“I am a ghost,” he said, his dreamy and vague blue eyes set upon mine. “I need to tell you a story.” I stare into those blue eyes and feel myself drowning in them. My own eyes turn vacant, and I tell him, “Please tell me your story.” He smiles. His eyes smile. A cyclone seems to stir in the ocean of his blue eyes, and my soul is sucked into it. Everything turns dark… I look around dazed. I am in a classroom full of students about my age. They are all chattering in a merry way. I look at the front of the class and see a teacher sitting at the desk, going through some files moodily. I am surprised that no one is looking at me. That no one has noticed my sudden appearance in their class. I walk to the nearest boy in front of me and touch his shoulder to bring attention to myself. The boy doesn’t even turn in my direction, let alone look at me. My brows furrowed in confusion, I prod him with my fingers. Still he doesn’t acknowledge my existence. I wave my hand if front of his eyes, and then I realize that I am like a ghost to them. They do not see me… they do not feel my touch… I call to him, “Hey, dude!” Nope. They don’t even hear me. I feel like an intruder, yet I cannot do anything about it. I am stuck here. The boy with the blue eyes sent me here, that boy who said he was a ghost… Suddenly I am certain that he is in this room. I look for him carefully. Yes! There he is! I have found him! I walk to him and try to make him notice me. No luck. He is like the rest. He can’t see, feel, or hear me. Yet I am sure I am supposed to stay near him. I think this is the story that he wanted to tell me. I understand I am supposed to live through the story. So, after understanding this, I go and sit on the last bench which is empty. Seems like I will have to wait till the period finishes… The period did finish soon. And it turned out that it had been the last period of the day. I was very much relieved as I had been kind of getting bored. I rose up and followed the ‘ghost’ through the dispersing crowd of students. He was walking with another boy, and in their conversation, I was able to hear his name. It was Jake. I followed Jake and his friend down the hallway and stairs where his friend said goodbye to him and went off on his own way. We came out of the school into clear sunshine. It appeared that I would have to do a bit of walking as Jake passed all the school buses in his quick stride without stopping once. Soon we were out of the gate and traveling on an isolated road headed downhill. After a moment, Jake’s pace slowed down. He seemed to be thinking about something as he walked slowly. With nothing else to do, I walked side-by-side of him and observed his stature and face closely. Jake was a little above average height. He was pretty slim, with long hands and legs. His head was covered with neat blonde hair that seemed to be combed carelessly. His nose was very sharp, and lips thin. His uniform looked clean and ironed, though a bit ruffled now after six hours of school. And of course, his blue eyes. They were still the most striking feature of his whole body. They looked so thoughtful, so dreamy… After a ten minute walk, Jake turned at a shabby house with an even shabbier front lawn, and opened the door. He entered and closed the door behind him. I stared at the closed door in front of me. Then I walked right into it. As I had suspected, I was able to walk straight through it. Being a ghost had its advantages. Jake’s house had the look of a place that was not cleaned weekly. Or monthly for that matter. The carpet was dusty, the wallpapers were torn at many places, and it was hard to tell the original color the furniture had once been. I thought many of the stuff would actually pass as good antics! Jake was in the kitchen. He was drinking orange juice from a bottle he had presumably taking out from the small fridge hiding in the corner. I wondered if he would have offered me some of that cold drink if he had been able to see me. I also wondered if I could eat or drink anything in the ghostly form I was in right now. Suddenly the back door of the kitchen opened and Jake came in. Hey! Wait! Jake was right there in front of me, drinking ice cold orange juice. But the intruder from the back door also looked exactly like Jake. The confusion in my mind cleared when I saw that the new Jake was looking straight at me. “Enjoying the story?” he asked me in an off-hand sort of way. “Not really,” I told him, “I am getting kind of bored.” Jake nodded, somewhat sympathetically. “Don’t worry. The exciting part is not far now.” saying thus, he promptly disappeared. The old Jake finished his juice and started for the stairs. I followed him promptly. There were only two rooms on the first floor. Jake opened the door to our right and went in. Just as I was approaching it, it closed shut. However, I just shrugged and walked right through it. Jake’s room was a contrast to the rest of the house. Where the old house looked untidy and shabby, Jake’s room looked so clean; that I wouldn’t have believed it if someone had told me a teenager occupied it. The sheets were done and the pillow was neatly kept at the head of the bed. There were no clothes lying about the room, and in the corner was a study table on which books were kept in a very orderly way. Even the curtains looked properly dusted! Jake opened another door in the bedroom and I saw that it was a small bathroom. He then proceeded to take off his clothes. Not interested in seeing him indecent, I sat down at his study table and began looking through the books. I checked the year they were published and found out that they were ten years old. Then I looked at the small calendar that was on Jake’s table and saw that I was indeed living in a world ten years older than mine. I was surprised, though not terribly. After all, I was roaming around like a wandering spirit, wasn’t I? I turned and saw that Jake had dressed himself in an old yellow shirt and blue trousers. He walked to his bed and jumped on it unceremoniously and promptly closed his eyes. I had just started to wonder if it would be okay for me to take a nap myself when the doorbell rang. Jake opened his eyes slowly and stood up grumbling something that sounded vaguely like “who the fuck…?”. He opened his bedroom door and sauntered outside. I followed closely behind him, wondering if the ‘exciting part’ was about to start. How right I was! Jake opened the front door and before he could do anything else, a young man barged past him into the house. He shut the door very quickly and bolted it. I watched with wide eyes as Jake advanced at the intruder angrily. “Who the hell are you? And what are you doing here?” he demanded of the stranger so bravely that I was impressed. The man, who I saw was strongly built and appeared to be in his mid-twenties, put a hand under the jacket he was wearing and produced a hand gun and waved it at Jake’s suddenly terrified face. “This answer your stupid questions, boy?” said the man, grinning crazily. Jake took some hurried backward steps. His speech seemed to be lost for the moment. I didn’t blame him. “Who else is in here?” demanded the intruder. Before Jake could reply, a new voice was suddenly heard. A young girl’s voice. It came from the hallway and all three of us looked there quickly. “Jake? Who’s there?” It said. The girl in question appeared. She was a very pretty thing, with long black hair, rosy lips, and a full body. She looked to be eighteen or something. She was dressed in a white blouse with flowers drawn on it, and pink trousers. The intruder grinned at her. A terrible grin full of maliciousness. “It’s just me sweetheart. The name’s Mark, by the way.” I saw the girl’s eyes go wide as she spotted the gun in the man’s hand. Both her hands flew to her mouth. Mark directed the gun at her and said sweetly, “Don’t you scream, darling. It will come at a very high price.” I witnessed the scene playing out before me in a growing sense of horror, and I am ashamed to say, excitement. Who wouldn’t be excited? Living a scene as if in a movie? Knowing what was happening was real, but could not affect or harm you? Mark turned to Jake and asked him casually, “She your sister, boy?” Jake nodded dumbly. Mark nodded himself and looked around the house. “Don’t you guys clean the house? And by the way, where’s your mother and father?” Although the question was asked to both the siblings, it was Jake who answered. “Our father died in a car accident years ago. Mom’s at work.” Mark was nodding again. “When will she be back? And mind you, I don’t like liars.” Eyeing the gun warily, Jake answered, “She will be back at six.” All of us turned our gaze at the clock hanging on the wall. The clock showed that it was only 3’o clock. “Hmm…” Mark said thoughtfully, “Well, let’s just sit in the living room, shall we? I am getting tired standing here.” He waved the gun at the two teenagers to enter the living room which was adjacent to where they were standing. They obediently moved into the room. Mark followed. And needless to say, I followed too. To be continued... Author's Note : Review if you are interested enough to read more.