Phan One Shots - jilliancares

Invisible Boy

tw: cursing

Dan Howell had a power. But then, so did a lot of people.

Having a power wasn't out of the ordinary, it was quite common in fact. It was about forty percent of people who actually had one, or at least, that's what was said in school. Apparently as time passed human beings learned to use more of their brains, or something like that. And at this point in time, certain people, people that could use a bigger percentage of their brain than others, could be born with an ability.

It was rare to find someone who could do something extraordinary, like fly or move objects with their minds. It was much more common for someone with a power to have the ability to do something small, like turn the lights on and off. At times Dan wished that he was of that percentage, the percentage of people with smaller, simpler powers. Dan's power was hard to control, which of course, was unusual and almost unheard of, which was also, of course, just Dan's luck.

See if Dan had a simple power, something like being able to turn the lights on and off, then it'd be hard for it to get out of control. He'd have to be thinking about how he wanted the lights to go off, and then he'd have to concentrate on doing that, and then they would (most probably, if he was good at his power) turn off.

But Dan's power wasn't like that. No, Dan's power was that he could disappear. Or more accurately, turn invisible. And see it was hard for Dan to control his power, because most of the time he was trying to be invisible anyway, trying not to be noticed and to slip through the crowds. The only problem about that was that he could turn invisible, and since he was thinking about it so often, and concentrating on it so hard, it happened.

His parents often told him the stories from when he was a kid, how he'd just disappear sometimes and give his parents a huge fright. Such as the time when he'd been missing from his crib-oh wait no, we just can't see him. Or the time that he'd tried to sneak a lollipop from a shop, got caught, and disappeared out of pure fear and embarrassment (the lollipop had disappeared too, and he'd apparently run out of the shop with it, and his parents got in trouble and had to pay for it. Luckily they found the whole thing funny, especially since he was only six at the time.)

Turning invisible could be helpful at times, like when he really did want to disappear, but it could also be a hassle. At times it seemed like being visible was his power, as he was constantly thinking about not slipping away. He'd just be sitting in class, taking notes perhaps, and a sudden "Howell?" would erupt from the front of the classroom, and everyone would stare at his empty desk, and he'd pop back into existence (in his classmates eyes, at least), and his cheeks would be red, and everyone was staring at him, and he wanted only to disappear again. "Sorry," he'd mutter, looking back down at his desk, begging for his face to turn normal again.

It wasn't his fault that he couldn't tell when he was invisible. Even when he did it he could still see himself, which was why it was hard to tell if he was even there or not. Sometimes he'd be present for entire conversations, and someone would ask where he was at, anyway, and Dan would realize that they hadn't even known he was there. He'd concentrate for a second, and his friends eyes would widen, and he'd mutter an apology, and they'd laugh. "Trying to see if we're talking behind your back, Dan?" They'd joke, and he'd shake his head. He hadn't even known he was gone.

Dan remembered the first time he'd stepped in front of a mirror and he hadn't been there. Dan had been nine, and his hair was curly and wild (or it was supposed to be, when he was in the mirror anyway). He'd stared at the mirror, confused, then down at himself, then back at the mirror. Then he'd wailed, and his mother had run into the bathroom, asking where he was, and he'd cried, "Right here!"