SHADOWS OF KAYLA

MEET-AND-GREET

Kayla.

It was him—the help I needed. That boy from the park, the one from the pizza shop. If he could see me, it meant I could talk to him. I could ask him to help me. The heavens didn't make me visible to him for no reason, I realized. It was probably so I could find a way to alert dad about what was going on. It made sense that I ran into him twice already.

Malie's Pizza. I stood in front of the door, relying solely on luck that I would find him there. I didn't know where else I would have looked if he happened not to be at the shop. I wasn't a ghost with telekinesis or any powers to start with.

I heard myself sigh as I walked closer to the shop and stared through the glass doors. There was an card inscription on them that said, “WE'RE OPEN”. I slid through the door inside.

There were some people in green t-shirt uniforms working. Some were behind doughs, while some were preparing orders to be delivered. A few of the people inside were also customers who were either ordering pizza or sitting at the tables, drinking coffee.

My heart was starting to sink with defeat as I searched for him with my eyes, but couldn't find him anywhere. I must have been foolish to think that I would find a stranger at a random shop because I had seen him in front of it before. I inwardly upbraided myself as I turned to leave in defeat.

What if he's also like me? I suddenly found me questioning myself. If he could see me when no one else could, it meant one thing—that he was also a ghost.

“Darn it,” I cursed under my breath for having not thought about it earlier on. If he was like me, what would he do to help me? I frowned at my own hopes and ambitions and walked of the shop. I had acted too richly for the bunch of nothing I was.

Are you trying to be a hero?

“Just disappear already!” I fumed under my breath with clenched fists, struggling to put my boiling bones under control at that moment. I had that feeling of victory slipping of your fingers at the last minute. That frustration that makes you want to sink to the ground and not be seen again.

“Are you okay?” I heard someone ask.

He was standing in front of me with his backpack hanging to one side of his shoulders.

At the sight of his face, I almost saw the sun rising from behind his head and the twinkling of stars dancing around him like fireflies. It was for a split second before the glint of hope changed to a gloom of darkness.

Yes, I was right. He was at the shop again. But there was no use. The last thing I wanted to see was someone like me.

He walked closer to me and asked the same question. It was then I noticed that he was wearing different a outfit from the previous day, different from when I saw him at the park as well. Ghosts couldn't change clothes for sure, and I knew that from experience.

What if I was wrong and he wasn't a ghost like I had imagined? Then I still had a chance.

“Are you a ghost?” I cringed at the sound of my own voice and the lunacy that must have accompanied that question.

***

Festus.

It was the most ridiculous question I'd ever been asked. Was I ghost? I found it amusing, and her, strange. It was my third time meeting her, but she did manage to leave deep impressions on me in those brief moments.

“And does she never go to school?” I asked myself as I saw her standing in front of the pizza shop, muttering words to herself. It was the first time I saw her open her mouth to talk. She was either making silly faces or staring like a statue everytime I saw her. And that morning, she seemed annoyed at something.

“What?” I quizzed amusedly, almost snickering.

I could read extremely uneasy expressions on her face at my reaction to her question. Of course what reply would I have given to someone asking me if I was a ghost out of the blue? Or was my pale skin looking ghostly to her?

For some reason which I didn't understand, it seemed as though she was trying her best not to make eye contact with me. She seemed shy and uncomfortable standing in front of me.

Is she lost?

Is she in danger?

Is it me?

I glanced at the glass doors out of instinct to be sure the problem was not from my handsome face, but my reflection wasn't as clear as I needed it to be for me to check. There must be something wrong with her, I thought to myself as I squinted to see myself on the door. Gina beamed at me from inside, waving me to come in while she uttered inaudible words.

I smiled and waved back at her, returning my gaze to my reflection on the door. I wanted to secretly observe the strange girl through the glass and read her expressions or figure out what was wrong with her. It was strange that I could only see myself and not her reflection as well, even when I could feel her standing next to me from the corner of my eyes.

But when I looked, she had indeed disappeared into thin air, again.