Unseen

-16-

"So," I drag the word, looking at James intently.

We've moved to the library when the rest of the kids started coming out and it began, as usual, to rain. We've come to the farthest corner where no one can see us or definitely hear us. It's warm and nice. Until James came to college I barely set foot in this place, now I can really see its charm and I really like it.

"So," he echoes my words, a little smile on his lips that make me know he's amused.

It's such a delightful change. It seems like yesterday when he wouldn't even acknowledge my presence and just completely ignore my rambling, now he doesn't exactly meet my eyes as he decided to work on his graphic novel, but at least reacts to my words and his expression is friendlier.

I've been watching him draw for like twenty minutes. I just find it so fascinating, how he creates a story out of nothing. And yes, I have been watching him work in silence-until now-, mesmerised with every stroke and even the story, although it does not make much sense to me yet. I want to ask him if he'd let me read it once it's completed but I think it's too soon.

"So," I say again and he chuckles. "How do you plan on finding more about the rumours? Are you gonna socialise and ask the kids?"

His hand stops drawing and his expression becomes serious. I keep resting my head on my hand, but I tilt it a bit more, watching him carefully. He looks up to meet my eyes, hand still holding the pen. Did I mention he is left handed? No? Well, he is.

"Um," he mumbles and now I'm the one chuckling. "I guess?" It really sounds more like a question so I shake my head. "Not sure how I'm going to approach it. Maybe I should just ask people from other programs. What do you think?"

I think about it seriously, wondering what's the best option for someone like James but then I remember something he said before. "You said you keep distance so that way ghost can't bother you, but if you talk to someone you know is alive for certain, then you shouldn't be in risk... although hanging with me might be a high risk already," I start rambling, my mind drifting off a bit. "So I guess all your efforts are for naught but then again we can just hide here or something so no one else, not even other ghosts, if there are other ghosts around which I doubt 'cos I haven't met anyone and if there's anyone else like me that one is quite rude. I mean, we should be friends, shouldn't we? We only have each other. Damn you, ghost-I'm-not-sure-exists!"

"Paige," James calls me name and I stop. "You're rambling again. Focus."

"Oh, sorry," I apologise, feeling embarrassed. "I'm just... so used to talk and talk. It's just a stream of conscious with me." I stick my tongue out in a sheepish gesture. He just shakes his head. "Where was I going with that?" I ask to myself but James shrugs nonetheless. "Ah right! Well, the thing is that you just have to make sure to talk to someone who's alive."

"Well," he begins and his voice sounds awkward. "It's not like I'm the most social guy around. I've never been, well, a people person. Not sure it it's because of the I-see-ghosts thing or because I'm just socially awkward. The ignoring thing started because of ghosts, but I've never been good at talking to people. Dead or alive," he confesses and my lips part forming an O. "That made it easy to just ignore everyone."

"So even if you know the person is alive, you'd still have a hard time talking to them?" He nods to my answer so I keep thinking. "Then maybe we have the wrong approach."

"Maybe," he agrees. "But it's not impossible. Plus, I think it's good to know how people 'see' you and what happened to you and it'll help us to know if you actually-died here or not," he says, hesitating a bit on that verb, his expression even showing discomfort. "I guess I can try asking someone. Maybe Roxi? She'd be happy to tell me," he adds in a light tone but I don't find that funny at all.