Can You See Me?

Chapter 2: Emotional Breakdown

Noah had been standing in the book return line for about 10 minutes when he saw the last person he expected, or wanted, to see.

His ex girlfriend, Maria, had just walked into the university bookstore with a guy, both carrying a stack of textbooks. They had gone out for three years – until he found out she'd been sleeping with another guy for a good eight months of their relationship. They hadn't spoken since, apart from the few times Maria drunk called him to apologize or try and get back together. He'd blocked her number soon after and hadn't seen her since – and definitely didn't want to see her now.

Noah was the last person in line, so if they were here to return their books too (and it looked like they indeed were) they'd have to stand behind him. Worst case scenario she would try and make small talk and he'd have to keep himself from letting his hate show; best case scenario the three of them would stand in awkward silence for another 10 minutes until he'd be at the front of the line. Neither situation was particularly pleasant. If only he could teleport to behind the staircase until they were gone, or undo time and never have dated her in the first place, or just disappear...

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden icy feeling that took over his body. Maybe the temperature in the bookstore had dropped sharply – but somehow the cold felt different than just a change in thermostat. It felt like he'd been doused in ice cold water – like that time he'd participated in the polar plunge on his study abroad. Every atom in his body seemed to be shivering from the cold, his teeth were chattering, and when he looked down at his fingers they had turned a pale blue. He started looking around to see if other people were feeling as cold too, but everyone seemed normal.

"What the fuck?" he whispered to himself.

The girl in front of him jumped up a little and whipped her head around to look at him, her ponytail smacking her friend in the face.

"Ow! Rachel your hair hit me right in the eye!"

"I'm so sorry Ava! I thought I heard someone talking right next to me and freaked out," said Rachel.

The one called Ava looked around them, and then right at Noah, and then turned her attention back to Rachel.

"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you like that," said Noah, feeling bad that he'd scared her.

This time both the girls jumped, Ava even giving a strangled yelp and looking right at the spot where Noah was standing.

"You heard it right?" said Rachel, holding Ava's hand. "It came from behind me I know it!"

"What the fuck," said Ava, "What the actual fuck?"

"Is there a problem?" said Noah, his hand instinctively going to the zit on his chin, thinking it had grown to a monstrous size or something.

Both girls shrieked and dropped their books, scrambling to get under the [dividers] and away from Noah. Ava even ran into Maria on her mad dash to the exit, not even stopping to help as Maria's books fell all over the floor.

Confused about what was happening, Noah pulled out his phone to check his reflection in the screen. The zit must be huge if it caused two girls to freak out and run away like that – even then, they had to be a little crazy already to be so dramatic about it.

He quickly shifted his books in his arms and held the phone in front of his face and saw...

Nothing.