Stories Based On Taylor Swift Songs

DEBUT: 13. Invisible

13. Invisible (1/7/21)

"Todd, are you listening to me?" Silvia asked, crossing her arms against her chest. She was leaning up against a brick wall, right near the school's entrance. Her friend, Todd, had been listening to her a few minutes ago, but now he was looking at something else.

He blinked a few times in a row before glancing back at her. "Sorry, I'm listening."

Silvia leaned forward, trying to see what Todd had been looking at. She could see a sliver of black hair, and instantly knew the person in question. Jessica walked down the front steps of the school, tossing black curls over her shoulder. She was walking to her car with a friend, and Todd still seemed entranced in her spell.

"Have you talked to her?" Silvia asked, trying to remove the disappointment in her voice.

"She just transferred to my science class, and we're getting new lab partners tomorrow," Todd said, clearly riding some sort of high. "Jessica told me at the end of class that she hopes we're lab partners."

Silvia nodded slowly, even though the words hurt to hear. She wished, for once in her life, Todd would wake up and see her. But instead, he was busying ogling the next pretty girl that walked by and talked to him.

"I'm gonna try and catch up with her," Todd said, giving Silvia one last look. "See you tomorrow!"

She watched him scamper off towards the parking lot, where Jessica and her friend were climbing into a small white car. Silvia let out a long sigh before adjusting her grasp on her backpack and starting the long trek home. She didn't bother asking Todd for a ride; he would've been too busy looking at Jessica to hear her.

Silvia had been friends with Todd since middle school, back when he sported a bowl cut and played video games and Pokémon. They would play the card game at lunch, exchanging characters and chopping on carrot sticks. Now that they were in high school, and Silvia had gotten her braces off, she hoped Todd would start to notice her in a different way. She was no longer the girl he could play video games with. She was supposed to be the girl he would ask out, but apparently he didn't get the memo. Instead, Todd was busy gazing at cheerleaders and pretty girls in class, hoping that one of them would give him a chance. Silvia tried not to point out the irony, that while Todd was looking for an interested girl, he had one standing right next to him. He just didn't see her.

Silvia crossed the street, too caught up in her thoughts to notice a car speeding down the suburban street. Her eyes went wide, a true deer-in-headlights moment, when the front of the car hit her midsection and sent her sliding down the street like a disk in a shuffleboard game.

Despite the hit, she found that she could still open her eyes. Silvia looked up at the blue sky, wondering when the bright light would rain down on her. She heard the driver slam the car door and near her body.

"Where did she go?" He mumbled, his eyes darting around the street.

Silvia rose, placing a gentle hand on her bruised midsection; she was surprised she wasn't dead yet. She looked over at the driver, who had to be drunk because he was going so fast down the road.

"What the hell? Where is she?" He asked again, and Silvia let out a groan. The noise came out louder than expected, and yet, the guy didn't look at her. When he finally did, he didn't even acknowledge her.

The drunk driver shrugged and returned to his car. Silvia stepped back onto the pavement and watched him drive away, much slower this time. She raised both eyebrows in suspicion. He had hit her, right? And she had been standing in the road, right where he could see her. Yet he hadn't seen her, had he?

A pit began to form in her stomach, and Silvia knew she needed to get home before any other cars threatened to hit her. When she reached her house, she threw open the door and stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Nothing appeared. Her stomach dropped to the floor.

"What the hell?" She whispered, copying the driver's sentiment from earlier. With a single finger, she touched the glass of the mirror. It was at that moment she realized she couldn't see her finger either.

"Oh my god!" Silvia screamed, jumping back until she almost fell into the bathtub. When the man hit her with his car, she somehow turned invisible! Now no one could see her, including herself.

She rose to her full height and stood in front of the mirror. Nothing - all she could see was the shower curtain behind her. She held up her hand again, and came up dry.

Her mind was racing. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She didn't want to die, but isn't that what happens when you get hit by a car? You don't turn invisible!

The only thought that came to Silvia's mind was to go see Todd. If he couldn't see her, her life would be ruined forever. She left the house, hoping her parents would stay late at work so they wouldn't panic when they didn't find their daughter at home. Fortunately, Todd only lived two blocks away.

Silvia stood on the front porch at Todd's house. On her way over, she ran into two dog walkers. Neither of them had seen her. She rang the doorbell - she was able to do that, somehow - and held her breath. Todd acted as if he couldn't see her at times, but the fact that she was invisible only made her worry more.

The front door swung open, but it wasn't Todd. Jessica, with her perfect black curls, looked at the porch and found nothing. She then stepped out onto the porch and looked around, as if she was searching for someone. Silvia took this opportunity to dart inside the house and find Todd.

He was sitting in the living room. A movie was paused on the television, so Todd was studying his phone. Silvia stood right in front of him and asked, "Todd? Can you see me?"

He didn't even waver. He looked at the door and asked, "Anyone there, babe?"

Silvia felt her heart shatter into a million pieces. She knew she should've been worrying about the fact that no one could see her, but the simple pet name and the fact that Jessica was here made everything worse. Todd hadn't seen her, and had left for another girl. Now he really couldn't see her, along with the rest of the world.