Poofless- You Can't See Me

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Rob's P.O.V.

I was used to the heart wrecking loneliness, the pain of not being able to talk to someone about anything going on in my head. All I could do was wander and observe the world as a ghost, unseen, unnoticed- invisible. I was invisible.

I didn't know the number of years it had been like this but it had likely been decades. I didn't remember if I had a life before, if my ghostly form was once flesh and blood, if I once had a family or a life. From my appearance, or what I could see of my appearance considering I couldn't see myself in mirrors, I reckoned I was roughly between 20 and 28, but I really would have liked to know. I would have liked to know a lot of things, my name included. I didn't know my name.

With a low sigh I buried my head in my hands, sitting back against some random tree in some random state in... where was I? I was pretty sure I was in America but I could have wandered over the border without knowing it. All these years walking around the world had given me no sense of direction or distance.

The only thing I wanted to do was to close my eyes and never wake up, but I couldn't die. I was effectively immortal, as far as I knew at least. I wanted to sleep.

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Most humans didn't really catch my attention as they were all kind of the same, but this one seemed to be different. Instead of his eyes glazing over me like all of the others he very clearly looked right at me, blinked in surprise and then turned away from me, a blush forming on his cheeks. I first looked behind me to see if he was looking at someone there, but there was no one. Who was he looking at? It couldn't be me.

But this boy, maybe 24 or 25, was interesting. He had common hobbies, siblings and parents, went to University, all normal things that other people did, but something about him drew me in. I wanted to know more about this boy, who he was, what he was up to, and most importantly, why it looked like he could see me.

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I followed him for a little while, a few days, padding behind him as he walked to his University, wandering his house as he slept at night, observing like the silent ghost I was. He didn't seem to see me and I almost thought I had been imagining it when, on the fourth day, he turned.

"Is there any reason you're following me? I'm not that interesting you know."

I jumped almost out of my skin at his words. He could see me? He was talking to me!

"You can... you can see me?" He tilted his head to the side and smiled, nodding.

"I can see you. I'm probably the first, aren't I?" This time I nodded, too stunned to even speak properly. "I see you guys occasionally. There aren't many of you but I think you're the first one I've seen who's so young."

"Wait..." I mumbled, even more shock settling in. "There are more of me?"

"Yeah, but I don't think you can see each other. It must get lonely."

Another nod and I stumbled, almost falling over. There were so many shocks to my system that I couldn't really cope, I just needed some time.

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The boy, whose name was actually Preston, slowly introduced me to more information over a couple of hours. He could see us, us... ghosts, which is what he referred to me to, and although he wasn't entirely sure what or who we were considering he never spoke to us and none of them had ever followed him like I had because he had caught my attention.

To be able to talk to someone after so long of not being able to was strange, but also comforting. He seemed to know how I was feeling because he didn't leave me be, talking when I lapsed into silence.

"How old do you think I am?" I asked quietly, interrupting the quiet. Preston blinked, giving me a surprised look.

"Do you... do you not know?"

"I can't see myself in the mirror." I grimaced. "And I don't remember anything before... this." I gestured to myself. "I have no idea where I came from, who I am or how old I am. All I can do is guess."

He scrutinised me for a minute or two, looking me up and down, head tilted slightly to the side.

"About 26? Maybe a year older than me." He paused. "What else do you not know?"

"Lot's of things. I don't remember if I have a past, if I had a life or a family. I don't know what I look like." I paused. "I don't know my name."

The shock on his face was clear and for a moment he was unable to say anything, mouth gaping.

"I didn't know you didn't know anything..." He mumbled, hands gripping the bedsheets. "I thought you guys remembered stuff like that, who you were, what you looked like... your name."

I sighed quietly and wiped away a stray tear that had fallen down my cheek. I hated thinking about it because I knew I had had a life before this, I must have had a name and a home and... something. I must have been someone and some point. Preston looked at me.

"You know, I think you look like a Rob." He said suddenly, and something in my chest stirred- that name, I knew that name.

"I think... I know that name. That name it feels like... mine." I froze for a moment, still trying to process. "Rob. That feels right."

Preston watched me curiously for a little while, clearly having something of a revelation himself because he hadn't known that we- as in the ghosts- didn't remember anything about ourselves. Well, I couldn't be sure it wasn't just me who didn't remember anything considering what he had said about me being one of the youngest ones he had seen. From what he had said most were elderly, a few middle-aged, but none were as young as me. It was strange.

But the thing was, it seemed Preston was lonely as well. He didn't have many friends and I think my friendship gave him something to hold onto. I didn't have anything either so it didn't take long before we knew each other better than we perhaps should have, and I was content.

I didn't need much, but having something is certainly better than having nothing, and I had Preston now. I was so glad he could see me.

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