited.

“Wait, really? Oh, that’s so cool, but you keep saying my friend? Is, he’s here, like right now?”

She surprises me. People don’t usually believe things so easily, so I’m confused, and kind of impressed that she’s going with it so easily.

“He is, he’s on your left side.”

I watch as he leans down closer to her face and smiles at her, and she seems to notice him for a second as she stops and looks directly at him, but then I guess not with how she looks back at me, almost upset.

“So, do you think I’ll be able to see him too, soon?”

I made her upset…

Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

‘Just make her happy again.’

But, how?

I say the first thing that comes to mind, which can get me in trouble because I sometimes forget to think through my thoughts before they are out.

“I think so. But be careful because some of them seem nice, but aren’t really."

I understand how easy it is to trust one of them, but to be tricked by them. I had a friend once that got me into trouble a lot until I stopped listening to him. He still comes around sometimes, but he doesn’t stay long anymore. He gets mad because I just ignore him until he leaves.

“Really? I don’t think he’s like that though.”

I look back at her friend as he’s watching me, and seems to be mad at me now. He doesn’t look like it, but he feels like how my friend does when he comes around and I don’t listen to him.

“Okay.” I know that trying to make someone believe you about something doesn’t always work, so I stop for now about it.

“How old are you?" I ask as I focus back on her instead of her friend, and she is back to smiling which makes me happy.

“Eleven and a half, how old are you?”

She’s my age!

“I’m eleven too!” I get excited because the more I find out about her, the more she’s like me.

“Can we be friends?” I ask her hoping she says yes.

Her smile grows as she seems to brighten almost. Like she’s more happy than she was.

“Yes, my name's Maddy. Well, Madison, but I go by Maddy.”

“Okay, well, what do you do for fun, Maddy?”

She puts up her sketchbook and ipod thing as she responds.

“I like to draw, and play games, and uh, hmmm, Oh! I like to read too, but not always. Sometimes it’s hard to because I can’t remember what the page said, but if it’s a fun book, then it’s not hard.”

Oh, yeah, that happens to me too.

“That happens to me too, so I just don’t read. But I like games too. What’s your favorite? I like Mutations Below. They just came out with a new one that Mama said that she’s going to get for me soon. Maybe you can come over and play it.”

“That would be fun. I think that Monopoly might be my favorite game, but I also really like Uno. What is Mutations Below about?”

Wait, she’s talking about boardgames?

‘You should have known that.’

No, not everyone thinks the same way. It’s okay.

“It’s a video game, but it has an underwater city where the people can take things that give them superpowers like electrocution, and fire, and other stuff. It’s pretty fun, but I like board games too. Monopoly is fun, but it takes too long for me. I like Uno though.”

She leans her head to the side and looks embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were talking about board games, but yeah, video games are fun too. We have a Bekko 32 at home and my older brother has a Renderbase 2 and I can’t remember the name of it, but there’s one game he has that’s pretty fun where you are a soldier and shoot people and stuff.”

Oh! Cool, so she does like video games.

“That’s what I have, but you'll probably like Mutations Below then because it’s similar. It’s not military, but you do kill people, but bad people.”

Maddy and I continue talking, and the more we do, the more I’m glad that she’s my friend now.