Translucent

Chapter 4: Strange Phenomenon

He looked nothing like Nathan. He was a stranger, to say the least. But before I could make out more of his facial features, he vanished into thin air.

* * *

I dozed off a little before the history class started. The dream last night had kept me awake ever since. Phoebe and Lorelai's chatter somehow became a blur. The first class of the day was history, which was always my favourite. Today we were covering about World War I. I tried to keep my attention locked Miss Richter's hand swinging the marker swiftly over the board, drawing a rough map of Europe with territory lines.

After almost two hours of the lesson, my focus started to dwindle. My shoulder gradually felt as though someone fifty-kilogram barbell sat on it. My head went inexplicably spinning. Her scribbles on the whiteboard became intermingled with one another. Her voice ceased to a string of inaudible noise and my vision blurred.

"On August...7...British troops...German..."

All the nervous systems in my brain tightened. Knives kneaded my head. My body warmed and the temperature rose up until heat consumed me and some strange force in the room drained my energy.

Then I was gone.

* * *

"Hey, how are you feeling?" A woman with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail wearing a white robe appeared behind the light blue curtain. The white ceiling of the infirmary welcomed me. I grunted at the realization that I missed all the interesting stories told by Miss Richter in class.

"What happened?" I groaned slightly.

"You passed out," she said with a comforting smile. "You had a history of hypotension?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, you just moved in from London, right? Maybe it's the exhaustion kicking in. Your blood pressure is extremely low."

"How did I get here?"

"Your classmate Luke carried you here." the doctor said. "...and Sophie too. Mr. Barkley had just returned to the class but I think Miss Murray is still here."

I frowned. 'Miss Murray' appeared behind the curtain. It wasn't really the face I'd expected the see.

"Excuse me." The doctor disappeared behind the curtain.

Silence filled the space between me and Sophie Murray after the doctor left. I tried to shove aside my friends' words lingering in my head about this girl. Clearly, Sophie and Luke probably found me first and it had nothing to do with superstition.

"Um...thank you." I muttered.

"You're welcome." Sophie answered flatly.

"You're missing the class though?"

Her lip tightened. It was really nice of her though. 

"I appreciate it." I said.

"Well, I have to." she murmured. "Or else, you wouldn't be saved."

"Saved me from what?"

Sophie gulped. "You know. I'm sure your friends have told things about me."

"Yeah and guess what, I don't necessarily buy all of those stories," I spoke. She probably just wanted a friend.

"No, Lisa. They're right about me." Sophie pointed out. "And I know just exactly everything that just happened to you."

"Are you telling me that my so-called hypotension was caused by a ghost? Some supernatural entity in the work?" I scoffed.