"What's Essential to the heart, is invisible to the eye."
-The Fox, from The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exuspery
Daydreams are the way to escape our everyday worries. I stood in front of a boy; he had auburn hair and beautiful brown eyes. His dark eyes were serious, telling me to do something. He reached out his hand, and I stepped closer to take it. I refused to allow this opportunity escape. I'd been waiting for this moment my entire life.
“Gwen? Gwen!” Jessica’s voice snapped me out of my daydreams. I blinked and concentrated in the room in front of me. Drama class, duh. How could I forget?
“What?” I asked. Jess rolled her eyes and pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. She flicked my forehead.
“You’re next!” she said. I stood up and walked to the stage, I didn’t get nervous anymore. After doing theatre so much you get used to it. When I was a kid I suffered from asthma, I kind of “outgrew” it. I don’t get panic-induced asthma anymore, but I do have to be careful when I run. Taking theatre definitely helped me getting over panic and me being shy. And the incident…I shook my head and started a monologue that I got from one of director’s books. I pounded my hands against my chest, okay, yeah I was being overdramatic. Whatever, they didn’t call it drama for just anything. Everyone applauded and I smiled, bowed and felt the adrenaline rush getting away from my body.
“Nice performance today but you seem distracted,” Jessica remarked. I looked up and gave my best innocent look. It worked, hey, when you’re barely five feet tall and you have baby blue eyes, it always worked.
“I’m alright, just tired, I guess.” I said. It also helps when you have a soft-pitched voice like mine. We got in line and looked through our options for lunch. We actually did have delicious and healthy food, because we had to live here. At the school, I mean. We attended Cabot Academy, a college-prep boarding school in Greenwich, CT. No, we’re not all snooty, rich kids. I’m not. Okay, not that much anyway. I might be naïve but never snobby. I opted for a ham sandwich and sweet raspberry tea. Tea is my absolute drug. We sat at our usual table. It consisted of me, Jessica, and some other drama geeks. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jess like a sister but sometimes…her friends and I don’t get along. I love acting but at times not as much as they do.
There was a sound at the jock’s table. Yes, we’re smart and preppy but we have awesome sports. Some poor kid has fallen on his face and the jocks were laughing at him. Everyone except Peter Hartman. Peter Hartman, total hottie, auburn hair and brown eyes. Easily over six feet all, muscular, and with a few freckles on his face. Okay, you caught me. He’s the boy from my daydreams. Don’t get me wrong though, I hate Peter Hartman. I loathe him with every inch of my tiny body.
“God, those kids are jerks!” A girl said.
“I know, right? But they are so hot! Especially Peter,” Lauren replied.
“Say, weren’t you best friends with Peter?” Lauren asked me. If I could shoot lasers out of my eyes, she would’ve been so dead by now.
“I used to be friends with him,” I said. Was it just me or did I sound bitter?
“Dang, girl, you’ve should stayed friends with him. He’s fine.” A girl said. That’s all I could take.
“Excuse you,” I said, getting up and practically storming up to my room. I opened the door and slammed. Hard. Okay, was I being bratty? Yes. I didn’t feel like going to my other classes. I pouted for a while and put on my pajamas. Some cartoons were probably on, and I could eat some Trix while watching TV. That sounds like a good plan. I got into my covers and turned on the TV, surfing through the channels. Pouting, I kept searching but the hair around my neck stood up. The room felt chilly, like it dropped fifteen degrees. I turned around; expecting Jessica but someone else was in her place.
The girl stood in front of my bed, her hair was curly and untamed. Her clothes seemed old-fashion, from twenty years ago. Like leg-warmers, off-the-shoulder sweater and headbands. No kidding. I gaped at her, her figure was almost transparent. She was transparent but she had color on her.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my room?! How did you get in?!” I yelled at her. She seemed startled, she gaped at me. She gave me one final wide-eyed look before she fled through the door. Yes, she fled literally through the door. I screamed and turned my cereal bowl by accident, spilling milk all over my blankets.
For a moment, I felt a shortness of breath, I need to calm down. My inhaler…where is it? I tried my best to gulp oxygen, and it worked. I could feel my lungs functioning again. A quick rapping on my door was made. I stood up and let out a sigh of relief when I noticed it was just Jessica.
“Gwen, are you okay? I heard you scream,” she asked. Should I tell her what I saw? A girl—ghost maybe entered my room. No, I couldn’t. Maybe it wasn’t even real; I was just upset and tired.
“Yes, I’m okay. I was taking a nap and I had a horrible nightmare. I’m so sorry I screamed and made a mess on my bed.” I said. Jessica hugged me and I hugged her back, feeling childish but appreciating the embrace. Jessica helped me clean up my mess and I decided to make her dinner. Okay, I suck at cooking! But my momma taught me how to do something. Quesadillas.
Sadly, I had to put them in the microwave because we weren’t allowed to have electric kitchens or whatever. I prepared the corn tortilla and started cutting some cheese. Even if I put them in the microwave, it tastes really good but not as good as they should taste. I took my quesadilla and gave the other one to Jesse. I also took two Mountain Dews out of the mini-fridge. Night was fast approaching and sleep came easy to Jesse. I, on the other hand, couldn’t fall asleep. I’m not going to lie to you, I was scared. Was that girl a ghost? Or did I just hallucinate? Little by little drowsiness took over.
***
I woke up rather early the next day. It was barely six and classes didn’t start until 8:15. Yawning, I grabbed a towel and went to the showers. The hairs of my neck stood up, someone was following me. Oh, no…I whipped around and standing in front of me was Peter Hartman. He looked different. And by different, I mean he looked just like the ghost girl. He was almost-transparent and his skin was glowing, paler than usual. Yes, he’s glowing not sparkling. Sparkling is just silly stuff.
“Peter?”
He stared at me just like the ghost from before; he seemed surprised for some reason. Little by little he seemed to gain substance. He became solid. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was awake and not the “half-awake but half-asleep” kind of thing. Was the stress getting to me? But what stress? I pouted and crossed my arms around my chest.
“Are you following me?” I asked.
“What? No, I’m not! Are you freaking paranoid or what?”
“You are just so despicable!” I said, gritting my teeth together.
“Me? You’re the one accusing me of stalking you!”
“Well, I turned around and there you were! Besides, you were openly staring at me!”
“Oh, and like you weren’t,” he retorted. Yes, because you were transparent! I so wanted to say that but I wasn’t sure if it even happened.
“Whatever, just go to back to your stupid jock friends.”
“I will, and you should go find your drama freaks,” he replied. I kicked him in the shin and a lot of four-lettered words escaped his mouth.
“They’re not freaks,” and with those final words I made it all the way to the shower without looking back. Once I made it to the showers, I just collapsed on the ground and tears started to free fall from my cheeks. What’s was going on? Was I going insane? Why do I keep seeing this people? Goodness, Peter looked transparent! What was he doing in the girl’s dorm? Probably visiting a girlfriend or something--despite my hatred for him, I couldn’t help but feel jealous. Drying my last tears, I went into the hot showers hoping the warm waters would wash away my memories.
***
My day was pretty much normal except for what happened that morning. It was the last class of the day but it was my Mythology and Folklore class so I didn’t mind it much. On a regular day, I would’ve been excited but today wasn’t that regular. I talked to Peter and I hadn’t done that for at least three years. The teacher was rambling about the Greek gods, and the oracle of Delphi. He said that we had this huge project and we must pick a god to write about and to write our own myth. Oh, joy. After giving us the due date, Mr. Simons dismissed us a few minutes before the bell. I walked to Jesse’s class and waited outside the door. The bell dismissed the school and Jessica rushed to my side.
“Okay, so what do you want to do tonight?’ she asked. Usually on weekends, we were allowed to roam the city of Greenwich, as long as we followed our curfew. Jesse and I, along some other drama geeks, went to the Insomniac Café. An awesome café, with a poetry night and they sell books; usually very strange books or old, out-of-print books. I would’ve loved going there tonight but I just couldn’t. I didn’t have the energy to go out or dress up.
“I need to start on my project.” I said.
“Come on, when projects became more important than going out for you?” she questioned. She did have a good point there.
“I’m sorry this is for my Mythology and Folklore class, and I do like this class,” I said.
“Fine, but we have to go out tomorrow!” Jesse said.
“Duh!” I faked as much cheerfulness as I could, it was easy since normally I wasn’t this sad and I was a good actress too. Jesse said goodbye and looked for Lauren. Slowly, I walked to the library. I entered the grand library, it was huge. One of the things I loved most about our school was the library because it was just so big and it had so many intriguing books and history. Cabot Academy was found in 1903, it used to be a Lutheran school but now it didn’t have any religious affiliate anymore. And yes, I did learn all of that at the library.
I said hello to the librarian and went into the Mythology section. Much to my delight and annoyance, the section was huge. I grabbed some heavy books and plopped them down on the table. I did know who the gods were but I wanted to re-read some of my old favorite myths. I always had a soft spot for Hades, he had a sucky job.
He has to deal with all the souls for the rest of his life; he had to pick who was going where. Who was going to be praised and who was going to be punished. What if Hades existed? Not the god but the actual place. I was raised as Christian and I am and I believe in hell…but all these bizarre things are scaring me senseless. It was getting too late and I decided it would be better to head to my room. I grabbed the books and stepped into my tippy-toes to put them away. I made sure they weren’t in danger of falling so the following incident makes no sense to me. A book from the other bookcase fell on top of my head. It was freakishly heavy. I took it and put it in with some force. Getting paranoid, I got out of the library as fast as possible.
I made my way to the spiral staircase, trying to get to my room as quickly as possible. I made it all the way but yet again I felt cold over again. The room felt as if was freezing over, I swear I saw a flash of a foot somewhere. This wasn’t real, I was just imagining thing. Oh, God. I somehow lost balance and fell to the floor. No, I didn’t lose my balance. A foot was sticking out just at the spot where I lost my balance. Did I mention this foot was freaking transparent? Well, it was. Instead of staring like I did before, I just started yelling profanities. Oh, this boy was going to get it. Just like the girl from before, he wore old-fashioned clothes. They kind reminded me of the 1920s. The old suits that they made gentlemen wear in the old days. I would’ve though it looked cute but then again I was furious at the moment.
“What is your freaking problem?!” I yelled.
“You can see me?” the boy asked.
“Of course I can! You might be transparent-looking but I can still see you!”
“You shouldn’t be able to see me, I’m supposed to be invisible,” the boy said.
“What are you?” My anger started to melt away at the boy’s sinister expression.
“I’m a ticked off ghost and you’re in for the ride.”
“W-what?” I asked, backing away. The ghost became solid-looking and he picked me up by the shoulders. I screamed but the ghost just gripped my shoulders harder. I bit my tongue from screaming again.
“Darling, don’t scream, it’s useless, most people went out to the city.” he told me, chuckling. He started flying and my feet were being lifted off the floor too. He flew at a scary speed and he was heading into a wall. I screamed again and the ghost and I turned intangible. We flew through the wall, no harmed done to us. We were flying by the roof of the school and I closed my eyes.
Don’t ever try this if you’re scare of heights, my school is a pretty tall building. An object was flying at top speed towards us. It was red-haired boy and he seemed to glow slightly.
“Let her go,” the red-haired boy said.
“If you say so,” then the ghost whispered into my ears, “Well, darling, this is it. The end of our little trip, maybe I’ll see you in the afterlife.” And with that the ghost dropped me. I let out a blood-curling scream and fell and fell. My black hair was whipped everywhere and so was my red stripped tie and skirt. My black blazer wouldn’t protect me from the fall or the cold. Suddenly, I felt a shortness of breath, as if my throat was closing up. I couldn’t scream anymore, my tears were the only sign of terror. The red-haired boy flew toward me; trying to beat gravity. He caught me just before I hit the grass and he tried to land as gentle as possible. I still couldn’t breathe, I looked around in horror.
“Gwen, are you okay?”
“I can’t…can’t…bre—“the words wouldn’t come out, I was wasting precious oxygen. I felt hopeless, my death was imminent.
“Gwen? Gwen!” he urged.
“Oh, no,” the boy whispered.
*Chapter one, the story doesn't end here.
-The Fox, from The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exuspery
Daydreams are the way to escape our everyday worries. I stood in front of a boy; he had auburn hair and beautiful brown eyes. His dark eyes were serious, telling me to do something. He reached out his hand, and I stepped closer to take it. I refused to allow this opportunity escape. I'd been waiting for this moment my entire life.
“Gwen? Gwen!” Jessica’s voice snapped me out of my daydreams. I blinked and concentrated in the room in front of me. Drama class, duh. How could I forget?
“What?” I asked. Jess rolled her eyes and pushed her blonde hair behind her ears. She flicked my forehead.
“You’re next!” she said. I stood up and walked to the stage, I didn’t get nervous anymore. After doing theatre so much you get used to it. When I was a kid I suffered from asthma, I kind of “outgrew” it. I don’t get panic-induced asthma anymore, but I do have to be careful when I run. Taking theatre definitely helped me getting over panic and me being shy. And the incident…I shook my head and started a monologue that I got from one of director’s books. I pounded my hands against my chest, okay, yeah I was being overdramatic. Whatever, they didn’t call it drama for just anything. Everyone applauded and I smiled, bowed and felt the adrenaline rush getting away from my body.
“Nice performance today but you seem distracted,” Jessica remarked. I looked up and gave my best innocent look. It worked, hey, when you’re barely five feet tall and you have baby blue eyes, it always worked.
“I’m alright, just tired, I guess.” I said. It also helps when you have a soft-pitched voice like mine. We got in line and looked through our options for lunch. We actually did have delicious and healthy food, because we had to live here. At the school, I mean. We attended Cabot Academy, a college-prep boarding school in Greenwich, CT. No, we’re not all snooty, rich kids. I’m not. Okay, not that much anyway. I might be naïve but never snobby. I opted for a ham sandwich and sweet raspberry tea. Tea is my absolute drug. We sat at our usual table. It consisted of me, Jessica, and some other drama geeks. Don’t get me wrong, I love Jess like a sister but sometimes…her friends and I don’t get along. I love acting but at times not as much as they do.
There was a sound at the jock’s table. Yes, we’re smart and preppy but we have awesome sports. Some poor kid has fallen on his face and the jocks were laughing at him. Everyone except Peter Hartman. Peter Hartman, total hottie, auburn hair and brown eyes. Easily over six feet all, muscular, and with a few freckles on his face. Okay, you caught me. He’s the boy from my daydreams. Don’t get me wrong though, I hate Peter Hartman. I loathe him with every inch of my tiny body.
“God, those kids are jerks!” A girl said.
“I know, right? But they are so hot! Especially Peter,” Lauren replied.
“Say, weren’t you best friends with Peter?” Lauren asked me. If I could shoot lasers out of my eyes, she would’ve been so dead by now.
“I used to be friends with him,” I said. Was it just me or did I sound bitter?
“Dang, girl, you’ve should stayed friends with him. He’s fine.” A girl said. That’s all I could take.
“Excuse you,” I said, getting up and practically storming up to my room. I opened the door and slammed. Hard. Okay, was I being bratty? Yes. I didn’t feel like going to my other classes. I pouted for a while and put on my pajamas. Some cartoons were probably on, and I could eat some Trix while watching TV. That sounds like a good plan. I got into my covers and turned on the TV, surfing through the channels. Pouting, I kept searching but the hair around my neck stood up. The room felt chilly, like it dropped fifteen degrees. I turned around; expecting Jessica but someone else was in her place.
The girl stood in front of my bed, her hair was curly and untamed. Her clothes seemed old-fashion, from twenty years ago. Like leg-warmers, off-the-shoulder sweater and headbands. No kidding. I gaped at her, her figure was almost transparent. She was transparent but she had color on her.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my room?! How did you get in?!” I yelled at her. She seemed startled, she gaped at me. She gave me one final wide-eyed look before she fled through the door. Yes, she fled literally through the door. I screamed and turned my cereal bowl by accident, spilling milk all over my blankets.
For a moment, I felt a shortness of breath, I need to calm down. My inhaler…where is it? I tried my best to gulp oxygen, and it worked. I could feel my lungs functioning again. A quick rapping on my door was made. I stood up and let out a sigh of relief when I noticed it was just Jessica.
“Gwen, are you okay? I heard you scream,” she asked. Should I tell her what I saw? A girl—ghost maybe entered my room. No, I couldn’t. Maybe it wasn’t even real; I was just upset and tired.
“Yes, I’m okay. I was taking a nap and I had a horrible nightmare. I’m so sorry I screamed and made a mess on my bed.” I said. Jessica hugged me and I hugged her back, feeling childish but appreciating the embrace. Jessica helped me clean up my mess and I decided to make her dinner. Okay, I suck at cooking! But my momma taught me how to do something. Quesadillas.
Sadly, I had to put them in the microwave because we weren’t allowed to have electric kitchens or whatever. I prepared the corn tortilla and started cutting some cheese. Even if I put them in the microwave, it tastes really good but not as good as they should taste. I took my quesadilla and gave the other one to Jesse. I also took two Mountain Dews out of the mini-fridge. Night was fast approaching and sleep came easy to Jesse. I, on the other hand, couldn’t fall asleep. I’m not going to lie to you, I was scared. Was that girl a ghost? Or did I just hallucinate? Little by little drowsiness took over.
***
I woke up rather early the next day. It was barely six and classes didn’t start until 8:15. Yawning, I grabbed a towel and went to the showers. The hairs of my neck stood up, someone was following me. Oh, no…I whipped around and standing in front of me was Peter Hartman. He looked different. And by different, I mean he looked just like the ghost girl. He was almost-transparent and his skin was glowing, paler than usual. Yes, he’s glowing not sparkling. Sparkling is just silly stuff.
“Peter?”
He stared at me just like the ghost from before; he seemed surprised for some reason. Little by little he seemed to gain substance. He became solid. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was awake and not the “half-awake but half-asleep” kind of thing. Was the stress getting to me? But what stress? I pouted and crossed my arms around my chest.
“Are you following me?” I asked.
“What? No, I’m not! Are you freaking paranoid or what?”
“You are just so despicable!” I said, gritting my teeth together.
“Me? You’re the one accusing me of stalking you!”
“Well, I turned around and there you were! Besides, you were openly staring at me!”
“Oh, and like you weren’t,” he retorted. Yes, because you were transparent! I so wanted to say that but I wasn’t sure if it even happened.
“Whatever, just go to back to your stupid jock friends.”
“I will, and you should go find your drama freaks,” he replied. I kicked him in the shin and a lot of four-lettered words escaped his mouth.
“They’re not freaks,” and with those final words I made it all the way to the shower without looking back. Once I made it to the showers, I just collapsed on the ground and tears started to free fall from my cheeks. What’s was going on? Was I going insane? Why do I keep seeing this people? Goodness, Peter looked transparent! What was he doing in the girl’s dorm? Probably visiting a girlfriend or something--despite my hatred for him, I couldn’t help but feel jealous. Drying my last tears, I went into the hot showers hoping the warm waters would wash away my memories.
***
My day was pretty much normal except for what happened that morning. It was the last class of the day but it was my Mythology and Folklore class so I didn’t mind it much. On a regular day, I would’ve been excited but today wasn’t that regular. I talked to Peter and I hadn’t done that for at least three years. The teacher was rambling about the Greek gods, and the oracle of Delphi. He said that we had this huge project and we must pick a god to write about and to write our own myth. Oh, joy. After giving us the due date, Mr. Simons dismissed us a few minutes before the bell. I walked to Jesse’s class and waited outside the door. The bell dismissed the school and Jessica rushed to my side.
“Okay, so what do you want to do tonight?’ she asked. Usually on weekends, we were allowed to roam the city of Greenwich, as long as we followed our curfew. Jesse and I, along some other drama geeks, went to the Insomniac Café. An awesome café, with a poetry night and they sell books; usually very strange books or old, out-of-print books. I would’ve loved going there tonight but I just couldn’t. I didn’t have the energy to go out or dress up.
“I need to start on my project.” I said.
“Come on, when projects became more important than going out for you?” she questioned. She did have a good point there.
“I’m sorry this is for my Mythology and Folklore class, and I do like this class,” I said.
“Fine, but we have to go out tomorrow!” Jesse said.
“Duh!” I faked as much cheerfulness as I could, it was easy since normally I wasn’t this sad and I was a good actress too. Jesse said goodbye and looked for Lauren. Slowly, I walked to the library. I entered the grand library, it was huge. One of the things I loved most about our school was the library because it was just so big and it had so many intriguing books and history. Cabot Academy was found in 1903, it used to be a Lutheran school but now it didn’t have any religious affiliate anymore. And yes, I did learn all of that at the library.
I said hello to the librarian and went into the Mythology section. Much to my delight and annoyance, the section was huge. I grabbed some heavy books and plopped them down on the table. I did know who the gods were but I wanted to re-read some of my old favorite myths. I always had a soft spot for Hades, he had a sucky job.
He has to deal with all the souls for the rest of his life; he had to pick who was going where. Who was going to be praised and who was going to be punished. What if Hades existed? Not the god but the actual place. I was raised as Christian and I am and I believe in hell…but all these bizarre things are scaring me senseless. It was getting too late and I decided it would be better to head to my room. I grabbed the books and stepped into my tippy-toes to put them away. I made sure they weren’t in danger of falling so the following incident makes no sense to me. A book from the other bookcase fell on top of my head. It was freakishly heavy. I took it and put it in with some force. Getting paranoid, I got out of the library as fast as possible.
I made my way to the spiral staircase, trying to get to my room as quickly as possible. I made it all the way but yet again I felt cold over again. The room felt as if was freezing over, I swear I saw a flash of a foot somewhere. This wasn’t real, I was just imagining thing. Oh, God. I somehow lost balance and fell to the floor. No, I didn’t lose my balance. A foot was sticking out just at the spot where I lost my balance. Did I mention this foot was freaking transparent? Well, it was. Instead of staring like I did before, I just started yelling profanities. Oh, this boy was going to get it. Just like the girl from before, he wore old-fashioned clothes. They kind reminded me of the 1920s. The old suits that they made gentlemen wear in the old days. I would’ve though it looked cute but then again I was furious at the moment.
“What is your freaking problem?!” I yelled.
“You can see me?” the boy asked.
“Of course I can! You might be transparent-looking but I can still see you!”
“You shouldn’t be able to see me, I’m supposed to be invisible,” the boy said.
“What are you?” My anger started to melt away at the boy’s sinister expression.
“I’m a ticked off ghost and you’re in for the ride.”
“W-what?” I asked, backing away. The ghost became solid-looking and he picked me up by the shoulders. I screamed but the ghost just gripped my shoulders harder. I bit my tongue from screaming again.
“Darling, don’t scream, it’s useless, most people went out to the city.” he told me, chuckling. He started flying and my feet were being lifted off the floor too. He flew at a scary speed and he was heading into a wall. I screamed again and the ghost and I turned intangible. We flew through the wall, no harmed done to us. We were flying by the roof of the school and I closed my eyes.
Don’t ever try this if you’re scare of heights, my school is a pretty tall building. An object was flying at top speed towards us. It was red-haired boy and he seemed to glow slightly.
“Let her go,” the red-haired boy said.
“If you say so,” then the ghost whispered into my ears, “Well, darling, this is it. The end of our little trip, maybe I’ll see you in the afterlife.” And with that the ghost dropped me. I let out a blood-curling scream and fell and fell. My black hair was whipped everywhere and so was my red stripped tie and skirt. My black blazer wouldn’t protect me from the fall or the cold. Suddenly, I felt a shortness of breath, as if my throat was closing up. I couldn’t scream anymore, my tears were the only sign of terror. The red-haired boy flew toward me; trying to beat gravity. He caught me just before I hit the grass and he tried to land as gentle as possible. I still couldn’t breathe, I looked around in horror.
“Gwen, are you okay?”
“I can’t…can’t…bre—“the words wouldn’t come out, I was wasting precious oxygen. I felt hopeless, my death was imminent.
“Gwen? Gwen!” he urged.
“Oh, no,” the boy whispered.
*Chapter one, the story doesn't end here.
